[Reader-list] [Announcements] Fwd: TRI Continental Film Festival 2006

[Monica Mody]

BREAKTHROUGH PRESENTS

TRI CONTINENTAL FILM FESTIVAL 2006: HUMAN RIGHTS IN FRAMES

Moving images speak to us as nothing else does. Films can enthrall and
educate: the TRI Continental Film Festival demonstrates this.
Successfully bringing to India the finest human rights cinema from the
global south, for a second time, the festival has been organized by
Breakthrough, a human rights organization that uses media, education
and popular culture to promote values of dignity, equality and
justice.

Popular Sufi rock singer Rabbi Shergill opens the 3-day festival in
Delhi on January 21, after which the festival travels to Mumbai,
Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata in the two weeks following.

The 16 documentaries selected this year have won accolades all over
the world. A jury of five – Amar Kanwar, Arjun Chandramohan Bali, Ira
Bhaskar, Rituparno Ghosh and Shohini Ghosh – will award one of these
with the Jury Prize. Additionally, the non-competitive section
showcases 4 outstanding features.

Filmmakers will be present to discuss their films following certain screenings.

Initiated in Latin America in 2002, South Africa in 2003 and India in
2004, the TRI Continental Film Festival (3CFF) has become an annual
platform for narrative, documentary, feature and short length films in
the 3 continents. In the last year, the first 3CFF in India has
travelled to Bangalore, Chandigarh, Delhi, Guwahati, Kanpur, Kolkata,
Mumbai, and Pune, reaching students and practitioners of human rights
and film, IITs as well as cultural institutions, focused groups as
well as general audiences. These films spark discussions, debates and
conversations everywhere around human rights and social justice
issues.

In this year's festival, find out what it means to be young, talented
and a 'born criminal' ("Acting like a Thief"). Meet musicians and
activists from the 'other' Americas ("Rebel Music Americas"). Watch
the global media fight the war in Iraq ("Weapons of Mass Deception").
Join the global resistance to water privatization ("Thirst").

For details, visit www.breakthough.tv or contact:
Monica Mody/ Alika Khosla
91 11 2617 6181/ 85
tri-cff at breakthrough.tv

In collaboration with:

Federation of Film Societies of India (FFSI)
Habitat Film Club, New Delhi
Alliance Francaise Delhi
JACIC, Mumbai
Suchitra Film Society, Bangalore
Alliance Francaise Bangalore
Indo-Cine Appreciation Forum, Chennai
Cine Central, Kolkata
Swayam, Kolkata


***SCREENING PROGRAMME DELHI***

In association with Uhuru Productions, FFSI, Habitat Film Club &
Alliance Francaise Delhi


Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi

JANUARY 21

6.30 pm INAUGURATION by Rabbi Shergill

7.15  pm        SNAPSHOTS OF COURAGE

No More Tears Sister: An Anatomy of Hope and Betrayal Dir. Helene
Klodawsky (Canada/2004/ 80 min)

A story of love, revolution and betrayal, "No More Tears Sister"
explores the price of truth in times of war. Set during the violent
ethnic conflict that has enveloped Sri Lanka over decades, the
documentary recreates the courageous and vibrant life of renowed human
rights activist Dr. Rajani Thiranagama. Mother, anatomy professor,
author and symbol of hope, Rajani was assassinated at the age of
thirty-five. 15 years after Rajani's death, her charismatic older
sister Nirmala, a former Tamil militant and political prisoner,
journeys back to Sri Lanka. She has decided to break her long silence
about Rajani's passionate life and her brutal slaying. Joining her are
Rajani's husband, sisters and grown daughters, as well as fellow
activists forced underground. Stunningly photographed, using rare
archival footage, intimate correspondence and poetic recreations, the
film recounts Rajani's dramatic story and delves into rarely explored
themes - revolutionary women and their dangerous pursuit of justice.
(Columbus International Film and Video Festival, Worthington, USA, 2005)

Beauty Will Save the World Dir. Pietra Brettkelly (UK & New Zealand/
2004/ 62 min)

Before Saddam and Osama, Colonel Muammar Gadaffi was one of the most
reviled leaders in the West. Then in 2002 he hosted the first Miss Net
World beauty pageant, a first for Libya. "Beauty Will Save the World"
follows the exploits of 19 year-old Teca Zendik, the American
contender for the crown. She sets out with her political loyalties in
check, even refusing to wear the competition uniform - a tshirt
emblazoned with Gadaffi's likeness. How then does she assume the
position of honorary consul to the US for Libya in a mere matter of
months? Marvel at how diplomatic ties are re-established between two
nations while enjoying the behind-the-scenes antics of a beauty
pageant.

JANUARY 22

6.30 pm         EVERY WAR HAS ITS IMAGE

14 Episodes Dir. Murad Muzaev (Ukraine, Netherlands & Chechen Republic
of Ichkerya/ 2004/ 9 min)

This documentary short consists direct and fragmentary narratives of
dead, wounded and fleeing civilians and soldiers from the first and
second Russian-Chechen wars. Torn metal, the bare face of death,
helplessness - nothing is side-stepped, bearing testimony to the scale
and severity of this extraordinarily savage war. The material was
given by the Ukranian TV reporter Taras Protsuk, killed in Iraq on 8
April 2003, and also Adam Tepsurkaev (killed in Chechnya) and Islam
Saydaev.
(Award for Short Film Promoting Human Rights (special citation),
Melbourne Film International Festival, Melbourne, Australia, 2005;
Amnesty International Prize, International Documentary Film Festival,
Amsterdam, 2004)

Weapons of Mass Deception Dir. Danny Schechter (USA/ 2004/ 98 min)

There were two wars going on in Iraq. One was fought with armies of
soldiers, bombs and a fearsome military force. The other was fought
alongside it with cameras, satellites, armies of journalists and
propanganda techniques. The TV networks in America considered their
non-stop coverage their finest hour, but different countries saw
different wars. Why? WMD explores this story with the findings of a
gutsy, media insider-turned-outsider, former network journalist, Danny
Schechter, who is also one of America's most prolific media critics.
(Best Documentary, Denver International Film Festival, Denver, USA, 2004)

8.20 pm         CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

Acting Like a Thief Dir. Kerim Friedman & Shashwati Talukdar (India &
USA/ 2005/ 15 min) WORLD PREMIERE

"Acting Like a Thief" is a short film about the Budhan Theatre of
Chharanagar. Starting with playwright Dakxin Bajrange discussing his
arrest the film brings us inside the lives of a dedicated group of
young actors and their families as they discuss what it means to be a
"born criminal" and how theater changed their lives. The members of
Budhan Theatre are Chhara tribals. They were notified as "born
criminals" by the British, and imprisoned in a labor camp in
Ahmedabad. After Indian independence they were de-notified, but the
stigma of being a "born criminal" follows them to this day.
(Filmmakers present)

Sisters in Law Dir. Kim Longinotto & Florence Ayisi (UK/ 2005/ 106 min)

Selected for Cannes this year, "Sisters in Law" is a totally
fascinating - often hilarious - look at the work of one small
courthouse in South West Cameroon. The two women at the heart of the
doco wouldn't be out of place in an Alexander McCall Smith bestseller.
As the State Counsel and Court President, they dispense wisdom,
wisecracks and justice in fair measure. The victims of crime - an
abused child, a woman daring to accuse a man of rape, and another
trying to end a brutal marriage in a society where divorce is taboo -
are handled with fierce compassion. You will feel like cheering when
justice is served.
(Prix Art Et Essai, Cannes, France, 2005)

JANUARY 23

6.30 pm HOME AND BELONGING

The Concrete Revolution Dir. Xialou Guo (China & UK/ 2004/ 61 min)

A meditation on the price which is being paid for the building of the
new China, the film starts with the unemployed peasants rushing into
Beijing to work on the demolition and the construction of the city.
New China uses these people's desperation to realize its huge
ambitions. But the construction workers don't belong in Beijing, and
Beijing has no place for them either. They long to return to their
hometowns. The director is implicated too - does she also need to
return home? As China sends rockets into space and prepares to host
the 2008 Olympics, this film essay shows a crucial turning point in
China's history and captures a rapidly disappearing past and erosion
of every individual's roots.
(Grand Prix, International Human Rights Film Festival, Paris, 2005)

Traje: Women and Weaving in Guatemala Dir. Phoebe Hart (Guatemala/ 2004/ 10 min)

The Maya people of Mexico, Guatemala and Belize, in particular the
women, wear their traditional indigenous dress with pride. Handmade
with a simple backstrap loom and embroidered with designs, symbols and
stories that date back to antiquity, traje poses a colourful challenge
to the pressures of changing values, global economies, and
discrimination threatening the Mayan weaving practice. The film tells
the story of three women who are resisting the homogenising effects of
"western" culture.

The House on Gulmohar Avenue Dir. Samina Mishra (India/ 2005/ 30 min)

Sometimes the story of a life is the story of a search to be at home.
"The House on Gulmohar Avenue" traces the personal journey of the
filmmaker through the ideas of identity and belonging. The film is set
in a part of New Delhi called Okhla, where four generations of the
filmmaker's family have lived. An area that is predominantly inhabited
by Muslims. An area that is sometimes also called Mini Pakistan. The
filmmaker's personal history is a hybrid one but she grew up as a
Muslim. Set against a quiet presence of the political context in
India, the film seeks an honest and deeply personal understanding of
what this means - when she is aware of being Muslim, when does it
matter to her and when is it easier to forget it. In the journey to
answer these difficult questions, the film seeks out encounters with
other residents of Okhla to arrive at a complex understanding of what
it can mean to be a Muslim in India today. (Filmmaker present)

8.15 pm         IN A VEIN IRREVERENT

West Bank Story Dir. Ari Sandel (USA/ 2005/ 21 min)

A musical comedy set in the fast-paced, fast-food world of competing
falalfel stands in the West Bank. David, an Israeli soldier, falls in
love with the beautiful Palestinian cashier, Fatima, despite the
animosity between their families' dueling restaurants. Can the
couple's love withstand a 2000 year old conflict and their families'
desire to control the future of the chickpea in the Middle East?

8.40 pm BIRTH OF A NEW SOUTH AFRICA

Zulu Love Letter Dir. Ramadan Suleman (South Africa & France/ 2004/
100 min) FEATURE

A keen and insightful psychological drama, Zulu Love Letter presents
the emotional journey of two mothers searching for their daughters.
Tormented by the haunting images and unrelenting grief of the past,
single mother and journalist Thandi has difficulty communicating with
her estranged daughter, Mangi. Thirteen-year old Mangi is deaf and
dumb due to the beating that the pregnant Thandi received at the same
time that her friends, Mike and Dineo, were murdered by an Apartheid
hit squad. Mike and Dineo's fate pursues her, especially when Dineo's
mother appears requesting that Thandi testify before the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission.
(Grand Prix Du Mellieur Scenariste - Special Jury Award, organised by
Sopadin, France, 2001)


Alliance Francaise, New Delhi

JANUARY 22

10.30 am        EMERGING SONGS

Angola saudades from the one who loves you Dir. Richard Pakleppa
(Angola/ 2005/ 65 min)

The civil war in Angola tore the country in two for twenty-seven
years. Three years ago peace was negotiated. For the first time since
the country's independence it is united, but it has also been totally
destroyed. Nevertheless, Pakleppa opens his film with an optimistic
promise: "Angola longs for a new future," sings a woman in Portuguese.
A politician, an ambitious rapper, and a street urchin amidst the
worst possible misery all tell how beautiful and rich Angola actually
is.

Kitte Mil Ve Mahi (Where the Twain Shall Meet) Dir. Ajay Bhardwaj
(India/ 2005/ 72 min)

Travel to the heart of Punjab. Enter a world of Sufi shrines
worshipped and looked after by Dalits. Listen to B.S. Balli Qawwal
Paslewale, the first generation Dalit Qawwals born out of this
tradition. Join a fascinating dialogue with Lal Singh Dil - a radical
poet, a Dalit, converted to Islam. Meet the last living legend of the
Gadar movement, Baba Bhagat Singh Bilga, who contests the subversion
of a common past, while affirming a new consciousness among Dalits,
within and beyond Punjab. "Kitte Mil Ve Mahi" is people's narrative of
the little-known cultural/spiritual universe of Punjab. (Filmmaker
present)

1.00 pm EMERGING SONGS

Rebel Music Americas Dir. Malcolm Guy & Marie Botie (Canada/ 2004/ 79 min)

From Tierra del Fuego to the Rio Grande, the "other" Americas are in
turmoil, and in the midst of the social and political movements
rocking the region are four groups of passionate musicians. Theirs is
the music of the America of the South - popular, dynamic, rebellious
and more often than not "anti-American". It's the rhythms and voices
of Afro-Colombian musicians from communities forcibly displaced by the
military; of Lila Downs and the struggle of women and indigenous
peoples in Mexico; of Santa Reveulta and unemployed workers blocking
access to a refinery in Buenos Aires, and Chico Cesar joining a land
occupation of the Landless Worker's Movement (MST) in Brazil.
(Best Documentary, Roma Independent Film Festival, Rome, 2005)

2.30 pm         BIRTH OF A NEW SOUTH AFRICA

Homecoming Dir. Norman Maake (South Africa/ 2005/ 90 min) FEATURE

"Homecoming" is a story of loves lost, futures promised and the price
of freedom, but above all it is about friendship. Set in 1996, it is a
heart-wrenching thriller about three boyhood friends, ANC exiles, who
come back home to post-apartheid South Africa. Charlie, Peter and
Thabo are forced to deal with the realities of the apartheid era and
their friendship begins to take on a new meaning. This feature's cast
includes South Africa's most acclaimed actors.

4.00 pm CIVIL STRUGGLES

The Take Dir. Avi Lewis (Canada/ 2004/ 87 min)

In the wake of Argentina's spectacular economic collapse in 2001,
Latin America's most prosperous middle class finds itself in a ghost
town of abandoned factories and mass unemployment. In suburban Buenos
Aires, thirty unemployed auto-parts workers walk into their idle
factory, roll out sleeping mats and refuse to leave. All they want is
to re-start the silent machines. But this simple act - the take - has
the power to turn the globalization debate on its head. Avi Lewis and
Naomi Klein take viewers inside the lives of ordinary visionaries, as
they reclaim their work, their dignity and their democracy.

JANUARY 23

10.30 am        CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

Justiça Dir. Maria Ramos (Netherlands/ 2004/ 102 min)

In Justiça, Maria Ramos puts a camera where many Brazilians have never
been - a criminal courtroom in Rio de Janeiro, following the daily
routine of several characters. There are those that work there every
day (public attorneys, judges, and prosecutors) and those that are
merely passing through (the accused). The camera is used as an
instrument that sees the social theater, the structures of power -
that is to say, what is, in general, invisible to us. With her options
clear, and unobscured by her choice for sobriety and simplicity, Maria
Ramos makes it evident that, like documentary making, justice is a
long way from being impartial. How and for whom the judicial system
works for in Brazil is the fundamental question dealt with in this
film, without providing any definite answers or making preconceived
judgements.

12.15 pm        CIVIL STRUGGLES

Thirst Dir. Deborah Kaufman & Alan Snitow (USA/ 2004/ 62 min)

Is water part of a shared commons, a human right for all people? Or is
it a commodity to be bought and sold in the global marketplace? Filmed
in Bolivia, India and the USA, "Thirst" depicts communities struggling
with these questions as water becomes the world's most valuable
resource. This groundbreaking new film exposes how a global corporate
drive to commodify the world's water inspires new movements against
globalisation.
(The Chris Statuette, Columbus International Film Festival, Columbus,
Ohio, 2004; 1st Prize (Environment & Social Justice), Earth Vision
Film Festival, Santa Cruz, California, 2004; CINE Golden Eagle Award,
Fall 2004)

1.30 pm         BODY/CONTROL

Bride Kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan Dir. Petr Lom (Kyrgyzstan, Canada &
Czech Republic/ 2004/ 52 min)

Bride kidnapping is a common way of marrying in Kyrgyzstan, a former
Soviet repubilc in Central Asia. This ancient custom has become more
widespread since Kyrgyzstan's independence: because of increasing
poverty, many choose to kidnap because they cannot afford the
typically steep bride price asked by a Kyrgyz girl's family.
Typically, the groom takes several friends, hires a car, stakes out
his bride-to-be's movements, and snatches her off the street. The
woman is taken to the groom's family home. A delegation is then sent
to her family to inform them of the kidnapping. The abducted woman is
kept until someone from her family arrives to determine whether she
will marry her abductor. The level of consent and the familiarity of
the bride with the groom vary. Sometimes the kidnappings are
consensual - the bride is engaged to the groom and agrees to her
"abduction", a playful ritual, prior to marriage.  But in many other
cases, the bride has never met the groom before her abduction, and
does not want to marry. Recent studies estimate that about half of all
rural marriages in Kyrgyzstan today are conducted through kidnapping,
and that in half of these marriages the bride is forced to marry
against her will. This documentary - the first to ever document the
custom - follows the dramatic stories of four of non-consensual
kidnappings.

Sancharram (The Journey) Dir. Ligy Pullapally (India/ 2004/ 107 min)

Set in the lush, rural Kerala, The Journey begins with the childhood
friendship between beautiful, outgoing Delilah, a Christian girl, and
the sober, idealistic, and inwardly focused Kiran, whose Nair family
settles next door. They quickly become inseparable, and in time Kiran
feels attracted to Delilah, but suppresses it. She finds a
Bergerac-like outlet by writing love letters to Delilah for Rajan, a
local boy pursuing her. When Delilah learns the truth about the
letters, she responds – to Kiran. As neighbors begin to talk,
Delilah's family flies into panic mode with arranged marriage plans;
meanwhile Kiran fights back, leaving Delilah in the middle of a tug of
war. The director achieves in this film a piquancy that deepens a
sensitively drawn story.
(The Chicago Award for Best Film, 40th Chicago International Film
Festival, Chicago, 2004; India's Best Debut Director, The Lankesh
Award, Bangalore India, 2005; Special Jury Prize, John Abraham Award,
Kerala, 2004; Jury Prize, Kerala State Film Awards, 2005; Frameline
Film Completion Award, San Francisco, 2004)

4.15 pm RESCREENING: Jury Prize Winner

* THE SCHEDULE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE.
-------------- next part --------------
_______________________________________________
announcements mailing list
announcements at sarai.net
https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements