Presentation Guide Practical Checklist

Promotional Packet and Preview Cassettes

Use the media

Confirm that you have received all materials as specified in the contract via phone, fax, or email. Your promotional packet should include: descriptive materials on each title, distributor information and presentation ideas for each title, selected black and white publicity photographs, a traveling festival guide, a diskette with traveling festival information and the traveling festival logo, and a hard copy of the logo.

Ensure tape quality

When you receive the presentation video tapes or film prints, preview them to ensure their quality. If there are any problems with sound, image, or subtitles, contact the HRW Traveling Film Festival Office immediately.

Shipping

We will contact you prior to or during your screenings with information on how to send titles to the next venue. Depending on the time constraints, we recommend UPS or Federal Express (1,2,3, or 4 day services.). Video cassettes and film prints should be packed protectively, and all titles must be insured.





For further information, please contact :
Andrea Holley
Human Rights Watch International Film Festival
350 Fifth Avenue,
34th Floor,
New York, New York 10118
tel:(212) 216.1839
fax:(212)736-1300
email: holleya@hrw.org

Presentation Guide Create Forums for Discussion During your Festival

This is perhaps the most complex aspect of organizing a successful Festival. You can approach it from a variety of perspectives - from promoting the Festival as a whole, to promoting specific themes, to promoting individual titles.

Introductions and Question and Answer Sessions



Regardless of whether you hold multiple screenings or screen one title per night, we strongly suggest framing each title with an introduction, and if possible, a question and answer session following the screening. We have found that this approach provides a richer context for the titles and strongly encourages an interactive, more participatory role on the part of the audience. Audience members greatly appreciate the opportunity to both express opinions and pose questions.

If the filmmaker cannot be present, try to have an expert on hand who can speak to the issues raised by a given title and field questions after the screening. It is important to have someone from the Festival introduce speakers and panelists, making sure to connect their background and expertise to the themes evoked in the film. A member of the Festival staff should also introduce each title using the filmmaker's biography and the background information provided in the Festival's promotional packet.

Symposia and Panel Discussions

Convening symposia and panel discussions around specific program themes or titles with filmmakers and experts in a given field allows for more in-depth discussions. These can be scheduled at anytime during your Festival. Simple, yet crucial to all discussions is the speaker's consistent repetition of both audience members' questions and the panel's responses. This courtesy ensures that everyone enjoys the event.


Festival Longevity and Audience Building

If you incorporate the Festival into your annual programming, you will find that each year your audience will steadily increase and evolve. While staff for your Festival may be temporary, it is important to ensure ongoing interest within your organization and to engender some form of institutional memory and support. By making a commitment to hosting the Festival on an annual basis, you can avoid making the vent dependent on one individual.

We highly recommend having a post-Festival meeting to record and discuss Festival presentation and organization. Suggestions for improvement should be recorded such that you can avoid reinventing the wheel each year. Through effective outreach, promotion, and presentation, the Festival can develop an enthusiastic group of core supporters and become an event that is anticipated annually in your community.

Presentation Guide Presentation Ideas

As it is possible to license the Festival for up to a semester (sixteen weeks), there are many presentation options. Some venues choose to hold marathon screenings, screening the entire Festival over the course of one weekend, while other sites stagger the screenings, presenting one program per week. See the following suggestions.

Screenings as an Integral Part of a Course or Curriculum

Many of the programs in the Festival focus on historical or current human rights abuses. The medium of film is particularly effective in articulating the causes and consequences of such atrocities and in conveying the impact that these events have on individuals' lives. By incorporating certain titles into a class or program relating to human rights, educators and students can base their discussions on individual examples - be they fictionalized or factual - and examine human rights in a more personal, and perhaps realistic, manner..

Collaborative Screenings with Other Organizations

We encourage venues to work as a coalition of organizations who jointly present the Festival. For example, a group of student organizations can come together to present the Festival; a museum or cultural center can team up with a university; a civic association and a high school can form a partnership to present the Festival.

Consider obvious choices first - film/cultural/art/anthropological/ historical/educational organizations : museums, local theaters, high schools, universities, professional organizations, etc. Then consider less obvious partners in your community : libraries, senior citizens' groups, nonprofit organizations, faith-based organizations, etc.

Collaborating with other organizations provides:

- broad outreach possibilities, and consequently, a more diverse audience
- reduced financial burdens
- greater organizational and administrative support
- the sense of a true community event

Presentation Guide Publicizing and Promoting your Festival

This is perhaps the most complex aspect of organizing a successful Festival. You can approach it from a variety of perspectives - from promoting the Festival as a whole, to promoting specific themes, to promoting individual titles.

General Outreach Techniques

Use the media

Encourage Festival previews and reviews by using the advance copy VHS casettes and special invitations to members of the press. Take advantage of free listings in local newspapers, on local and/or college radio stations, on community and/or university websites, and in local newsletters.

Create promotional materials

These can include program flyers, Posters, and T-shirts.
*** Make sure you highlight guestspeakers and discussions In all publicity materials and outreach efforts. ***

Use preview tapes

Consider utilizing the tapes inthe following ways: show clips from the preview tapes to advertise the Festival at other events; hold preview screenings for members of the press and/or faculty members, VIPS; circulate the tapes individually on a limited basis to members of the press and others to garner pre-Festival publicity.

Use an Individual Title

Choose a specific title that you feel has general mass appeal. Promote this title specifically as a means of drawing a larger audience for the Festival as a whole.

Targeted Outreach

Promotion to specific audiences, including mailings to those audiences, can be extremely effective. Email lists are also particularly efficient, as they can be used to forward messages and announcements to recipients'friends and colleagues.

Outreach based on Program Themes

Create a flyer based on a given program theme and target relevant community groups, university departments, and student organizations.There may also be specific publications or radio and television shows which target these groups. In turn, these groups can then further assist you in your outreach efforts by distributing materials, posting the Festival schedule and program on their website or in their own publications.

Outreach to Local Ethnic Communities

Many of the titles in the Festival come from specific foreign countries or regions and are often in another language with English subtitles. Focused outreach to communities originally from these countries and regions is an excellent strategy and will greatly enrich the discussions following these screenings.

Licensing Details :

If you are interested in licensing the package, it includes:

• 1/2" VHS previewing cassettes of all titles
• a selection of slides for publicity purposes
• promotional literature
• the festival logo
• descriptive materials
• and a presentation guide with specific suggestions and ideas for each title.

The programs are available in a choice of formats:
35mm film, 16mm film, 3/4" Umatic video, or 1/2" VHS video.

**PLEASE NOTE THAT CERTAIN TITLES ARE ONLY AVAILABLE IN CERTAIN FORMATS**

The full package of ten programs can be rented for $2000,
or a half package of five programs can be rented for $1000,
plus the cost of one way shipping.
The package can be rented for a weekend marathon or for up to a semester (sixteen weeks) anytime between September 2000 and May 2001.

For further information, please contact :
Andrea Holley
Human Rights Watch International Film Festival
350 Fifth Avenue,
34th Floor,
New York, New York 10118
tel:(212) 216.1839
fax:(212)736-1300
email: holleya@hrw.org

Presentation Guide Structuring your Festival

Staff

A critical component of organizing a successful festival is an enthusiastic, involved staff. Seek out a group of dedicated volunteers from your school, your organization, your community, and other interested groups: senior citizens, film enthusiasts, social activists, etc.

Division of Labor

Delegate specific tasks. A set of suggested categories is listed below. If possible, appoint one volunteer to oversee each category.

Outreach and Publicity

See "Publicizing and Promoting your Festival."

In-Kind Support

Form partnerships with organizations who can offer in-kind support or donations. Equipment, screening space, publicity, refreshments, time, labor, and sponsorship of opening/closing night festivities or other special events during the festival are all examples of in-kind support.

Festival Logistics

You will need someone to organize and schedule ticket sellers, ushers, speakers, panels, catering, audiovisual/technical support, shipping, and security - if necessary.

Audiovisual Needs

Equipment and tape/film checks are an essential part of the festival. Many sites will have in-house technical support, but if you are using volunteers - make certain that they are familiar with the screening equipment and presentation formats being used.

Making the Festival an Event

Regardless of how you choose to present the Festival, consider holding an opening/closing night event and providing some forum for interaction after the screenings - be they Question and Answer sessions or panel discussions. Such events provide an excellent opportunity to extend invitations specifically to press, faculty, community members, and others. They are also an ideal occasion for audience members and Festival participants to mingle and exchange ideas. Remember to make a brief announcement before and after each screening about the festival as a whole and/or other films.

From September 2000 to May 2001


Program One

Borders
Nurit Kedar and Eran Riklis, Israel, 1999; 58 min
(video, doc)

In this riveting documentary, Kedar and Riklis record several of the most emotionally charged stories across the borders of Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. It is a world of paradoxes - of profiteering, violence, death, prostitution, love, smuggling and war. BORDERS portrays poignant personal accounts and testimonials from those whose lives have been forever changed by the artificial barriers of Israel and its neighbors. For more information on this film, click here

with
Harmed Forces
Irit Gal, Israel, 1999; 56 min
(video, doc)

In June of 1982, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched what was intended to be a brief military campaign in Lebanon, "Operation Peace for the Galilee." Seventeen years later, Israel is still sending soldiers to Lebanon. For hundreds of former combat soldiers still suffering post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the war continues on every day. HARMED FORCES offers an intimate, vivid portrait of Ronny and Israel, ex-paratroopers who never recovered. For more information on this film, click here


Program Two

Bye-Bye Africa
Mahamet Saleh Haroun, Chad, 1998; 86 min
(video, drama)

BYE-BYE AFRICA is a reflexive docu-drama based on the story of a Chadian film director now exiled in France. When he goes back home at the death of his mother, he discovers the faltering state of the Chadian film industry, due to the closing down of cinema theaters and the proliferation of video rooms. With his old friend Garba, the former projectionist of the Normandie Theater, the film director goes all over town to document the cause of cinema's decline, but ends up discovering how his own filmmaking affects the local community. For more information on this film, click here


Program Three

Daring to Resist
Martha Lubell and Barbara Attie, US, 1999; 58 min
(video, doc)

What is it that leads a person to choose defiance, rather than submission, when her whole world is collapsing around her? DARING TO RESIST looks at these questions in a gripping documentary, where three Jewish women reflect on their lives in Holland, Hungary, and Poland during World War II, when they refused to remain passive in the face of Nazi genocide. For more information on this film, click here

with
Peace of Mind
Mark Landsman, US, 1999; 60 min
(video, doc)

Seven Palestinian and Israeli youth joined forces to produce PEACE OF MIND - an unprecedented documentary film that marks the first time that youth from both sides of the Arab-Israeli conflict have come together to produce a documentary. Using cameras as video diaries, the youth turned the lens on themselves, their families and communities, revealing aspects of the conflict rarely seen in the media. The resulting film journeys into the inner worlds of these youth, capturing their varied life experiences, diverse perspectives on the bitter conflict that divides them, and courageous efforts to seek peaceful coexistence. For more information on this film, click here


Program Four

Good Kurds, Bad Kurds : No Friends but the Mountains*
Kevin McKiernan, US, 2000; 79 min
(video, doc)

A war of national liberation or a war against terrorism? Filmmaker and acclaimed freelance journalist Kevin McKiernan poses this question at the outset of this stirring, provocative film lensed by legendary cinematographer Haskell Wexler. It's all in how you define "good" and "bad": "Good Kurds" are those in Iraq; they're Saddam Hussein's victims whom we want to help. "Bad Kurds" are those waging an armed insurrection against US ally Turkey; they're at the receiving end of US weapons. McKiernan went to northern Iraq to cover the uprising against Saddam. Just a few miles away, no one was covering the hidden war in Turkey, so he decided to bring out the story. GOOD KURDS, BAD KURDS brings sharp clarity to a complicated history while providing disturbing insight into both US immigration and foreign policy. For more information on this film, click here


Programs Five and Six

The four following films may be
programmed independently or in pairs.

Homeland*
Jilann Spitzmiller and Hank Rogerson, US, 1999; 60 min
(video or 16mm, doc)

Filmed over three years, against the harsh yet stunning backdrop of South Dakota, HOMELAND weaves an intimate and lyrical portrait of contemporary Native American life, focusing on four Lakota Indian families living on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Through the personal stories of a spiritual leader, a grandmother, a community activist, and an artist, the film follows the families as they face the ever-present realities common to most American Indian reservations - alcoholism, extreme unemployment, and scarce housing. For more information on this film, click here

La Boda
Hannah Weyer, US, 2000; 53 min
(video, doc)

This intimate documentary follows Elizabeth Luis, a 22 year-old Mexican-American migrant farmworker, in the weeks leading up to her wedding. Along the way, stereotypes about migrant life and border culture disintegrate and a funy, moving and heartfelt portrait of a family and a way of life emerges. For more information on this film, click here

Nasci Mulher Negra (I Was Born a Black Woman)
Vicente Franco and Maisa Mendonca, Brazil, 2000; 44 min (video, doc)

Benedita da Silva - shanty-dweller, domestic worker, mother, organizer, poet, senator. I WAS BORN A BLACK WOMAN recounts the remarkable life of the first Afro-Brazilian woman to be elected to Brazil's senate. Benedita da Silva was born to poverty, started working at age seven and gained stature for herself and her community through education, faith in God and community organizing. For more information on this film, click here

Our House in Havana*
Stephen Olsson, US, 2000; 57 min
(video, doc)

Director Olsson follows the emotionally charged return trip of Silvia Morini, a vivacious 68-year-old Cuban, who, after 38 years living in the US, decides to return to Cuba to search for the house, the neighborhood and the faded remains of her once-opulent, privileged life. Silvia's pilgrimage, full of discoveries, forces her to confront her own myths of Cuba and the revolution. An intimate, thought-provoking cinematic journey, seasoned with Cuban history, culture, music and passion. For more information on this film, click here


Program Seven

Live Free or Die*
Marion Lipschutz and Rose Rosenblatt, US, 2000; 70 min
(video, doc)

In a small New England town a doctor practices medicine. An OB-GYN, Dr. Wayne Goldner has been marked because he chooses to provide legal abortions. Allowing the filmmakers to follow him for an entire year, Goldner contributed to making this documentary serve as a stinging indictment of the government's inability to protect citizens doing legitimate work. For more information on this film, click here


Program Eight

Well-Founded Fear*
Shari Robertson and Michael Camerini, US, 1999; 119 min (video or 35mm, doc)

A stirring, evocative, and utterly unforgettable documentary about the American political asylum system: Who is deemed worthy and who decides. Marking the first and probably only time a film crew has ever been privy to these proceedings, the camera steals us behind the bulletproof windows of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), where bureaucrats ponder the sometimes life-or-death fate of immigrants seeking asylum. For more information on this film, click here


Program Nine

YO-TV's Made in the Youth S.A.
EVC's Youth Organizers Television, US, 2000; 15 min
(video, doc)

Through interviews with youth activists, children of sweatshop workers and workers' firsthand accounts, the Youth Organizers crew explores the conditions and economics of the sweatshop system. For more information on this film, click here

with
YO-TV's ICC : A Call for Justice
EVC's Youth Organizers Television, US, 2000; 15 min
(video, doc)

What is the International Criminal Court (ICC)? Who will benefit? Why won't America ratify the treaty? Through archival footage, spoken word poetry and interviews with survivors of torture and ICC advocates, the Youth Organizers crew explores these and other questions surrounding the ICC. For more information on this film, click here


Program Ten

To Be Announced


* Titles marked with an asterisk indicate selections from Soros Documentary Fund.

INFORMATION ABOUT THE TRAVELING FILM FESTIVAL

co-presented by Soros Documentary Fund

The Human Rights Watch International Film Festival is the world's leading showcase for distinguished drama, documentary, and animated films that incorporate human rights themes. Each year highlights from these festivals are presented in our Traveling Film Festival. We see these films as capable of creating forums for discussion in communities across the country. They enable people to see issues and their impact through the art of film, a medium that has the power to share stories across both physical and ideological borders.

The Traveling Film Festival travels to approximately twenty cities in the United States and abroad. If you are interested in bringing the Traveling Film Festival to your city, please contact Andrea Holley at holleya@hrw.org. Check here for a list of upcoming cities and dates :

Tulsa, OK         University of Tulsa     5th - 16th April

Los Angeles, CA           U.S.C.          16th - 27th April

Columbus, OH    University of Ohio   3rd April - 22nd May

Houston, TX     U of H - Clear Lake     18th-19th April

Albuquerque, NM  Univ. of New Mexico 18th - 27th April


This year the Traveling Festival is proud to feature a selection of award-winning films that received significant support from the Soros Documentary Fund (SDF). We are also happy to be highlighting several themes in this year's traveling festival : family and community (Homeland and La Boda); immigration (La Boda and Well-Founded Fear); the Middle East (Borders, Good Kurds, Bad Kurds, Harmed Forces, and Peace of Mind); resistance (Daring to Resist, I Was Born a Black Woman, and Live Free or Die); and youth (Daring to Resist, La Boda, Peace of Mind, ICC: A Call for Justice and Made in the YoUth S.A.)