Film writing

William Hart's Screen Writing

ROOTS IN THE SAND

Rosario & Purn Singh Saikhon (1928)

Along the Mexican border in the Imperial Valley of Southern California, America's first immigrants from India helped form a new multi-ethnic community early in the 20th century. Several hundred men from the Punjab (Hindu, Sikh, and Moslem) married women recently arrived in the U.S. from Mexico. Roots in the Sand , a one-hour documentary, explores how these bicultural pioneers and their descendants overcame a thicket of state and federal regulations passed against them to thrive and to serve their new country--in peace and in war.

Roots in the Sand (1998) was funded by NAATA and by California Council for the Humanities. It won many awards at film festivals here and abroad and began playing on PBS in 2000.

For more information about Roots, click the appropriate link below.

SISTERS OF SELMA
Bearing Witness for Change

Sisters Antona, Roberta, and Rosemary, Selma 1965. (Photo: Corbis)

This one-hour documentary is the story of some Catholic nuns, African American and white, who joined the Selma, Alabama voting rights marches in 1965. Defying church authority and risking personal safety these brave women helped change the nature of the civil rights movement as well as our conception of "nun." Dramatic days in U.S. history are recreated as the main participants describe their roles and the effects upon their lives.

Sisters is funded by ITVS, by the Louisville Institute, and by Alabama Humanities Foundation. For more information about Sisters, click the appropriate link below.

Roots in the Sand

Sisters of Selma

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