The Least of These

The Least of These plays Wednesday night, September 30 at 7, at the Rice Media Center. This one-hour documentary reveals what happens to immigrant families who are detained and/or deported. The screening is funded in collaboration with Houston Indy Media and the ACLU.
Most striking are the examination of family detention centers that, unfortunately for those who have to stay there, appear in hospitality to be between a prison and a dorm.
The film's producer Marcy Garriott, in an email interview, discussed the film's distribution rollout after its world premiere at SXSW last spring.
"Our distribution is three-fold: (1) SnagFilms for web streaming, (2) Indiepix for DVD, and (3) Cinema Guild for educational. The on-line component, SnagFilms, was important to us not for financial reasons, but for marketing and outreach. Having the film available for free online raised the profile of the film immediately, and allowed us to reach a much broader audience than we would have in any other way.
"This overall approach has been a huge home run for the film and for the issues that it portrays. The film has been watched by thousands of people online, in parallel with festival and special screenings across the country, including three critical screenings in Washington D.C.
"In August, the Obama administration announced that they will no longer send families to the detention facility portrayed in the film, which is housed in a former medium security prison. This is a huge victory for the advocates who fought to improve conditions for children there. We feel that the film and its distribution partners contributed strongly to this dialogue and outcome."