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A film screening and panel discussion about the construction of the Border Wall featuring the short documentary "Frontier Youth" by John McKenna Kane, a film about the experience of coming of age in Douglas, Arizona, and Agua Prieta, Mexico, amidst the construction of the Border Wall.

After the film screening there was a faculty panel including:

Professor Gary Segura, Political Science, Stanford University
Professor Jan Krawitz, Director, M.F.A. Program in Documentary Film & Video, Department of Art & Art History Stanford University
Peggy Stevenson, JD, San Jose State University
and Filmmaker John McKenna Kane

The event was well-attended and the audience of 60 people joined in a conversation focused on the views and experiences of the young people in the film, the filmmaking process, the editorial decisions involved in making a documentary about a controversial topic, and the role of documentary film in politics. Moderator Gary Segura,Professor of American Politics and the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity at Stanford, brought his academic approach to the study of public opinion, and Latino public opinion, in particular, to the conversation.

John McKenna Kane shared the journey of making "Frontier Youth, " starting with his time in Mexico making his first film "Josue, Sin Cara." As a graduate of Stanford's MFA program in Documentary Film & Video, John was quick to thank Program Director Jan Krawitz for her mentoring and The Bill Lane Center for the American West for providing a grant. John explained how Attorney Peggy Stevenson provided the invaluable contacts in Douglas and Agua Prieta he needed to choose the film location and to find the people in the film.

One of the audience members asked a question about a Mexican widowed father in the film who was forced to live across the border from his children to earn enough money for their basic needs. With great compassion, Peggy Stevenson shared stories from her work with low-income clients for almost 25 years. Most of her clients have been immigrants whom she has assisted as they sought to protect and enforce their rights in the U.S. She sadly related it has become very common to find families divided by lack of resources and opportunities.

John Kane is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and a graduate of Stanford's MFA program in Documentary Film & Video. His films have played at numerous festivals around the country. John lived and worked in Mexico City for two years and speaks fluent Spanish. John's first film, "Josue, Sin Cara (Josue, Without a Face)," portrayed the day-to-day life of a child undocumented immigrant from Honduras. "Left in Baghdad", a film he co-directed, will be broadcast nationally on PBS in November.

Jan Krawitz is a Professor at Stanford University where she directs the M.F.A. Program in Documentary Film. Her films have screened at Sundance, the New York Film Festival, Edinburgh, London, Sydney, SilverDocs, and Full Frame. Her most recent film, Big Enough, was included in the national public television series P.O.V. and was broadcast internationally in 14 countries. Her films In Harm's Way, Mirror Mirror, Drive-in Blues and Little People were also broadcast nationally on PBS and cable.

Gary M. Segura is a Professor of American Politics and the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity at Stanford University. He received his Ph.D. in American Politics and Political Philosophy from the University of Illinois in 1992, and previously taught at the University of California, Davis, Claremont Graduate University, the University of Iowa, and the University of Washington. His work focuses on issues of political representation, and currently is focusing on the accessibility of government and politics to America’s growing Latino minority, as well as a book-length project on the links between casualties in international conflict and domestic politics. Among his most recent publications are “The Mobilizing Effect of Majority-Minority Districts on Latino Turnout” (2004) and “Su Casa Es Nuestra Casa: Latino Politics Research and the Development of American Political Science,” (2007) in the American Political Science Review, "Earth Quakes and After Shocks: Race, Direct Democracy, and Partisan Change," (2006) and “Race and the Recall: Racial Polarization in the California Recall Election,” (2008) both in the American Journal of Political Science, “Culture Clash? Contesting Notions of American Identity and the Effects of Latin American Immigration,” in Perspectives on Politics (2006), and “All Politics are Still Local: the Iraq War and the 2006 Midterm Election” in PS: Political Science and Politics (2008). Earlier research has appeared in the Journal of Politics, Political Behavior, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Social Science Quarterly, the National Civic Review, the Harvard Journal of Hispanic Policy, the Journal of Conflict Resolution, and Rationality and Society, and his work has, on five occasions, been funded by the National Science Foundation. Segura was one of the co-Principal Investigator of the Latino National Survey, a national poll of 8600 Latino residents of the United States conducted in the Spring and Summer of 2006. Segura is the co-Principal Investigator of the “Spanish Translation and Latino Over-sample in the 2008 American National Election Study,” the first ever expansion of the ANES into systematic Spanish interviewing and over-sampling of Latino voters. He is the President-elect of the Midwest Political Science Association in 2008-09, and President in 2009-2010. He is a member of the Editorial Boards of the American Journal of Political Science, and the Political Research Quarterly and a former member of the boards for the Journal of Politics and PS: Political Science and Politics. He serves on the Board of Overseers of the American National Election Study for 2006-2009. In 2004-2005, he served as President of El Sector Latino de la Ciencia Política (Latino Caucus in Political Science).

Attorney Peggy Stevenson has worked with low-income clients for almost 25 years. Most of her clients have been immigrants whom she has assisted as they sought to protect and enforce their rights in the U.S. While her particular interest has involved immigrant workers. Peggy has
represented immigrants in cases involving housing, consumer, immigration and public assistance. She successfully argued two cases before the New Jersey Supreme Court on behalf of immigrant workers.

In 1994 Peggy began teaching law students and undergraduates to work in low-income communities. She ran clinical programs in east San Jose and East Palo Alto, creating opportunities for students to provide assistance to those who needed it, in the clients' own communities. Peggy was a Supervising Clinical Attorney at the Stanford Community Law
Clinic until 2006, when she began teaching undergraduates at San Jose State and doing consulting work in East Palo Alto, Watsonville and elsewhere.

She received her undergraduate degree from Stanford and her law degree from UCLA School of Law.

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