Building One Community -

BUILDING THE AMERICAN DREAM

Join us for a viewing of this documentary film directed by Chelsea Hernandez

Thursday, September 12th, 7:30pm

at the Avon Theatre, Stamford

Post-film Q&A with 9-time Emmy award-winning filmmaker Mario Troncoso, litigation attorney Andrew D. Schau, and local immigration attorney, Doug Penn.

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About the film:

Across Texas an unstoppable construction boom drives urban sprawl and luxury high-rises. Its dirty secret: abuse of immigrant labor. BUILDING THE AMERICAN DREAM captures a turning point as a movement forms to fight widespread construction industry injustices. The film follows three immigrant families who are rising up to seek justice. Grieving their son, a Mexican family campaigns for a life-and-death safety ordinance. A Salvadorian electrician couple owed thousands in back pay fights for their children's future. A bereaved son battles to protect others from his family's preventable tragedy. A story of courage, resilience and community, the film reveals shocking truths about the hardworking immigrants who build the American Dream, from which they are excluded.

About the guest speakers:

Mario Troncoso is a 9-time Emmy award-winning filmmaker, producer and director of the documentary series ARTS IN CONTEXT which airs on PBS, as well as the Executive Director of The Documentary Society (Doculab). With extensive agency and production company experience, Mario has worked for fifteen years on productions across many formats, ranging from advertising to documentaries and fiction.

Andrew D. Schau is a litigation attorney who currently heads Building One Community’s wage recovery clinic on behalf of unpaid workers. He previously practiced litigation law in New York at Covington & Burling LLP and at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP, where he represented life sciences and other Fortune 500 companies. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Illinois in 1980, and from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1983.

Douglas R. Penn has been practicing in the field of U.S. immigration law since 1997. Mr. Penn represents individuals and businesses with immigration issues before the Citizenship and Immigration Services, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of State and the United States Department of Labor. He regularly gives presentations to community and business groups in Fairfield County and throughout Connecticut on immigration matters.