GLOBAL TOPICS FIND LOCAL RELEVANCE

Three weeks before convicted bank robber Leon "Omar" Mason was freed from a
Maryland penitentiary in 2002, a filmmaker began documenting his release
from jail, survival on the outside and return to prison about a year later.

Though the documentary was shot across the country, its theme will resonate
in East Palo Alto, a city where non-profit groups actively advocate for
former inmates, said organizers of the eighth annual United Nations
Association Film Festival.

The group is not affiliated with the international governing body.

"Omar & Pete" is one of four films the Stanford University-based festival
will show this weekend at its first screening in the city. They offer fresh
perspectives on issues residents in the diverse town grapple with: the
impact of redevelopment in poor communities, the ravages of AIDS in Africa
and the plight of Cubans leaving their homeland for a new life in the
United States.

"It gives East Palo Alto people the opportunity to just kind of step
outside of the bubble and be exposed to issues in the international
community," said Elizabeth Farias, an 18-year-old graduate of Eastside
School who went to the festival last year.

The festival garnered more than 270 film submissions from countries such as
Armenia, Haiti and Iraq. East Palo Alto's special screening precedes the
main viewings of 32 films at Stanford on Oct. 19-23.

Organizers said the festival's partnership with the 2.5-square-mile town
was a natural fit. More than 40 percent of the town's roughly 29,500
residents are foreign born, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures.

"East Palo Alto is a piece of the community from many parts of the world,"
said Michael Levin, the content manager for Plugged In, a local non-profit
that helped bring the city officials and festival organizers together.

From 2 to 10 p.m. Saturday, the films will show at the year-old Eastside
School theater. They include "Chavez Ravine: A Los Angeles Story," about a
disastrous redevelopment project in Southern California that adversely
affected many Latinos; and "Speak Luvo Speak Jane," which touches on the
impact of Africa's AIDS epidemic on nursery-age children. "Boxers and
Ballerinas" focuses on Cuban athletes defecting from their country to find
opportunities in the United States.

Overall, organizers said, the films converge around the theme of "A
Statement of Hope and Courage."

"We're reminded every minute -- every second -- that bad things are
happening," said festival founder Jasmina Bojic. "The most important thing
is learning about what's going on and making a better world."

The films that will screen in East Palo Alto portray both hope and
disappointment.

In "Omar & Pete," Mason is back on Maryland's streets after serving a
sentence for bank robbery with a deadly weapon. Before he gets out of jail,
he reflects on his new life and says, "My fear will be not being able to
adapt to the society out there."

Though he stays out of prison for nearly a year, reunites with relatives
and even begins a business, he eventually relapses into drug abuse.

Months after filming ended, he's arrested for armed robbery and first
degree assault, according to a note at the end of the documentary.

The film is a "basis to entering into the discussion of drug addiction,"
said Dorsey Nunn, who will facilitate a discussion after the viewing. Nunn
is a co-founder of the non-profit organizations "Free at Last," which
focuses on rehabilitation, and "All of Us or None," an advocacy group for
individuals who have been incarcerated and their families.

In "Chavez Ravine," hundreds of people are displaced when the city of Los
Angeles decides to build low-income housing on their land a few miles away
from downtown. Though community members are promised to be the first to
move into the development when it is finished, the city's housing director
is ensnarled in political issues, and Dodger Stadium is eventually built on
the property instead.

In East Palo Alto, residents have been known to be suspicious of
redevelopment, organizers said. After that viewing, Carlos Martinez, the
city's redevelopment director, will facilitate a discussion.

"I'd like to explain how redevelopment has changed," he said.

The fact that East Palo Alto could host the special screening is a sign of
the city's maturation, said Levin, who produced and directed a film about
the town a decade ago. Prior film festivals were set up in churches and
schools, but now the city has access to Eastside's 200-seat theater.

And, said Levin, the city's ability in recent years to move beyond basic
issues of crime and poverty offers more room for reflection.

"There's more mental space to look at issues beyond violence, housing and
job security," Levin said. "To me, it's a community coming of age."