Washington, DC Film Festival
October 6-8, 2005Saturday, October 8
1:00 p.m.
WEST BANK STORY /
LITTLE PEACE OF MINE
3:00 p.m.
WAR GAMES
5:00 p.m.
MARDI GRAS: MADE IN CHINA
7:00 p.m.
INNOCENT VOICES
Director: ARI SANDEL
Musical Comedy. 2005. USA. 25 min. English.
Washington, D.C. Premiere
In this musical comedy, set in the fast-paced, fast-food world of competing falafel stands in the West Bank, an Israeli soldier falls in love with a beautiful Palestinian woman despite the animosity between their families’ dueling restaurants. Can the couple’s love withstand a 2,000-year-old conflict as well their families’ desire to control the future of chick-peas in the Middle East?
Filmmakers/Distributors Contact Information:
Paco de Onis ariari@comcast.net
This film precedes Little Peace of Mine
Saturday, October 8th, 1:00 p.m.
LITTLE PEACE OF MINE
Director: EYAL AVNERI
Documentary. 2004. Israel. 56 min. Arabic/Hebrew/English, subtitled.
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Washington, D.C. Premiere
This film tells the inspiring, true story of a children’s movement for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Can this next generation’s good will prevail? An encounter with the children's political “adventure” offers a new perspective on an all-too-familiar reality, and a glimpse of the emotional world these children are forced to deal with in the shadow of fear.
Filmmakers/Distributors Contact Information:
eden_e@netvision.net.i
This film is preceded by West Bank Story.
Saturday, October 8th, 1:00 p.m.
Director: MARC ALLEN
Documentary. 2005. United Kingdom/Sudan. 58 min. English/Dinka/Arabic, subtitled.
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Washington, D.C. Premiere
Just a few miles from the front lines of one of Africa's longest and most brutal conflicts, thousands of children come together to compete in an Olympic-style athletic competition. The documentary provides an intimate portrait of a community devastated by war, yet still determined to make the most of every moment.
Filmmakers/Distributors Contact Information:
coolhandproductions@yahoo.co.uk
A discussion on the situation in Sudan will follow the screening.
Saturday, October 8th, 3:00 p.m.
Director: DAVID REDMON Documentary. 2004. USA. 61 min. English/Gan dialect, subtitled.
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Mardi Gras: Made in China is a story of globalization told through humor and sadness, hope and violence, by the owner of a bead factory in China, the largest Mardi Gras bead distributor in the world; Carnival revelers who exchange beads during Mardi Gras; and four teenage bead-workers in China who make Mardi Gras beads.
By confronting an increasingly globalized world where consumers and producers are alienated from each other, the film attempts to re-establish human connections through curiosity and humor as it renders visible the seemingly invisible bead trail from the factory to the festival. Viewers are swept into a whirlwind of action, where drunk revelers exchange beads for nudity and guess who made them during Carnival.
Filmmakers/Distributors Contact Information:
David Redmon dwredmon@yahoo.com
A discussion will follow the screening.
Saturday, October 8th, 5:00 p.m.
Director: LUIS MANDOKI
Feature Film. 2004. USA. 111 min. Spanish, subtitled.
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Washington, D.C. Premiere
Based on the true story of screenwriter Oscar Torres's embattled childhood, INNOCENT VOICES is the poignant tale of Chava, an eleven-year-old boy who suddenly becomes the "man of the house" after his father abandons the family in the middle of the civil war opposing the Salvadorian army to the rebel peasants of the FMLN.
Chava's life becomes a game of survival, not only from the bullets of the escalating war, but also from the dispiriting effects of daily violence. As he hustles to find work to help his single mother pay the bills, and experiences the pangs of first love for a beautiful classmate, Chava’s tiny home village becomes both playground and battlefield.
Armed only with the love of his mother and a small radio that broadcasts a forbidden anthem of love and peace, and faced with the impossible choice of joining either the army or the rebels, Chava finds there is another choice.
Filmmakers/Distributors Contact Information:
Ben Barbosa bbarbosa@thaweb.com
Saturday, October 8th, 7:00 p.m.