[Wamvan] Amnesty International Film Festival 2011

[Natalie Hill]

 <saffersinvancouver at gmail.com>

Subject: Amnesty International Film Festival 2011

Please Circulate Widely.

Amnesty International Film Festival: something for everyone this year


The 16th annual Amnesty International Film Festival, this year a
co-presentation of Amnesty International and the SFU School for
International Studies, runs November 17-20 at SFU Harbour Centre. We are
very pleased to be working together to present award-winning films that
tell compelling stories about the most important issues of our time.

The films in this festival will take you to coltan mines deep in the earth
below the DRC, onto the streets with the monks of Burma, and into the slums
of South Africa. You will meet women's rights activists in the Nicaraguan
jungle and survivors of the detention centre at Guantanamo Bay. And you
will get a peek behind the scenes in North Korea, Russia, China, and
several corporate boardrooms. Like Amnesty International itself, the
filmmakers behind these films are dedicated to shining a light on
repression and injustice and making sure the world takes notice.

This festival also aims to inspire, and this year we are pleased to present
a number of films that celebrate individuals and groups working for
positive social change despite great challenges in places like Liberia,
Guatemala, Burma, and the Middle East. We are especially pleased to bring
back last year's audience favourite, Pray the Devil Back to Hell, whose
main subject, Leymah Gbowee, was one of three courageous women presented
with the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize.

We thought the following films would be of particular interest to your
members or community, and that you might like to pass this notice along to
them.

10 Conditions of Love

Jeff Daniels / Australia / 2009 / 53m?
The 10 Conditions of Love is a love story - of a woman, a man, a family, a
people and a homeland. It is the story of Rebiya Kadeer, China's nightmare
- the woman it accuses of inciting terrorism within China's borders. It is
also the story of the 'other Tibet', the country its Muslim people call
East Turkestan, but which the Chinese call Xinjiang Province - the other
stain on China's moral character. It is a big story: a story of the
ruthless oppression of 20-million people; of the global politics of energy;
of Super Power politicking over the War on Terror; and of the pain of a
deeply loving family torn violently apart. Twice nominated for a Nobel
Peace Prize, Rebiya Kadeer is a remarkable woman who pays daily a terrible
price for patriotism.
Banned in China as "illegal counterrevolutionary propaganda" -- Uyghurs
found in possession of this film are placed under arrest.

Mrs. Goundo's Daughter
 Barbara Attie & Janet Goldwater / USA-Mali / 2009 / 56m?
The traditional practice of female genital cutting prompts one young Malian
mother to seek asylum in the U.S. to protect her two-year-old daughter from
the pain and sometimes horrific health consequences of the practice. Mrs
Goundo's Daughter bridges the mother's two worlds - the largely Islamic
West African village and her adopted home in Philadelphia. Throughout, the
film gives equal time activists fighting to end the practice and
traditionalists trying to defend it.

Pray the Devil Back To Hell
AIFF 2010 Gold Audience Award winner
Gini Reticker / Liberia / 2008 / 72 min??
This film chronicles the story of courageous Liberian women who came
together to end a bloody civil war and mend a shattered country. Their
actions were a critical element in bringing about an agreement despite
stalled peace talks. Pray the Devil Back to Hell honours strength and
perseverance. Inspiring, uplifting, and motivating, it is a compelling
testimony of how grassroots activism alters history.

The Jungle Radio

Susamme Yager / Germany / 2009 / 90m?
The film tells the story of a civil radio station operating from a village
in the middle the jungle of Nicaragua. Its founder Yamileth Chavarria uses
radio broadcasting to fight against discrimination and violence in a male
dominated society to provide a message of hope to her sisters. The film
captures the spirit of the people involved and the unconventional methods
used to fight for justice and equality.

The Price of Sex

Mimi Chakarova / USA / 2011 / 73m ?
The Price of Sex is a feature length documentary about young Eastern
European women who've been drawn into a netherworld of sex trafficking and
abuse. Intimate, harrowing and revealing, it is a story told by the young
women who were supposed to be silenced by shame, fear and violence.
Photojournalist Mimi Chakarova, who grew up in Bulgaria, takes us on a
personal investigative journey, exposing the shadowy world of sex
trafficking from Eastern Europe to the Middle East and Western Europe.
Filming undercover and gaining extraordinary access, Chakarova illuminates
how even though some women escape to tell their stories, sex trafficking
thrives.

Thembi

Jo Menell / South Africa / 2010 / 48m?
Effervescent, beautiful, confident, brave, eloquent and ambitious, Thembi
epitomizes the youth of South Africa. Tragically, in more ways than one,
Thembi came to fame through her audio diary for the US' National Public
Radio. It documented her daily life in Khayelitsha and the physical, social
and emotional struggle of living with HIV. Her humour, forthright nature
and inner strength enchanted her 50 million strong audience, forcing people
far and wide, humble and famous, to listen to her sound logic as the voice
of a generation that South Africa's politicians had forsaken. Despite her
boundless energy and herculean courage, this gentle and incisive
documentary shows that Thembi is all too human. Her desire to live, love
and leave behind a legacy didn't make her any less susceptible to
insecurity, social pressure, exhaustion and the vagaries of being a
celebrity.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us by reply
e-mail or call 604-294-5160.
Full program and ticket info at www.amnestyfilmfest.ca

Sincerely,
Intern, Vancouver office
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