THE 2010
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
FILM FESTIVAL
June 10-24, 2010 at the Walter Reade Theater
Program of 30 Films from 25 Countries — including 28 New York Premieres
Co-presented by The Film Society of Lincoln Center
NEW YORK, May 7, 2010 - Now in its 21st year, the 2010 Human Rights Watch Film Festival—the world’s foremost showcase for films with a distinctive human rights theme—creates a forum for courageous individuals on both sides of the lens to empower audiences with the knowledge that personal commitment can make a difference.
A co-presentation of Human Rights Watch and The Film Society of Lincoln Center, the festival will run from June 10 to 24 at the Film Society’s Walter Reade Theater. Thirty extraordinary works from 25 countries will be screened, 28 of which are New York premieres. A majority of the filmmakers will be on hand after the screenings to discuss their films with the audience.
“The Human Rights Watch Film Festival reflects the condition of the world we live in, including the top news events around the world,” said John Biaggi, the festival director. “No one is immune to the rippling effects when human rights are violated, whether here in our country or far away. It affects us all.”
“There may be no better time to champion the mission of the Human Rights Watch Film Festival than right now,” said Mara Manus, Executive Director, The Film Society of Lincoln Center. “With distribution and exhibition platforms for independent films diminishing around us, and competition for the limited available space increasing, being able to host this festival year after year, shining a spotlight on important films, filmmakers and causes, is a highlight within our annual programming calendar.”
This year the festival’s Benefit Night on June 10 will focus on East Timor with the outstanding drama The Balibo Conspiracy, which was banned in Indonesia, featuring a stellar performance from Anthony LaPaglia. Filmmaker Robert Connolly, along with special guests, will attend the discussion and reception following the film’s screening.
The festival launches on June 11 with its Opening Night presentation of HBO's 12th & Delaware, Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady’s (The Boys of Baraka, Jesus Camp) haunting portrayal of the abortion divide—one of America’s most intractable conflicts.
The Human Rights Watch Film Festival has championed the work of Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck and is delighted to present as this year’s Festival Centerpiece, his latest film, Moloch Tropical. Peck will introduce and discuss this evocative drama, set in his home country.
On Closing Night, the spotlight will be on Mexico with Presumed Guilty, an astonishing documentary that takes viewers on a three-year journey into the dysfunctional heart of the Mexican justice system.
This year’s festival is organized around three themes, beginning with Accountability and Justice. The revelatory Enemies of the People (winner of the 2010 Nestor Almendros Award for courage in filmmaking), a study of the Khmer Rouge massacres in Cambodia, explores an individual survivor’s quest for justice and truth, while the intimate Out in the Silence delves into aspects of this theme by following three Americans caught up in a same-sex marriage controversy as they confront three of society’s most formidable forces—the church, the school system, and prevailing social norms.
A trio of films on this theme focus on large formal structures—from the U.S. prison system in the startling In the Land of the Free..., to the Mexican police system in the haunting drama Backyard, to the complexities of the Special Court for Sierra Leone in the exceptional War Don Don.
Development and Migration forms the second major theme in this year’s program. The searing Nero's Guests examines economic development and disparity in India by looking at the recent epidemic of farmer suicides. Two films look at migration due to war. Pushing the Elephant tells the moving story of a Congolese family resettled in the U.S. and their experience of being reunited with a missing daughter, The Unreturned vividly portrays the struggles of five displaced Iraqis from diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds.
Acclaimed filmmaker Goran Paskaljevic (Cabaret Balkan, A Midwinter Night’s Dream) will return to the festival with Honeymoons, a beautifully rendered drama highlighting economic migration within Europe. The veteran filmmakers Michael Camerini and Shari Robertson (Well-Founded Fear) will be represented with the absorbing films Last Best Chance and Mountains and Clouds, part of their remarkable documentary series How Democracy Works Now: Twelve Stories, a project nine years in the making. These two films take viewers inside the halls of the U.S. Congress, revealing the epic battle over comprehensive immigration reform.
The third theme features a timely look at Societies in Conflict: Afghanistan and Iran. The festival’s special focus on Afghanistan consists of films highlighting various aspects of U.S. military involvement in that country. Camp Victory, Afghanistan intimately examines the reality of building a functioning Afghan military, while the Sundance Grand Prize-winning documentary Restrepo takes viewers into the deployment of a U.S. marine platoon in a remote and deadly Afghan valley. Iran: Voices of the Unheard beautifully illuminates the largely untold story of Iranian secularists.
Young people are on the frontlines of many of the world’s human rights crises, but we all too rarely get to hear their point of view. The third edition of Youth Producing Change, presented by Adobe Youth Voices, will feature 11 short films from teen filmmakers from across the globe as they turn the camera on their own lives and invite audiences to experience the world as they do. Several of these young media-makers—from Kenya to Texas—will make the trip to New York to present their work.
In conjunction with this year’s film program, renowned photographer Susan Meiselas will present In Silence, her powerful photo essay on maternal mortality in India. The exhibit will be featured in the Frieda and Roy Furman Gallery at the Walter Reade Theater for the duration of the festival.
Human Rights Watch is one of the world’s leading independent organizations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights. By focusing international attention where human rights are violated, we give voice to the oppressed and hold oppressors accountable for their crimes. Our rigorous, objective investigations and strategic, targeted advocacy build intense pressure for action and raise the cost of human rights abuse. For 30 years, Human Rights Watch has worked tenaciously to lay the legal and moral groundwork for deep-rooted change and has fought to bring greater justice and security to people around the world. To learn more about our work or to make a donation, visit www.hrw.org
Under the leadership of Mara Manus, Executive Director, and Richard Peña, Program Director, The Film Society of Lincoln Center offers the best in international, classic and cutting-edge independent cinema. The Film Society presents two film festivals that attract global attention: the New York Film Festival, currently planning its 48th edition, and New Directors/New Films which, since its founding in 1972, has been produced in collaboration with MoMA. The Film Society also publishes the award-winning Film Comment Magazine, and for over three decades has given an annual award--now named “The Chaplin Award”--to a major figure in world cinema. Past recipients of this award include Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorsese, Meryl Streep, and Tom Hanks. The Film Society receives generous year-round support from 42BELOW, American Airlines, GRAFF, Stella Artois, The New York State Council on the Arts, and The National Endowment for the Arts.
For more information, visit www.FilmLinc.com
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