This Sunday, August 5th: Rain in a Dry Land

Come join us this Sunday, August the 5th, 6:30 PM at First Presbyterian Church

For our kick-off of the 2012 MRC Film Series:

Rain in a Dry Land

With a Q&A to follow with this week's Guest Speaker:

Multicultural Refugee Coalition Co-founder

Meg Goodman

About the Film:

"Makepeace’s previous feature documentary, Rain in a Dry Land, chronicles the journey and resettlement of two Somali Bantu refugee families from Africa through their first two years in America. Rain in a Dry Land received a limited theatrical release through Emerging Pictures, was nominated for an Emmy, and was broadcast nationally as the lead show on PBS’ P.O.V. series’ 2007 season."

"A deeply felt humanist tale."
     Gerald Peary, Boston Phoenix


"Rain in a Dry Land is a film about time travel, culture shock, a leap from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century as two devout Muslim families find new homes in urban America. We meet these families in their 'cultural orientation class' in a refugee camp in Kenya, where they are preparing for their new lives. In the classroom they discover ice, a refrigerator, a bathtub, and learn about elevators, stairs, and buildings taller than one story...

The power of the documentary lies in the strength and beauty of our featured families. In cinema verité style, we follow them from the refugee camp through their first eighteen months in America, experiencing with them hope and despair, success and failure, and ultimately a kind of rebirth...

The title, Rain in a Dry Land, is a rough translation of one of the Somali Bantu's frequent expressions: 'bish bish.' Literally meaning 'splash splash,' the term refers to the return of rain after a long drought, the transformation of a desiccated land into a world bursting with new life. Despite all their hardships, they often referred to America as 'bish bish,' paradise, resurrection."

(from the website of Makepeace Productions)