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This year’s Fall Soul conference challenges us to enlarge our windows and shrink the walls in the boxes that keep us from one another. Come engage the rich and textured culture of the Twin Cities as we view selected documentaries about people behind headlines and travel bans—many with roots and paths in Minnesota, and participating in this conference. How does a young Somali man living in the Twin Cities see his surroundings? What can we learn about courage from women contending with daily violence in Syria, and Iraqis who counter the devastation of war and occupation by building bridges of friendship and reconciliation?

Viewing these films together with actors and directors, musicians, community organizers, theologians, poets, educators, artists, and film critics, we’ll process what we’ve seen and probe race, power, and the complexities of social and political constructs that keep our walls intact. Come discover how “seeing the world as another person sees it” can touch our hearts and evoke empathy, compassion, and change. Turning away from fear and suspicion, we can see the world with fresh eyes and live from a deeper, broader sense of shared humanity.

Sample documentary films and exhibits include:

• “A Stray”, the story of a Somali refugee in Minneapolis crosses paths with a stray dog. Written and directed by Musa Sayeed.
• Queens of Syria – how 50 women from Syria in exile in Jordan come together to create and perform their own version of the ancient Greek tragedy, The Trojan Women.
• Music by Native Latin American composers that tell the story of the colonization process in Latin America, led by Mexican-Egyptian conductor and pianist Ahmed Anzaldúa El Samkary of BorderCrosSing.
• Iraqi Voices, a selection of short documentary films written and directed by Iraqi-Minnesotan refugees and immigrants in the Twin Cities, through the Iraqi-American Reconciliation Project.
• Photo exhibits by Syrian photographer Osama Esid and Jamal Penjweny.