Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Special Screening of "The Letter" 

(Worcester, MA – August 16, 2004) Worcester State College will have a special screening of the critically acclaimed feature-length documentary, “The Letter,” at 3:00 PM, Wednesday, September 15, in the Ghosh Center Multimedia Room (ST102).  The screening is free and open to the public.

Written and directed by Ziad H. Hamzeh, and produced by Hamzeh, Bert Brown and Marc Sandler, “THE LETTER” probes the reactions of city officials and citizens to the sudden influx of 1,100 former Somali refugees who, deciding that Lewiston offers the best of all environments, relocated there en masse in the wake of the 9/11 tragedy. The situation devolves into an emotional issue made more acute by the fact that a neighboring town is the birthplace of one of the crew members killed and dragged through the streets of war-torn Somalia in the incident known as “Black Hawk Down”.

Nominated for Best Documentary at the Pan-African Film & Arts Festival in 2004 and selected as the Opening Night Feature at Amnesty International Film Festival in 2004, and the official selection of the 2003 AFI International Film Festival in Los Angeles, “The Letter” is “an utterly absorbing look at a quintessential American experience” (LA Weekly). 

Following the special screening there will be a Q & A with writer/director Ziad Hamzeh and a representative of the Somali Community hosted by Worcester State College Diversity Office, Sociology Department, The Center for the Study of Human Rights, and The Latino Achievement Committee.

For more information, view their  website at  www.HamzehMystiqueFilms.com/TheLetter

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