Film Screening & Panel Discussion: Nobody Wants Us

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Join us for a screening and discussion of the 2019 documentary film, Nobody Wants Us (directed by Laura Seltzer-Duny). 

The film explores an extraordinary event in 1940, when 83 exhausted passengers were trapped on a steamship in the port of Hampton Roads, Virginia. They were hoping to be allowed on American soil—where millions of others in distress had safely landed in previous generations. Without the intervention of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, along with a Virginia Maritime Lawyer and a Portuguese Diplomat, these refugees might not have survived, much less gained access to the U.S. Times had changed and America was turning away refugees. Would these families be turned away too? Nobody Wants Us is their story. 

PANELISTS:

Waleska Casiano, an Immigration Attorney born in Puerto Rico practicing in Annapolis, Maryland. She also works as a Pro-Bono Attorney for immigrant families at Centro de Ayuda in Annapolis, MD.

Joel Rubin, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs in the Obama Administration, and newly appointed as Bernie Sanders' liaison to the Jewish community, is a leading national security, foreign policy, and congressional expert. ​

Laura Seltzer-Duny, the documentary filmmaker of Nobody Wants Us & award-winning PBS Producer/Director

The panel will be moderated by Victoria Bruce, local Filmmaker, Author & Media Strategist

The relevance of this documentary goes far beyond the historical significance of the Steamship Quanza. It addresses how the United States responded to refugees fleeing war-torn Europe and encourages us to consider our reaction to refugees today. The film reinforces the concept of helping those in need when the world seems against them.