Human Rights Watch film festival

10 YEARS IN LONDON! HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL March 15-25, 2006 Curzon Mayfair, The Ritzy, ICA, Gate Cinema, Clapham Picturehouse, Greenwich Picturehouse www.hrw.org/iff From March 15-25 Human Rights Watch International Film Festival celebrates its 10th anniversary in London with a programme of 22 intelligent, inspiring and indispensable feature films and documentaries from 20 countries, articulating many of the human, environmental and geo-political stories of our times. The festival launches with Robert Edwards’ compelling feature debut Land of the Blind (UK 2006), a political satire with searing performances from lead-players Ralph Fiennes and Donald Sutherland, plus rising-star Tom Hollander (Pride and Prejudice, Gosford Park) and Lara Flynn Boyle (Twin Peaks) in strong supporting roles. Hot-on-the-heels of the film’s World Premiere at the Rotterdam Film Festival, this is Land of the Blind’s UK Premiere. It is a film of ideas about terrorism, revolution and the power of memory - a highly entertaining and provocative tour-de-force that echoes countless tyrannies, revolutions and counter-revolutions throughout history. Land of the Blind plays on Wednesday 15 March at the Curzon Mayfair for a fundraising Benefit Gala and on Thursday 16 March at the Ritzy Cinema for Opening Night. For ten years audiences have cherished the rarity of the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival experience: an opportunity to appreciate beautifully crafted films that deliver real stories, and join in substantive conversations with filmmakers and human rights experts. This year the festival plays at six venues across London and enjoys collaborations with: The Royal Court Theatre, Trolley Books and co-presentations with DocHouse, Doc Space, The Frontline Club and Tongues on Fire Film Festival. The 10th anniversary edition of the festival is packed with stand-out films and events, including a Centre Piece screening of the Golden Globe Best Foreign Film winner Paradise Now (Netherlands/Germany/France 2005) directed by festival favourite Hany Abu-Assad (Nazareth 2000, Ford Transit, Rana’s Wedding). Filmed exclusively in the Palestinian territories, it is the story of two Palestinian childhood friends who have been recruited for an attack on Tel Aviv and focuses on their last days together. In recognition of the internationally acclaimed documentary filmmaker Kim Longinotto, who is renowned for creating extraordinary human portraits and tackling controversial topics with sensitivity and compassion, the festival is screening a mini-retrospective of her work including her latest film Sisters In Law (UK/Cameroon 2005), Divorce, Iranian Style (UK 1998), Eat the Kimono (UK 1989) and Hidden Faces (UK 1990) plus an “in conversation” discussion with film consultant Lizzie Francke, following the screening of Sisters In Law. A gripping tale of crime, punishment and redemption, Pierrepoint (aka The Last Hangman) (UK 2005, Andrew Shergold) tells the story of Albert Pierrepoint - Britain’s most notorious hangman. With an outstanding performance from Timothy Spall as the executioner, this film intimately explores the issues of work, duty and conscience that ended in the exposure of Pierrepoint’s double life, his resignation and, ultimately, his rejection of capital punishment. The festival’s commitment to showcasing the best in current affairs documentaries continues in Iraq in Fragments (USA 2006) and Winter in Baghdad (Spain 2005). Winning Best Documentary Direction, Cinematography, Editing at the Sundance Film Festival 2006, James Longley’s cinema vérité style Iraq in Fragments is culled from 300 hours of footage and provides a striking and rarely seen portrait of a broken population. His film is more than an accomplished documentary – it is an astonishing work of art which stunningly conveys realities for Iraqi citizens in Baghdad, the Shiite south and the Kurdish north. The storytelling skills of director Javier Corcuera bring the human side of the war to life in his intimate portrait of life in Iraq’s capital. Winter in Baghdad weaves an emotionally rich and visually strong tapestry of life in this once great city and offers a refreshing alternative to the simplistic and repetitive images offered through the mainstream media. Human stories continue in five powerful films from South America, including the most recent film from celebrated political filmmaker Fernando Solanas. Using in-depth interviews with the female farmers, shanty town inhabitants and hospital workers of Argentina, Solanas’ La Dignidad De Los Nadies/The Dignity of the Nobodies (Argentina 2005) allows the ‘nobodies’ of the title to tell their stories of resistance, solidarity and strength, in their struggle against globalisation. Winner of Film Critic’s Award at Chicago Documentary Festival, the challenging State of Fear (USA/Perú 2005) reveals how fear of terror can undermine democracy, exploring the escalating violence in the Andean nation of Perú, a virtual dictatorship where official corruption has replaced the rule of law. For the BBC, the award winning team of Olenka Frenkiel and Giselle Portenier (Murder in Purdah) return with Killer’s Paradise (UK/Canada 2006) their shocking story of the brutal killings of women in Guatemala. By focussing on specific cases the film highlights the failure of the Guatemalan authorities to pursue justice for the perpetrators of the violence. Meanwhile Sérgio Bianchi, Latin America’s leading purveyor of politically engaged cinema returns with his caustic and provocative drama What is it Worth? (Brazil 2005), which deftly weaves together two time periods in Brazil—the slave society of the 1700s and the modern day, in a clever critique of the issues of power and ownership, raised by the economics of charity. The dangers of accelerating globalisation, and the failure of multinationals and governments to protect environments and peoples is documented in two damning documentaries from Chile and Azerbaijan. In 1997, the Spanish owned ENDESA, the foremost hydro-electrical company in Latin America, which owns 67% of the water in Chile, started plans to construct a power station in the Ralco valley and flood the villages of seventy Pehuenche-Mapuche families, who have lived there for four centuries. Despite protections for indigenous people enshrined in the Chilean constitution, the government stepped aside. Manel Mayol’s Switch Off (Spain 2005) reveals the underhand tactics and legal smoke-screens used by ENDESA to ensure the Pehuenche-Mapuche people accepted the “invitation” to leave their homes in 2004 and be re-housed in the high mountains without electricity. Protesters – including activists, journalists and lawyers – have found themselves arrested under Pinochet’s anti-terrorist laws, facing witnesses in the court-room whose identities are concealed. An international consortium led by BP, has centred its attention on Baku, the site of the world’s first oil well, in Azerbaijan - ranked one of the most corrupt countries in the world. In Source (Czech Republic 2005) a mobile and inventive film crew led by Martin Mareček and Martin Skalský have travelled the country to investigate and record the impact of this most recent energy boom. From 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, to interviews with a fascinating cross-section of politicians, oil men, workers, wives and mothers, Source asks if this “liquid gold” is more of a curse than a blessing for this troubled country, where the majority of the people live below the poverty line. Azerbaijan is also the focus of the World Premiere of Ivan O’Mahoney’s How to Plan a Revolution (UK/Azerbaijan 2006, BBC) which follows the efforts of two young Azerbaijani activists, and their frustrations, as they campaign to recreate the effective Orange revolutions of Ukraine and Georgia in their own country, but without the support of Western countries, which are looking for stability in Azerbaijan, not revolution. Bold stories of assassination and betrayal come in Amu (India 2005) and No More Tears Sister: Anatomy of Hope and Betrayal (Canada 2004), two compelling films from Asia. An enlightening tale of personal development, Amu raises questions about the relationship Indian émigrés feel to their homeland, and the violent effect of the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Ghandi in 1984, which resulted in the massacre of more than 4,000 Sikhs over three days. The intensely personal story of renowned Sri Lankan human rights activist Dr. Rajani Thiranagama is told through interviews with her sister Nirmala and other family members, in the emotive documentary No More Tears Sister. Fifteen years after Thiranagama’s assassination in 1989 at the age of thirty five, Nirmala, a former Tamil militant and political prisoner, has broken her silence for the first time and provides the rare opportunity to hear the story of revolutionary women and their dangerous pursuits of justice first hand. The challenging programme continues: a meditation on present-day South Africa coming to terms with its new status as a promised land in Conversations on a Sunday Afternoon (South Africa 2005); a drama set amongst the exiled Tibetan diaspora, breathtakingly shot in Dharamsala, Dehli and Rajasthan in Dreaming Lhasa (India/UK 2005); a searing, hilarious and vital blow against the censorship of Berlusconi’s government in Viva Zapatero! (Italy 2005); and a tale of obsession, courage and defiance that spans the world, from America to Afghanistan in Smiling in a War Zone (Denmark/Sweden/Germany/Finland 2005).

 Printable version