The Immigration Information Response Team of Lincoln County Coastal Progressives will present The Other Side of Immigration on Tuesday, March 22, at 7 p.m. in the Community Room of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 9th and Hurbert, in Newport.

The Other Side of Immigration is a highly-researched, nonpartisan account of the causes and impacts of undocumented immigration. The film avoids ideological arguments and relies on the director’s doctoral research to convey its thought-provoking message. In this film, there are no “bad guys,” “good guys,” or “victims.”

Filmmaker Roy Germano holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Texas at Austin. He has conducted extensive research in rural Mexico , with support from the National Science Foundation. The Other Side of Immigration emerged from his research, and is the winner of the 2011 American Library Association Notable Video Award.

The goal of this 55-minute documentary, based on more than 700 interviews with men and women in the Mexican countryside, is to spark a more objective and creative conversation about immigration reform and America’s responsibilities to Mexico. Through interviews with the families left behind by U.S.-bound migrant workers, the film explores why so many people leave small Mexican towns to work in the United States and what happens to the families and communities they leave behind. By understanding “the other side’ of the story,” we can begin to think about new and more creative ways that the U.S. and Mexican governments can work together to solve our undocumented immigration problem.

“I hope those who see my film walk away feeling more connected to a population that they may have misunderstood or not known very much about, realizing that most people—Mexican or American, citizen or immigrant—are more similar than we are different, motivated to survive, take care of our families and be recognized for our inherent worth as human beings,” says Germano . For more about the film and Germano’s work, visit: http://www.TheOtherSideOfImmigration.com.

There is no admission charge for the screening of this film, which will be followed by general discussion about the issues it raises.