The International Festival of Cinema and Religion in Ferrara, Italy has presented its Human Rights award to Posada, a film written, produced, and directed by Mark McGregor, S.J. Currently a visiting professor in the Bannan Institute for Jesuit Education, McGregor is also the National Coordinator of the Posadas Project, which focuses on the plight of thousands of unaccompanied refugee and migrant children who are homeless or incarcerated in the United States.
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Mark McGregor
Photo: Emily
Arouth |
Las Posadas is a religious procession during Advent that originated in colonial Mexico. In it Catholic communities imitate the “journey of hope” of Joseph and Mary as they sought an inn that would shelter them in Bethlehem. McGregor’s film tells the story of three teenagers—Densi Diaz, Johny Figueroa, and Wilber Garcia—who make the journey from their homes in Central America to the United States, where they were detained by immigration officials for several months.
A November screening of Posada was sponsored by Santa Clara’s new Justice and the Arts Initiative, which sets out to provide the intellectual framework for approaching performing, visual, and communication arts in terms of how they relate to issues of social justice. The initiative is co-directed by Kristin Kusanovich, who teaches modern dance technique and choreographs professionally for the Department of Theatre and Dance, and Carolyn Silberman, who has taught on the SCU dance faculty for over 20 years. —RH