(Yale & Denny Way)
Friday, Nov. 11
Moving the Mountain
(Seattle Premiere)
Michael Apted. 1994. Doc.
This powerful new film by Apted (director of Gorillas in the Mist and Incident at Oglala) traces the cultural and political developments in China that led to the protest in Tiananmen Square. 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. -Grand Illusion
The People's War
Robert Kramer. 1970. Doc.
Shot in North Vietnam in the summer of 1969, this documentary creates a vivid portrait of the countryside and ways of life during the war. Playing with... El Pueblo Se Levanta. Midnight -Grand Illusion
Saturday, Nov. 12
Xala
Ousmane Sembene. 1974. Drama.
One of the African continent's most famous filmmakers, Sembene's satire of modern Africa was heavily censored. 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. -Grand Illusion
Starting Place(Seattle Premiere)
Robert Kramer. 1993. Documentary.
Twenty-five years after making The People's War, filmmaker Robert Kramer returns to Vietnam to explore the changes that have occurred in both the country and in himself. Playing with... Unforgettable Face. 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. -Grand Illusion
Our House: Gays and Lesbians in the Hood
Not Channel Zero/Black Planet Productions. Video.
Up front, in your face, hard-hitting interviews with black gays and lesbians outing, homophobia, alienation and discrimination within the black community in the '90s. Playing with... Time and Dreams. 7 p.m. -911 Media Arts
Acting Up for Prisoners
Eric Slade and Mic Sweeney. 1992. Doc.
The film follows ACT-UP's campaign to bring adequate health care and human rights to women prisoners with HIV. Playing with... Bolo!Bolo!, Both and I'm You, You're Me. 9 p.m. -911 Media Arts
Ice
Robert Kramer. 1969. Drama.
An underground revolutionary group struggles against internal strife that threatens its security to stage urban guerrilla attacks against a fictionalized, fascist regime in the United States. Midnight -Grand Illusion
Sunday, Nov. 13
Before Hindsight
Jonathon Lewis. 1977. Doc.
Images of the rise of Nazism were presented by British newsreel-makers of the time as objective. As some of the newsreel-makers explain in interviews, entertainment value and the film companies' perception of public opinion weighed more heavily than the need to report the news. 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. -Grand Illusion
Reporting on Violence (Reportaje a la Muerte)(Seattle Premiere)
Danny Gavidia. 1993. Drama.
Inspired by the murderous uprising in Peru's El Sexto prison, this film recounts how two journalists become involved in a riot in a Lima jail. The journalists begin to understand how they feed the violence. 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. -Grand Illusion
The Couple in the Cage (La Pareja Enjaulada)
Coco Fusco and Paula Heredia. 1993. Doc.
Two performance artists pretend to be Amerindians captured from an imaginary island. The two caged "savages" take their show on the road. Some people take them seriously. Playing with... Ho'Ala, Turtle Boat Head and Newe Segobia is Not For Sale. 7 p.m. -911 Media Arts
The Tenth Dancer
Sally Ingleton. 1993. Doc.
Under Pol Pot, more than 90 percent of Cambodia's artists were killed, including most of the classical dancers of the Royal Court Ballet. This is the story of the tenth dancer and her relationship with one pupil. Playing with... Letter Back Home. 9 p.m. -911 Media Arts
Monday, Nov. 14
Palms (Seattle Premiere)
Arthur Aristakisijan. 1994. Doc.
Palms is a parable, a meditation on love expressed in a poetic narration over images of the unspeakably degraded lives of beggars in the streets of Kishinv, in Moldova. Palms was recently banned on all television stations in Russia. Discussion with filmmaker to follow. 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. -Grand Illusion
Tuesday, Nov. 15
The Fourth Green Field(Seattle Premiere)
Margaret Bruen. 1993. Doc.
The Fourth Green Field completes the story begun with the dramatic feature In the Name of the Father. Historical footage of the 1960s Irish civil rights movement and present-day testimonies give a personal and painful view of British legislation. 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. -Grand Illusion
Wednesday, Nov. 16
Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance(Seattle Premiere)
Alanis Obomsawin. 1993. Doc.
The film provides insight into the Mohawks' spiritual beliefs and fierce pride in their ancestry which governs their determination to protect their land. 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. -Grand Illusion
Thursday, Nov. 17
Hoor on Fire(Seattle Premiere)
A. Hamid-Nezhad. 1992. Drama.
An old man is to meet his son behind the frontlines in southern Iraq. The film is set in the marshlands and rich oil fields which were burned during and after the Persian Gulf War. 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. -Grand Illusion
Death of a Nation(Seattle Premiere)
John Pilger. 1993. Doc.
The film documents the continuing assault on East Timor. Pilger brings forth a number of revelations about what happened following the Nov. 12, 1991 Santa Cruz massacre. 7 p.m. and 9.m. -Pike Street
Friday, Nov. 18
Cuba Va(Seattle Premiere)
Gail Dolgin and Vicente Ranco. 1993. Doc.
The society Castro sired has generated an intelligent, lively generation of women and men - not all of whom agree with their revolutionary roots. These youths remain convinced that they need to be left free to work out Cuba's future for themselves. Discussion with filmmakers to follow. 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. -911 Media Arts
Valley Town
Willard Van Dyke. 1940. Doc.
This film provides a remarkable picture of urban poverty in the Great Depression, and today stands as one of the most powerful portrayals of that period. Playing with... Them That's Not and No Place Like Home. 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. -Pike Street
Saturday, Nov. 19
In the Name of God
Anand Patwardhan. 1992. Doc.
Examines the conflict between Hindus and Muslim separatists in India. The resulting violence left 5,000 people dead. 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. -Pike Street
God's Will (Allah Tantou)
David Achkar. 1991. Doc.
God's Will is the first African film to confront the immense cost of the continent's widespread human rights abuses. The film reflects Africa's new beginnings amid the disillusionment of the post-independence era. Playing with... Black Dawn. 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. -Pike Street
Childhood Lost
Lamia Abu-Haidar. 1993. Doc.
Through the eyes and voices of Lebanese children, the audience sees the experiences of civil war. Playing with... Lost and Found and Secret Sounds Screaming: The Sexual Abuse of Children. 7 p.m. -911 Media Arts
The Women Next Door
Michal Aviad. 1992. Doc.
The film explores the roles that Jewish Occupation designated for women on both sides and provides a unique perspective on women's lives in the Middle East. 9 p.m. -911 Media Arts
Sunday, Nov. 20
Nothing to Lose
Jo Menell. 1981. Doc.
The film was shot inside the Oklahoma State Penitentiary where a rodeo is held inside the prison walls. The feats performed by the convicts are ones few rodeo stars would attempt. Playing with... The Ex-Convict and The Least of Our Brothers 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. -Pike Street
The Killer of Sheep
Charles Burnett. 1978. Drama.
This classic, rarely screened film, by the director of To Sleep With Anger, is a moving, detailed portrait of working class life in South Central LA. 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. -Pike Street
Human Rights Film Festival Reviews:
The Couple In the Cage
What do you do when you scour the globe and find that there just aren't any people untouched by society to scientifically exploit? You invent some, of course. That's what two performance artists decided to do to themselves. They dress in "authentic" primitive fashion and cage themselves for safe inspection. We follow them on their European/American tour.
Introduced as real life primitives from deep in Africa [later used to explain why they are whiter than most Africans, since Darkest Africa doesn't get much sun!?!?], The Couple in the Cage begins to emerge as pure buffoonery. That is until we see real Western audiences buy into the sham and expose their own touristy brand of primitiveness. We begin to wonder who's really been living in a cage?!?!
From the streets, to the museum, to a high class gallery opening; the truth about the intelligence of "civilized" people gets exposed. Outside the cage two guards explain the history of the mock tribe from which they where extricated and offer photo shoots to anyone in the crowd for a buck. For $5 we are invited to examine the genitalia male! Plenty of takers...
As members of the audience respond to on-camera interviews, the most common Western justifications of exploitation become almost embarrassingly exposed. It's hard to believe we aren't watching some revealing screw-up where "I Love Lucy" fades in and out of "National Geographic". The Couple in the Cage effectively counters the ideas by which we gentrify and bastardize cultures outside our own, and maybe even ourselves.
The Couple in the Cage plays Sunday, November 13 at the 911 Media Arts Center
-Jaxon Brooks
The Killer of Sheep
We are dropped into Watts in the late seventies with a speech from a father to his growing son about hardening up to a tough world. The father tries to drive home the fact that says if something happened to him or the mother, the boy will have to fend for himself and his brother, alone.
This volatility is the backdrop to which children act out wars with rocks and dirt, and adults fight off desperation and painful boredom.
Disjointed and rough, like the people that it portrays The Killer of Sheep balances between long stretches of apathy and short eruptions into violence. Along the way we are shown the variety of faces of working class life in South Central Los Angeles.
Before the slick production of Boyz in the Hood, there is the rough reality portrayed in The Killer of Sheep.
The Killer of Sheep plays Sunday, November 20 at the Pike Street Cinema.
-Jaxon Brooks
The Death of a Nation: The East Timor Conspiracy
Death of a Nation does for East Timor what The Panama Deception did for the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama. The film exposes atrocities committed on unarmed citizens of the world and shines a light upon the guilty parties, of which the United States government is a major player. In the mid-70s, the Indonesian military invaded an autonomous region of the Indonesian archipelago known as East Timor. In the years since the first invasion, organized resistance and peaceful protesters have been murdered by the Indonesian military in large and small numbers. To date, 200,000 East Timorese people have been reported murdered or 'missing'.
It's difficult for most Westerners to imagine genocide. It is merely an idea to most, an abstraction, and quite an unacceptable one at that. "Perhaps 'genocide' is too often used these days," says Narrator John Pilger at the beginning of the film. "But by any standards that is what happened here....with the connivance and complicity of western governments." Pilger has been working on this film for many years, both inside and outside of East Timor, despite the fact the Indonesian government does not allow journalists or tourists into the region, and despite the fact that, in 1975, five Australian journalists were killed by Indonesian troops while attempting to report on the impending invasion of East Timor.
Death of a Nation is perhaps the most important film of this year's Human Rights Film Festival. The film was shown in Geneva during the recent meeting of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Showings on national TV in Britain and Australia caused uproars in each nation respectively, forcing the governments of Australia and Britain to respond to the film's allegations that both nations either quietly complied with the invasion and/or sold weapons to the Indonesian aggressors.
Overall, the United States government has been a major supplier of weapons to the Indonesian military and has officially been silent about the matter since the atrocities began over 18 years ago. But don't expect to see this film on our national public airwaves. PBS, afraid they might lose their funding, is hesitant to show documentaries that are strongly critical of U.S. foreign policy. You'll have to check this film out while it's in the theaters.
Death of a Nation is showing Thursday, November 17, at the Pike Street Cinema.
-Matt Robesch
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Contents on this page were published in the October/November, 1994 edition of the Washington Free
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