From the Other Side South

Tonight's program features two of Belgian director Chantal Akerman's recent documentaries: From the Other Side, about immigration and two towns on the U.S./Mexico border, and South, about the murder of James Byrd, Jr., in Jasper, Texas.

Second feature start time: 8:50 pm. "Comparable in force and originality to Godard or Fassbinder, Chantal Akerman is arguably the most important European director of her generation."--J. Hoberman, Village Voice.

From the Other Side is a lyrical, riveting portrait of two border towns: Agua Prieta, Sonora, where impoverished Mexicans gather to cross over into the U.S., and Douglas, Arizona, their immediate destination. The film is interspersed with sequences of Mexican workers telling their harrowing and often heart-breaking stories are landscape views and silent tracking shots of astonishing lyricism. (2002; 99 mins.)

South is Akerman's pensive investigation of the racially motivated murder of James Byrd, Jr., in Jasper, Texas. (1999; 70 mins.)