Cine is hosting a screening of the award-winning documentary, The Unafraid Wednesday evening. Presented by U-Lead Athens, the film reveals what it means to grow up undocumented in the United States. The film follows the lives of three DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, immigrants in Georgia.
Alejandro, one of the students featured, grew up in Athens.
“This documentary was done in four years. You don’t know what’s going to happen in four years, and unfortunately we got to see just how bad things can get,” Alejandro says. “There are children who are being separated from their parents, people are losing their DACA. They’re losing their TPS [Temporary Protected Status] from various countries, so I think we are living the worst case scenarios.
Aldo, who also grew up in Athens, had to move to North Carolina in order for his father to receive dialysis due to kidney problems.
“‘DACA-mented’...which kind of puts us, in a sense, a step up from undocumented, but it doesn’t mean we’re not at risk for deportation” Aldo says.
Alejandro and Aldo are also graduates of U-Lead Athens, a nonprofit that helps Athens-area students with varying immigration status prepare for, apply to and pay for college.
The fundraising event includes a reception catered by The National and a gallery walk of U-Lead student artwork from 6 to 7 pm. A screening of the film will take place from 7 to 8:30 and then a panel discussion among the film’s directors and two featured actors.
The is no admission charge. Donations to the U-Lead Athens Scholarship Fund are welcome.
The Unafraid is the winner of the Kathleen Bryan Edwards Award for Human Rights at the 2018 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival.