LARAMIE

OCTOBER 19-21, 2006

UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING

AGRICULTURE AUDITORIUM

FOR INFORMATION CALL:

(307) 399-1723

or visit

www.uwyo.edu/amnesty

Thanks to the generous support of ASUW, all screenings are FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. Seats will be made available on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Refreshments will be served.

FESTIVAL PROGRAM:

Thursday, OCTOBER 19

4.30pm SEOUL TRAIN

Directors: Lisa Sleeth, Jim Butterworth

2004. 54 min.

With its riveting footage of a secretive "underground railroad," Seoul Train is the gripping documentary exposé into the life and death of North Koreans as they try to escape their homeland and China. Seoul Train also delves into the complex geopolitics behind this growing and potentially explosive humanitarian crisis. By combining vérité footage, personal stories and interviews with experts and government officials, Seoul Train depicts the flouting of international laws by major countries, the inaction and bureaucracy of the United Nations, and the heroics of activists that put themselves in harm's way to save the refugees.

5.30PM            STOLEN CHILDHOODS

Director:  Len Morris

2003.  81min.

Filmed in several countries, Stolen Childhoods explores child labor. The story is told in the words of the laboring children, the parents, and the people working daily to help them. The film examines the cost of child labor to the global community, probes the cause of this complex phenomenon and recommends actions that can be taken to eliminate this gross human rights violation in our lifetime. Narrated by Meryl Streep.

7.00pm DISSIDENT

Director: Heidi Ewing

2002. 20 min.

Dissident: Oswaldo Paya And The Varela Project is a documentary shot in Cuba and taken out of the country for international screening. The film tells the story of the Varela Project, a campaign for open elections, free speech, free enterprise and freedom for political prisoners led by Havana-based activist Oswaldo Paya. 

7.30pm FORGOTTEN PEOPLE

Director: witness.org

2000. 10 min.

This feature, shot by WITNESS partner Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI) and narrated by Susan Sarandon, examines the abuse of patients in psychiatric facilities worldwide.

8.00pm BUS 174

Director: Jose Padilha

2002. 119 min.

Bus 174 captures the hijacking of Bus 174 by Sandro do Nascimento in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on June 12, 2000. An armed Nascimento threatened to kill all of the passengers, but eventually agreed to surrender, as TV cameras were rolling and an entire nation watched on TV. Then, a police officer decided to fire at Nascimento anyway, accidentally killing one of the female passengers instead. What followed was a revolt among the city's population, enraged at police brutality and incompetence, comparable with the Rodney King riots. This film intertwines the story of the standoff with biographical information about Sandro do Nascimento, including his traumatic childhood as a witness to his mother’s murder and survivor of the "Candelaria" child mass murders in the early 1990s.

Friday, October 20

5.30pm AH…THE MONEY, THE MONEY, THE MONEY

Director: Mort Ransen

2001. 51 min.

When the roar of chainsaws shatters the idyllic setting of Saltspring Island, director Mort Ransen and other residents awake to an unexpected intrusion. A logging operation is underway in a pristine central valley. When islanders rally to oppose the cutting, they discover that land developers have purchased one of the largest expanses of undeveloped wilderness in the Southern Gulf Islands. Concerned about its potentially devastating impact, the residents set out to stop the logging.

6.30pm            ON THE FRONTLINES

Director:  witness.org

2004.  15min.

Militia groups in South Kivu, a region in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, use children as soldiers, the majority of them between the ages of eight and sixteen, and including both boys and girls. An estimated 60% of combatants in the region are children, and 35% of these children are recruited voluntarily. The child soldiers are often supported in their endeavors by children and the community at large, and are led by a sense of patriotism and promises of prosperity. On the Frontlines features powerful footage of several militia campas in this region, as well as compelling testimony from demobilized child soldiers recounting their horrifying memories of life in the militias.

7.00pm IN A WHITE MAN’S LAND

Director: Kim Landstra

1999. 52 min.

Three young African refugees in Europe tell their story. Bernard, from Congo Brazzaville, is still filled with memories of the civil war in his country. Toni is an ex-child soldier from Sudan who fled the army and spent 22 days as a stowaway in the dark hold of a ship. Pedro is also from Sudan, but the Dutch immigration authorities do not believe his story. All three find life difficult as asylum seekers and as "strangers in a strange land."

8.00pm LET THEM EXIST NOWHERE

Director:  Liz Gawne

2004.  14min.

Let Them Exist Nowhere deals with the harsh realities of war and terrorism. The focus is on one boy from Bosnia whose life will never be the same after stepping on a landmine left behind from the war.

8.30pm TWO TOWNS OF JASPER

Directors: Whitney Dow, Marco Williams

2002. 85 min.

Two Towns of Jasper is about the 1998 racially motivated, brutal murder of James Byrd Jr. in Jasper, Texas. The film is a collaborative effort between a black and a white filmmaker, with the producers using segregated crews to document the town of Jasper over the course of the trials of the three men charged with dragging Mr. Byrd to his death. After a year of separate filming, the two filmmakers with their footage from different communities came together again to edit the piece as one story.

SATURDAY, October 21

4.30pm THIS WAY OUT

Director: Jill Burnett

2004. 33 min.

This highly personal documentary tells the story of three individuals who escaped persecution at home based on their homosexuality to claim refugee status in the United States—Kahunya, who grew up on a mission station in Kenya where his father is a Bishop; Ana Claudia, a famous sportscaster in Brazil; and Arslan, who was born into a “noble family” in Pakistan. Their combined stories are a powerful illustration of the universality of homosexuality, regardless of cultural origins, and the vulnerability faced by lesbians and gays in most parts of the world. The intolerance they encounter forces them to suppress their true identities. Besides portraying eloquent accounts of Kahunya’s, Ana’s, and Arslan’s experiences, the film questions what kind of asylum the U.S. provides for them and what kind of “freedom” they have found.

5.10pm THE PRICE OF YOUTH

Directors: Peter Du Cane, Matthew Kelley

2000. 10 min.

The Price of Youth examines the recent explosion in systematic trafficking of young girls and women from Nepal to work as prostitutes in Bombay, in neighboring India. Featuring undercover footage from WITNESS partner Andrew Levine and narrated by Winona Ryder, with music by K. Sridhar and Philip Glass, The Price of Youth exposes this horrific practice. It documents grassroots efforts to combat the forced prostitution of Nepali girls and to rehabilitate these young victims.

5.25pm ARNA’S CHILDREN

Director: Juliano Mer Khamis

2003. 84 min.

Arna Mer led a small theatre group of Palestinian children in the West Bank. Her son Juliano, who directed the group, filmed the rehearsals and performances of the plays. Through playing, the children try to cope with their memories of the refugee camps and their daily realities. When the Israeli army occupies the city, the theatre rehearsals come to an end. But Arna doesn't take it lying down. She establishes an alternative educational system to replace the former one that was practically paralyzed by the Israeli occupation. After the death of his mother and years after the theatre is closed, Juliano looks up "Arna's children." Back in Jenin, he discovers little by little the tragic story of the theatre children who were so dear to him.

6.55pm A LIFE OF DEATH

Director: Dawn Westlake

1999. 8 min.

Throughout the 20th Century, and now into the 21st, wars have been waged all over the globe under the banner proclamation that conflict ultimately leads to world peace. A Life of Death presents the cost of this irony by poetically answering the question: What is the price of lasting peace?

7.30pm A FEW SIMPLE SHOTS

Director: Joseph Akrami

2004. 90 min.

Three years in the making, A Few Simple Shots is a feature length documentary that reveals the savage face of the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The film traces the footsteps of the Iranian regime as it commits appalling crimes against humanity. From the horrific methods of torture that are painfully described by former political prisoners to the analysis and comments provided by the UN Special Envoy to Iran, by the Seceratary General of Amnesty International-Canada, Pen Canada, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, by security analysts, and by doctors, psychiatrists, academics and lawyers, A Few Simple Shots unveils the extent to which the Iranian regime has been involved in the violation of human rights in Iran and in sponsoring international terrorism.

A Q&A with director Joseph Akrami will follow this film.