"9500 Liberty" Is Showing In Salem

9500 LIBERTY
High Street Cinema
445 High Street SE
Salem, OR
(503) 378-7676
Mon. 7/19 – Thu. 7/22 6:30

9500 LIBERTY is directed by Coffee Party founders Annabel Park and Eric Byler. During the film's national tour, Byler and Park have been meeting with Coffee Party members around the country, rallying around the film's non-partisan, participatory democracy message.

After a 10-month culture war that included a bitterly contentious election, the government of Prince William County, VA, implemented a law requiring police to check the immigration status of those they had "probable cause" to believe were undocumented immigrants in March 2008. Despite a climate of fear and racial tension, ordinary citizens banded together to ask lawmakers to repeal of the controversial "probable cause" mandate. With an inventive combination of Internet and grassroots advocacy, Republicans and Democrats, stay-at-home moms, and religious leaders presented the Board of Supervisors with evidence of the law's unexpectedly negative economic impact, and warning of the costly law suits that would soon become a heavy burden for taxpayers. Both Arizona's S.B. 1070 and the Virginia county's short-lived "probable cause" mandate were originally drafted by the same anti-immigration lobbying firm in Washington DC. When the provision was repealed in Virginia, the law found a new home in Arizona.

Law enforcement leaders in Arizona and around the country have pointed to 9500 LIBERTY as an effective summation of the alarming economic and public safety impacts of laws like S.B. 1070. 9500 LIBERTY was recently presented at the Police Executives Research Forum convention in Philadelphia, PA, and at the Major County Sheriffs' Association convention in Anaheim, CA.

Harkins Theatres, which is based in Phoenix, rushed 9500 LIBERTY into an "emergency theatrical release" when S.B. 1070 was signed in April. The film opened a week after the bill was signed, and earned more than $30,000 in box office. The success in Phoenix led to theatrical engagements around the country.

Critics Applaud 9500 LIBERTY:

"A few years before Arizona passed its new immigration law, a similar law was passed and then repealed in Virginia's Prince William County. The documentary “9500 Liberty” tells the fascinating story of how that happened, and possibly foretells what lies ahead for Arizona. In Virginia, the law was eventually overturned by a combination of middle-class whites, Republican office holders, the police chief, Latinos and economic reality."
Roger Ebert, The Chicago Sun-Times

“This engrossing documentary traces ugly repercussions
in northern Virginia when a resolution is passed requiring cops to
question anyone they have ‘probable cause’ to suspect of being an illegal alien.”
Dennis Harvey, Variety

“There are certain films in certain times that make it exceedingly difficult to shut out the world around you. 9500 Liberty is one of them."
Bill, Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic

"With an uplifting turn of events and some extraordinary acts of conscience,
9500 Liberty is as dramatically charged as any fiction movie. And ultimately, it’s as powerful a booster of the democratic process as anything Frank Capra ever imprinted into our collective memory."
Desson Thomson, The Wrap

"9500 Liberty is a well made, engaging example of the documentary form, a film in which compelling storytelling transcends politics."
Slackerwood.com