SPECIAL NEWS RELEASE
	WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27 at 6 PM Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Ave. @ 2nd St. $5 Admission For info contact (212) 505-5181 or visit www.newfilmmakers.com or www.thirstfilms.com New York City?Thirst Films and BulletProof Film, Inc. announce the New York City premiere of Patriot Acts, a documentary that explores the human cost of the Bush Administration's controversial National Security Entry-Exit Registration System. Inspired by national security concerns and facilitated by the USA PATRIOT Act which was passed six weeks after 9/11, NSEERS (also known as "Special Registration") required non-immigrant males, 16 and older, from predominantly Muslim countries to register with the Department of Homeland Security. Patriot Acts penetrates into the heart of a predominantly Pakistani and Indian community on Chicago's North Side and tells the stories of two men: Tariq Moti, a dancer detained twice by immigration authorities after 9/11, and Mohammad Tariq, a father who came to the United States in search of medical care for his two blind children. Realizing they were witnessing an historical event firsthand, the filmmakers followed Mr. Moti and Mr. Tariq as the two men navigated a maze of newly minted and controversial immigration laws while under the constant threat of arrest, detention, and deportation. Set in March 2003, on the eve of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, this timely documentary captures the turmoil and confusion of a moment when basic civil liberties were undermined during the U.S. Government's 'war on terror'. As the deadline date for registration approached, hard choices were made. Not everyone chose to register. Some fled to Canada, some returned to Pakistan and some went underground for fear of being detained and deported. In December 2003, the Department of Homeland Security suspended Special Registration while denying accusations of racial or religious profiling. Ultimately, over 83,000 men from 25 predominantly Muslim countries registered. None were charged as terrorists. Director Sree Nallamothu is a documentary filmmaker (A Day on the Force) who has taught at the Community TV Network, Columbia College Chicago, and Chicago Filmmakers. Nallamothu owns and operates Thirst Films with freelance writer Patrick Lohier whose work has appeared in the Globe and Mail and the Chicago Reader. "Tackling the Bush administration's "special registration" of immigrant males--largely from Muslim regions--over the age of 16, Nallamothu places a human face on families caught between national security and immigration bureaucracy in the Department of Homeland Security program... It's too bad she wasn't allowed access to the actual special registration proceedings, but what she does get, hanging out in law offices and homes, is gold." Chicago Tribune "Nallamothu shows how easily government resources can be wasted and innocent lives blighted once nationality and ethnicity are automatically treated with suspicion." Chicago Reader "This is a workmanlike documentary that will make the USA?s Patriot Act personal for you if it isn?t already." Now Magazine, Toronto