86 mins
Assia Boundaoui
Documentary
2018 - USA

Screening with:
I Signed the Petition

Filmmaker Assia Boundaoui is haunted by a childhood memory of being awaken at 3am by two men working on telephone line by her window. Most of her neighbours in her Arab-American (predominantly Palestinian) neighborhood of Bridgeview, a suburb of Chicago, also recall similar incidents, which they all attribute to being under FBI surveillance for more than a decade. Determined to discover the truth, Assia mobilizes her community and uncovers one of the largest FBI counterterrorism probes ever conducted before 9/11. The film weaves the personal and the political as it unveils a history of racial profiling of this community and the profound impacts it has had on its residents. It also provides unprecedented access to Assia’s determination and struggles to disrupt the government secrecy shrouding why her community was targeted by the FBI.

Q&A to follow with director Assia Boundaoui (via skype)

Co-presenters:

South Asian Visual Arts Centre
Canadian Association of Muslim Women in Law (CAMWL)