HBO, Showtime and PBS are interested in the documentary.
LEWISTON – A new movie about Lewiston, Somalis and last winter’s showdown with hate groups has drawn early critical praise following last week’s Los Angeles premiere.
Critics have called “The Letter” thoughtful, compassionate and “utterly absorbing.” The acclaim is boosting demand for a local showing of the documentary.
“We want to show the movie to the people of Lewiston,” said director Ziad Hamzeh. He likely will bring the film in January.
Nothing has been confirmed, though. And Hamzeh is busy these days.
Since the movie’s world premiere Nov. 13 at the American Film Institute’s annual film festival, Hamzeh has been answering requests from TV networks, including HBO, Showtime and PBS, all interested in buying the film for broadcast.
“It’s amazing,” Hamzeh said. “They’re coming to us. That hasn’t happened to us before.”
The film is Hamzeh’s second with a Lewiston connection.
In 2000, the Syrian filmmaker made the low-budget boxing movie “Shadow Glories” entirely in Lewiston and Auburn downtowns. Despite high hopes, the movie failed to reach a wide audience and virtually disappeared.
“The Letter,” Hamzeh’s first documentary, already is on a different path.
His film tells the story of Lewiston Somalis: their flight from Somalia, their arrival here in Maine and the fallout that began a year ago with the “Open Letter to the Community” written by Lewiston Mayor Larry Raymond.
The mayor’s letter asked local Somalis to spread the word: The city had reached its limit. Raymond asked Somalis to stop coming in such large numbers. On Jan. 11, hate groups and peace groups rallied in response.
For 75 minutes, Hamzeh uses interviews, TV news footage and his own crew’s work to capture attitudes on several sides of the issue, culminating with the rallies.
“Fireworks were bursting out” of the theater where the movie premiered, wrote a staffer for the American Film Institute.
“The audience didn’t want to leave when it was over,” Hamzeh said Wednesday. “They loved it.”
After the showing, critics from Film Threat Magazine and LA Weekly both praised the film. Film Threat critic Rick Kisonak called it “an affecting work of compassionate craftsmanship.” LA Weekly went further, calling it “a thoughtful, historically grounded and utterly absorbing look at a quintessential American experience.”
“You don’t get reviews like that from them,” Hamzeh said, proudly. “I know.”
Meanwhile, groups including Human Rights Watch in London and Amnesty International have asked for copies.
The copies have made few visits to Lewiston. Organizers of a peace gathering this January at Bates College hope to show the film.
Two locals whom Hamzeh interviewed in the movie – former mayors John Jenkins and Kaileigh Tara – have yet to see “The Letter.”
The interest will be intense here, they said.
“My only hope is that it treats us fairly,” Jenkins said.
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