Laughter filled the Hughes-Trigg Theater as misconceptions about Nigerians and American immigration appeared on the big screen.

A small group of community members and SMU students came out Tuesday night for the premiere of Dallas filmmaker Victor Adetipa’s documentary, “Waving Flag.”

“The main purpose was just to shed a light on Nigeria, Africa as a whole,” Adetipa said. “The media tends to paint Africa in a negative way, and as a filmmaker I thought it was my responsibility to show it with a more holistic view.”

The film touched on issues of racism, cultural differences and language, or rather, accent barriers.

Adetipa interviewed a group of Nigerian immigrants and Nigerian-Americans about their experience growing up and moving to the U.S.

The African Students Association (ASA) hosted the screening.

“We just thought, this is the perfect opportunity to branch between SMU and Dallas,” ASA leader Samira Abderahman said.

The film screening and panel marked ASA’s last event of the year.

“Somebody’s finally telling the story of many, many immigrants,” Abderahman said. “We are all human beings no matter what and there are similarities between our stories.”

After the film, a panel of four Nigerians spoke to the audience. The panelists weighed in on a variety of topics, offering a critical view of everything from the film’s content to the current situation in Libya.

But, the well-rounded discussion soon turned into a heated debate.

The conversation boiled down to the differences between Africans and African-Americans and how they are treated in the United States.

Adetipa, who was also running the panel, attempted to defuse the situation.

“It’s much deeper than color, just black and white,” Adetipa said. “It’s a people issue. People have a hard time relating to people who don’t come from where they’re from.”