Wednesday,
February 15 ~ Sunday, February 19
Selections
from the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival
Co-presented
by The Solomon Asch Center for the Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict
at the University of Pennsylvania
Recognizing
the power of film to educate and galvanize a broad constituency
of
concerned citizens, Human Rights Watch created the Human Rights
Watch International Film Festival. This festival has become
a leading venue for distinguished fiction, documentary and animated
films and videos with a distinctive human rights theme. Through
the eyes of committed and courageous filmmakers, they showcase
the heroic stories of activists and survivors from all over
the world. The works featured help to put a human face on threats
to individual freedom and dignity, and celebrate the power of
the human spirit and intellect to prevail.
Wednesday,
February 15 at 7:00pm
Videoletters
dir.
Katarina Rejger and Eric van den Broek, Bosnia and Herzegovina/Slovenia/
Macedonia/Croatia/Serbia and Montenegro (including Kosovo),
2004/2005, BetaSP, 150 mins, color, Albanian, Bosnian, Croatian,
Macedonian, Serbian and Slovenian w/ English subtitles
Introduced
by Dr. Julie Mostov
Videoletters,
a stunning series of twenty short documentary films, was shot
over the past five years by filmmakers who act as initiators,
mailmen and recorders of a dispersed population who hardly have
contact beyond the borders. People express their anger and sadness.
They try to put rumors and false information behind them. They
admit guilt. These films reach across the emotional and physical
divide to open up a new path for the future. Winner of the 2005
HRWIFF Nestor Almendros Prize.
Dr.
Julie Mostov earned her Ph.D. in political theory from New York
University
in
1985 and a Masters in political philosophy from the University
of Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Dr. Mostov is an
expert in South Eastern Europe and the Balkans and conducts
research and projects in the region. She has published two books
and a number of articles and
chapters in edited volumes. Currently, she is the Director of
the International Area Studies at Drexel University.
Thursday,
February 16 at 7:00pm
Justice
dir.
Maria Ramos, The Netherlands, 2004, BetaSP, 100 mins, color,
Portuguese w/ English subtitles
Introduced
by Cristiane Carneiro
 How
and for whom does the judicial system work
in
Brazil? Without attempting to provide definite answers, Maria
Ramos takes her camera to a place where many Brazilians have
never been: a criminal courtroom in Rio de Janeiro. She observes
the daily routine of several people on both sides: those who
work there every day (public attorneys, judges, prosecutors),
and those who are merely passing through (the accused).
Cristiane
Carneiro teaches at Arcadia university, at the International
peace and Conflict Resolution Program. She received a B.A. in
Law and a M.A. in Political Science from the Federal University
of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil, and is currently finishing her
Ph.D. in Politics at New York University. She taught International
Law and Corporate Law at the Federal University of Pernambuco
and at the Association for Higher Education in Olinda - Brazil.
Her work with NGOshas covered issue areas ranging from legal
public service to reproductive rights.
Friday,
February 17 at 7:00pm
No
More Tears Sister
dir.
Helene Klodawsky, Canada, 2004, BetaSP, 79 mins, color
Introduced
by Dr. Arancha Garcia del Soto
 A
story of love, revolution, and betrayal, No More Tears Sister
explores the price of truth in times of war. Wartime mother,
university professor, wife, activist,and symbol of hope, Dr.
Rajani Thiranagama was assassinated in 1989 at the young age
of thirty-five. Fifteen years after her death, her older sister
Nirmala, a former Tamil militant and political prisoner, journeys
back to Sri Lanka, breaking her long silence about Rajani’s
passionate life and brutal slaying.
Saturday,
February 18 at 7:00pm
State
of Fear
dir.
Pamela Yates, Paco de Onís and Peter Kinoy, USA/Perú, 2005,
BetaSP,
94
mins, color, English
and Spanish w/ English subtitles
Introduced
by Dr. Arancha Garcia del Soto
How
can an open society balance demands for security with democracy?
State of Fear dramatizes the human and societal costs
a democracy faces when it embarks on a “war” against terror,
a “war” potentially without end, all too easily exploited by
unscrupulous leaders seeking personal political gain. The film
follows events in Perú, yet it serves as a cautionary tale for
a nation like the United States.
Dr.
Arancha Garcia del Soto is the Director of Refugee Initiatives
at the Solomon Asch Center for the Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict
at the University of Pennsylvania. She has taught at various
Spanish universities on social structure, methods for social
analysis, and development and human rights, and has published
and lectured in Europe, Sri Lanka, West Africa, and the United
States on psychosocial interventions with survivors of violence.
Dr. Garcia del Soto has collaborated with local and international
NGOs for over a decade, formulating programs for different funding
agencies and implementing psychosocial and community programs
with survivors of violence in the Balkans, Magreb, West Africa,
Latin America and Sri Lanka.
Academy
Award® Nominee for Best Documentary
Sunday,
February 19 at 7:00pm
Street
Fight
dir.
Marshall Curry, USA, 2005, BetaSP, 83 mins, color
 Called
"the best American political documentary since 1993's The
War Room " by the Washington Post, Street
Fight tells a riveting story about the underbelly of American
democracy. It chronicles the bare-knuckles race for Mayor of
Newark, NJ between Cory Booker, a 32-year-old Rhodes Scholar/Yale
Law School grad, and Sharpe James, the four-term incumbent and
undisputed champion of New Jersey politics. Fought in Newark
's neighborhoods and housing projects, the battle pits Booker
against an old style political machine that uses any means necessary
to crush its opponents. Winner of the Audience Award at
Tribeca Film Festival, SilverDocs Festival (Washington DC) and
Hot Docs Festival (Toronto), and Jury Prize for Best International
Documentary at Hot Docs.
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