According to 9500 Liberty website:
The devastating social and economic impact of the “Immigration Resolution” is felt in the lives of real people in homes and in local businesses. But the ferocious fight to adopt and then reverse this policy unfolds inside government chambers, on the streets, and on the Internet. 9500 Liberty provides a front row seat to all three battlegrounds
Film Trailer:
Radio interview on WFEA (text and audio)
Charlotte Film Festival (audio) [following the darts tournament interview]
on NPR
Just got this: “Next stop, we will be premiering in DC on October 1st at the DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival as the opening night film.
This is the list of scheduled screenings including Prince William County, Honolulu, St. Louis, San Diego, Charlottesville, etc. We are adding more screenings including in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles in the coming weeks.”
This is going to be BIG.
Big. uh-huh.
The trailer is kind to Mr. Letiecq. I hope it is as kind to the county. We do not deserve to be known for Mr. Letiecq and Mr. Stewart’s mischief. T’was they not we who created the hoopla.
Devastating social and economic impact of the Immigration Resolution?
“When looking at enforcement of the immigration policy, 85.5 percent
of Prince William residents were satisfied with police efforts, up
from 80.5 percent last year.”
Washington Post (PW Extra 9-27-2009)
Utter misleading BS! The county should sue over that ‘anti-immigrant’ label. We’ve been over this a thousand times. There were already thousands of immigrants living peacefully in PWC before the sudden and huge influx of illegal aliens from south of the border that started all these problems that had to be dealt with one way or another. They came, we dealt with it, end of story. No one in the county is complaining anymore, not even this blog, so why stir it back up again? I can see another billboard in the making!
This blog and the regulars had nothing to do with the making of that billboard, despite what you might read elsewhere.
Who is the county going to sue, SA? When I see the gumballs video that has been posted all over everywhere, I don’t see much differentiation being made between legal and illegal immigrants.
FAIR sure doesn’t stop at just illegal immigrants in their crusade.
I am still trying to figure out why people keep reporting that most of the illegal immigrants have left, yet the school numbers of immigrant kids has not changed that much if at all.
I’d like to know what the sign showing the intersection of Stonewall Rd. & Beauregard Dr. is supposed to mean. It’s in the City of Manassas, NOT in PWC. Well, just probably one of many inaccurate things in this movie.
From a purely objective standpoint, what is wrong with putting limits on immigration? As long as the process that lets immigrants in is fair to all nations, why can’t a nation have quotas that might be adjusted periodically given economic conditions?
From FAIR’s website:
Without knowing a whole lot about the organization except what I have read on this blog, I’m curious as to what is fundamentally wrong with that statement.
Emma, Elena and Alanna are the FAIR experts. I always defer to them on matters of FAIR. However, it is my understanding that they have a long history of opposing immigration.
I would think that our immigration policies would be adjustable to reflect the economic needs of our country first. A secondary tier should be established for other things.
Why not visit http://www.adl.org and learn more from an internationllly recognized organization that fights hatred and has since 1913 Emma.
Poor Richard,
The survey does NOT ask about the resolution, just how we feel about our police officers.
GR, I don’t think it was ever possible to totally separate the city from the county during the immigration debate. Stonewall and Beauregard were southern civl war generals as well as streets in the Manassas. The immediate segue was to the battlefield. I believe that was probably an artistic touch to orient the viewer about our community and our roots. I could be wrong but if I were a betting woman….
I have seen the almost final version of 9500 Liberty Street. I saw nothing that was an inaccuracy. Are there things we see we might not like? yes. (The wall on liberty street, for example.) But the fact remains, it existed in full life, all three of them.,
I will visit that site, but putting all that aside, what is fundamentally wrong with limiting immigration?
We obviously cannot simply open our borders and say ‘world come in.’
However, there are groups that would close off most or all immigration to the United States.
At best, Eric and Annabel should have won the “Indy PARTIAL Truth
Award for Best Documentary”. The are propagandist for
one side of a complex issue.
Poor Richard, have you seen the film in its entirety?
I felt they were rather fair to all ‘sides’ and I was looking for bias.
The only people I saw who looked like fools did it to themselves. They would have looked the same way if they had been on county film footage. (and often they were)
I think we might all have a more meaningful discussion if everyone sees the same film. I haven’t seen the final, just the near final. And to my untrained eye, I doubt if I would recognize the difference.
I don’t think hearing the other guy’s side of something is propaganda, whether that other guy is named Fernandez, Letiecq, Deane, Stewart, Almeda, Duecaster or whatever character you want to choose out of the cast. That is the complexity–that each person comes to the table with a different story and a different perspective and that includes the characters who aren’t named, those who have opinions, regardless of ‘side.’
I’m curious too Poor Richard, where did you see the film?
I actually don’t think limiting immigration is wrong. What is really wrong is letting people live here illegally and then proceeding to treat them like garbage.
Furthermore, FAIR has a history based in eugenics. They don’t want immigrants because they believe immigrants are inferior races (particularly Hispanics). FAIR likes to pose as a reasonable entity, but it’s basically a hate group just trying to disguise itself….like some other groups we know of.
I’ve probably seen the same version that Moon-howler has seen, and I didn’t find it unfair. The speakers at the marathon BOCS meeting that have been featured in videos from 9500 Liberty were speakers that jumped out for a reason. I noticed the same individuals even though I was seated on my sofa in front of the tv instead of behind a camera.
I think we all know the incident that caused Gospel Greg to change his mind about Annabel and Eric’s filming. It was the video that he himself promoted. However, he got a backlash from his followers that he didn’t expect. Thereafter, he blamed the filmmakers instead of his own mouth.
I agree with M-h that it’s hard to separate the City from the county in this immigration issue. The City had its definition of family – and the sign – and the county had its Immigration Resolution. The same forces were at play. (It’s fitting also that Beauregard and Stonewall were again featured in this mini-civil war.)
Saw an early version – doubt if it was the final or even a “near final”,
but know it didn’t include the causes behind the “Immigration Issue”
in PWC and the two cities. The film was as fair and balanced as FOX.
Plus,I loath the title “9500 Liberty” because I know the history of
property and the despicable people involved. The title is a cruel
taunting of the city of Manassas, as were the signs.
It is your blog – you and others may celebrate the film – I don’t.
@Moon-howler
HAHA! I sure know of one of the regular speakers that makes a fool of themself even more so off camera. Just a ratty regular. 🙂
FAIR did not do the Gumball video.
Right anon-100, Roy Beck of NumbersUSA did.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7WJeqxuOfQ
I don’t find that to be an artistic touch at all – the idea of comparing it to a battle where 618,000 or more lives were lost is preposterous! I don’t think it was to just show the community and its roots. We all know the filmmakers are biased and use anything they can to slant to their point of view – I’m sure the comparison to the Civil War was quite intentional. If they were just showing scenes around the county they wouldn’t have stuck the stupid intersection sign in. They are quite clever, doing anything they can to make their point. Of course, they never show any people intelligently discussing the other side (oh, I know – they and others will say there weren’t any to be found!). I’m sorry, I totally dislike the use of that intersection sign, the shot of the battlefield, and it implies to me they put this on an equal footing with the Civil War, which is totally preposterous. I’m quite sure it was very intentional, and they can fool other people with it, but they aren’t fooling me.
All they needed to show was where Manassas was geographically speaking – there is no good reason to show the battlefield unless you are trying to make some point comparing the Civil War to the present day conflict over illegal immigration.
Indeed, as Poor Richard says – as much as this blog claims FOX isn’t fair and balanced, neither is this film. Shame on them for using the Civil War to suit their agenda. I’m sure if FOX did something like that many posters here would be all over them for it! Lots of lives were lost in the Civil War, tell me where the lives were lost here!
I agree with what Poor Richard said about the title “9500 Liberty”. 9500 Liberty trashed the City of Manassas with their sign and mocked the whole downtown area. Many City of Manassas residents view that sign and the name “9500 Liberty” with disgust, and deservedly so. Does the film even point out that sign is not in Prince William County but rather in the City of Manassas – yet all the council discussions are in a separate jurisdiction? Then again, I’m not sure the makers of the sign ever figured that out.
I suppose though, at least in their trailer they didn’t put up the Nazi symbol, or Hitler, so that’s something. The Civil War comparison is just about as offensive though.
And if nothing else, a trailer exists to promote and sell a film, and shame on them for using the Civil War for profit making purposes. I’m sure if FOX did something like this many posters on this blog would be all over them for it. A trailer is to show the viewer what the film is about and get them interested in seeing it – the imagery of the battlefield is a total turnoff to me – it doesn’t in any way get me interested in seeing the film – it makes me very interested in NOT seeing it.
Roy Beck did Gumballs. Let’s see, isn’t he with NumbersUSA? Isn’t NumbersUSA an offshoot of FAIR? Now you know why I rely on Alanna and Elena.
GR, where did you view the film?
M-h, right – those groups have the same daddy – John Tanton.
I saw the clips of it on the website. No, I did not view the finished film, but the trailer tells me enough of it. Why should I view the film – it is the same as if I see a trailer of any film – from the trailer I decide whether I wish to view the film or not. This trailer makes me not want to view the film just on the basis of that Civil War imagery – not to mention I’ve seen many of the clips from it – and not ONCE did I see a clip showing overcrowded flophouses – I wouldn’t be surprised if that isn’t in the film either. If that isn’t in the film, tell me how that is a fair and objecdtive portrait – since overwcrowding is a big component of what led to this issue.
I come back to – the whole purpose of the trailer is to promote the film and to hopefully get people to see it based on their viewing of the trailer. It is just my opinion, but for me the trailer makes up my mind that I have no interest in seeing the film, when they shamelessly use Civil War battlefields to promote their film. Again, it’s just my opinion, and others will disagree which they are free to do so. I’m tired of all the Nazi comparisons, and now we have the Civil War being thrown into the mix. Let’s just stick to the present day issue – which apparently isn’t enough for a lot of people in terms of this dicussion.
The Nazi thing was brought up on another blog just a few days from the Jewish New Year, which was in poor taste and terrible timing.
And actually, it is almost Yom Kippur, which is the end of that period and the most solemn time during it. So, in keeping with that, I’m going to observe it by disengaging myself from the debate for that time period. It is obvious that others on this blog think the use of the Civil Warm imagery is OK, and that’s fine – although I still bet if Fox News did it the reaction would be quite different.
Ooops I didn’s see Chris’s response.
Poor Richard, the one I saw last dealt more with causes.
And I tend to agree with you about the title, at least in principle. On the other hand, I blame the person or persons who turned the property into what it became rather than the film makers. They went to where the action was congregating.
Gainesville, you are certainly entitled to your own opinion. First I will address the Nazi thing on Rosh Shashana. Elena posted. Someone else brought up Nazis. I removed the posts. That is all I can do. I am sorry if you are offended. However, I will not assume the responsibility for those kinds of comments being on the blog or in that post.
We try to not put people in moderation. It isn’t always possible. Removing a remark to moderation does not put the person in permanent moderation. More on that in a moment.
GR, I’ll be a contrarian and say that there may be legal issues involved in showing overcrowded houses. Most of the people in the film version I saw were speaking in public or had agreed to speak with the filmmakers. To show/label an overcrowded house, I would imagine you’d have to be sure the City/county had found the house to be such. To publically identify it as such without any proof wouldn’t be too smart. You could show streets lined with cars or code violations that were cited by the authorities and use them, but I imagine the rest would need the owner’s permission. Posters here who have no legal issues to worry about were reluctant to be interviewed.
Your argument about not seeing the film because of the Civil War references is disengenuous at best. You never intended to see it in the first place and one excuse is as good as another.
Civil War—-I don’t think the the film makers were comparing the immigration situation to the Civil War. However, since we are in Manassas and Prince William County, it is pretty difficult to ignore that we are within minutes of where not one, but two great Civil War battles were fought. It is what puts this community on the map, regardless of where you are from. It is who we are in many respects.
We have schools named Stonewall Jackson. We have streets named Beauregard, Battle, Stonewall, Lee, Mosby, Longstreet, Pickett, Polk, Bragg, Stuart, Grant (never figured that one out).
Many people from the area have remarked how ironic that the Disney fight and then the Immigration Resolution fight should have all surfaced here. Interesting that the Westgate/Sudley area has been referred to time and time again as Ground Zero. These are things that have attracted national attention.
I think most people have the film built up in their minds as to what it is and it isn’t. Much of it has to do with the attitude they started out with rather than the real content of the film.
Tell people you meet from other parts of the country, or for that matter the world, that you are from Manassas, Va., and they will almost always comment that Manassas is where Civil War battles took place. Since this film will be viewed all over this country, I think the film makers were just using the most recognizable factor to give the viewer a quick perspective of where we are located.
Additionally, some of the outside interview footage was shot on the lawn of the Manassas museum near the cannons. Why? Perhaps because part of the museum property is located on the corner of Prince William St. and Liberty St. Since the company is called 9500 Liberty and the sign on Liberty St. was a big part of the film, one might assume that any connection with the Civil War is coincidental.
From a literary, metaphorical point of view, yes, the dialog in this county over immigration was a kind of Civil War. It was like many other wars as well. And it’s ironic that in this place where the Civil War was fought, we have had such internal fighting that has divided us. That is where the comparison comes in.
I’ve heard immigration is going to case “a second Civil War.” I did not hear that from a “liberal.” I heard it from a staunch conservative and a family member who does not live in this state. The image isn’t uncommon.
Indeed, war imagery in general isn’t uncommon. As a culture, we compare many things to war, and specific wars at that. We do it as citizens, we do it in the arts, we do it in literature and we do it in politics. (I can give you a more specific list, but one interesting example that comes to mind was an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Othello re-written in a WWII setting. Othello was a General.)
War is part of our history and culture. If we don’t want comparisons made to wars, then perhaps we should stop warring.
I’m going to post after all due to what Censored said. How dare you claim to know my thoughts as to whether or not I would have seen the film or not before I viewed the trailer for it. THAT is highly disingenuous of YOU! Of course, that’s a running theme – people have always liked to have assumed what those “on the other side” (assuming they really ARE on the other side) say, think, and feel – and like to distort it to suit their purposes. This blog is full of examples from numerous posters putting words in peoples’ mouths, and shouts of racism and such.
And, that’s a poor excuse about the overcrowded houses. One could have simply blanked out any address for example. One could access city records to find a house with repeated violations, so there would be no question it was an overcrowded house. Again I’d bet that if Fox News did a similar thing (didn’t show a key facet of one side of the issue), there’d be a bunch of people all over them for not showing “both sides of the story”.
Finally, Manassas is indeed very well known for being where two Civil War battles were fought. In fact whenever I traveled and mentioned I was from Manassas (when I used to live there), people immediately knew where that was.
Given that, just the mention of the name Manassas is all that’s necessary – no footage of battlefields or signs with street names pertaining to the battle need be shown.
Actually, I was only addressing those who actually posted those remarks, to make that clear. And it started on another blog – but in any event it showed an extreme lack of sensitivity to restart the calls of Nazis and so on at the start of the Jewish New Year. I realize this blog has no control over its contributors – it was the contributor who posted that stuff that I was taking offense at.
I am glad you realize that the person who started it here had it taken down by me. I know he did not agree with me but I wasn’t going to have that discussion take place under the Elena’s post on Rosh HaShanah.
Secondly, that isn’t a discussion that the admins here want. What goes on with other blogs is out of our control, you are right. We have enough fights of our own, we don’t need that one.
People really lose their minds over the tiniest things, don’t they now?
The Manassas battlefield is an important historical landmark. I am proud of that battlefield, I am proud to be from Manassas, and I am proud of the associations that come with it. Our state and our county have the richest histories in America.
The Revolutionary War was also very bloody, and also a civil war, only it turned out a little differently. Come now, GR, are we supposed to assail the “Tea Party Patriot Protesters” for referencing so many deaths in their name and thus everything they do?
Maybe people have forgotten how horrible it was to be in this county during the illegal immigration frenzied hysteria. Let me share how I see that time period. Guardencio Fernandez used his property to share a message because, unlike Greg, he didn’t have a blog or maybe he did not have the technical skill to create one. His first two messages seemed reasonable, especially the one where he referenced a Ghandi and Martin Luther King. It was his last message that was the most offensive in my mind. All it did was feed into the anger that was already out of control.
However, the sign is NOT what this film is about. The film is about how fear and hatred, if left unchecked, can grow out of control. It is about oppotunistic politicians believing that scapegoating a policy on the backs of lantino’s was acceptable if it got them elected to higher offices. It was about elected officials being influenced by outside entities. It was about hate speech on bvbl that left people believing it was acceptable to call children parasites and people from Mexico cockroaches. It was about an atmosphere of fear. This is NOT about a sign and we all know it. The real message is about who we are as a nation and how we behave towards the people in our community. Just because you hear salsa music you can’t assume the person is undocumented. Just because someone is not fluent in English it doesn’t mean they are here without proper papers. Having said all that, I don’t recall anyone crying when they were selling their homes for WAY beyond what they were worth and buying up. Having said that, I don’t recall anyone crying when PWC kept approving high density development after high density development. WHO was going to build the homes that people were demanding…….elves?
There is also a Ewell Street and a Jackson Street in Manassas. I left those 2 out.
There is a Battlefield High School and a Bull Run Middle School.
You cannot get away from it around here. When the Immigration Resolution was at its zenith and our County was featured on new and cable all over the United States, I often saw a cannon or 2 in the background. It meant more to people that McCoart Complex. I don’t know if Fox, CNN or some other channel were showing cannons. I don’t care. I never thought about caring. I associate that with my community.
When Lorena Bobbitt did her thing, out came the cannons again when people were talking about where it happened. In fact, I have run in to an awful lot of people who reference THAT incident before they acknowledge 2 great Civil War battles. Now, if I have my druthers….I would far rather 9500 Liberty show a few street signs and cannons than to show a little background flash back of the Bobbitts.
You might want to see this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywGZxyib3Dk
wonderful clip, thank you Pinko.