THOUSAND OAKS, CA - California Lutheran University will screen an award-winning documentary about children attempting to immigrate to the United States at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 9.

A faculty panel will discuss the film and answer questions following the screening in Lundring Events Center.

As the United States continues to build a wall between itself and Mexico, “Which Way Home” shows the personal side of immigration through the eyes of children who face harrowing dangers with enormous courage and resourcefulness as they endeavor to cross the border.

The film follows several unaccompanied child migrants as they journey through Mexico en route to the U.S. on a freight train they call “The Beast.” Director Rebecca Cammisa tracks the stories of children like Olga and Freddy, 9-year-old Hondurans desperately trying to reach their families in Minnesota; Jose, a 10-year-old El Salvadoran who has been abandoned by smugglers and ends up alone in a Mexican detention center; and Kevin, a canny, streetwise 14-year-old Honduran whose mother hopes that he will reach New York City and send money back to his family. These are rarely told stories of hope and courage, disappointment and sorrow.

“Which Way Home” has received many honors including the 2010 Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Programming, the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award Grand Prize and a nomination for the 2010 Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary.

The film is part of CLU’s Reel Justice Film Series, which examines the themes of equality and social justice.

The documentary ties into this year’s First-Year Experience program at CLU. CLU freshmen had to read “Enrique’s Journey,” the true story of a teenage boy who rode “The Beast” from Honduras to the U.S. to find his mother, before they arrived on campus for New Student Orientation. Author Sonia Nazario, who originally wrote the story as a series for the Los Angeles Times, spoke on campus in September and students have discussed the book in their Freshman Seminar classes. It was Nazario’s series that prompted Cammisa to make the film.

Lundring Events Center is located in the Gilbert Sports and Fitness Center, which is north of Olsen Road near between Campus Drive and Mountclef Boulevard on the Thousand Oaks campus.

CLU’s Center for Equality and Justice is sponsoring the free event. For more information, contact Sam Thomas at sthomas@callutheran.edu or 805-493-3693.