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SXSW Film Preview: The Least of These
The T. Don Hutto Family Detention Center in Taylor, TX, which is not too far from our fair city, opened in May of 2006, and houses a significant number of immigrant families who seek asylum in our country. When it first opened, only an hour a day was spent on education for the children; families were required to eat meals in a fifteen minute time frame, children were allowed less than 20 minutes a day outside, and all detainees were counted three times a day. The Least of These, a documentary that will see its World Premiere as part of the Lone Star States screenings at SXSW, is the story of these families and the advocates that struggle to win basic human rights for them in the looming shadow of the Department of Homeland Security.
Filmmakers Clark Lyda and Jesse Lyda interviewed various families detained at the center in its first year of existence, including an Iranian couple with a Canadian-born son and a Honduran mother escaping an abusive husband. The film chronicles the history of the center (still in operation) from opening day forward to the filing of a lawsuit in 2007 by the American Civil Liberties Union against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which eventually led to some changes in the center's operation. UT Law professor and immigration attorney Barbara Hines is featured prominently in the overall story, as are others who worked to improve the conditions at the detention center.
The Least of These considers the economic impact of the center on Taylor, but ultimately asks, should children be detained? Is it fair or humane to lock up children in a jail-like building surrounded by razor-wire (as the center was in 2006), or even in the Hutto Center's only slightly more family-friendly present incarnation? The film comes in at just slightly over an hour, and is a recommended inclusion in your film schedule.
The Least of These will have its World Premiere Monday, March 16, at the Alamo Ritz. For more information, check out the SXSW Film Festival schedule.
Filmmakers Clark Lyda and Jesse Lyda interviewed various families detained at the center in its first year of existence, including an Iranian couple with a Canadian-born son and a Honduran mother escaping an abusive husband. The film chronicles the history of the center (still in operation) from opening day forward to the filing of a lawsuit in 2007 by the American Civil Liberties Union against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which eventually led to some changes in the center's operation. UT Law professor and immigration attorney Barbara Hines is featured prominently in the overall story, as are others who worked to improve the conditions at the detention center.
The Least of These considers the economic impact of the center on Taylor, but ultimately asks, should children be detained? Is it fair or humane to lock up children in a jail-like building surrounded by razor-wire (as the center was in 2006), or even in the Hutto Center's only slightly more family-friendly present incarnation? The film comes in at just slightly over an hour, and is a recommended inclusion in your film schedule.
The Least of These will have its World Premiere Monday, March 16, at the Alamo Ritz. For more information, check out the SXSW Film Festival schedule.
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