FLIGHT OF PEDRO PAN

90 minutes

Director: Joe Cardona and Mario de Varona

Country: USA

Year: 1999

Language: English and Spanish (English subtitles)

Overview:

Experience the heartache and uncertainty of the 1960s flight of more than 14,000 unaccompanied Cuban children to the United States. The children of Operation Pedro Pan share their personal stories of the sacrifice, survival, broken hearts and new beginnings through interviews and archival footage.

Pre-Viewing Activities:

· Research the History of Cuba

· Research information on the Flight of Pedro Pan.

· Think about what you would do if you were one of these children.

Post- Viewing Activities:

· When did the Flight of Pedro Pan Take place? Why was it called this?

· What does Brian Walsh talk about in the film?

· For how long did these kids think they would be gone? What has been the reality?

· What made parents send their children to the U.S. alone?

· Why are they called gusanos, “worms”?

· What is the mongoose operation?

Class Projects:

· Look up one of the individuals that come out in the documentary and write an essay about one of them.

· Try to place yourself in the shoes of the people in the documentary. Write an essay about what you think it was like for them and what you had done if placed in that situation.

How to Borrow this Video:

The videos owned by the UNC-Duke Consortium in Latin American and Caribbean Studies are housed in the Outreach Office of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  They are lent free of charge.  For information on films and reservations, please visit http://isa.unc.edu/film/films_main.asp.

Suggested Readings:

· http://www.pedropan.org/history.html

· http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Peter_Pan

· http://www.pedropan.org/aboutus.html

· The Children of Flight of Pedro Pan: Author: Maria Armengol Acierno