Human Rights Watch International Film Festival, January 16-20

The Axe in the Attic
by Lucia Small and Edward Pincus (2007, 110 min.)
Wednesday, January 16, 7:30pm (MFA) - with directors
Saturday, January 19, 2pm (MFA)
Sunday, January 20, 2pm (MFA)
Friday, January 25, 5:45pm (MFA)
Saturday, January 26, 12:45pm (MFA)
Thursday, January 31, 6pm (MFA)
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, two filmmakers, drawn together by outrage, take a sixty-day road trip from New England to New Orleans. Along the way they meet evacuees and witness the loss, dignity, perseverance, and humor of people who have become exiles in their own country. The breakdown of trust between a government and its citizens, the influence of race, class, and gender--as well as the ethics of documentary filmmaking itself--form the backdrop for this universal story of the search for home. Discussion with directors follows January 16 screening.

Strange Culture
by Lynn Hershman Leeson (2007, 75 min. video)
Thursday, January 17, 6:20pm (MFA)
Saturday, January 19, 5:30 pm (PEM)
Chronicles the miscarriage of justice that has befallen Steve Kurtz, a professor, artist, and actor. In 2004 as Kurtz was preparing an interactive exhibition for the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art when his wife tragically died from heart failure. Distraught, Kurtz called 911, but when the police arrived and saw the scientific materials for the exhibition, they called the FBI. Dozens of agents in haz-mat suits searched his home, impounded his computers, books, cat, and even his wife's body, and held Kurtz as a suspected bio-terrorist. Strange Culture is a fascinating, highly provocative documentary about post-9/11 paranoia and the risks artists face when their work questions government policies.

The Devil Came on Horseback
by Annie Sundberg, Ricki Stern (2006, USA/Chad, 85min. video)
Thursday, January 17, 7pm (PEM)
Thursday, January 17, 8pm (MFA)
Unwilling to accept a desk job but desirous of “serving his country,” Marine Captain Brian Steidle quits his job with the US Marine Corps and accepts a six-month post with the African Union as an unarmed military observer in the western Darfur region of Sudan. Soon after arriving in Darfur, however, Steidle realizes that things are going terribly wrong in this huge, remote province bordering Chad. Unable to intervene, Steidle uses his camera to document the conflict in Darfur that has claimed at least 200,000 lives and displaced 2.5 million people since early 2003. Filmmakers Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern’s astonishing film allows us to witness Steidle’s transformation from soldier to observer to witness and, finally, activist.

Cocalero
by Alejandro Landes (Argentina, 2007, 94 min.)
Friday, January 18, 6pm (MFA)
Exploring the controversial Bolivian president Evo Morales and his rise to prominence, Cocalero follows the presidential campaign of Morales as he moves from union meetings in the Andes and Amazon to formal fundraising dinners and mass rallies in cities. Morales, an outspoken critic of the United States, has his political power base in the coca-growing areas of central Bolivia and is the first indigenous president of Bolivia. In Spanish and Quechua with English subtitles.

Everything’s Cool
by Judith Helfand and Daniel B. Gold (2006, 100 min. video)
Friday, January 18, 8pm (MFA)
Saturday, January 26, 10:30am (MFA)
In comedically insightful style, veteran filmmakers Daniel Gold and Judith Helfand (Blue Vinyl) weave an absorbing, character-driven, behind-the-scenes tale about the world’s ‘big problem’: global warming. In this new self-described “toxic comedy,” they chronicle the struggle between two groups of global warming messengers: the "good guys"—which include a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who repeatedly tries to retire but can't and the Weather Channel's first climatologist with a "global-warming beat" who must pack her Ph.D. into 30-second sound bites—and the "bad guys," mostly industry-sponsored hacks who have until now the nation with manufactured doubt.

Lumo
Saturday, January 19, 10:30am (MFA)
by Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt and Nelson Walker III (Democratic Republic of Congo, 2007, 72 min. video)
The agonies of war-torn Africa are deeply etched in the bodies of women. In eastern Congo, vying militias, armies, and bandits use rape as a weapon of terror. Recently engaged to a young man from her village, 20-year-old Lumo Sinai can’t wait to have children and start a family. But when she crosses paths with marauding soldiers who brutally attack her, she is left with a fistula—a condition that renders her incontinent and threatens her ability to give birth. On an uncertain road to recovery, Lumo proves that the solidarity of women can bind even the most irreparable of wounds. In Swahili, French and English with English subtitles.

The Unforeseen by Laura Dunn (2007, 93 min. video)
Saturday, January 19, 12pm (MFA)
Laura Dunn’s beautifully crafted documentary, (Executive Producers Terrence Malick and Robert Redford), The Unforeseen, follows the career of Gary Bradley, an ambitious west Texas farm boy who made himself into one of the state’s most powerful real estate developers. At the peak of his powers, Bradley transformed 4000 acres of pristine Central Texas Hill Country into one of the state's largest and fastest-selling subdivisions. When the development threatened a local Austin treasure, Barton Springs—a natural spring-fed swimming hole—the community fought back and the subdivision became a lightning rod for environmental activism of the kind that flourished under Governor Ann Richards. When George W. Bush became governor, development laws changed, and the water quality at Barton Springs and Austin’s overall landscape were irreversibly altered. The Unforeseen is a powerful meditation on the destruction of the natural world and the American Dream as it falls victim to the cannibalizing forces of unchecked development.

Sari's Mother
by James Longley (Iraq, 2006, 21 minutes)
Saturday, January 19, 1pm (PEM)
This compact portrait of an Iraqi woman and her AIDS- infected son speaks volumes at a whisper.

Enemies of Happiness
by Eva Mulvad, co-directed by Anja Al-Erhayem, (Denmark, 2006, 58 minutes)
Saturday, January 19, 1:30pm (PEM)
Malalai Joya became one of Afghanistan's most infamous women in 2003 when she challenged the power of warlords in the country's new government. In English, Farsi and Pashto with English subtitles.

Election Day
by Katy Chevigny (USA, 2007, 84 minutes)
Saturday, January 19, 3pm (PEM)
On Election Day 2004, a woman in Shaker Heights, Ohio, waits for hours in the rain with her infant child, only to discover her name is not on the voter list. In New York City, a 50-year-old ex-felon is able to vote for the first time, but will his affidavit ballot be counted?

At the Green Line
by Jesse Atlas (Israel, 2005, 53 minutes)
Sunday, January 20, 1:30 pm (PEM)
Profiles several Courage to Refuse ex-soldiers as well as Israeli army reservists and shows how each side wrestles with the effectiveness and morality of their choices.

Suffering and Smiling
by Dan Ollman (Nigeria/US, 2007, 65 min., video)
Saturday, January 19, 4:30pm (MFA)
Sunday, January 20, 3 pm (PEM)
Focusing on the legendary African singer and activist Fela Anikulapo Kuti and his son Femi Kuti, Suffering and Smiling depicts the impact of their politically charged music. Following Nigeria’s independence in 1960, Fela used his songs to speak out against the country’s corrupt leaders. Since independence the military and political elite have enriched themselves by allowing Nigeria’s oil and natural resources to be stripped by multinational corporations with little benefit to ordinary Nigerians. Fela gave voice to Nigeria’s disenfranchised underclass and sang of a free and united Africa. Upon Fela's death in 1997, Femi continued his father’s legacy, working to maintain a vision of better days ahead for the common people of Nigeria. In English and Yoruba with English subtitles.

Hot House
by Shimon Dotan (Israel, 2006, 89 min. video)
Sunday, January 20, 10:30am (MFA)
About 9000 Palestinians are imprisoned in Israeli jails on "security" charges. To most Israelis, these prisoners are assassins and criminals. To most Palestinians, they are heroes and freedom fighters. Shot inside the Ber Sheba, Ashkelon, Hadarim, and Megiddo prisons, Hot House is a unique, probing documentary-feature that explores the emergence of a Palestinian national leadership within Israeli prisons. The film offers a rare look at the experiences, motivations, and mindsets of a number of key inmates serving multiple life sentences and shows the remarkable degree to which they influence the political process in the outside world. In Hebrew, English and Arabic with English subtitles.

White Light/Black Rain
by Steven Okazaki (2007, 86 min. video)
Sunday, January 20, 12:15pm (MFA)
Even after 60 years, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki continue to inspire argument, denial, and myth. Surprisingly, most people know very little about what happened on August 6 and 9, 1945, two days that changed the world. Featuring unforgettable interviews with fourteen atomic bomb survivors, many of whom have never spoken publicly before, and four Americans intimately involved in the bombings, the film reveals both unimaginable suffering and extraordinary human resilience. White Light/Black Rain stands as a powerful warning to today’s world—which harbors nuclear weapons with the firepower of 400,000 Hiroshimas—that we cannot afford to forget what happened on those two days in 1945.

Nanking
by Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman (2007, 75 min.)
Sunday, January 20, 2pm (MFA)
Directed by the Academy-Award-winning team of Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman (Twin Towers) and marking the producing debut of AOL Vice Chairman Ted Leonsis, Nanking is a powerful reminder of the heartbreaking toll that war takes on the innocent, and a testament to the courage and conviction of a few individuals determined to act in the face of evil. The film tells the story of the Japanese invasion of Nanking, China in the early days of World War II and focuses on the efforts of a small group of unarmed Westerners who established a Safety Zone where over 200,000 Chinese found refuge. The events of the film are told through deeply moving interviews with Chinese survivors, archival footage, and chilling testimonies of Japanese soldiers.