September 12, 2024
6:00 P.M.
West Newton Cinema
"The Old Oak" Screening &
Panel on Immigration in Boston and Beyond
A joint fundraiser between English for New Bostonians and West Newton Cinema.
The Old Oak is a 2023 film directed by Ken Loach. Set in a struggling Northern English community, the story follows the life of a local pub owner, TJ Ballantyne, who faces the challenges of economic decline and social change. When a group of Syrian refugees arrives in the area, TJ must navigate the tensions and prejudices that arise while finding a way to foster understanding and solidarity. The film explores themes of community, resilience, and the impact of global issues on local lives, all through Loach’s signature empathetic lens.
Joe Kennedy III, Marcela García, Wilfrix Cherazard and Ty Burr discuss Ken Loach’s “The Old Oak” and the immigrant crisis.
The movie screening will be September 12, 6 p.m., at the West Newton Cinema. The event will be a joint fundraiser for English for New Bostonians and the West Newton Cinema Foundation.
​
One of the best films of 2023, “The Old Oak” is a British drama about a poor mining town in the north of England, the title pub at which the locals gather, and the pub owner who befriends one of the town’s Syrian refugees and, in being welcomed into her community, is threatened with being ostracized from his own. It’s a humane masterpiece from writer-director Ken Loach, who, at 88, has announced that after more than three dozen movies, “The Old Oak” will be his last.
The film addresses one of the thorniest of modern issues, the international refugee crisis and its effects on local communities, and it does so in a way that is relevant both universally and to lived experiences in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Following the screening on the 12th, a distinguished panel will discuss the film and the issues faced by immigrants and local communities alike. Moderated by former Boston Globe film critic Ty Burr, the panel will include former Congressman Joe Kennedy III, Boston Globe reporter Marcela García, and others!
Panelists:
Joe Kennedy III
United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland
Panelist
Marcela García
Op-Ed Columnist​
Boston Globe
Panelist
Wilfrix Cherazard
ENB ESOL Career Coach
Panelist
Ty Burr
Former Film Critic
Boston Globe
Moderator
Joe Kennedy III
Joe Kennedy has dedicated his career to social and economic justice. A former Congressman, legal aid volunteer, and assistant district attorney, he currently serves in the Biden Administration as Special Envoy to Northern Ireland for Economic Affairs, a key diplomatic post through which he focuses on the long-standing U.S. commitment to peace, prosperity, and stability throughout the region.
​
Joe is President at Citizens Energy, a diversified renewable energy non-profit that helps low-income families meet their basic needs.
He is also the founder of Groundwork Project, a political advocacy organization dedicated to supporting local community organizing efforts in regions of the country historically under-resourced and disenfranchised.
Joe served as the U.S. Representative for Massachusetts 4th congressional district from 2013-2021, where he focused on civil rights and economic justice. Before his election to Congress, he worked as an assistant district attorney in the Cape and Middlesex County offices and as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Dominican Republic.
Joe was born in Boston and graduated from Stanford University and Harvard Law School. He currently serves on numerous non-profit boards, including the Woodwell Climate Research Center, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, and the Massachusetts Association for Mental Health. He is married to Lauren Birchfield Kennedy and they have two young children, Eleanor and James.
Marcela García
Marcela García is a columnist for The Boston Globe’s op-ed page. In her twice-a-week column, she covers a wide range of topics, from public education and immigration policy to social inequities and the Latinx community in Boston and beyond.
​
In an effort to better serve Latinx audiences, García launched ¡Mira!, the Globe's first-ever weekly newsletter written in both English and Spanish. With ¡Mira!, García offers readers a bilingual view into politics, policy, people, pop culture framed through the immigrant experience.
​
García also holds the title of Associate Editor, serves on the Globe editorial board, and occasionally writes editorials, the daily unsigned essays representing the view of the Boston Globe as a community institution. García has been part of the Globe opinion and editorial pages since early 2014 but has covered issues that affect the region’s Latinx communities for roughly 18 years. Previously, she was a correspondent for Telemundo Boston, a special contributor to the Boston Business Journal, and the editor of El Planeta, Boston’s largest Spanish-language publication.
In 2023, García was distinguished by the New England Chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists with its first-ever Impact Award, which goes to a New England journalist who has demonstrated leadership in promoting fair coverage of Latinos and advancement of Latino/a/x journalists in the news industry. The New England NAHJ executive board chose García for her “thoroughly reported” columns on issues affecting Latinos in New England and writing “with authority, clarity and with an empathetic heart that engages readers and galvanizes public officials into action.”
García, who’s originally from Monterrey, México, has lived in Boston for 23 years. She received a graduate degree in journalism from the Harvard Extension School in 2005 and holds a B.S. degree in Economics.
Wilfrix Cherazard
Wilfrix provides group and individual workforce readiness coaching to students learning English at ENB’s community ESOL programs. He helps students prepare for the job market and small business opportunities. Wilfrix supports students as they learn to use technology as part of their job search, understand U.S. work culture, and connect with employers who will treat them with respect.
In Haiti, Wilfrix was a youth teacher, journalist, and pastor. While a student at Gilbert Albert Community Center, one of ENB’s ESOL sites, he became a student leader advocating for more English classes and also served on ENB’s Board of Directors for three years. He worked as a cook while attending Urban College, where he earned an Associate’s degree in Human Services Administration. Wilfrix speaks Haitian Kreyol, French, and English.
For Wilfrix, working as an ESOL Career Coach is an opportunity to give back by helping those struggling to have a better life as an immigrant, as he has done himself. He believes ENB gives immigrants “The Key,” and is happy to help extend that key—English classes. Wilfrix knows that by helping others, he helps himself.
​
Wilfrix is a 2024 recipient of the Light of Dawnn Award, recognizing individuals working in the non-profit sector who demonstrate a compassionate and unwavering commitment to assisting those in need.
Ty Burr
A film critic and pop culture columnist for The Boston Globe for two decades, from 2002 to 2021, Ty currently writes “Ty Burr’s Watch List” (tyburrswatchlist.com), a subscription e-mail newsletter for streaming movie and TV recommendations and cultural commentary; he also writes feature commentary and reviews for the Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and elsewhere.
Ty is the author of the critically acclaimed books "Gods Like Us: On Movie Stardom and Modern Fame" (2013), "The Best Old Movies for Families" (2007), and the e-book "The 50 Movie Starter Kit: What to Know if You Want to Know What You're Talking About" (2013). He wrote reviews and features on many topics for Entertainment Weekly throughout the 1990s and programmed movies for HBO/Cinemax in the 1980s.
A member of the National Society of Film Critics and the Boston Society of Film Critics, Ty has taught courses in film and criticism at Boston University, Tufts University, and Emerson College. Burr studied film at Dartmouth and New York University. He lives in Newton, MA. In 2017, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Criticism.
