| Home | Get Involved | Donate | Act! | News | Issues | Contact | Search | Members | Store | Events | Español |
Amnesty International Film Festival |
|
|
 A CLOSER WALKDirected by Academy Award nominee Robert Bilheimer and narrated by Glenn Close and Will Smith, this powerful film is the first to depict humankind's confrontation with the global AIDS epidemic. Subjects and story lines encompass the broad spectrum of the global AIDS experience and include people with HIV/AIDS from all regions of the world and from walks of life: AIDS children and orphans and those caring for them; doctors, nurses, and social workers; human rights advocates; and prominent scientists, economists, researchers, government leaders, and NGO officials. The film's basic themes remain the underlying causes of AIDS; the relationship between health, dignity, and human rights; and the universal need for action, compassion, and commitment to counter what has become the worst plague in human history. Filmmakers/Distributors Contact Information:  AND ALONG CAME A SPIDERA shocking portrait of the world of a recently captured serial killer, who sees his killing of prostitutes as in accordance with Islamic teaching. Over the space of a year, 16 women were murdered in the Iranian city of Mashad. Because the victims were lured into the killer's traps, the press soon called these the "spider killings." All but one of the victims had previously been arrested for prostitution and drug-related crimes. When a 39-year-old contractor is arrested and confesses to the crimes, he claims divine support for the atrocities he has committed. His mother, wife, son, and many neighbors agree. And Along Came a Spider visits with the families of the victims, with the perpetrator and his family, and with prostitutes in this holy city. Most chillingly, the killer's son proudly reenacts a murder, and suggests that he wants to grow up to be like his father. This is a chilling film about cycles of moral vengeance. Filmmakers/Distributors Contact Information: Plays with: THE TREE THAT REMEMBERSIn 1992 a young Iranian student hanged himself from a tree on the outskirts of a small Ontario town. He had escaped the Ayatollahs' regime, but he could not escape his past. News of the young stranger's death hit home with filmmaker Masoud Raouf. He too is part of the generation of Iranians who rose up against the Shah's despotic rule - only to be cruelly persecuted by an equally murderous new regime. While anchored in specific history, this film reflects on the broad themes of oppression and survival, pouring light into a somber universe and finding unexpected fragments of hope. Also plays on Sunday, September 21, 5:00 pm, Larimer Center Theater Filmmakers/Distributors Contact Information:
BURMA: ANATOMY OF TERRORThe film investigates the devastating effects of thirty years of military rule in a country once known for its extreme physical beauty and rich culture and now on the brink of collapse. Narrated by actor and activist Susan Sarandon, the film chronicles the rise of the socialist government of Burma (renamed the Union of Myanmar) and details the struggle of Democratic party leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi Filmmakers/Distributors Contact Information: Plays with: A MONK'S VOICE
For half of a century, Tibet has been under the shadow of Chinese rule. Despite Chinese attempts to oppress all glimpses of Tibetan culture, Tibetans have tenaciously maintained their heritage. This film, told through the story of one Tibetan monk, documents the firm grasp Tibetans still hold on their culture. Though banished to India, this very special monk actively and optimistically works to preserve his religion, his people and Tibet itself. Filmmakers/Distributors Contact Information:  AFGHAN MASSACREAfghan Massacre tells of the horrific forced journey undertaken by thousands of prisoners who surrendered to Afghan allies of the U.S. military after the siege of Kunduz. Up to 3,000 are said to now lie buried in a mass grave. But was this a simple matter of Afghans killing Afghans? The film presents evidence to argue that American Special Forces may have taken control of the operation, re-directed the containers carrying the living and dead into the desert, and stood by as survivors were shot and buried. Filmmakers/Distributors Contact Information: Plays with:  SEARCH FOR FREEDOMThis is a documentary film that explores the personal lives of four Afghan women, who are based in Pakistan. Through a feminist lens, this film portrays how the lives of these women were affected by the political and social turmoil in Afghanistan, from the 1920's to the present day. This film features Princess Shafiqa Saroj who is the youngest sister of the King Amanullah (1919-1929). Also, Mairman Khadija Parveen who is the fist woman to sing on Afghan Radio. Mohsina, a survivor of a Taliban massacre. Sohaila, a medical student who played a key role in the establisment of secretive schools during the Taliban rule. Filmmakers/Distributors Contact Information:  THE EXECUTION OF WANDA JEANThe film chronicles the life-and-death battle of Wanda Jean Allen. By telling one woman's story, the film becomes an unforgettable exploration into one of America's most controversial moral and political dilemmas: the death penalty.Wanda Jean was sentenced to death in 1989 after she shot and killed her lover, Gloria Leathers, outside an Oklahoma City Police Station. The film finds her eleven years later, her execution date just months away. With chilling intimacy, the filmmakers follow Wanda Jean's final months on death row, as she and her legal team prepare for her clemency hearing, as she and her family, friends, and spiritual advisors have their final visits. The film chronicles Wanda Jean's final weeks as step-by-step her legal team exhausts every option to save her life. Filmmakers/Distributors Contact Information:  THE DAY MY GOD DIEDNarrated by Tim Robbins and Winona Ryder, this powerful documentary takes us into the underworld of the child sex slave trade. The film tells the stories of young girls whose lives have been shattered by what is now becoming the worlds fastest growing black market. The film also provides actual footage from the brothels of Bombay, known even to the tourists as "The Cages" captured with "spy camera" technology. We are also introduced to the heroes of the movement who are trying to abolish child sex slavery and who urge us to remember that, "these are all our daughters." Filmmakers/Distributors Contact Information:  THE NEW RULERS OF THE WORLDIn order to examine the true effects of globalization, acclaimed British journalist John Pilger turns the spotlight on Indonesia, a country described by the World Bank as a model pupil until its globalized economy collapsed in 1998. The film examines the use of sweatshop factories by famous brand names, and asks who really benefits from the globalized economy. John Pilger goes behind the hype of the new global economy and looks at the new rulers of the world-the great multinationals and the governments and institutions that back them Filmmakers/Distributors Contact Information: Plays with:
IN WHOSE INTERESTFilmmaker David Kaplowitz takes an eye-opening journey, questioning the effects of U.S. foreign policy over the past 50 years. Revealing a pattern of intervention, the film focuses on Guatemala, Vietnam, East Timor, El Salvador, and Palestine/Israel. Archival footage, photographs and media tidbits are dynamically interwoven with personal eye-witness accounts and commentary from academics - such as Noam Chomsky - religious leaders and politicians. IN WHOSE INTEREST is informative and disturbingly honest, yet upbeat, with twists of irony and humor Filmmakers/Distributors Contact Information: |
|
Get Involved | Donate | Act! | News | Issues | Contact | Search | Members | Store | Events | Español | Privacy |
|
Back to Top |
|
