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2003 List and Description of Films
GACACA, LIVING TOGETHER AGAIN IN RWANDA?
During 100 days in 1994, approximately 800,000 Rwandans were
massacred in the ethnic genocide against Tutsis. Gacaca, which means
grass in Kirundi, is the effort to bring justice to over 100,000 pending
cases. The film follows the prosecutor as he explains to groups of
people how Gacaca (“justice on the grass”) will work, presenting
several prisoners to the assembled crowds. He explains, “Your lawyer
will be your neighbor; your accuser will be your neighbor; and your
judge will be your neighbor.”
This grassroots form of citizen-based justice has its origins in precolonial
times. The focus is on intertwining stories of survivors and
prisoners, as they confront one another in this unique experiment in
mass restorative justice for mass crimes committed. The film shows
the critical importance of collective memory and of giving voice to the
people and allowing them to tell their stories.
The film highlights the central issues facing Rwandans in their
attempt to find truth and justice and to pardon the unpardonable. Will
Gacaca help foster reconciliation between Hutu and Tutsi for future
generations? Or will it threaten the uneasy peace that has evolved
between Tutsi survivors and their Hutu neighbors?
Human Rights Watch International Film Festival
Amnesty International Film Festival Sundance at MoMA: Illuminated Voices
DINNER FOR TWO
Peace in the rain forest is disrupted when two chameleons get
“stuck” in a
conflict, with catastrophic results. As they battle over
territory, these two small animals realize that their conflict affects not
just them, but their whole environment. Luckily for the lizards, a
frog observing the fracas turns into exactly what they need--a mediator.
Dinner for Two tackles conflict in a lively, humorous and provocative way. It shows that amidst the chaos that differences can create, there are still paths to reconciliation. This award-winning
animated film is designed as a flexible tool to explore conflict resolution. From teaching toddlers to share toys to encouraging
national leaders to peacefully settle border disputes, the film has messages for a wide range of audiences. UNICEF Prize for Best Short Film, Berlin Children's Film Festival Gold Award, New York Exposition of Short Film/Video Best Short Film, Montreal World Film Festival Best Animated Eye Award, Aspen Shorts Festival Best Film Award, International Family Film Festival, Seoul
Best Animated Film, San Diego Film Festival
A CHILD’S CENTURY OF WAR As seen from the perspective of children, A Child’s Century of War takes the viewer on a journey through the 20th Century and examines the way in which modern conflicts have increasingly threatened and targeted children. We hear their stories in their own voices. The film establishes parallels between past and present conflicts and intercuts the accounts of children currently living in danger with diary excerpts of children from the past. By examining the way today's wars indoctrinate children, the film is also an eye to the future. Three contemporary conflicts are the heart of the film: orphans of the two recent Chechen wars, Israeli and Palestinian children growing up on Martyr Street in Hebron, and the abducted, raped, and amputated children of Sierra Leone. As we listen to the children, their unflinching stories throw a disturbing light on the human condition at the beginning of our new century. Hope is portrayed through Golden Kids Radio, a project of Search for Common Ground’s Talking Drum Studio in Sierra Leone. Former child soldiers who have been reintegrated and trained in radio production are seen interviewing newly returned child soldiers about their lives, and about their dreams of reconciliation with their families. These broadcasts have been heard nationally in Sierra Leone, educating the general public about the plight of these children and starting a national dialogue about how to rehabilitate and resocialize them. Notable Video for Adults, Video Round Table of the American Library Association 2003 Nominee, Best Documentary, International Documentary Association 2002 Sheffield International Documentary Festival ( UK) 2002 Toronto International Film Festival 2002 Hot Docs International Documentary Festival 2002 Galway Film Festival ( Ireland) 2002
Thessaloniki Film Festival (
Greece)
WAR AND PEACE (PART I) Dramatically introduced by the murder of Mahatma Gandhi fifty years ago, the film argues that religious fundamentalism and patriotism are two sides of the same coin. In the war-torn wastelands of the world, memories of Gandhi seem like a mirage, created by our thirst for peace and our very distance from it. War and Peace examines not merely the militarization of India and Pakistan, but analyzes the human cost that is extracted from its citizens in the name of national security – from the plight of residents living near the nuclear test site, to the horrendous effects of uranium mining on local populations. In the enemy country of Pakistan, Indian delegates find themselves showered with affection by their counterparts and from ordinary citizens, who tell them “hate is the creation of politicians.” *The government of India lifted the ban on the film in 2003. Grand Prize - Earth Vision Film Festival, Tokyo Best Film and International Jury Award - Mumbai International Film Festival, Bombay Berlin, London, Sydney, Hong Kong, San Francisco Film Festivals
Hot Docs Film Festival, Toronto
THE ANNIVERSARY The Anniversary is a film about a Vietnamese Buddhist monk who is haunted by his memories of war on the anniversary of his brother’s death. It is a film about the Vietnam War, seen from a Vietnamese perspective as a civil war. Filmmaker Ham Tran said that nearly every American film made about the Vietnam War has been about the American experience. And yet, this civil war affected 7 out of 10 families in Vietnam. It is a scar that almost every member of the Vietnamese diaspora carries within their heart no matter how far they have migrated from their homeland. There is a line from Emir Kusturica’s film, “Underground” that says, “No war is a war until a brother kills his own brother.” The Anniversary is a reminder of this pain that must never be revisited. Tran writes that the Common Ground Film Series reflects the goals and ideas for which his film was made: tolerance, community, and above all, healing. Spanning over thirty years, The Anniversary follows the tragic events of two brothers, Hung and Hiep. In 1963, their father fleeswith Hiep to North Vietnam, leaving Hung and his mother behind. The war re-unites Hung and Hiep in battle. Today a Buddhist monk, Hiep is haunted by his memories of war and betrayal on the anniversary of his brother’s death. Shot in Vietnam, two-time Academy Award-nominated director Ham Tran joins with veteran cinematographer Guillermo Rosas and producer Lam Nguyen to lead viewers through a visually stunning journey of hope and remorse that will resonate in the audience’s heart long after the film is over. Ham Tran was born in Vietnam, and immigrated with his family to the U.S. in 1982. The Anniversary was filmed in completion of his MFA Directing degree at the UCLA School of Film and Television. His past films, The Prescription and Pomegranate have both received numerous accolades, including nominations for the Student Academy Awards. Grand Prize – USA Film Festival 2003 1st Place Best Short – American Accolades 2003 The Golden Reel Award & New Director/New Vision Award – Visual Communications Film Festival 2003 Special Jury Prize – 8th Brazilian International Film Festival 2003
Grand
Prize, Cinema Jove Film Festival, Spain 2003
THE FLUTE PLAYER If the Khmer Rouge military regime hadn’t taken over Cambodia in 1975, Arn Chorn-Pond probably would have followed in his family’s footsteps and become an opera star. Instead, at the age of nine Arn was thrust into the darkness of Cambodia’s ghastly “ killing fields.” While his family and culture were destroyed, Arn avoided death by playing Communist propaganda songs on his flute on orders of the Khmer Rouge. During 1975-79, approximately 1.8 million people were killed in Cambodia. To survive, Arn played his flute on order and he killed on order. “ To survive, I had to kill my heart every day.” Two decades later, Arn travels from the old U.S. mill town of Lowell, Massachusetts to the back streets of Phnom Penh, Cambodia to revive Cambodia’s traditional music, and to face the dark shadows of his war-torn past. When the film begins, Arn is 37, and he has launched the Cambodian Master Performers Project to heal his country through the re-emergence of traditional music and culture. The Flute Player is a chronicle of an extraordinary response to extraordinary violence and injustice and an astonishing promise of renewal in a war-torn country. Audience Award – South by Southwest Film Festival 2003 Seattle International Film Festival Sundance at MoMA Chicago Asian American Showcase IFP Los Angeles Film Festival NAATA Asian American Showcase
Human Rights Watch International Film Festival
MY TERRORIST
In 1978, filmmaker Yulie Cohen Gerstel was wounded in a
terrorist
attack by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. My
Terrorist chronicles her attempts –
over 20 years later –
to free the
terrorist, who is serving a
life sentence in prison.
Working as a
stewardess for El Al, Gerstel was attacked along with
other members of her flight crew while in London. Another stewardess
was killed, and Yulie suffered lasting trauma from the event. Over the
years she began questioning the causes of violence between Israelis and
Palestinians and started to consider her own role in the conflict.
From the time she was a
young girl, Gerstel considered herself a staunch Israeli nationalist. She reached her goal to become an army
officer. After working as a
coordinator on a
film shoot and visiting the
occupied territories for the first time, Gerstel came to realize that
both Israelis and Palestinians played a
role in perpetuating the cycle of
hostility and bloodshed. An inspiring story of forgiveness, Gerstel’s
poignant documentary is a
moving testimony of human compassion and
a call for peace.
Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival Human Rights Watch Film Festival San Francisco International Film Festival One World – International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival DC International Film Festival Seattle Jewish Film Festival Toronto Jewish Film Festival Montreal Jewish Film Festival Jeonju International Film Festival Vancouver Jewish Film Festival Denmark National Film Festival Shorts and Docs Reykjavik Femme Totale Film
Festival, Germany
Infinity Festival,Italy
A SECOND OPINION A Second Opinion follows Israeli doctors working for Physicians for Human Rights (PHR)- Israel. Every Saturday, together with doctors from Palestinian medical organizations, they conduct free examinations and distribute medicines to Palestinians in the West Bank. While facing terror and rejection at home, the doctors insist on fulfilling their professional and human obligations, offering the viewers a “second opinion” on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a possibility for coexistence in the Middle East. Established in 1988, PHR-Israel is one of the few Israeli organizations continuing to operate in the occupied territories, dedicated to promoting and protecting the rights to medical treatment of all residents. “I think that the media and the government succeeded to sell the myth that there is no solution, that there is no one to talk to. This is a myth we are trying to break. We are trying to show that there are people that you can talk to and that there are solutions that are better than the continuous use of violence.” -Dr. Hadas Ziv, Director of PHR-Israel The film was produced as a masters degree project at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California at Berkeley, with the help of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies.
UNEXPECTED OPENINGS: NORTHERN IRELAND’S PRISONERS Shot on Location, including in the maze and Crumlin Road prisons, UNEXPECTED OPENINGS: NORTHERN IRELAND’S PRISONERS tells the stories of former Irsish Republican Army, Ulster Defense Association, and Ulster Volunteer Force prisoners who have returned to society after 15 to 20 years in prison. In personal narratives, the prisoners- considered "freedom fighters" by some abd "terrorists" by others - share about their imprisonment and their realization that their objectives cannot be obtained by violence. Many of the men are now working in social work, politics, and education have become "Northern Ireland's hidden resource in the peace process." Premiered at the Musuem of Fine Arts in Boston Broadcast on WGBH in Boston New England Emmy Award Nomination
AN UNLIKELY FRIENDSHIP An Unlikely Friendship features a riveting account of the surprising relationship that developed between an outspoken black female civil rights activist and a leader of the local Ku Klux Klan in Durham, North Carolina in the early 1970’s. In their own sincere, down-home manner, Ann Atwater and CP Ellis recount the story of an altogether unexpected alliance and life-long friendship— a relationship built on looking beyond stereotypes and seeing each other as humans. From accounts of a ten-day-long school desegregation meeting that they co-chaired in 1971 to CP’s renouncing of the Klan, the story is moving, comic, and inspiring. The film concludes, “ there are CPs and Anns in every community, and they just need to be brought together. Communities and people can turn anything around that they want to. It takes proper leadership and the will to do so.” “She can upset the world with her mouth.” CP Ellis "I wanted to cut his head off.” Ann Atwater Thirty years later, they’re still friends. “About 25 years ago. I met the two heroes of this film – CP Ellis and Ann Atwater. Their story is one of redemption. I think it’s the most important documentary I’ve seen, and may be the most hopeful film in years.” - Studs Terkel New York International Independent Film and Video Festival 2002 Vermont International Film Festival 2002 Vancouver Island Independent Film, Video and New Media Festival 2002 Marco Island Film Festival 2002
Hot Springs International Film Festival 2002
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