Jeffrey S. Chase Blog
Coordinator & Chief Spokesperson, Round Table of Former Immigration Judges
Hon. “Sir Jeffrey” Chase reports:
I talk all the time about the play “The Courtroom,” for which I served as a consultant, and then actually performed in four times on stage.
The film version (which I am not in) is now an entry in the Tribeca Film Festival, where it can be screened from home over a ten-day window next month. The “script” is entirely taken from the transcript of the Immigration Court hearing of an actual case, and then from the transcript of that same case as argued before the Seventh Circuit (Keathley v. Holder).
Onstage, several actual judges (present and retired) took turns playing the judge in the naturalization scene at the end. Two other retired IJs in addition to myself (Betty Lamb and Terry Bain), and one presently sitting IJ (Mimi Tsankov) performed. But in the film, the actor BD Wong plays Judge Denny Chin of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals; the real Judge Chin also performed that same role onstage. We all got to write our own remarks to address the newly naturalized audience. Judge Chin spoke so poignantly about his own family immigration story, and his remarks appear in the film.
In real life, this was another case in which the IJ and the BIA got it wrong. I feel this story is a tribute to those Paul has labeled the “New Due Process Army.” The real life Chicago attorney Richard Hanus had a brilliant legal argument, his very sympathetic client and her US citizen husband maintained faith in both him and in our legal system, and in the end, justice prevailed.
I hope that you will watch the film (Kristin Villanueva, who plays the respondent, was so moving in the role onstage; my wife, no stranger to immigration court, cried the first time she saw it performed), and maybe let others in our community know of it. Waterwell, the performing arts company responsible for this, is comprised of truly wonderful, talented, and caring people dedicated to creating socially conscious works.
https://www.thecourtroomfilm.com/
”the legal thriller is given a bold and innovative twist”
– Saidah Russell
Stream the Film at Tribeca Film Festival June 16 – 26
Tickets are limited. Buy them HERE.
Watch the Film (password required)
CAST & CREDITS
Directed by Lee Sunday Evans
SCREENWRITER: Arian Moayed
CAST: Marsha Stephanie Blake, Michael Braun, Kathleen Chalfant, Hanna Cheek, Michael Chernus, Michael Bryan French, Mick Hilgers, Linda Powell, Kristin Villanueva, BD Wong
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Anne Carey, Ryan Chanatry, Gena Konstantinakos, Lee Sunday Evans, Arian Moayed
PRODUCERS: Damon Owlia, Jonathan Olson
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: Rebecca Choi
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Daisy Zhou
EDITOR: Cecilia Delgado
PRODUCTION DESIGNER: Emmeline Wilks DuPoise
COSTUME DESIGNER: Junghyun Georgia Lee
COMPOSER: Daniel Kluger
For sales enquiries: United Talent Agency, Jake Carter + Rachel Viola
For press enquiries: Falco
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I don’t know whether Waterwell has “academic rates” or “specials” for social justice fundraising. This could be a great teaching tool for clinical and other immigration professors as well as a potential fundraiser for clinics and community nonprofits dedicated to social justice.
Thanks, Jeffrey, for highlighting this great work. And thanks for the “mini-review.”
🇺🇸Due Process Forever!
PWS
05-28-22