 |
|
| |
 |
|
Shonali Bose, India, 2005, 102m, drama
In English, Bengali, Hindi and Punjabi with English subtitles
Amu begins with the everyday dilemmas of a young Indian-American, Kaju, returning to the “foreignness” of her Indian homeland. Like an approaching thunderstorm, the film gathers a potent political charge as Kaju begins to question her past and realizes how her own privileged life in America was born out of communal violence in India. After Prime Minister Gandhi was assassinated by Sikh bodyguards in 1984, carnage erupted in the streets of Delhi. More than four thousand Sikhs were killed in three days. In the film Kaju’s parents are among those affected by the violence. Writer-director Shonali Bose was a student in Delhi during those days. She worked in the relief camps set up after the massacre, writing down the stories of those who survived. Bose brings to the flashback scenes in Amu the intense impact of first-hand experience. Amu is powered by a sense of outrage still felt today. The film makes a strong case that this massacre was not spontaneous but planned, and depicts politicians and police who were involved but went unpunished. Kaju’s questions produce difficult answers that force her to face the truth of India’s history - and her own.
Distributor: Emerging Pictures Web: http://www.emergingpictures.com
|
| |
|
Nick Francis and Marc Francis, U.K., 2006, 78m, doc
In Amharic, Oromiffa and English with English subtitles
Multinational coffee companies now rule our shopping malls and supermarkets and dominate an industry worth over $80 billion, making coffee the most valuable trading commodity in the world after oil. But while we continue to buy our lattes and cappuccinos in their millions, the price paid to coffee farmers remains so low that many have been forced to abandon their coffee fields. Nowhere is this paradox more evident than in Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee. Tadesse Meskela is on a one-man mission to save his coffee cooperative’s 75,000 struggling farmers from bankruptcy. As they strive to harvest some of the highest quality coffee beans available to the international market, Tadesse travels the world in an attempt to find buyers willing to pay a fair price. Against the backdrop of Tadesse’s journey to London and Seattle, the more powerful sides of the international trading system come into focus. New York coffee traders, auction houses and the double dealings of trade ministers at the World Trade Organisation reveal the enormity of Tadesse’s task to find a long-term solution for his farmers. *Official Selection, Sundance Film Festival 2006.
Film’s website: http://www.blackgoldmovie.com  Listen to the HRWIFF 2006 trailer
Distributor: California Newsreel Website: http://www.newsreel.org
|
| |
|
Anthony Giacchino, USA, 2006, 82m, doc
In English
How far would you go to stop a war? On August 22, 1971, twenty-eight men and women in Camden, New Jersey, carried out a powerful act of civil disobedience against United States involvement in the Vietnam War. The group was part of a nonviolent antiwar movement popularly known as the “Catholic Left.” One of the most dramatic tactics utilized by this movement was breaking into draft board offices to remove and destroy government records that identified young men available for military service. The activists claimed that their actions were meant to show their belief that killing—even in war—was morally indefensible. And by conducting their raids mostly in inner cities, they hoped to call attention to war’s damaging effect on some of America’s most vulnerable populations. The documentary tells of the activists’ covert preparations, government intrigue, a government raid and arrest of the protesters, and an ensuing legal battle which the late Supreme Court Justice William Brennan called “one of the great trials of the twentieth century.” Thirty-five years later, key participants openly discuss their motives, their fears, and the tremendous personal costs of their actions. It is a story of resistance, friendship, and betrayal played out against the backdrop of one of the most turbulent periods in recent American history. Winner of both the Jury Prize and Audience Award for Best Documentary, Philadelphia Film Festival 2006.
Film’s website: http://www.camden28.org Listen to the HRWIFF 2006 trailer
Interview
with the Director
Audience Q&A from the HRWIFF NY 2006
|
| |
|
Khalo Matabane, South Africa, 2005, 80m, drama
In English, French, Zulu and Swahili with English subtitles
Composed of an artful blend of documentary and dramatic elements, CONVERSATIONS ON A SUNDAY AFTERNOON is a revolutionary film for South Africa. Matabane breaks with the hard-hitting historical dramas his country has turned out lately and charges right into the world of ideas. On a lovely Sunday afternoon in Johannesburg, Keniloe (Tony Kgoroge) wanders in a park. He meets Fatima (Fatima Hersi), a Somali woman brought to tears as she tells him of the suffering that led her to seek refuge in South Africa. Just as he’s getting to know his new friend, she disappears. Shaken by her story, Keniloe goes looking for her through Johannesburg’s migrant neighbourhoods. But his quest soon takes on a life of its own, as he asks further questions of the people he meets. Why did you leave Kenya? Can you ever go home to Congo? Where is your home? Simply by asking questions with his work, Matabane adds some fascinating new avenues of thought to South Africa’s national conversation. The struggle for reconciliation is nudged aside to reveal a country coming to terms with its new status as a promised land. What does a richer African nation owe to its poorer neighbours? How does political crisis shape personal identity? And is the war over now?
Filmmaker: Khalo Matabane matabanek@yahoo.com
|
| |
|
Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam, India/UK, 2005, 91m, drama
In Tibetan and English with English subtitles
Karma, a Tibetan filmmaker from New York, comes to Dharamsala – a small town in the foothills of the Indian Himalayas, home to the exiled Dalai Lama and the spiritual and political focus of the Tibetan diaspora. Escaping from a deteriorating relationship back home, she is here to make a film about former political prisoners who have escaped from Tibet. Their harrowing stories of courage and suffering heighten her own sense of cultural alienation. One of Karma’s interviewees is Dhondup, an enigmatic ex-monk who has recently escaped from Tibet after spending four years in prison for his role in anti-Chinese activities. Dhondup confides in Karma that his real reason for coming to India is to fulfill his dying mother’s last wish, to deliver a gahu – a charm box that Tibetans use as a protection amulet – to a man named Loga. He appeals to her for help in finding him. As they set out to find Loga, Karma finds herself unwittingly falling in love with Dhondup even as she is sucked into the vortex of his quest, which becomes a journey into Tibet’s fractured past and a voyage of self-discovery. *Official Selection, Toronto International Film Festival 2005.*Please note that DREAMING LHASA is only available for one screening per venue.
Film's Website: http://www.dreaminglhasa.com Listen to the HRWIFF 2006 trailer
International Sales Agent: Hanway Films http://www.hanwayfilms.com
U.S. Distributor: First Run Features http://www.firstrunfeatures.com
|
| |
|
Bernadine Mellis, USA, 2006, 53m, doc
In English
The Forest for the Trees is an intimate, behind-the-scenes look at an unlikely team of young activists and old lefties who come together to battle the U.S. government over alleged FBI and Police retaliation against an environmental activist. Filmmaker Bernadine Mellis is the daughter of legendary civil rights lawyer Dennis Cunningham, who started his career representing the Black Panthers and the Attica Brothers. Judi Bari was a leader in Earth First. Her car was bombed in 1990, and she was arrested as a terrorist on charges that were later dropped. Convinced it was a ploy by the FBI to discredit her and Earth First, Judi decided to sue. Cunningham took on Judi's case and after twelve years, Judi Bari v. the FBI finally gets a court date. Mellis is there at strategy meetings, at breakfast, and after court, documenting her morally driven, very tired dad, while offering us access into the life of the extraordinary Judi Bari, and a piece of U.S. history that is disturbingly resonant.
Film’s website: http://www.redbirdfilms.com Listen to the HRWIFF 2006 trailer
|
| |
|
Richard Hankin - USA - 2006 - 93m - doc
In English
There are now over 19,000 U.S. soldiers have been wounded in Iraq. Although the media often reports on the bravery of wounded soldiers or the tragedy they endured, few reporters ask the question: "What becomes of them now?" In this intimate documentary, director Richard Hankin sheds light on this question. Hankin focuses exclusively on Jeremy Feldbusch, a former army ranger who is valiantly struggling to navigate through life as a blind and partially brain-damaged veteran. When Feldbusch was deployed to Iraq in 2003, he was a confident and charismatic 21-year-old with a wrestler's build and marksmanship skills that any sergeant would be proud of. Less than four months later, a piece of shrapnel flew into his goggles and embedded itself in his frontal lobe, leaving him blind and incapacitated on a hospital bed. Now in stable condition, Feldbusch is attempting to live a normal existence at his family's home and at their expense, without the military's financial support. His mother, who gave up her job the day after she received word of his accident, acts as Feldbusch's eyes. His father, an intense and burly man, plays a role that falls somewhere between military commander and motivational coach. With his family providing constant support, we see Feldbusch ski, chop down a spruce, shoot a deer, and lobby Congress to introduce the Wounded Warrior Bill. His journey from a depressed, wounded man to that of an empowered blind veteran is a moving testament to humankind's resilience. By turns both heartbreaking and heartwarming, Home Front
guides us through Feldbusch's blind journey.
Film’s website http://www.homefrontthemovie.com
|
| |
|
Rex Bloomstein, UK, 2005, 88m, doc
In English and German with English subtitles
On the banks of the river Danube, surrounded by the beautiful landscape of Upper Austria, lies the picturesque town of Mauthausen. Two kilometers from its town centre is a place that attracts bikers, busloads of tourists, parties of schoolchildren, people from all over the world. Tour guides come to work here every day, while nearby the locals go about their daily lives. This is a place where thousands upon thousands of people from over thirty nations were tortured and murdered. This site is the former KZ – in German short for concentration camp. How does it feel to be a tourist at a former concentration camp? How does it feel to work here as a guide, day in, day out? How does it feel to live here as a local alongside the dark secrets of the past? And what of those who’ve chosen this town to be their new home? Stripped of the usual dramatic devices – survivor testimonies and archive footage – this is a radical, groundbreaking film about us facing our ultimate demons. It is a contemporary yet timeless piece on the horrors that the human race has and perhaps always will be inflicting on one another. *Official Selection, Sundance Film Festival 2006.
Distributor: Films Transit Website: http://www.filmstransit.com
|
| |
|
Avner Faingulernt and Macabit Abramzon, Israel, 2005, 90m, doc
In Arabic and Hebrew with English subtitles
On the border between Gaza and Israel lies an isolated and abandoned beach where, against all odds, Israeli and Palestinian fishermen lived and fished together from 1999 to 2003. The Palestinians were teaching the Israelis ancient fishing techniques transmitted from one generation to the next and the Israelis, by their presence, were enabling the Palestinians to continue to fish in Israeli waters. The film intimately and beautifully documents these four crucial years in the lives of this eclectic group of men from warring cultures, who are brought together by their shared work and the natural threats they face each day in the open sea. Ultimately it is not the harshness of nature that is the greatest obstacle to their work, but the pressures of politics and the fighting surrounding their enclave.
Distributor: F.P.A.D. Ltd. Website: http://www.fpad.tv
|
| |
|
Lucian Muntean & Nataša Stankovic, Serbia, 2005, 28m, doc
In Nepali and Tamang with English subtitles
Beautifully and sensitively produced, Punam tells the story of nine-year-old Punam Tamang, who lives in Bhaktapur in Nepal. Punam lost her mother when she was five years old and since that time she has been the family caretaker, providing for her younger brother Krishna (now seven) and her younger sister Rabina (now five). The Tamang children see little of their father because he works double shifts in a rice factory, in order to earn enough money for their school fees. He goes to work at 4 o'clock in the morning and comes back home at 8 o'clock in the evening. We also meet Punam's neighborhood friends, whose families do not make enough money to afford the school fee. Instead of studying, these children work each day with their parents at the local brick factories and stone quarries.
Filmmaker’s email: lunaris@eunet.yu
|
| |
|
Anne Makepeace, 2006, USA/Kenya, 83m, doc
In English, Mai Mai and Somali with English subtitles
In 2004, thirteen thousand Somali Bantu refugees realized their dream of coming to America. They are now living in fifty cities across the country, becoming the largest African group from a single community to settle in the United States at one time. Rain in a Dry Land chronicles two years in the lives of two extended Somali Bantu families as they leave behind a 200-year legacy of oppression in Africa to face new challenges in a strange new land. The film begins in January 2004, at the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, where our featured families are stunned by what they learn about America in their “Cultural Orientation” class. From this beginning, filmmaker Anne Makepeace brilliantly succeeds in capturing every step of this remarkable journey, from their very different new homes – Springfield, Massachusetts versus Atlanta, Georgia – through their encounters with racism, poverty, failures of the school system, and severe culture shock. Both of these war-torn families do find ways to survive in America, and to create a safe haven. Presented in association with American Documentary | P.O.V., premiering on PBS in 2007 (check local listings).
Filmmaker’s website: http://makepeaceproductions.com
|
| |
|
Zach Niles and Banker White, Guinea/Sierra Leone/USA, 2005, 80m, doc
In English and Krio with English subtitles
Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars tells the remarkable and ultimately life-affirming story of a group of six Sierra Leonean musicians who come together to form a band while living as refugees in the Republic of Guinea. Forced from their homes in Sierra Leone, the members of the band represent the thousands of stories that exist amongst the survivors of the Sierra Leonean civil war. Following the group over the course of three years, we see the band travel amongst Guinean refugee camps and back to war-ravaged Freetown as part of the UNHCR’s “go-and-see” program. Through the uplifting music and emotional stories of these six characters, we begin to understand the brutal realities of a war so often dismissed by the mass media and are witness to the ability of individuals to sustain hope and create art in a landscape dominated by rage and loss.
Film’s website http://www.refugeeallstars.org
|
| |
|
Barbara Attie and Janet Goldwater, US/Nicaragua, 2005, 55m, doc
In English and Spanish with English subtitles
In January 2003, news spreads throughout Central and South America that a nine-year-old Nicaraguan girl has become pregnant as the result of a rape. Rosa, or Rosita as the girl becomes known in the press, is the only child of illiterate campesinos working in Costa Rica as coffee pickers at the time of the assault. Fearing for their daughter's life and mental health, Rosa's parents are determined to obtain an abortion for their child. In both Nicaragua and Costa Rica, abortion is illegal except when deemed necessary to save the life of the mother. Despite the odds of obtaining a rarely granted exception for a so-called "therapeutic" abortion, Rosa's parents move forward only to be forced into battle with two governments, the medical establishment, and the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. Representatives of both the Nicaraguan and Costa Rican governments attempt to remove Rosa from her family in order to force her to continue her pregnancy. Award-winning filmmakers Barbara Attie and Janet Goldwater draw viewers inside the story through intimate interviews, on-location footage and media coverage captured within months of the actual events. The drama unfolds chronologically, combining the public media reports with the private remembrances of those involved—Rosa's parents, lawyers, doctors, psychologists, priests and journalists. The film exposes the machinations of politicians, doctors, and clergymen, but shields the young protagonist from the camera—in keeping with the pledge the filmmakers made to Rosa's parents. Yet Rosa is at the heart of the film, revealing herself and her world through her own words and drawings.
Filmmaker’s website: http://www.attiegoldwater.com Listen to the HRWIFF 2006 trailer
|
| |
|
Rithy Pahn - Cambodia/France - 2003 - 101m - doc
In Khmer with English subtitles
In 1975-79, almost two million Cambodians lost their lives to murder and famine when the Khmer Rouge forced the urban population into the countryside to fulfill their ideal of an agrarian utopia. The notorious detention center code-named 'S21' was the schoolhouse-turned prison where 17,000 men, women and children were tortured and killed, their "crimes" meticulously documented to justify their execution. In this award-winning documentary and astonishing historical document, survivor Vann Nath confronts his captors, some of whom were as young as 12 years old when they committed their atrocities. Part of the Human Rights Watch Selects Collection at First Run Features
Distributor http://www.firstrunfeatures.com
|
| |
|
Martin Mareček & Martin Skalský, Czech Republic, 2005, 75m, doc
In Czech, Russian, English and Azerbaijani with English subtitles
Azerbaijan is ranked one of the world’s most corrupt countries, where a reigning ruling family is in its second generation of power. Baku in Azerbaijan, is also the site of the world’s first oil well, and is once again becoming a focus for foreign investors as the origin of a major oil, gas, and pipeline project developed by an international consortium led by BP. In Source, a small, mobile and highly inventive Czech film crew travels around the country to investigate and record the impact of this most recent energy boom. They film the surrealist Soviet-era oil fields around Baku, with locals oblivious to the environmental dangers, striking images of cows grazing on polluted land and children playing in toxic sludge. With startling access and more then a little black humour, the filmmakers interview a fascinating cross section of people involved with and affected by the oil boom - allegedly corrupt politicians, oil company employees, businessmen, angry women whose husbands and sons work for very little money in shockingly polluted conditions in this industry. Source also cleverly examines the links from commuter highways in the West back to energy development in Azerbaijan. With the majority of the population living under the poverty line, the country’s post-Soviet government is promising oil will bring widespread economic benefits to all, but could this “liquid gold” be more of a curse than a blessing for this troubled country?
Filmmaker’s website: http://www.bionaut.cz
|
| |
|
Manel Mayol, Spain, 2005, 87m, doc
Spanish and Mapudungun with English subtitles
The Pehuenche-Mapuche people live above the Bíobío River, in Ralco valley, Chile. For over four centuries they have fought off all invaders who tried to enter the valley, from the Incas to the Spanish conquistadors. In 2004, amongst the scenic beauty of the Chilean Andes, Spain's largest hydroelectric company, Endesa, constructed the world’s third largest dam. This dam flooded the Ralco valley and forced the “exchange” of whole villages to much higher ground. Despite protections for indigenous people enshrined in the Chilean constitution, the government has shown little inclination to enforce their rights against the wealthy Spanish multinational. Protestors—including activists, journalists, and lawyers—have found themselves arrested under Pinochet’s anti-terrorist laws, facing anonymous witnesses whose identities are concealed from even the court.
Film’s website http://www.switchoffthemovie.com
|
| |
|
Milena Kaneva, Bulgaria/Italy, 2006, 65m, doc
In English, Karen and Burmese with English subtitles
Total Denial is the inspiring story of fifteen villagers from the jungles of Burma whose quest for justice eventually leads them to bring suit in a U.S. court against two oil giants - UNOCAL and TOTAL - for human-rights abuse. For five years producer/director Milena Kaneva collected accounts from Burmese villagers of forced labor, re-location of villages, rape, and murder associated with construction of the Yadana pipeline. Her “guide” during this journey was Ka Hsaw Wa, described by Kerry Kennedy in her book “Speak Truth to Power” as “A man of incredible courage and commitment, with the firm belief that one man can make a difference.” A member of Burma’s Karen ethnic minority, Ka Hsaw Wa was one of the leaders of the student movement for democracy in Burma in 1988 which was violently suppressed by the Burmese government. For more than a decade, he has gathered testimonies and other evidence on numerous cases of human rights and environmental abuse. Wanted by police in both Burma and Thailand, he is now based in the U.S., traveling back to both countries periodically at considerable personal risk, to document further abuses. In 1995, along with the co-founder of Earth Rights International, Katie Redford, Ka Hsaw Wa brought a landmark lawsuit against UNOCAL and TOTAL that drew international attention to the pervasive abuses in Burma.
Film’s website http://www.totaldenialfilm.com
|
| |
|
Javier Corcuera, Spain, 2005, 78m, doc
In Arabic with English subtitles
Hitting just the right notes, filmmaker Javier Corcuera brings his gift of storytelling to this beautifully crafted film, allowing the viewer to integrate the political with the personal in the tragedy of Iraq that has unfolded since the war began in spring 2003. Corcuera spent several months in Baghdad in the winter of 2004 getting to know Iraqi families who were trying to carry on with daily life despite the constant violence, black outs, and lack of basic necessities. The filmmaker became especially close to a group of young, enterprising, and highly resilient teenage boys who despite the obstacles still managed to make it to school, hold down part-time jobs—which were not always strictly legal jobs due to constantly shifting U.S. regulations—and hang out with their friends in this forbidding environment. Winter in Baghdad is as beautiful visually as it is deep emotionally—a rich tapestry of life in Baghdad today which counterbalances the simplistic and repetitive images of this once great city that are presented by the vast majority of mainstream news media. *Winner Best Documentary at the 2005 Los Angeles Film Festival.
Producer’s website http://www.eliasquerejeta.com
|
| |
|
In addition to this year's officially booked Traveling Festival titles, we recommend the following films that can be contacted independently using the links below and/or the emails on our site. They are:
If you have questions about these titles or would like further information on them, please contact Andrea Holley at holleya@hrw.org.
|
^ top
|
