Seattle, Film Festival
Saturday, December 12/112pm, 911 Media Arts Center
WHITE RAINBOW
Feature film 2004: India, 90 mins
Director: Dharan Mandrayar
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In male-dominated Indian society, being a woman is hard, but to be poor and a widow is to be worthless – no status, no respect. Often discarded by their families, many such women go into self-exile in Vrindavan, the birthplace of Krishna; while they pray there for better karma in the next life, a social structure meant to care for them instead abuses, exploits and even prostitutes them. Based on director Dharan Mandrayar’s research in Vrindavan, where the movie was partly shot, this barely fictionalized feature depicts only four of the thousand of stories that make up the “white rainbow” (a reference to the sari of widowhood). Through them, Mandrayar hopes to change the plight for all.
Filmmakers/Distributors Contact Information:
Linda Mandrayar linda@dharlin.com
Director: Irene Marty
Documentary. 2004. Switzerland. 52 min. English, Burmese, Karen and Shan, subtitled
SEATTLE PREMIERE
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From the bustling streets of Rangoon and the tranquility of Buddhist monasteries, Irene Marty takes us on a dangerous journey into Burma's jungle, where hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people flee from forced labor, murder, and torture at the hands of the ruling military junta. Defying the most potent weapon of the genocide - silence - Marty gives voice to Burma's ethnic minorities and political opposition, as they struggle for freedom and democratic rule.
Filmmakers/Distributors Contact Information:
Irene Marty
imarty@kairosfilm.ch
info@kairosfilm.ch
NO PLACE TO GO: INTERNALLY DISPLACED PEOPLE IN BURMA
Director: WITNESS, in association with Burma Issues
Documentary. 2002. USA. 14 min. English, Sgaw Karen and Burmese, subtitled
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Through the harrowing testimony of internally displaced persons in Karen State, and through footage of their plight, NO PLACE TO GO explores how the Burmese military government has systematically killed its own people - using forced labor, forced movement, arbitrary executions and massacres - in order to undermine the organization of a widespread Democratic opposition.
OUR CAUSE: BURMESE FREEDOM FIGHTERS IN AMERICA
Director: Frederick Vernet
Documentary. 2004. USA. 19 min. English
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Many have fled the brutality of Burma's military regime and sought asylum in the U.S. OUR CAUSE allows us to enter the world of the Burmese pro-democracy movement in America through the lives of two prominent activists in New York. One of the activists is Moo Thee Zun, the famous leader of the student's armed resistance, who accepted to be followed and filmed. The film is a testament to their devotion to restoring democracy in Burma.
Filmmakers/Distributors Contact Information:
Frederick Vernet
fv247@nyu.edu
ENTRENCHED ABUSE: FORCED LABOR IN BURMA
Director: WITNESS and Burma Issues
Documentary. 2004. USA. 12 min. English, Sgaw Karen, Karenni and Burmese, subtitled
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The authoritarian military regime that rules Burma - the SPDC - forces hundreds of thousands of people to work against their will, and without pay, on the regime's development projects, as porters in the military, and in other forms of compulsory labor. The International Labor Organization (ILO) - the UN agency that monitors forced labor worldwide - has identified the SPDC regime as one of the world's worst perpetrators. The incidents of forced labor in this video show how - despite its claims to the contrary - the SPDC has continued to use forced labor. They were recorded during 2003 among three different ethnic groups - the Karen, Karenni and Burmans - and in different regions of Burma.
Filmmakers/Distributors Contact Information:
Menaka Chandurkar
WITNESS films
80 Hanson Place, 5th Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11217
Voice (718) 783 2000 ext 303 fax: (718) 783 1593
menaka@witness.org
Director: Jean Hallacy
Documentary. 2004. Thailand. 15 min. English and Burmese, subtitled
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In May 2003, the National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters were violently attacked during her political tour of Burma. Dubbed "The Depayin Massacre", the incident resulted in the arrest of NLD leaders and the deaths of at least 11 NLD supporters. Drawing on interviews of eyewitnesses to the attack, and footage smuggled from Burma showing mass popular support for the Nobel laureate during her public speeches, the video provides compelling testimony for piecing together the facts of the incident. It also paints a powerful picture of Aung San Suu Kyi's charisma and vision, which have simultaneously buttressed her calls for democracy and made her a formidable threat to the ruling junta, despite her spending the last 14-years in house arrest.
Filmmakers/Distributors Contact Information:
Menaka Chandurkar
WITNESS films
80 Hanson Place, 5th Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11217
Voice (718) 783 2000 ext 303 fax: (718) 783 1593
menaka@witness.org
6pm, 911 Media Arts Center
Director: Jason DaSilva
Documentary. 2003. Canada/USA. 57min. English and Urdu, subtitled
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Through a critical lens, LEST WE FORGET explores a lesson that history has forgotten. Filmmaker Jason DaSilva illustrates the parallels between the experiences of the Arab and Muslim population in post 9/11 America and those of the Japanese population living in the United States during the Second World War. This documentary examines events following the tragedy of 9/11, investigating how extensive domestic security measures can cross the line into unjust treatment of innocent people. The film presents a variety of voices from those who have felt the severity of wartime racism in America.
Filmmakers/Distributors Contact Information:
Jason da Silva
infacefilms@yahoo.com
Director: Sanja N. Singh & Pia Sawhney
Documentary. 2003. USA. 11min. English, Hindi and Urdu, subtitled
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Through intimate interviews and candid conversations, directors Pia Sawhney and Sanja N. Singh give a human face to Muslims and Arabs who were detained, deported and forced to register with the U.S. government after September 11, 2001.
Filmmakers/Distributors Contact Information:
Sanjna Singh
sanja.singh@hbo.com
www.chaibreak.com
Director: Rakesh Sharma
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India has shouldered a long and complicated history of conflict between Muslims and Hindus. In February of 2002, 59 Hindus were brutally burned in a Sabarmati Express train. The reaction was more deadly violence. In the months that followed, some 2,500 Muslims were brutally murdered and countless women were raped. Winner of the Wolfgang Staudte Award and the Special Jury Prize at the 2004 Berlin Film Festival, this documentary follows the bloodshed of a never-ending cycle of reprisal killings. FINAL SOLUTION takes the words of George Santayana as its inspiration and motto: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
Filmmakers/Distributors Contact Information:
Rakesh Sharma
finalsolutionindian@yahoo.com