Thursday - March 29
1:00 PM
SHORTS PRODUCED BY USF STUDENTS
Program Curator: Laura Waldron
Q&A with student filmmakers
One Million Bones, 2011, Filmmakers: Natalie Eakin and Paul Sowards
Exchange student Andrea Soto collaborated with activist and artist Naomi Natale who created the project One Million Bones. Together they hold workshops to make one million bones that will line the National Mall in a collaborative art installation that recognizes victims of past and ongoing genocides in the world.
The Rush and Sarah Movie All About Protesting, 2011, Filmmakers: Sarah Hulsman and Rush Sawhney
The documentary examines the nature of protesting by highlighting the current Occupy movement sweeping the United States. The documentary questions why people protest, what happens when both the police and protesters get carried away and, ultimately, how an individual can make an impact in a movement of thousands.
Arrupe Justice Immersion Programs, 2011, Dir. Laura Waldron
USF’s Arrupe Justice Immersion Programs take students out of the classroom and into the communities of San Francisco and Oakland that are the most affected by poverty, discrimination, and homelessness.
Change From Within, 2011, Dir. Jared Nangle
A Short documentary film that explores a Bay Area organization called "Abraham's Vision," that seeks to change the consciousness of a new generation of Jews and Palestinians, while also looking at the Arab/Israeli conflict through the perspectives of Jewish, Palestinian, and non-affiliated citizens of the bay area.
El Camino A Cambio, Actuality Media, 2011, Filmmakers: Victoria Mortati, Gabriela Ventuso, Sara Cabrera
Filmed in a barrio, La Plusia, in the outskirts of Granada, Nicaragua. Documents the struggle of three La Plusia residents struggling to survive. With the help of Las Casas de Esperanza, a non-profit which gives housing materials, job opportunities, and free education, the residents of La Plusia are able to make a better life for themselves and their families. The organization, however, struggles to ignite optimism and motivation within the members of this extremely poor community. The documentary follows the story of three strong-willed individuals who never lost their hope for a better life.
2:30 PM
THE PRICE OF SEX, 2010, US/United Arab Emirates/Bulgaria/ Moldova/Greece/Turkey/, Filmmaker: Mimi Chakarova (director), 73 min
* Selection from the Human Rights Watch Traveling Festival
Q&A with director Mimi Chakarova
Intimate and revealing, The Price of Sex is a feature-length documentary about young Eastern European women who have been drawn into a world of sex trafficking and abuse. It is a story told by the young women who refused to be silenced by shame, fear, and violence. Emmy-nominated photojournalist Mimi Chakarova, who grew up in Bulgaria, takes us on a personal journey– exposing the shadowy world of sex trafficking from Eastern Europe to the Middle East and Western Europe. Filming undercover and gaining extraordinary access, Chakarova illuminates how even though some women escape to tell their stories, sex trafficking thrives. In English and Bulgarian, Romanian, Russian and Turkish with English subtitles. Winner, Nestor Almendros Award 2011; World Premiere, Sarasota Film Festival 2011; Official Selection, AFI/Discovery Channel Silverdocs Documentary Film Festival 2011
4:30 PM
BETTER THIS WORLD, 2011, US, Filmmakers: Katie Galloway (director) & Kelly Duane de la Vega (co-director), 93 min
Q&A with filmmakers Katie Galloway & Kelly Duane de la Vega
* Selection from the Human Rights Watch Traveling Festival
When David McKay and Bradley Crowder, two boyhood friends from Midland, Texas, visit an Austin bookstore to hear a talk on upcoming protests at the 2008 Republican National Convention, they are approached by a charismatic local activist 10 years their senior, who quickly becomes their mentor. Six months later at the volatile 2008 Convention, McKay and Crowder cross a line that radically changes their lives. The result: eight Molotov cocktails, multiple domestic terrorism charges, and a high-stakes entrapment defense. A dramatic story of idealism, loyalty, crime, and betrayal, Better this World goes to the heart of the “war on terror” and its impact on civil liberties and political dissent in the United States after 9/11. Winner, Best Documentary Feature, San Francisco International Film Festival 2011; Winner, Best Documentary Feature, Sarasota Film Festival 2011; World Premiere, SXSW Film Festival 2011; Official Selection, Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2011; Official Selection, Canadian International Documentary Festival 2011; Official Selection, AFI/Discovery Channel Silverdocs Documentary Film Festival 2011
6:45 PM
NOSTALGIA FOR THE LIGHT, 2011, France/Germany/Chile, Filmmaker: Patricio Guzmán (director), 90 min
Q&A with Zita Cabello-Barrueto, professor of human rights and filmmaker
For his new film master director Patricio Guzmán, famed for his political documentaries (The Battle of Chile, The Pinochet Case), travels 10,000 feet above sea level to the driest place on earth, the Atacama Desert, where atop the mountains astronomers from all over the world gather to observe the stars. The sky is so translucent that it allows them to see right to the boundaries of the universe. The Atacama is also a place where the harsh heat of the sun keeps human remains intact: those of Pre-Columbian mummies; 19th century explorers and miners; and the remains of political prisoners, “disappeared” by the Chilean army after the military coup of September, 1973. So while astronomers examine the most distant and oldest galaxies, at the foot of the mountains, women, surviving relatives of the disappeared whose bodies were dumped here, search, even after twenty-five years, for the remains of their loved ones, to reclaim their families’ histories. Melding the celestial quest of the astronomers and the earthly one of the women, Nostalgia for the Light is a gorgeous, moving, and deeply personal odyssey. Winner Best Documentary, Prix ARTE, European Film Academy Awards 2010; Winner Best Documentary, Abu Dhabi Film Festival 2010; Official Selection, Cannes Film Festival 2010; Official Selection, Toronto International Film Festival 2010; Official Selection, San Francisco International Film Festival 2011; Official Selection, Miami International Film Festival 2011; Official Selection, Melbourne International Film Festival 2010
Friday - March 30
1:00 PM
THE LABYRINTH, 2010, US, Filmmaker: Jason A. Schmidt (director), 37 min
Q&A with producer/writer Ron Schmidt
Marian Kolodziej was on one of the first transports to enter Auschwitz. He was given number 432. He survived and never spoke of his experience for 50 years. After a serious stroke in 1993, he began rehabilitation by doing pen and ink drawings depicting the experiences he and others endured in the concentration camp. These drawings, in their skeletal detail, are a gripping depiction of the pain, death, and horrors of the camp. While most of the drawings represent the memories of a young man’s hellish experiences in Auschwitz, some tell stories of small acts of kindness and dignity. Marian’s drawings and art installations, which he called The Labyrinth, fill the large basement of a church near Auschwitz and draw visitors into the horrific reality of the holocaust. In The Labyrinth, Marian takes the audience on a journey through his drawings and art installations. Through the blending of his testimony and the graphic drawings, we explore the memories and nightmares of a man, who like so many others buried experiences deep within. Why would a confrontation with death late in life, trigger the need to record his long-suppressed memories? And why in this graphic, metaphorical way? This documentary raises these questions in a visually stunning way. This is eyewitness testimony that is unique in the annals of documenting the Holocaust. Marian is a Polish Catholic, who has used his drawings to give testimony to the horrors of Auschwitz and of the world today, and whose body of work provides a testament to suffering and “man’s inhumanity to man.” Official Selection, Docuweeks Theatrical Documentary Showcase 2010; Official Selection, Boulder International Film Festival 2011; Official Selection, Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2011; Official Selection, The Tel-Aviv International Documentary Film Festival 2011; Official Selection, Beverly Hills Film Festival 2011; Official Selection, Boston Film Festival 2010; Official Selection, Polish Film Festival Los Angeles 2010; Official Selection, Peace on Earth Film Festival 2011; Winner, Reel Rose Best Short Film, John Paul II International Film Festival 2011; Official Selection International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography 2010; Winner, Redemptive Storyteller Award, Redemptive Storyteller Film Festival; Honorable Mention, Short Documentary Film, Los Angeles International Film Festival 2011
2:30 PM
PHOTOS OF ANGIE, 2010, US, Filmmaker: Alan Dominguez (director), 55 min
Q&A with director Alan Dominguez
This moving and powerful documentary chronicles the life and murder of Angie Zapata -- a transgender teen who was murdered in rural Colorado in 2008. The film includes extensive interviews with her family about her journey of self-discovery, transgender lives across the globe, hate crimes legislation, and the mysterious nature of her killer -- all against the backdrop of his trial. Statement by filmmaker: Great stories never begin with the beginning, they start at the end or somewhere in the middle. Tragically, I only came to know Angie Zapata in the days after the end of her brief life. Angie was born as Justin Zapata, and the man accused of her murder says that he did so in a fit of rage after discovering that Angie was biologically a male. Photos of Angie tells the tale of this tragic death, the subsequent trial and explores transgenderism in its historical context. Angie was from a small town in northeastern Colorado and from a cultural background that does not allow for Angie to be the person she felt deep inside. In researching this film, many aspects of this story struck me – Angie’s struggle to discover who she was and her courage to do right by herself, the fact that human sexuality is not nearly as neatly packaged as we like to think, and how common anti-transgender violence is. Angie’s family took me on a very personal journey through their lives and it lead me to realize that only through compassion and understanding, all of us have to work together to write the end of the story – to create a world governed by freedom to be who we are, without fear. -Alan Domínguez. Winner, Best Documentary, Long Beach Q Festival 2011
4:15 PM
GRANITO: HOW TO NAIL A DICTATOR, 2010, US, Filmmakers: Pamela Yates (director), Peter Kinoy (editor) & Paco de Onis (producer), 100min
Q&A with Almudena Bernabeu, Transitional Justice Program Director, Center for Justice & Accountability
* Selection from the Human Rights Watch Traveling Festival
Part political thriller, part memoir, Granito takes us through a haunting tale of genocide and justice that spans four decades, two films, and filmmaker Pamela Yates’s own career. Granito is a story of destinies joined together by Guatemala’s past and of how a documentary film from 1982, When the Mountains Tremble, emerges as an active player in the present by becoming forensic evidence in a genocide case against a military dictator. In an incredible twist of fate, Yates was allowed to shoot the only known footage of the army as it carried out the genocide. Twenty-five years later, this footage becomes evidence in an international war crimes case against the very army commander who permitted Yates to film. Irrevocably linked by the events of 1982, each of the film’s characters is integral to the country’s reconstruction of a collective memory, the search for truth, and the pursuit of justice. Through the work of American filmmakers, forensics experts in Guatemala, and lawyers in Spain, the quest for accountability in Guatemala continues—with each individual contributing his or her own “granito”, or tiny grain of sand. In English and Quiché and Spanish with English subtitles. Official Selection, Sundance Film Festival 2011; Grand Jury Prize, Politics on Film 2011
7:00 PM
WHEN THE MOUNTAINS TREMBLE, 1984, US, Filmmakers: Pamela Yates (director) & Newton Thomas Sigel (co-director), 83 min
Q&A with Almudena Bernabeu, Transitional Justice Program Director, Center for Justice & Accountability
* Selection from the Human Rights Watch Traveling Festival
In the early 1980s, death squads roamed the Guatemalan countryside in a war against the unarmed indigenous population that went largely unreported in the international media. Filmmakers Pamela Yates and Newton Thomas Sigel threw themselves into the task of bringing the crisis to the world’s attention by making a documentary that took them into remote areas of the country where civilian massacres were taking place. Central to their story is Rigoberta Menchú, a Maya indigenous woman who was spurred into radical action by the murders of her father and two brothers. No less admirable, however, is the courage of the filmmakers. When the Mountains Tremble, which was originally released in 1983, has been digitally re-mastered and updated since Menchú was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. In English and Quiché and Spanish with English subtitles. Winner, Sundance Film Festival 1984; Winner, Blue Ribbon Award, American Film Festival; Winner, Grand Coral Award/Best North American Documentary, Havana Film Festival
Saturday - March 31
12:00 PM
EDUCATION UNDER FIRE, 2011, US, Filmmakers: Jeff Kaufman (producer / director) & David Hoffman (executive producer), 30 min
Q&A with producer/director Jeff Kaufman and professor Shabnam Koirala (USF School of Education)
People of the Baha'i Faith in Iran have been subjected to systematic persecution, including arrests, torture, and execution, simply for refusing to recant their beliefs. They are also prohibited from going to college. In 1987, the semi-underground Baha’i Institute for Higher Education (BIHE) was formed to give young Baha’is their only chance for a university-level education. Education Under Fire profiles the persecution on the Baha'is of Iran, with a special focus on growth, struggle, and spirit of the at-risk BIHE. In May 2011 the government launched a coordinated attack against the BIHE raiding dozens of homes, confiscating computers and materials and detaining a number of that institution’s professors and administrators, some of whom continue to languish in prison without formal charges yet having been levied. Filmed in nine cities in the United States, the film also includes exclusive new footage from Iran, and never before shown footage from inside Tehran's Evin Prison.
1:00 PM
POR QUÉ MURIÓ BOSCO WISUM?, 2010, Ecuador, Filmmakers: Julian Larrea Arias & Tania Laurini, 35 min
Q&A with professor Susan Katz (USF School of Education)
In the demonstrations of September 2009, organized by indigenous organizations against the proposed Water Law, the Shuar were the only indigenous nationality to sustain roadblocks. Bosco Wisum, a Shuar bilingual intercultural teacher, dies from government-sponsored police repression at the Upano River in Macas, the provincial capital of Morona Santiago - the center of Shuar territory. Five days later, the President of Ecuador finally dialogues with the country's indigenous leaders. This documentary film won special mention for showing the struggle of the Shuar people and to expose the actions the government wanted to cover up. In Spanish and Shuar. Official Selection, International Documentary Film Festival Ecuador 2010; Official Selection, Montreal First Peoples’ Festival 2011
2:00 PM
KINYARWANDA, 2011, US, Filmmaker: Alrick Brown (director), 100 min
Q&A with producer Darren Dean
During the Rwandan genocide, when neighbors killed neighbors and friends betrayed friends, some crossed lines of hatred to protect each other. At the time of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, the Mufti of Rwanda, the most respected Muslim leader in the country, issued a fatwa forbidding Muslims from participating in the killing of the Tutsi. As the country became a slaughterhouse, mosques became places of refuge where Muslims and Christians, Hutus and Tutsis came together to protect each other. Kinyarwanda is based on true accounts from survivors who took refuge at the Grand Mosque of Kigali and the madrassa of Nyanza. It recounts how the Imams opened the doors of the mosques to give refuge to the Tutsi and those Hutu who refused to participate in the killing. The film interweaves six different tales that together form one grand narrative that provides the most complex and real depiction yet presented of human resilience and life during the genocide. With an amalgamation of characters, we pay homage to many, using the voices of a few. Winner, World Cinema Audience Award: Dramatic, Sundance Film Festival 2011; Winner, Audience Award, Starz Denver Film Fest 2011; Grand Prize, Sony D-Cinema Award, Skip City International D-Cinema Festival 2011; Winner, World Cinema Audience Award, AFI Fest 2011
4:30 PM
THE GREEN WAVE, 2010, Germany/Iran, Filmmaker: Ali Samadi Ahadi (director), 80 min
* A selection from the Human Rights Watch Traveling Festival
Q&A with professor Targol Mesbah, California Institute of Integral Studies, Interdisciplinary Studies
By providing an animated backdrop for the urgent blog posts and tweets that became a lifeline to Iranian pro-democracy activists, The Green Wave recounts the dramatic events of the most severe domestic crisis in the history of Iran. From the widespread hope of political change in Iran through the 2009 elections to the violent suppression of the mass protests against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election, filmmaker Ali Samadi Ahadi brings us into the world of Iranian citizens who risked their lives in the hopes of a better future. Interweaving online posts, video footage caught by those present, and extensive interviews, The Green Wave is an artistic portrait of modern political rebellion, an exposé of government-sanctioned violence, and a vision of hope that continued resistance may galvanize a new future not just for Iran but for the region as a whole. In English and Farsi with English subtitles. Official Selection, Sundance Film Festival 2011; Official Selection, Hamburg Filmfest 2010; Official Selection, IDFA Amsterdam 2010
6:30 PM
IF A TREE FALLS, 2010, US, Filmmakers: Marshall Curry (director) & Sam Cullman (co-director), 85 min
* A selection from the Human Rights Watch Traveling Festival
Q&A with professor Gerard Kuperus (USF, Philosophy and Environmental Studies)
How far would you go to create change? In December 2005 Daniel McGowan, a prominent New York City social justice organizer, was arrested by federal agents in a nationwide sweep of activists linked to crimes by the Earth Liberation Front (ELF)—a group the FBI has called America's "number one domestic terrorism threat." For years, the ELF had carried out arson from Oregon to Long Island against businesses they accused of destroying the environment. Filmmaker Marshall Curry (Street Fight) creates a timely chronicle of a young man facing a long prison sentence as a terrorist for crimes committed in defense of the environment. By providing a closer look at the group’s disillusionment with the strategies of non-violent protest —in which they suffered police abuse and public indifference—the film poses difficult questions about the possibility of effecting change from within the system and examines the raised stakes post 9/11 where the “terrorist” tag is broadly applied. Winner, Documentary Editing Award, Sundance Film Festival 2011; Winner of Best Documentary Award, Nashville Film Festival 2011; Winner, Environmental Visions Award, Dallas Film Festival 2011; Winner, Founder’s Award for Best Documentary, Traverse City Film Festival 2011; Nominee, Best Documentary Feature, Academy Award 2012
Thursday, March 31
12:00 p.m.
Opening Remarks
Father Stephen Privett, USF President
12:30 p.m.
Shorts Produced by USF Students
Download the poster
Program curator: Laura Waldron
Nice Country, Elle Robinson
The Generación Story of Hope, If Streets Could Speak., Erika Myszynski
Queer in Phoenix, Laura Waldron
1:30 p.m.
Youth
Producing Change
Introduction by Patricia Cogley, USF School of Education, Program Manager Adobe Youth Voices
Documentary, 74 min., various filmmakers, countries, and languages *A selection of the Human Rights Watch Traveling Film Festival Young people are on the frontlines of many of
the world’s human rights crises, but we all too rarely get to hear their point of view. The third edition of Youth Producing Change shares powerful stories from young filmmakers across the globe as they turn
the camera on their own lives and share their visions of change.
Films Include:
Hands of Love
Produced by 14 youth filmmakers from Voiceless Children in association with Listen Up! and Adobe
Youth Voices. Kenya - 2008. 8 min., doc.
In Kiswahili with English Subtitles.
For David Were and his community in Kibera, the largest slum in Kenya, having access to simple facilities like a bathroom can be a matter of life and death. After a devastating attack on his father, David and
his friends know their work to provide security, latrines, and clean-up projects is more than a struggle for a healthier environment - it is part of ensuring the survival of their community.
Kamran's Story
Kamran Safi of Kent Refugee Action Network. UK / Afghanistan - 2008. 3 min., animation.
In English.
Drawing from a series of dramatic life-changing events, Kamran, a 14-year-old asylum seeker, narrates the story of his courageous escape from Afghanistan and his unaccompanied journey to the United Kingdom.
Migration
Eddy Perlaza, Cinthya Durán, and Sinchi Chimba of Agencia de Comunicación de Niñas, Niños y Adolescentes (ACNNA). Ecuador - 2008. 5 min., doc.
In Spanish with English Subtitles.
Young people find themselves on their own when they seek refuge from violence in Colombia - or when parents are forced to seek work in other countries to support their families. Migration provides a new take on immigration, from the perspective of children left behind.
An Average Congolese Diet
Sylvain Koko of UNICEF Oneminutesjr. Project. Democratic Republic of Congo -
2007. 1 min., doc.
In French with English Subtitles.
For 14 years, Congo has been ravaged with conflict. Food insecurity remains the norm and millions have died, mostly due to malnutrition and lack of access to basic medicine. The simple truth for children in Congo - having a meal isn’t always a given.
17 & Unidentified
Alicia Wade of Global Potential. Dominican Republic / US - 2009. 5 min., doc.
In English and Spanish
with English Subtitles.
Born in Batey Cuchillia, Dominican Republic of Haitian descent, Deivei was never provided with a birth certificate. Without it, he cannot continue his education, find a job, marry or travel.
Growing up in India
Produced by 17 youth filmmakers from Free the Children. Canada/India - 2009. 9 min., doc.
In Hindi with English Subtitles.
In the northeastern desert state of Rajasthan in India, Sangita feels the limitations of her culture’s caste system when she decides she must forgo an education to train as a dancer in order to support her family.
Babica
Martina Hudorovic of DZMP/ Luksuz Produkcija. Slovenia - 2008. 8 min., doc.
In Roma with English Subtitles.
The Roma people have been the target of persecution and discrimination for centuries. A Roma grandmother shares her hopes for future generations as she prepares bread with her granddaughter.
Hudud
Produced by 12 youth filmmakers from Camera-etc. Occupied Palestinian Territories - 2008. 8 min., animation.
In Arabic with English Subtitles.
Being 16 in the Occupied Palestinian Territories today is to have one's life dictated by curfews, clashes with soldiers at check points, arbitrary searches and arrests. Hudud (an Arabic word for restriction)
illustrates the challenges that Israeli construction of the "separation barrier" or wall pose for Palestinian youth.
Mariposa
Espie Hernandez, Wendy Sandoval, and Luna
Serna of ImMEDIAte Justice Collective. US - 2009. 6 min., doc.
In English and Spanish with English Subtitles.
As Espie prepares for her quinceañera, a traditional rite of passage celebrating a 15-year-old Latina’s debut, her family adjusts to Espie's decision to "come out" in a different way. Espie’s story embraces
the complexity of family tradition and sexual identity with an honest and brave heart.
See, Listen, Speak: Ngarrindjeri's Being Heard
Nukkan.Kungan.Yunnan) Edie
Carter, Rita Lindsay, Victor Koolmatrie, Melanie Koolmatrie and Veronica Wilson from Change Media. Australia - 2009. 6 min., doc.
In English.
After water is diverted from natural streams and lakes in the rural Coroong community and delivered by pipeline to larger cities, the aboriginal Ngarrindjeri face a disastrous water crisis, threatening their
way of life. Ngarrindjeri youth speak out to protect their culture and traditions.
Image of Contamination
Elizabeth Gonzalez and Antonio Rodriguez of SAY Sí in
association with Listen Up! and Adobe Youth Voices. US - 2008. 8 min., doc.
In English and Spanish with English Subtitles.
The course of Air Force enlistee Diana López’s life changes forever when she learns that toxic waste has been seeping off nearby Kelly Air Force Base and into her community’s ground water. Realizing this
pollution is likely responsible for cancer and birth defects, Diana decides to fight for her community’s right to clean water, soil, and air.
3:00 p.m.
The Dawn Will Break
Presentation and panel discussion. 60 min.
Micklina Peter Kenyi will discuss the film trailer and clips of her documentary in progress, along with the film's director David Alexander and Sudanese historical consultant, Dr. Lawrence Wongo, who recently returned from Southern Sudan where he witnessed and filmed the historic Referendum vote. As the dawn breaks on the world's newest country, this unique panel examines and answers questions regarding the possibilities, dangers and hopes facing the most vulnerable survivors of an ethnic cleansing campaign. The stories of a "lost" generation of children, whose way of life was ravaged by war, have been forever found in this beautiful and poignant narrative.
"Lost Girl" Micklina Peter Kenyi describes the horrific and ultimately inspirational journey that began in 1987 when she ran into the bush from her from her embattled Southern Sudanese village. After walking for weeks, only to languish as an orphan at Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya, Micklina found her way to "The Mother of Southern Sudan" Sister Luise Radlmeier and ultimately, to the United States. Now she is getting her masters degree, working with the fledgling government of Southern Sudan on women's rights issues and producing a documentary film. The Dawn Will Break is the never-been-told story of the Lost Girls of the Sudan and the extraordinary nun who single handedly saved them from genocide.
4:00 p.m.
In the Land of the Free
Dir. Vadim Jean
UK/USA - 2009. 84 min.
Q&A with Robert King, the only released member of the Angola 3, released on 2/8/01.
A selection of the Human Rights Watch Traveling Film Festival.
Herman Wallace, Albert Woodfox and Robert King—the Angola 3—have spent a combined century in solitary confinement in Angola, the Louisiana State Penitentiary. Targeted by prison officials for being members of
the Black Panther Party and for fighting against terrible prison conditions, they were convicted of the murder of a prison guard, a verdict they continue to challenge and for which new evidence continues to
emerge. In the Land of the Free... presents their ongoing story as dramatic events continue to unfold. Narrated by Samuel L Jackson.
6:00 p.m.
La Mission
Dir. Peter Bratt
USA - 2009. 117 min.
Q&A with Director Peter Bratt
Growing up in the Mission district of San Francisco, Che Rivera (Benjamin Bratt) has always had to be tough to survive. He's a powerful man respected throughout the Mission barrio for his masculinity and his
strength, as well as for his hobby building beautiful lowrider cars. At the same time he’s also a man feared for his street-tough ways and violent temper. A reformed inmate and recovering alcoholic, Che has
worked hard to redeem his life and do right by his pride and joy: his only son, Jes, whom he has raised on his own after the death of his wife. Che's path to redemption is tested, however, when he discovers
Jes is gay. In a rage, Che violently beats Jes, disowning him. He loses his son—and loses himself in the process. Isolated and alone, Che comes to realize that his patriarchal pride is meaningless to him, and
to maintain his idea of masculinity, he’s sacrificed the one thing that he cherishes most—the love of his son. To survive his neighborhood, Che has always lived with his fists. To survive as a complete man,
he'll have to embrace a side of himself he's never shown.
Friday, April 1
12:00 p.m.
Offside
Dir. Jafar Panahi
Iran/Austria - 2006. 93 min.
Q&A with Roshan Pourabdollah, Organizer, NorCal4Iran www.norcal4iran.org
Sponsored by PACSW (President’s Advisory Committtee on the Status of Women)
Who is that strange boy sitting quietly in the corner of a bus full of screaming fans going to the football match? In fact, this shy boy is a girl in disguise. She is not alone, women also love football in
Iran. Before the game begins, she is arrested at the check point and put into a holding pen just by the stadium with a band of other women all dressed up as men. They will be handed over to the vice squad
after the match. But before this, they will be tortured! They must endure every cheer, every shout of a game they cannot see. Worse yet, they must listen to the play-by-play account of a soldier who knows
nothing about football. Yet, these young girls just won't give up. They use every trick in the book to see the match. Jafar Panahi’s films are often described as Iranian neo-realism, exploring the very human side of the conflicts in his native country. In the case of Offside, he used a fake name and false papers
in order to get permission to shoot at an actual soccer match in Iran. As a result, Offside has a documentary feel which captures the very real humor and determination of the Iranian women - and men - who love
soccer and are willing to go to extreme lengths for the opportunity to cheer on the home team. All of his films,
including Offside, have been banned by Iran. In December 2010, Panahi
was sentenced by an Iranian court to six years in jail and banned from
making films, traveling abroad, and talking to local and foreign media
for 20 years.
2:00 p.m.
Budrus
Dir. Julia Bacha
2009. 81 min.
Q&A with Martha Wallner, Jewish Voice for Peace & Lizzie Guerra, International Studies Student; Participant Beyond Bridges: Israel-Palestine
Ayed Morrar, an unlikely community organizer, unites Palestinians from all political factions and Israelis to save his village from destruction by Israel’s Separation Barrier. Victory seems improbable until
his 15-year-old daughter, Iltezam, launches a women’s contingent that quickly moves to the front lines. Struggling side by side, father and daughter unleash an inspiring, yet little-known movement in the
Occupied Palestinian Territories that is still gaining ground today. In an action-filled documentary chronicling this movement from its infancy, Budrus shines a light on people who choose nonviolence to
confront a threat yet remain virtually unknown to the world. The movie is directed by award-winning filmmaker Julia Bacha (co-writer and editor Control Room, co-director Encounter Point). While this film is
about one Palestinian village, it tells a much bigger story about what is possible in the Middle East. Ayed succeeded in doing what many people believe to be impossible: he united local Palestinian political
factions, including Fatah and Hamas; he brought women to the heart of the struggle by encouraging his daughter Iltezam's leadership; and he welcomed hundreds of Israelis to cross into Palestinian territory for
the first time and join this nonviolent effort. Budrus includes diverse voices from the Palestinian leaders of the movement and their Israeli allies to an Israeli military spokesman, Doron Spielman, and
Yasmine Levy, the Israeli border police officer stationed in the village at that time. While many documentaries about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict either romanticize the notion of peace, or dwell entirely
on the suffering of victims to the conflict, this film focuses on the success of a Palestinian-led nonviolent movement.
4:00 p.m.
Occupation Has No Future: Militarism + Resistance in Israel/Palestine
Dir. David Zlutnick
US - 2010. 84 min.
Q&A with Director David Zlutnick
In the Fall of 2009 a group of US veterans and war resisters traveled to Israel/Palestine to meet with their Israeli counterparts in an effort to strengthen connections and share experiences. Occupation
Has No Future uses this trip as a lens to study Israeli militarism, examine the occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, and explore the work of Israelis and Palestinians organizing against militarism and
occupation. Through conversations with Israeli conscientious objectors, former soldiers, and Palestinians living under occupation, the film creates a survey of the current atmosphere in the State of Israel and
the West Bank. It explores the Israeli social environment that creates such heightened militarism and leads to attitudes of fear, exclusion, racism, and ultimately aggression; and examines the consequences of
Israeli policies both for the Palestinian people as well as for Israeli civil society. Additionally, this documentary looks at the Israeli anti-militarist movement and those Israeli youth refusing
conscription, refusing orders, and choosing to partner with a growing grassroots Palestinian campaign of civil disobedience to defeat the occupation. Honest about the extremely daunting challenges,
Occupation Has No Future ultimately, tracks the hope of a growing number of Israelis and Palestinians to live together, free from occupation, with peace and justice.
6:00 p.m.
Monseñor, the Last Journey of Óscar Romero
Dir. Ana Carrigan and Juliet Weber
El Salvador/US - 2010. 87 min.
Introduction by Salvadoran Consul General Ana Valenzuela
Q&A with Associate Producer Eugene Palumbo
On March 24, 1980, Monseñor Óscar Romero, archbishop of San Salvador, was killed by a professional hit man as he stood at the altar celebrating a memorial Mass for a friend. His assassination became the
catalyst for a civil war that lasted for twelve years and cost more than 75,000, mostly civilian, lives. This film tells the story of the last three years of his life. The narrative spine of MONSEÑOR (
Monseñor, the Last Journey of Óscar Romero) develops through Romero’s own words, in extracts from his Sunday homilies and from his personal diary, in which each night he recorded the events of the day and
his own thoughts and reflections. The story of El Salvador as the war approaches is told through the experiences of a cross section of Salvadorans: campesinos, guerrillas, soldiers, politicians, priests, nuns,
catechists—providing a chorus of voices of people who shared with Romero the tragic history of their country. As this history evolves, so too will the reasons for Romero’s murder. There have been several films
about Monseñor Romero; this one is different in several respects: It is the first film about Romero that goes beyond the classic genre of a filmed biography, to explore and probe the contemporary significance
and legacy of his life and tragic death. It is the first film about Romero to place the Latin American campesinos at the center of the story: it was they who inspired Romero to find his mission; it was because
of the relationship he developed with them that he was killed. Towards the end of his life, when his conviction and courage were leading him irrevocably to a "death foretold," Romero had transcended his own
small country. In the telling of this story, the film will connect Romero’s life and death to the larger story of the cycles of poverty, rural abandon, and despair that—beyond the borders of El Salvador—are
today’s reality across Latin America and beyond.
Reception will follow in Room 101
Saturday, April 2
12:00 p.m.
Enemies of the People
Dir. Rob Lemkin & Thet Sambath
Cambodia/UK - 2009. 94 min.
Q&A with Howard De Nike, Ph D., Instructor of course on the Khmer Rouge Tribunal for USF Law School in Phnom Penh.
A selection of the Human Rights Watch Traveling Film Festival Winner of the 2010 Sundance World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Prize. 2010 Nestor Almendros Award for courage in
filmmaking.
Enemies of the People follows the project of Thet Sambath, whose parents
were among the approximately two million people who perished under the Khmer Rouge regime in the late 1970s. With unprecedented access and groundbreaking confessions from the notorious "Brother Number Two,"
Nuon Chea, and from numerous grassroots killers, he uncovers terrifying personal explanations for the genocide by allowing the perpetrators to speak for themselves.
2:00 p.m.
Waste Land
Dir. Lucy Walker
USA/Brazil - 2010. 99 min.
Human Rights Film Award Amnesty International, Berlin Film Festival 2010 Audience Award World Cinema Documentary, 2010 Sundance Film Festival Nominated for 2011 Oscar for Best
Documentary.
Filmed over nearly three years, Waste Land follows renowned artist Vik Muniz as he journeys from his home base in Brooklyn to his native Brazil and the world's largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho,
located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. There he photographs an eclectic band of "catadores"—self-designated pickers of recyclable materials. Muniz’s initial objective was to "paint" the catadores with
garbage. However, his collaboration with these inspiring characters as they recreate photographic images of themselves out of garbage reveals both the dignity and despair of the catadores as they begin to re-
imagine their lives. Director Lucy Walker and co-directors João Jardim and Karen Harley have great access to the entire process and, in the end, offer stirring evidence of the transformative power of art and
the alchemy of the human spirit.
4:30 p.m.
Testify
U.S. Human Rights Network
USA - 2010. 16 min.
Q&A with Richard Brown and William Crossman
Richard Brown, former Black Panther; former political prisoner/San Francisco 8 case; Member, U.S. Human Rights Network and Committee for the Defense of Human Rights. William Crossman, Adjunct Professor, Graduate Studies, Golden Gate University, SF; Member, U.S. Human Rights Network and San Francisco 8 Defense Committee.
In 2010, people throughout the U.S. spoke out on human rights issues in their communities as part of the United Nation's Universal Periodic Review (UPR). Through the Testify! Project recorded video testimonies were gathered and added to the written reports to the UN and testimonials given before U.S. government officials. This compilation of short videos provides a glimpse into contemporary human rights struggles within the U.S. Activists speak about police brutality, racism discrimination, profiling, torture, exploitation, health care, housing and indigenous rights. http://www.ushrnetwork.org/
Cointelpro 101
The Freedom Archives. USA - 2010. 56 min.
Q&A with Liz Derias, Malcom X Grassroots Movement.
COINTELPRO may not be a well-understood acronym but its meaning and continuing impact are absolutely central to understanding the government’s wars and repression against progressive movements. COINTELPRO represents the state’s strategy to prevent movements and communities from overturning white supremacy and creating racial justice. COINTELPRO is both a formal program of the FBI and a term frequently used to describe a conspiracy among government agencies—local, state, and federal—to destroy movements for self-determination and liberation for Black, Brown, Asian, and Indigenous struggles, as well as mount an institutionalized attack against allies of these movements and other progressive organizations. COINTELPRO 101 is an educational film that will open the door to understanding this history. This documentary will introduce viewers new to this history to the basics and direct them to other resources where they can learn more. The intended audiences are the generations that did not experience the social justice movements of the sixties and seventies.
6:30 p.m.
Social Change and Media-New Tools for Continuing Problems
Panel
Dorothy Kidd, Media Studies
Susana Kaiser, Media Studies and Latin American Studies
7:30 p.m.
Nile Revolution 2.0:
Egypt's Youth Uprising
Panel organized by Yalla! Students in Solidarity
The Yalla! Students in Solidarity group is a university student-led movement who, inspired by the courageous activism shown in Tunisia and Egypt, are committed to the resistance of authoritarian and repressive regimes around the world by conglomerating and using non-violent, direct-action methods and principles. We urge students to use social media tools/platforms as a medium to reach out to and educate their local community and beyond. Our purpose is to influence political, social, and economic landscape to create the conditions that support peaceful, democratic change throughout the world.
Ana Mish
Fahim ("I Don't Understand")
Dir. Mustafa Eck
USA/Egypt - 2006. 18 min.
Q&A w/director Mustafa Eck.
Finalist for the Student Academy Award 2007
A biracial young man explores the cultural misconceptions of his Middle Eastern heritage. Filmmaker
Mustafa Eck travels to Egypt in hopes of capturing the average Middle Eastern attitude towards various current events. Ana Mish Fahim, meaning "I don't understand" in Arabic, features a rare interview with
Gihan Sadat, the widow of Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat.
