Dear friends, supporters, and allies; The last few weeks have been challenging for many of us. Trump was re-elected, new elections are due in Germany, and in both countries – as in many others – anti-immigration policies and rhetoric are setting the agenda. For years, this development has been driven by the so-called center of […]
(Excerpted from a recent article in the Christian Science Monitor) Germany has made a historic change to its citizenship laws, allowing dual citizenship for the first time. This shift, passed by the government, holds immense potential for the millions of residents with immigrant backgrounds who, until now, were forced to choose between their heritage and […]
Dear friends and supporters, COMING UP NEXT! On May 16th in Seattle FROM HERE will screen accompanied by a live performance of the score with composer Alex Guy. Get your tickets before they sell out! In Germany, we’ll be offering a workshop on all of our educational resources for the Bosch foundations “Deutsche Schulportal” on May 16th and on May 8th we […]
Dear Friends and Supporters, We hope you are having a good start to 2024! 2023 was a year in which we deepened our work to shift the narratives around migration and belonging in a political climate that needs this intervention more than ever. Over the course of the year, we hosted or participated in 42 events in […]
Dear friends, I’m thrilled to announce that. FROM HERE will be available in the U.S. as part of public media’s America ReFramed, starting TODAY – June 1 at 8pm ET on WORLD Channel and the PBS app – kicking off National Immigrant Heritage Month. I couldn’t imagine a better partner than this award-winning series, known for presenting personal stories that illuminate […]
Dear friends, Spring is in the air, and we are busy! The FROM HERE U.S. team is creating meaningful discussions on global migration and belonging from the key swing state of ARIZONA to the BRONX and the BAY AREA. Please join us if you are in the region and help us spread the word! AJO, AZ […]
Dear friends, We hope you had a meaningful start of the year! Please join us for a special bilingual (Spanish/English) screening event at the Queens Museum this Saturday Jan 28th from 2 to 4 pm of FROM HERE. The event is hosted by the museum’s La Jornada Cultural Food Pantry with support of NYC Commission on Human Rights. FROM HERE Trailer Protagonists of FROM HERE Tania Mattos and Sonny Singh will be in person […]
We’re excited to share that our feature documentary, From Here, will broadcast as part of the America ReFramed series on June 11th. The film, directed by Christina Antonakos-Wallace, is an intimate and inspiring look at the lives of four young artists and activists from immigrant families, as they redefine what it means to belong in […]
Dear friend, We have exciting news regarding FROM HERE and we hope you can get inspired and share with your networks! In the last months we have been busy orchestrating our international impact campaign, including an upcoming series of screenings along the U.S./Mexico border, events to support unionizing Food Industry workers in New York and New Jersey, and are about to launch the “Pass(t) uns […]
It is March 11, 2020, and I’m at JFK airport on my way to London for the premiere of FROM HERE at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival. As I hand over my bag, a White House press conference takes over the airport monitors: “Travel will be suspended from Europe to the U.S. due to […]
Dear Friends, As the year winds down, I hope that each of you is finding peace, warmth and safety as we look ahead to 2022. Today, our team is excited to announce that thanks to a generous donation, we are hiring an Impact Producer in the U.S. to steer the next phase of FROM HERE‘s community work! We […]
I first became involved with the With Wings and Roots project in 2015. Through the years, I found myself drawn back to the initiative both because I believed in its mission and because I saw so much of myself in it. When I first watched an early cut of From Here, I immediately connected to […]
“There is such a cathartic power in the removal of symbols of past occupation. It is a visceral reclamation of self-ownership and identity independent from the oppressor and his ideology of subjection. Every toppled statue shatters the illusion that the ‘glorious’ era of Empire was anything other than exploitative and drenched in the blood of […]
The first time I came across the term “with wings and roots” and the larger project that shared its name was in June 2015. I was at a conference trying to decide on a breakout session to attend and the title captured my attention. I do not remember the details of the session so well, […]
Dear Friends, Spring is here, those of us in the U.S. are so grateful to be getting vaccinated, and we are happy to continue to share FROM HERE with audiences in new geographies. In the last weeks, we won two very exciting honors–Best Feature Documentary from the Oklahoma Cine Latino Film Festival, and Best First Time Documentary from the […]
This interview was conducted by Guillermina Zabala (GZ) and Sumita Chakravarty (SC) in conversation with Christina Antonakos-Wallace (CA). It has been edited for brevity for With Wings and Roots. The full version can be found on Migration Mapping. —— SC: Can you tell us a little about the genesis of this project? CA: Many tributaries […]
Dear Friends, What an emotional week and month. On the same day that we witnessed a historic step towards police accountability, sixteen-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant was murdered by the police. The recent mass shooting in Indianapolis included four Sikh Americans, but there has hardly been a mention of this racialized dimension of the attack in the news. […]
We Can’t Afford to Go Back to Old Models of Immigration Policy “Immigrants are human beings, not economic units…this is an opportunity for a new approach to immigration. The antidote to four years of hate is not a return to an ambivalent normal. If we want to fight the hate, we need to put love […]
At the start of the pandemic, it was thought that COVID-19 would be a great equalizer. The virus did not discriminate along class, race, citizenship status, or any other social construct — everyone was in the same boat. The opposite quickly became true. As the pandemic progressed, it became clear that already marginalized communities were […]
Friends! We hope you are healthy and hanging in there. There is a lot brewing this Spring with FROM HERE & With Wings and Roots! Join us for an upcoming screening or workshop, and please spread the word with your friends, colleagues, networks. MARCH FROM HERE SCREENINGS USA: March 4-14 2021 From Here at Seattle Asian American Film Festival (USA, English), TICKETS PS: […]
In the sticky-hot early fall, my grandmother would make us blackberry jam. Peak August would give way to early September, and we’d cross the dry yellow grass to the thicket of blackberries at the far end of the yard. My grandpa, Agha, admired his Douglas Firs lining the back fence – planted in the same […]
Welcome to our new website for With Wings and Roots*–a network of media makers, scholars, activists, and community members working to bring new impulses to conversations on migration, citizenship and belonging! We are so excited to share this beautiful upgrade. As part of relaunching the site, we have created a new blog. We will use […]
Dear Friends, I hope this message finds you well. 2020 continues to be a year that challenges us in new ways. We are grieving so many things–all of them interconnected. Just as the climate crisis seemed to eclipse our view on the West Coast, the loss of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the unconscionable forced sterilizations of […]
Dear friends and beloved community, In this hopeful moment of global uprising against anti-Black racism and for human dignity at large, it gives me tremendous joy to announce that FROM HERE premieres today! The film is viewable from June 11-20th as part of the Human Rights Watch Film Festival NY Digital Edition with a live Q&A on June 14th at 8pm […]
#DefendBlackLife #BlackLivesMatter The team of From Here & With Wings and Roots are reeling from the murders of George Floyd, Nina Pop, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, and countless others. In the midst of urgent uprisings in defense of Black lives and a pandemic which lays many of the indignities of systemic racism bare, we are called to move […]
Join FROM HERE’s Online Premiere! We are so excited to announce that our film FROM HERE (formerly With Wings and Roots) will have it’s online premiere June 11-20th at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival – New York. While we will miss being with you in person, we are thrilled that people outside of New York City can […]
April 28, 2020 (Excerpted from a 2020 article by Film at Lincoln Center) We are thrilled to share From Here’s United States premiere will be with the the Human Rights Watch Film Festival, which has pivoted form an in-person to virtual festival. The 2020 Human Rights Watch Film Festival has gone digital, offering a nationwide […]
Dear Friends, We are overjoyed to finally be able to share the good news that our film From Here (formerly titled With Wings & Roots) has been selected for the London Human Rights Watch Film Festival. Tickets for the festival screenings are available for March 13, 17th, 18th purchase tickets London Fam, we’d love to see you at our screenings and […]
Friends – we have a new name! First and foremost, I can’t thank you enough for your support over the last decade as the team and I have journeyed to reimagine belonging through the stories told in With Wings and Roots. Along the way, the project has grown into much more than a film. The team […]
Nevertheless She/We Persisted We are embracing this motto as we dig deep in our storytelling to reframe migration, citizenship and belonging. We recently returned from editing in Puerto Rico, and are headed to Los Angeles for a roughcut screening tonight the International Documentary Association’s DocuClub Series. We trust that our film, which has taken longer than expected […]
Dear Friends, I owe you an update about With Wings and Roots. There is good news to share. But right now I am compelled to write you for another reason: to ask you to demand that families are reunited by joining an action on June 30th at one of +600 events across the U.S. The onslaught of attacks on migrants […]
Dear Friends and Supporters, What does it mean to be American or German, and more than that? Who has the right to citizenship, and who is perceived to belong? How can we re-imagine belonging to reflect our global realities? These are questions we have been asking for many years, but they have revealed themselves to be more urgent than ever as nationalist politics […]
Dear Seattle Friends, I hope this message finds you well! I am writing to let you know about a youth media workshop that With Wings and Roots is offering this coming Saturday in the Seattle area in partnership with Young Women Empowered. We would very much appreciate your support in spreading the word with young people or adults who work with […]
Dear Friends, Supporters and Colleagues, We hope that 2016 is already well on its way to being a great year for you. It is going to be a very big one for With Wings and Roots. The New York team will start it off a community building celebration on March 5th at Mayday Space in Brooklyn from 6–9pm, as well as […]
With WINGS and ROOTS invites community members to join us for the U.S. launch of our website, REIMAGINE BELONGING, at the New School University Center (65 5th Ave, NYC) on Saturday, September 19th at 5:30 pm. RSVP here! 5:30 – Installation of Migration History 6:00 – Film Preview & Website Walk Through 6:30 – Panel Discussion: Immigrant Rights, Racial Justice and New Visions of Citizenship […]
Dear Friends, With several very eventful months behind us, we would love to share some updates and ask you to SAVE THE DATE for the launch of our interactive website, ReimagineBelonging.org, in New York on Saturday, September 19th. Over the last few months we: premiered the German-language version of our interactive website at a Launch Event in Berlin with 200 […]
Dear friends, Greetings from deep inside editing suite! I have been in Berlin since February’s working with our super-talented editor Aletta von Vietinghoff and a great team of collaborators, as we transform seven years of footage into a 90-min documentary. It has been a massive job but extremely rewarding, and we are so close! Each day […]
Dear friends, Greetings from Berlin, where we are currently editing WITH WINGS AND ROOTS. Spring is here and much has happened in the last months. Here is a quick summary: We completed 2 successful crowdfunding campaigns in the US and Germany, raising a total of $40,000 We have built a Beta-Version of our interactive site (still password […]
