ABILENE, Kan. – The documentary film Crossing Waters will be shown as part of a Kansas Town Hall program at the Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and Boyhood Home. The 40-minute film will begin at 7 p.m.on Nov. 15 in the Visitors Center Auditorium followed by a question and answer opportunity with filmmaker Jane Watson. This event is free and open to the public.

Crossing Waters uses archival sources and interviews with current residents of Poughkeepsie, New York, to chronicle the arrival of Irish and Italian immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It follows their cultural and economic struggles to gain a toehold in a city they have since helped build. It also portrays the musings of their descendants who now feel pushed out of the neighborhood where they were once scorned as invaders. Taking a look at the past history of reactionary nativism, filmmaker Jane Watson shines a light on current debates regarding immigrants and refugees in the United States.

Jane Watson is an independent filmmaker who lives in the Hudson Valley. Watson is a graduate of NYU’s prestigious film school with a passion for film-making.

The film has received several awards: Best Short Documentary at the Mexico International Film Festival earlier this year, Silver Award Spotlight Documentary Film Awards – Atlanta (December 2015), and Award for Merit Special Mention for Technical and Artistic Capabilities – Women Filmmakers Indie Fest (November 2015) – La Jolla, California.