BRUNSWICK – Maine will revisit Lewiston’s Jan. 11, 2003, diversity rallies and the events that led up to them when “The Letter” has its Maine theatrical debut next month.
The Eveningstar Cinema will show the documentary by filmmaker Ziad Hamzeh for a week beginning April 29.
John Favreau, owner of the Brunswick theater, said he hopes to have some of the subjects of the documentary on hand for a question-and-answer session on April 29. He plans to invite members of the Many and One Coalition, former mayors and local Somalis.
“Unless you were there and attended one of the rallies, I don’t think you can you realize how huge this controversy was,” Favreau said. He said he remembered television reports and news accounts of the controversy.
“But I had no idea just how much was going on, until I saw the movie,” he said. “I think a lot of people in Maine will be like that. For some, it’ll be revisiting the past. But for a lot of people, it’ll be brand-new.”
Filmmaker Hamzeh plans on attending a second question-and-answer session on April 30.
More than 1,100 Somali immigrants moved to Lewiston between February 2001 and October 2002. The influx prompted Mayor Larry Raymond to write an “open letter” to the local Somali community, asking them to stop friends and family from arriving in large numbers.
The letter drew an angry response and charges of bigotry from Somali leaders. Subsequent worldwide media attention attracted white supremacists, who saw an opportunity to recruit members.
The 75-minute film includes footage of twin rallies held in Lewiston on Jan. 11, 2003. The sequence of the rallies – one for peace and unity, the other for hate – cuts between neo-Nazi talk of “race mixing” and pleas for peace by people including Gov. John Baldacci.
The issues identified in the film are common worldwide, Hamzeh said. That accounts for its popularity.
“Even in Canada, they are dealing with these issues of new people coming in,” Hamzeh said. “It’s not just in Lewiston. It’s good for people all around the world to see what can happen, and how it gets dealt with.”
“The Letter” began making the rounds of film festivals in November 2003, when it opened at the American Film Institute’s International Film Festival in Los Angeles. The Many and One Coalition showed the movie last year to mark the anniversary of the Jan. 11 rallies. It opened in New York City last month to good reviews.
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