Human Rights Watch International Film Festival

February 2, 2008 - February 24, 2008

Everything’s Cool, February 2

Since its inception in 1988, the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival has become the leading showcase for committed and courageous films that open our eyes to a range of human rights issues around the globe. The works in this year’s program deliver urgent insights about threats to human freedoms and the health of the planet, and celebrate the power of art to generate social change. The festival is intended to inspire informed and passionate dialogue; in keeping with that goal, we will offer moderated discussion sessions following the films on February 2, 10, and 24. We hope you will join us in extending the conversation beyond the screen.

The festival is only one tool that Human Rights Watch uses to engage concerned individuals and encourage action. The organization is, of course, best known for its decades-long history of timely investigations, informed policy recommendations, and ability to generate intense pressure to confront human rights abusers and defend basic freedoms. For further information, please visit the festival website, www.hrw.org/iff.

Saturday, February 2, 2008
6:00 p.m. Everything’s Cool
A “toxic comedy” from Daniel Gold and Judith Helfand (Blue Vinyl) shows that when it comes to global warming, everything’s not cool.

Saturday, February 2, 2008
8:00 p.m. The Unforeseen
Introduced by Teresa Caldeira. Laura Dunn’s case study of a Texas land developer is “a powerful meditation on the destruction of the natural world and the American Dream as it falls victim to the cannibalizing forces of unchecked development.”—Film Society of Lincoln Center

Thursday, February 7, 2008
7:00 p.m. HotHouse
An unprecedented look inside Israeli prisons that function as incubators for the next generation of Palestinian leadership. “Shimon Dotan’s brilliantly constructed, disturbingly provocative film is both a humanizing force and an alarming wake-up call.”—Sundance Film Festival

Sunday, February 10, 2008
5:30 p.m. Strange Culture
Telling the strange tale of artist and alleged “bioterrorist” Steve Kurtz, Lynn Hershman Leeson deconstructs both documentary conventions and post-9/11 paranoia.

Sunday, February 10, 2008
7:05 p.m. City of Photographers
Introduced by Naomi Roht-Arriaza. This look back at a group of brave photojournalists in Santiago under Pinochet offers a universal lesson in the necessity of a free press.

Sunday, February 24, 2008
2:00 p.m. Lumo
Introduced by Patrick Vinck. A nuanced consideration of a too-common phenomenon—the use of rape as a weapon of terror—through the story of one courageous survivor in Congo.

Sunday, February 24, 2008
3:45 p.m. Enemies of Happiness
Introduced by Rachel Shigekane. An enthralling profile of Malalai Joya, a young woman challenging the Afghan political establishment. With short Sari’s Mother.

Special thanks to John Biaggi, Bruni Burres, Andrea Holley, Human Rights Watch International Film Festival; Libby Marsh, Leah Albert, Human Rights Watch California North; Darian W. Swig, Orville Schell, co-chairs, California Committee North (CCN); David Keller, vice chair, CCN; and all participating filmmakers and distributors.

At PFA, the festival is co-presented by the Human Rights Center at UC Berkeley, with thanks to Eric Stover and Rachel Shigekane; it is curated by Kathy Geritz, Lucy Laird, and Archer Neilson.

Select screenings will be introduced by faculty from the Human Rights Center at UC Berkeley. Prints from Human Rights Watch International Film Festival, unless otherwise indicated.