|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
 |
Index:
Thursday:
Letters of Iwo Jima by Clint Eastwood
Friday:
Flags of Our Fathers by Clint Eastwood
In The Valley of Elah by Paul Haggis
Saturday:
Three Kings by David O. Russel
Ghosts of Abu-Ghraib by Rory Kennedy
Afghanistan Unveiled by Brigitte Brault & Aina Women Filming Group
The Road to Guantanamo by Michael Winterbottom
Guizi Lai Le ("Devils on the Doorstep") by Wen Jiang
Sunday:
Blues by the Beach by Joshua Faudem
Occupied Minds by Jamal Dajani & David Michaelis
The Color of Olives by Carolina Rivas
THURSDAY:
Letters of Iwo Jima by Clint Eastwood
2007, 141 mins
The island of Iwo Jima stands between the American military force and the home islands of Japan. Therefore the Imperial Japanese Army is desperate to prevent it from falling into American hands and providing a launching point for an invasion of Japan. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi is given command of the forces on the island and sets out to prepare for the imminent attack. General Kuribayashi, however, does not favor the rigid traditional approach recommended by his subordinates, and resentment and resistance fester among his staff. In the lower echelons, a young soldier, Saigo, a poor baker in civilian life, strives with his friends to survive the harsh regime of the Japanese army itself, all the while knowing that a fierce battle looms. When the American invasion begins, both Kuribayashi and Saigo find strength, honor, courage, and horrors beyond imagination.* Description taken from http://www.imdb.com/
FRIDAY:
Flags of Our Fathers by Clint Eastwood
2006, 132 minsIn February, 1945, one of the fiercest battles of the Pacific theater of World War II occurs on the tiny island of Iwo Jima. Thousands of Marines attack the stronghold maintained by thousands of Japanese, and the slaughter on both sides is horrific. Early in the battle, an American flag is raised atop the high point, Mount Suribachi, and a photograph of the raising becomes an American cause celebre. As a powerful inspiration to war-sick Americans, the photo becomes a symbol of the Allied cause. The three surviving flag raisers, Rene Gagnon, John Bradley, and Ira Hayes, are whisked back to civilization to help raise funds for the war effort. But the accolades for heroism heaped upon the three men are at odds with their own personal realizations that thousands of real heroes lie dead on Iwo Jima, and that their own contributions to the fight are only symbolic and not deserving of the singling out they are experiencing. Each of the three must come to terms with the honors, exploitation, and grief that they face simply for being in a photograph.
* Description taken from http://www.imdb.com/
In The Valley of Elah by Paul Haggis
Iraq/USA, 2007, 124 minsA career officer (Jones) and his wife (Sarandon) work with a police detective (Theron) to uncover the truth behind their son's disappearance following his return from a tour of duty in Iraq.
* Description taken from http://www.imdb.com/
SATURDAY:
Three Kings by David O. Russel
1999, 114 minsIn the days immediately after the Gulf War, a group of American soldiers come across a secret Iraqi map, which discloses the whereabouts of a bunker where Iraq is storing stolen gold and treasure from Kuwait. The soldiers hope to take the gold and keep it for themselves. However, when they arrive at the site, they discover that the Iraqi army is more concerned about persecuting its civilians than stopping them from stealing the gold. They learn that the civilians have been encouraged by the U.S. government to rise up and fight Sadaam Hussein, but are facing certain execution because the U.S. military refuses to help them. This incident creates a crisis of conscience for the American soldiers. Do they take the money and run, leaving the civilians to face certain death at the hands of the Iraqi army? Or do they risk losing the gold in order to escort them to safety across the border into Iran?
* Description taken from http://www.imdb.com/
Ghosts of Abu-Ghraib by Rory Kennedy
Iraq, 2007, 78 minsGhosts of Abu Ghraib, a new documentary by Rory Kennedy, is raising hell in the nation's capital. Sparks flew at a February 12 screening of the film for Beltway bigwigs--among them Rory's uncle, Senator Ted Kennedy, and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham--when Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski--who was demoted for her role in the abuse at Abu Ghraib prison--said during a panel discussion that she had been "scapegoated." Karpinski then called Graham "a coward" to his face, "as cowardly as Rumsfeld, as [Lieut. Gen. Ricardo] Sanchez and [Maj. Gen. Geoffrey] Miller." Her comment came in response to Graham's assertion that Karpinksi should have been court-martialed, not demoted.
Shot between February and December 2006, the film, in which Karpinski plays a leading role, documents the now-infamous torture of Iraqi prisoners by US soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad and raises pointed questions about who was ultimately responsible for the abuse. Through extensive interviews with nine military police and military intelligence corpsmen and five Iraqi prisoners involved in the torture, Kennedy asks: Was this a case of grunts gone wild, an "animal house on the night shift," as former Defense Secretary James Schlesinger claimed? Or was it something more systemic, spurred on by post-September 11 Bush Administration policy?
* Description taken from http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070305/enzinna
Afghanistan Unveiled by Brigitte Brault & Aina Women Filming Group
Afghanistan, 2003, 52 minsFilmed by the first ever team of women video journalists trained in Afghanistan, this rare and uncompromising film explores the effects of the Taliban's repressive rule and recent U.S.-sponsored bombing campaign on Afghani women. None of the fourteen journalist trainees had ever traveled outside Kabul. Except for one, none had been able to study or pursue careers while the Taliban controlled their country.
Leaving Kabul behind for the more rural regions of the country, the filmmakers present heartbreaking footage of Hazara women whose lives have been decimated by recent events. With little food and no water or electricity, these women have been left to live in caves and fend for themselves, abandoned in the wake of the U.S. invasion. While committed to revealing such tragedies to the world, the filmmakers also manage to find moving examples of hope for the future. A poetic journey of self-discovery, Afghanistan Unveiled is a revelatory and profound reminder of the independent media's power to bear witness and reveal truth.
AWARDS, FESTIVALS, & SCREENINGS
* Berlin Film Festival
* Tampere International Film Festival
* Mill Valley Film Festival
* Festival International de Films De Femmes de Creteil
* Femme Totale International Film Festival
* Copenhagen International Documentary Festival
* Margaret Mead Film Festival*Description taken from http://www.wmm.com/filmcatalog/pages/c628.shtml
The Road to Guantanamo by Michael Winterbottom
Pakistan/Afghanistan, 2006, 95 minsIn 2001, four Pakistani Britons, Ruhal Ahmed, Asif Iqbal and Shafiq Rasul and another friend, Monir, travel to Pakistan for a wedding and in a urge of idealism, decide to see the situation of war torn Afganistan which is being bombed by the American forces in retaliation for the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Once there, with the loss of Monir in the wartime chaos, they are captured by Northern Alliance fighters. They are then handed them over the American forces who transport them to the prison camps at the Guantanamo Bay base in Cuba. What follows is three years of relentless imprisonment, interrogations and torture to make them submit to blatantly wrong confessions to being terrorists. In the midst of this abuse, the three struggle to keep their spirits up in that face of this grave injustice.
* Description taken from http://www.imdb.com/
Guizi Lai Le ("Devils on the Doorstep") by Wen Jiang
China, 2001, 139 minsDuring the Japanese occupation of China, two prisoners are dumped in a peasant's home in a small town. The owner is bullied into keeping the prisoners until the next New Year, at which time they will be collected. The village leaders convene to interrogate the prisoners. The townspeople then struggle to accommodate the prisoners. One is a bellicose Japanese nationalist, the other a nervous translator. Will the townspeople manage to keep the prisoners until the New Year?
* Description taken from http://www.imdb.com/
SUNDAY:
Blues by the Beach by Joshua Faudem
USA/Israel, 2004, 80 minsFate brings filmmakers together in Israel in April of 2003. They begin a documentary about a live music blues bar by the beach in Tel Aviv called Mike's Place. The aim is to show there is more to the Middle East than seemingly endless war and terrorism. Filming people having a good time stops abruptly when harsh reality hits Mike's Place and changes the course of their film.
"This is a very, very important film." David Mamet
AWARDS
*Conflict and Resolution Award, Hamptons International Film Festival
*Best Documentary, Avignon, New York Film Festival
*Red Wagon Award, Fire Island, Golden Wagon Film FestivalOccupied Minds by Jamal Dajani & David Michaelis
Palestine/Israel, 2005, 58 minsOccupied Minds takes viewers on an emotional, intensely personal odyssey through one of the world's most volatile regions. The film follows Palestinian-American journalist Jamal Dajani and Israeli journalist David Michaelis as they travel together to Jerusalem, their mutual birthplace. Together they hope to offer unique insights into the divisive Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The two journalists meet with a variety of people, including a Palestinian gunman who is on Israel's most-wanted list; an Israeli soldier who discusses his military service; an Israeli surgeon who lost his eyesight in a Palestinian suicide bombing; a Palestinian farmer whose pasture was divided by one of the walls being built around Israeli enclaves and an Israeli mother who lost her son in the conflict. As Dajani and Michaelis make their way through contemporary Israel and Palestine, they struggle to find lasting solutions to what many believe to be a never-ending conflict.
"Brilliant...This must-see film is, in the words of Dajani, 'a narrative not heard in the mass media,' and, added Michaelis, 'the story you haven't heard before.'" -Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
*Description taken from http://www.arabfilm.com/
The Color of Olives by Carolina Rivas
Palestine/Israel, 2006, 97 mins
WINNER-Artistic Vision Award- Big Sky Documentary Film Fest.-2007
Winner - Women Film Critic's Courage In Filmmaking Award, 2006
Special Mention - Barcelona Docapolis, 2006From Mexican director Carolina Rivas and cinematographer Daoud Sarhandi comes this elegant and visually breathtaking new film about the Palestinian experience. The Amer family lives surrounded by the infamous West Bank Wall, where their daily lives are dominated by electrified fences, locked gates and a constant swarm of armed soldiers.
This unique and intimate documentary shares their private world, allowing a glimpse of the constant struggles and the small, endearing details that sustain them. THE COLOR OF OLIVES is an artistic and beautifully affecting reflection on the effects of racial segregation, the meaning of borders and the absurdity of war.
"With its contemplative tone and haunting images, The Color of Olives may be the most peaceful documentary ever to arrive from a war zone...Using only natural light, Ms. Rivas and Mr. Sarhandi frame everything with an artistry that belies the difficulty of their working conditions, creating a film as unhurried and dignified as the Amer family itself." --New York Times*Description taken from http://www.arabfilm.com/