Crawford shows life in a small Midwest town and serves as a microcosm of rural, red-state America. The characters come from all sides of the political spectrum, and the controversy that is reported nationally on the news is played out in the diners of Crawford.

The doc’s website said this about why the film matters:

“Audiences will empathize with the “red” state victims of political stagecraft and leave motivated to question political narratives to come…[T]hey will feel that their experiences under Bush — excitement, misdirection, loss — are in fact shared by the very people they were led to equate with the President. In this way, the film cuts across the Red/Blue divide, promoting engagement over polarization. Audiences will leave this film feeling united in their experience of the Bush era, ready to make informed, engaged choices together in the years to come.”

The full movie should be released in August 2008.

In 2007, UT’s Students of the World (SOW) worked in northern Thailand to document causes and solutions to Thai and Burmese-Thai migration. There are many people near the Thai-Burmese border who lack Thai citizenship even though they were born in Thailand. When the Thai government was registering citizens in the 1950′s, 60′s, and 70′s, many in the Hill Tribes of the north (so called because they are located in the mountains of northern Thailand) were either passed over or unable to provide proof of residency.

This is complicated by the influx of Burmese into the region. There are many reasons Burmese leave their country, especially the repressive military government and wages potentially two to four times higher. Lacking any legal identification once in Thailand, they become very vulnerable.

Both of these groups are often targeted by traffickers, who promise transport across whatever borders to a good job for a (hefty) fee. After they are in the trafficker’s custody, victims are often powerless to direct where they will go, and many are passed into slave-like conditions. Their children, however, are often left behind to fend for themselves.

The Thai government and many NGO’s are working tirelessly to improve conditions, access to citizenship, and prosecution of traffickers. SOW filmed three groups’ efforts to combat trafficking and use the footage to educate about trafficking and to promote the efforts of these organizations.

The schools model is based in training students to become entrepreneurs. It is organized as a collection of micro-businesses, and students alternate between managing the business (i.e. farm work) and studying in class every week. Their operations include an cattle, pigs, dairy production, various vegetables, rabbits, tilapia, and an apiary.

Students of the World is an national organization of student filmmakers who document innovate social solutions to development issues.

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