Wednesday,
February 11 - Saturday, February 14
Selections
from the Human Rights Watch Film Festival, 7th Edition
Co-presented
by The Greenfield Intercultural Center at the University of
Pennsylvania
Selected
by the HRW programming committee from more than 500 submissions,
these films contain the essence of those conditions that preoccupy
all of us who are concerned with the world outside our everyday
existences. The Human Watch International Film Festival brings
the opportunity to step outside our usual focus, and again remind
ourselves that we are citizens of the world and that we forget
our broader responsibilities at our own peril.
Wednesday,
February 11 at 7pm
The
Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo
dir.
Lisa Jackson, US, 2007, BetaSP, 76 mins, color, English,
French, Swahili, Lingala and Mashi w/ English subtitles
Introduced by Dr Arancha
Garcia del Soto
Shot
in the war zones of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC),
this extraordinary film sensitively yet unflinchingly shows
the plight of women and girls caught in that country’s intractable
conflicts. Herself a survivor of rape, Emmy Award-winning filmmaker
Lisa Jackson travels through the DRC to understand why this
is happening, interviewing activists, peacekeepers, physicians
and the indifferent perpetrators. The most remarkable moments
of the film come as survivors recount inspiring examples of
resilience, resistance, courage and grace. Special Jury Prize,
Sundance Film Festival 2008.
Arancha
Garcia del Soto collaborates with international and
local organizations formulating projects on wellbeing for
survivors of violence and worked and taught in the
Balkans (since 1993), Africa, Latin America, Iraq and Sri
Lanka. She is the Helen Hamlyn Senior Fellow at the Institute
of Humanitarian Affairs of Fordham University in New York City,
where she teaches and was Director of Refugee Initiatives at
the Solomon Asch Center of the University of Pennsylvania in
Philadelphia (2002-2006).
Thursday,
February 12 at 7pm
Letter
to Anna
dir.
Eric Bergkraut, Switzerland, 2008, BetaSP, 84 mins, color, Russian
and English w/ English subtitles
Anna
Politkovskaya was a brave and tenacious journalist for Novaya
Gazeta, one of Russia’s few independent newspapers, where
she strongly criticized Russian military actions in Chechnya.
In October 2006, she was murdered in the stairwell of her Moscow
apartment building. Filmmaker Eric Bergkraut met Politkovskaya
while making his documentary Coca: the Dove from Chechnya
and captured powerful, frank interviews with the late
reporter. In Letter to Anna, these are interwoven
with a tantalizing search for her killers and insightful contributions
from colleagues and loved ones who celebrate the life and work
of an extraordinary woman and mother, a fearless defender of
the people and “the conscience of Russia.” Narrated by Susan
Sarandon.
Friday,
February 13 at 7pm
A
Promise to the Dead
dir.
Peter Raymont, Canada, 2006, BetaSP, 92 mins, color, English
and Spanish w/ English subtitles
Introduced
by Rosemary Barbera
On
September 11, 1973, Chile’s military staged a coup led by Augusto
Pinochet. As the overthrow took hold, the democratically elected
president Salvador Allende called government members to the
presidential palace to stand against their attackers. Ariel
Dorfman, Allende’s cultural advisor, should have been there
too; he discovered his name was struck from the list so he could
live to tell the world what happened that day. Three decades
later, filmmaker Peter Raymont travels to Chile with Dorfman.
While Pinochet lay dying, Raymont follows Dorfman through reunions
with friends and fellow resisters and to powerful emotionally
and historically personal landmarks. During the journey they
explore exile, memory and the search for justice.
Rosemary
Barbera, an Assistant Professor of Social Work at Monmouth University,
has worked in the human rights field for over 25 years in the
United States and Latin America. She moved to Chile in
1987 to work in human rights and continues that involvement
in both Chile and the US. In Chile, along with family
members of the disappeared, she is documenting their story as
human rights activists and in the United States she is involved
with the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign.
She has been teaching social work with a focus on community
and international practice and human rights since 1996 and brings
students to Chile with her each year to work in a Colonia Urbana
based on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Saturday,
February 14 at 7pm
Youth
Producing Change
Introduced by Lina
Cherfas
Adobe
Youth Voices,
the Adobe Foundation's global philanthropic initiative empowers
youth from underserved communities worldwide to comment on their
world using multimedia and digital tools to communicate and
share their ideas, demonstrate their potential, and take action
in their communities.. Armed with digital cameras, computers
and their own boundless creativity – these young people bravely
expose human rights issues faced by themselves and their communities.
Running time 80 minutes.
The
Countdown
dir.
Rene Dongo, US, 2007, video, 6 mins, color
A
plane left spoken word artist Sofia Snow’s hometown on September
11th, never reaching its destination. Sofia shares her hope
that society can work to fill the empty space left by the tragedy.
Women
Empowerment
dir.
Lithiko Mthobeli, South Africa, 2007, video, 5 mins, color
Reflecting
on the harsh reality mothers face in raising children alone
in their township, these young South African filmmakers celebrate
their mothers' resilience to overcome the obstacles that lay
before them.
I
Want My Parents Back
dir.
Aaron Dominguez, Euniz Gonzalez, Argenis Herrera, Garrett Hayes,
Khirye Rice, Melly Jenny, Nathan Villalobos, Omar Flores and
Cody Marshall, US/Mexico, 2007, video, 11 mins, color, English
and Spanish w/ English subtitles
The
impact of US immigration policies hit home when the undocumented
parents of the Munoz family are deported without warning to
Mexico, leaving their 3 young American-born children behind.
Islands
of the People
dir.
Amber Good, Raven Hausman-Hayward, Justin Klevgaard and Jesse
Williams, Canada, 2007, video, 6 mins, color, English and Haida
w/ English subtitles
Haida
is an Indigenous nation on the west coast of Canada. Amber Good
is a 13 year old girl with a very important role to play. Facing
the dark history of colonization and forced assimilation that
nearly wiped out her culture, Amber makes a commitment to learn
the Haida language from her grandmother Nonnie Mary Swanson,
one of the last people who can speak, read and write in their
native language.
The
True Cost of Coal
dir.
Brittany Hunsaker, Autumn Nikki King and Willa Johnson, US,
2007, video, 14 mins, color
Coal
mining is a way of life and death in Eastern Kentucky. Despite
over 100 years of mining, the communities that provide this
work force remain some of the most poverty-stricken and contaminated
areas in the United States. As energy prices soar and the government
and coal companies unite to increase coal extraction, mountain
communities rally to protect their rights.
The
Hidden Cost of Cashmere
dir.
Zane Scheuerlein, US, 2007, video, 3 mins, color
The
Hidden Cost of Cashmere cleverly
links America's appetite for cheap consumer goods with desertification
and the growing environmental crisis.
A
Maid Is Not A Slave (Mbindaan Du Jaam)
dir.
Mariama Marena, Seynabou Ciss, Dioundiouba Diagne, Marietou
Ndoye Seck, Salimata Sow, Aissatou Gueye Seye, Aminata Deme,
Dieynaba Kone, Senegal, 2007, video, 5 mins, color, French w/
English subtitles
Kine,
a young Senegalese girl is sent to the city to work as a maid
in order to support her family back home. When her employers
begin to abuse her who is there to protect her?
Slave
Label
dir.
Philosophy students
from Queen Elizabeth School, UK,
2007, video, 18 mins, color
How
much do your new jeans cost? Who made them and how much did
they get paid? Two teenage girls embark on an eye-opening journey
as they discover the dark truth behind the clothing industry
and take a stand for change.
Playing
with the Other Tigers
dir.
Zachary Lennon-Simon,
US, 2007, video, 10 mins, color
The
story of two childhood best friends – Amir is Muslim and Zach
is half-Jewish. When Amir is harassed after 9/11, their friendship
takes on added significance.
Lina
Cherfas manages the Building Bridges, Building Knowledge, Building
Health Coalition at Northern Manhattan Perinatal Partnership
in New York. She also works with Transdiaspora Network,
a new Brooklyn initiative to engage Caribbean-descendent youth
in culturally-based HIV prevention activities. Previously
to her involvement in the public health field, she was at the
Solomon Asch Center at the University of Pennsylvania, coordinating
its collaborations in Sri Lanka. She continues to be interested
in the intersections among migration, health and human rights.
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