Thanks to everyone who contributed to the success of the 6th Annual International Human Rights Watch Film Festival.
The Opening Night was a sell-out with over 225 people attending the reception at McKinsey & Co. and an additional 200 attending the screening of of Plus tard, tu comprendras at the Isabel Bader Theatre. Many thanks to Bruce Simpson and McKinsey for hosting the lovely reception and to Elizabeth Levitt for organizing such an amazing evening.
The Closing Night Reception at the Moose Factory Gallery was also sold out. Many thanks to Charles Pachter for use of this amazing space. Thanks as well to the Toronto Network, and to Delon Pereira in particular, for helping to organize this successful event.
In total, over 1500 people attended the festival.
The Sari Soldiers closes this year’s Human Rights Watch Film Festival program, with a special screening on Tuesday, March 5th, 8 PM at Jackman Hall, Art Gallery of Ontario, with director Julie Bridgham in attendance.
Filmed over three years during the most historic and pivotal time in Nepal’s modern history, The Sari Soldiers is an extraordinary story of six women’s courageous efforts to shape Nepal’s future in the midst of an escalating civil war against Maoist insurgents, and the King’s crackdown on civil liberties.
When Devi, mother of a 15-year-old girl, witnesses her niece being tortured and murdered by the Royal Nepal Army, she speaks publicly about the atrocity. The army abducts her daughter in retaliation, and Devi embarks on a three-year struggle to uncover her daughter’s fate and see justice done. The Sari Soldiers follows her and five other brave women, including Maoist Commander Kranti; Royal Nepal Army Officer Rajani; Krishna, a monarchist from a rural community who leads a rebellion against the Maoists; Mandira, a human rights lawyer; and Ram Kumari, a young student activist shaping the protests to reclaim democracy.
Screening of The Sari Soldiers is preceded by a 6 PM reception at The Moose Factory Gallery, 22 Grange Avenue. For tickets to the screening and reception, please call (416) 322-8448 or e-mail marijke.anbeek@hrw.org.
Tickets to the screening alone are available at the door or by calling Cinematheque Ontario at 416-968-3456 or toll-free 1-877-968-3456.
Director Lee Isaac Chung talks about his film Munyurangabo, which screens Tuesday, March 3rd, 7 PM, at Jackman Hall, Art Gallery of Ontario, part of the 6th Annual Human Rights Watch Film Festival. Munyurangabo is the story of two young men—one a Tutsi, the other a Hutu—trying to create futures by putting their pasts behind them. For Munyurangabo, this means seeking justice for his parents, who were killed during the fighting. For his friend Sangwa, resolution might come once he’s able to re-visit the lands he fled so long before.
Chung initially went to Rwanda with his wife, an art therapist, who works with survivors of the genocide. He became a volunteer and taught filmmaking at a Christian relief base, eventually fashioning a story out of the real life experience of Jeff Rutagengwa who plays Munyurangabo .
Patricio Guzmán’s landmark documentary film, The Battle of Chile (1976), screens tomorrow, Monday, March 2nd, 7 PM, at Jackman Hall, Art Gallery of Ontario. Considered among the best documentaries ever made, The Battle of Chile chronicles the country’s open and peaceful socialist revolution, and of the violent counter-revolution against it.
The film is divided into two parts: The Battle of Chile (Part 1): The Insurrection of the Bourgeoisie (96 minutes) examines the escalation of rightist opposition following the left’s unexpected victory in Congressional elections held in March, 1973. The Battle of Chile (Part 2): The Coup d’Etat (88 minutes) opens with the attempted military coup of June, 1973 which is put down by troops loyal to the government. The film’s dramatic concluding sequence documents the coup d’etat, including Allende’s last radio messages to the people of Chile, footage of the military assault on the presidential palace, and that evening’s televised presentation of the new military junta. Patricio Guzmán and five colleagues had been filming the political developments in Chile throughout the nine months leading up to that day. By the time of the coup, 42,000 feet of film had been shot. The raw footage had to be hidden in the Swedish Embassy; eventually, it was smuggled out of Chile as diplomatic material, and the film was finished in Cuba and France.
“Great films rarely arrive as unheralded as The Battle of Chile.” – Pauline Kael, The New Yorker
“The major political film of our times – a magnificent achievement.” – Tom Allen, Village Voice
“A landmark in the presentation of living history on film.” – Judy Stone, San Francisco Chronicle
The trailer (above) is from another Guzmán film, Chile, Obstinate Memory, which visits with Chileans who experienced the coup first-hand (some of whom are seen in The Battle of Chile).
