the 2000 human rights watch international film festival June 14--29, 2000 photo: good kurds, bad kurds: no friends but the mountains

box office and ticket information | calendar program description Human Rights Watch is dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world. It stands with victims and activists to bring offenders to justice, to prevent discrimination, to uphold political freedom and to protect people from inhumane conduct in wartime. HRW investigates and exposes human rights violations and holds abusers accountable. It challenges governments and those holding power to end abusive practices and respect international human rights law. HRW enlists the public and the international community to support the cause of human rights for all. Entering our sixth year of collaboration, the Film Society and Human Rights Watch offer the year 2000 edition of the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival--the world's leading showcase for films and videos that incorporate human rights themes. All the works you will see over the next sixteen days put a human face on history, and offer personal viewpoints of those fighting the many threats against political and individual freedom. As a new millennium starts, it is clear that the work of human rights monitors is far from over. But it is also clear that, in many areas of the world, people have taken up their own causes and the causes of others, and led the charge against oppression and cruelty. From remembrances of Jewish resisters in WWII and the search for missing grandchildren in Argentina, to a youth subculture acting against white supremacists and a Brazilian woman's victory over racism, many films in the festival focus on fighting--and in many cases winning--the good fight. On the other side of the coin, filmmakers give testimony to the cruelty that a changing world can bring--abandoned parents in India, families split apart by political boundaries, massive overcrowding in a women's prison in the U.S. These stories and more, eloquent and passionately told, prove again that film can make a difference. Organized by Bruni Burres and John Anderson of HRW and Marian Masone of the Film Society, with special thanks to Jonathan Fanton, Chair, and Kenneth Roth, Executive Director, Human Rights Watch. The festival selection committee includes Cynthia Brown, Andrea Holley, Susan Osnos, Marina Pinto Kaufman, as well as other members of the Human Rights Watch staff. Special thanks to Time Out New York, the Soros Documentary Fund, and Susan Norget; thanks to Rafael Jimenez, Fernanda Leventhal, Elaine Charnov and the Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival, Basil Tsiokos of The New Festival, Mahen Bonetti of the African Film Festival, POV, Mary Dawn Albritton, Danielle Diamond, Harriet Friedman, and Karen Halpenny.

the spoils of war the lady

program: (New York Premiere) INVISIBLE REVOLUTION Beverly Peterson, US, 2000, 55m (video, doc) Filmmaker present. Peterson's extraordinary access to skinheads, gutter punks, and mainstream kids drops the viewer into the front lines of a powerful, passionate and very raw youth subculture. She documents not only the young people involved in the pro-white movement, but also the counter-movement that demonstrates against and often clashes with them: Anti-Racist Action (ARA). After a decade of going unheard, these voices create a stirring and unique look at urgent and timely issues that can be conveyed only by actually viewing the physical confrontations between the two groups as they collide in a war of ideas. Viewers will also become aware of the extreme danger that ARA members expose themselves to--in 1998 two members of ARA were murdered in the Las Vegas desert. Leonard, a 21-year-old neo-Nazi skinhead sums up: "We are two separate groups....There's always going to be racism. There's always going to be hate. We're going to do whatever it takes to get the other one out of the way...." Followed by: (World Premiere) SHOWDOWN IN SEATTLE: FIVE DAYS THAT SHOOK THE WTO Collaborative effort (see below), US, 2000, 60m (video, doc) Filmmakers present. With startling footage of flagrant police brutality, total disregard for First and Fourth Amendment rights by the authorities and the repressive tactics of a police-state type curfew, SHOWDOWN IN SEATTLE lays out a visceral indictment of the Seattle police, local politicians and the entire global market power structure. Following the course of the five- day WTO summit and the peaceful protests that paralleled those meetings, the film moves into the streets of Seattle to witness firsthand what happened during those momentous days. The slanted coverage of the mass media, particularly television news coverage, is exposed in depth. Including footage from a vast array of videomakers covering the events, SHOWDOWN IN SEATTLE was produced for the Independent Media Center and Deep Dish TV by an unprecedented collaboration of video producers from around the US: Big Noise Productions, Changing America, Headwaters Action Video Collective, Paper Tiger TV, VideoActive and Whispered Media. Wed June 14: 1 Thurs June 15: 6:15 Sat June 17: 1 HARMED FORCES Irit Gal, Israel, 1999, 56m (video, doc) In June of 1982, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched what was intended to be a brief military campaign in Lebanon, "Operation Peace for the Galilee." Seventeen years later, Israel is still sending soldiers to Lebanon. For hundreds of former combat soldiers still suffering post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the war continues on every day. HARMED FORCES offers an intimate, vivid portrait of Ronny and Israel, ex-paratroopers who never recovered. In their war, the battlefield was a city, the enemy a civilian population. The busy life of Tel-Aviv only brings back the trauma of the war. Haunted by the brutal memories and pushed aside by a society ashamed of them, Ronny and Israel courageously share their daily lives and the unforgettable events that would forever change their connection to country and family. Followed by: (NY Premiere) BORDERS Eran Riklis, Israel, 1999, 58m (video, doc) Arbitrary lines are drawn between countries, designed to protect, separate and denote the sovereignty of those nations. In this riveting documentary, Riklis records several of the most emotionally charged stories across the borders of Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. It is a world of paradoxes--of profiteering, violence, death, prostitution, love, smuggling and war. BORDERS portrays poignant personal accounts and testimonials from those whose lives have been forever changed by the artificial barriers of Israel and its neighbors: the shell-shocked veteran who visits the site of his affliction, the "shouting fence" that is the meeting point and only form of communication possible for a Druze family torn apart by politics, and a mother who lost her family and "adopts" a soldier. Wed June 14: 3:30 Sun June 18: 5:15 Mon June 19: 8:30 Tues June 20: 1 (US Premiere) SPOILS OF WAR / BOTIN DE GUERRA David Blaustein, Argentina/Spain, 1999, 116m (35mm, doc) Filmmaker present. During Argentina's military dictatorship, from 1976 to 1982, over 500 children were "disappeared." Many of these children's parents had been abducted by the military police and a number of them were born while their mothers were incarcerated in military jails. In 1977, the "Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo" were created in response to the government's refusal to disclose the truth of the "disappeared." In interviews conducted over the past three years with these women and the grandchildren they found, filmmaker Blaustein succeeds in exposing a system of dictatorship where repression and torture were used to control society and where personal relationships were sacrificed for the sake of the State. Wed June 14: 6:15 Thurs June 15: 1 Fri June 16: 3:30 Sun June 18: 2 (US Premiere) A CIVILIZED PEOPLE / CIVILISÉES Randa Chahal Sabbag, Lebanon, 1999, 97m (35mm, drama) Filmmaker (winner of the HRWIFF Nestor Almendros award) present. Randa Chahal Sabbag was 20 years old when the civil war in Lebanon began and 40 when it ended. Her experience of that time has formed the basis for a powerful and eloquent film. During the civil war in Lebanon, many Lebanese fled to Europe--abandoning their large apartments, their sumptuous villas, and the servants whom they had imported by the thousands. This stunning dramatic debut focuses on these individuals and their stories, weaving together a broad spectrum of colorful characters to create an unforgettable tapestry of Lebanon's civil war. Currently, the Lebanese government has asked Chahal Sabbag to cut 47 minutes of this film, claiming that these sections are offensive and inflammatory. We will show the film in its entirety. Wed June 14: 9:15 Thurs June 15: 3:45 Fri June 16: 6:30 Mon June 19: 1

our house in havana daring to resist

(US Premiere) PATHOS / KARUNAM Jayaraaj, India, 1999, 77m (35mm, drama) Thoughtful compositions and lush cinematography beautifully frame this emotionally stirring drama by Indian director Jayaraaj, who takes a close look at an ever-increasing problem in India and elsewhere: aging parents abandoned by their children. An old couple live on their plantation in Kerala state, awaiting a visit from their sons who have gone away to America. They clean their house, prepare food, and put up a swing in the yard for the grandchildren. Then, news arrives: the children have canceled their trip in favor of a visit to Niagara Falls. Worse news soon follows: the sons have sold the house and the couple are shipped off to a center for the aged. In their new dwelling, the couple are out of place and deeply dejected by their abandonment. Filmmaker Jayaraaj masterfully explores the layers of emotions, following his characters through the complexity of loss and disillusionment, to emerge with a surprising modicum of happiness and sense of place in their changed world. Thurs June 15: 9:15 Sat June 17: 6:30 Sun June 18: 8:15 Mon June 19: 3:45 (World Premiere) ABANDONED: THE BETRAYAL OF AMERICA'S IMMIGRANTS David Belle and Nicholas Wrathall, US, 55m (16mm, doc) Filmmakers present. Born in Panama and brought to the US at the age of five, Joe Velasquez has been a legal resident of this country for 41 years. In 1980 he was given five years of probation for a drug conviction. Eighteen years later he was re-arrested for this old crime and sent to Hudson County Jail to await deportation to his country of origin. Thousands of US residents face similar deportations, caught in the wake of the harsh new immigration laws passed by Congress in 1996. The film takes a close look behind the official facade of the immigration detention system to reveal a multimillion-dollar prison industry and how it benefits by "specializing" in such cases, which are billed at almost twice the price of housing regular inmates. Through intimate, often passionate interviews, and shocking footage of detainees' treatment behind bars, filmmakers Belle and Wrathall build a powerful argument for the urgent need to reform immigration laws before more lives are ruined and more families torn apart. Preceded by: Made in the Youth S.A. EVC's Youth Organizers Television, US, 2000, 15m (video, doc) Through interviews with youth activists, children of sweatshop workers and workers' firsthand accounts, the Youth Organizers crew explores the conditions and economics of the sweatshop system. Fri June 16: 1 Sat June 17: 4:15 (Special Screening) EDGE OF THE CITY Martin Ritt, US, 1957, 85m (35mm, drama) In this rarely seen black-and-white film, blacklisted director Martin Ritt (Nuts, Norma Rae) explores the complexities of racial brotherhood and tensions through the characters brilliantly played by Sidney Poitier and John Cassavetes. This emotionally charged drama follows the story of Axel (Cassavetes), a drifter newly arrived in New York City, who goes to work in the West Side Terminal as a porter and immediately makes the acquaintance of Tommy (Poitier), an experienced and cordial porter who is as generous with his friends as he is with his customers. Scenes such as the first meeting between Axel and Tommy's family, as well as the confrontations between Axel and his surly boss (Jack Warden), convey the confidence and compassion that steadily grows between the two men. As the two men confront societal prejudices, Axel is forced to examine himself and his community. In a film often compared to On the Waterfront, director Ritt displays an intuitive insight, simultaneously subtle and sharp. Fri June 16: 9:15 Sat June 17: 9 (US Premiere) THE LADY / BANOO Dariush Mehrjui, Iran, 1992/1999, 113m (35mm, drama) The work of Dariush Mehrjui, subject of a HRWIFF/Film Society retrospective in 1998, shows a phenomenal sensitivity for women's issues, and this film is no exception. Banned in Iran for seven years and screening in the US for the first time, THE LADY explores a woman discovering herself. Mariam tries to live a good life--she prays constantly. But when her husband leaves her for another woman, her spirituality takes on an aura that reaches out to those around her. A neighboring gardener and his pregnant wife, thrown out of their simple home, take refuge with Mariam and are soon followed by other troubled characters. Some take advantage of her generous spirit; others are eternally grateful. But in the process of dealing with the problems of others, she finds herself and her place in the world. With a poetic sense of social commentary, Mehrjui captures a story that is repeated throughout history and across cultures. Mon June 19: 6:15 Tues June 20: 8:30 Wed June 21: 1 Fri June 23: 1 (New York Premiere) OUR HOUSE IN HAVANA Stephen Olsson, US, 2000, 57m, (video, doc) Filmmaker present. Director Olsson follows the emotionally charged return trip of Silvia Morini, a vivacious 68-year-old Cuban, who, after 38 years living in the U.S., decides to return to Cuba to search for the house, the neighborhood and the faded remains of her once-opulent, privileged life. Silvia's pilgrimage, full of discoveries, forces her to confront her own myths of Cuba and the revolution. An intimate, thought-provoking cinematic journey, seasoned with Cuban history, culture, music and passion. Followed by: (NY Premiere) I WAS BORN A BLACK WOMAN / NASCI MULHER NEGRA Maisa Mendonca and Vicente Franco, Brazil, 2000, 44m (video, doc) Filmmakers present. Benedita da Silva--shanty-dweller, domestic worker, mother, organizer, poet, senator. I WAS BORN A BLACK WOMAN recounts the remarkable life of the first Afro-Brazilian woman to be elected to Brazil's senate. Benedita da Silva was born to poverty, started working at age seven and gained stature for herself and her community through education, faith in God and community organizing. Filled with Afro-Brazilian music, poetry and dance, I WAS BORN A BLACK WOMAN weaves a dynamic tale of black Brazil and one woman's victory over racism. Tues June 20: 3:30 Wed June 21: 8:30 Thurs June 22: 6 (NY Premiere) DARING TO RESIST Martha Lubell and Barbara Attie, US, 1999, 58m (video, doc) Filmmakers and participant present. Is "resistance" always a matter of guns and explosives? Or can it be practiced with photography, ballet, forgery and wits? What is it that leads a person to choose defiance, rather than submission, when her whole world is collapsing around her? DARING TO RESIST looks at these questions in a gripping documentary. Three Jewish women reflect on their lives in Holland, Hungary, and Poland during World War II, when they refused to remain passive in the face of Nazi genocide. As teenagers all three girls acted without family support, joining other young people determined to fight back. The film interweaves the women's varied and astonishing stories, as they tell of resisting the forces of hatred in unexpected ways. Never-before-published photographs and home movies enrich the women's vibrant narratives. Preceded by: Zyklon Portrait Elida Schogt, Canada, 1999, 13m (16mm, doc) Zyklon B is a crystal that produces the deadly gas used in concentration camps during WWII. Impressionistic imagery, family photographs, and home movies are set against a narrative that alternates between familial intimacy and a voice of authority, producing a haunting reminder of how human evil is manifested when science is used in the service of destruction. Tues June 20: 6:15 Wed June 21: 3:30 Thurs June 22: 1 Sun June 25: 1 (World Premiere) 900 WOMEN Laleh Khadivi, US, 2000, 73m (16mm, doc) Filmmaker present. The Louisiana Correctional Institute is located in the swamps of southern Louisiana in the small town of St. Gabriel. Built in 1970 to house an increasing population of female convicts, today it houses the state's most dangerous female prisoners and often exceeds its population capacity of 900. 75% of these are mothers and one fourth of them are serving sentences of fifteen years or more. The prison compound has a surreal quality; there are no searchlight-capped towers or barbed wire fences. First-time filmmaker Khadivi delivers a striking, sensitive portrait of life in this deceptively peaceful atmosphere, which is filled with stories of life on the streets, abuse, freedom, childbirth and motherhood. Six women--a grandmother, a young high school student, a pregnant woman, a recovering heroin addict, a prison guard, and the only woman on death row--were brave enough to share their frustrations and hopes. Produced by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Jonathan Stack (The Farm). Wed June 21: 6:15 Thurs June 22: 9 Fri June 23: 3:30 (US Premiere) LIVE FREE OR DIE Marion Lipschutz and Rose Rosenblatt, US, 2000, 70m (video, doc) Filmmakers present. In a small New England town a doctor practices medicine. An OB-GYN, Dr. Wayne Goldner has delivered over 2,500 babies, and has been marked because he chooses to provide legal abortions. Allowing the filmmakers to follow him for an entire year, Goldner contributed to making this documentary serve as a stinging indictment of the government's inability to protect citizens doing legitimate work. When first encountered, Dr. Goldner is fighting a merger between two local hospitals--one Catholic --that threatens abortion services in the city of Manchester. This brings protestors who, up until then, had seemed content to picket outside his offices, right to the doorstep of his home, as well as to the local junior high school where Wayne teaches a sex education class. In order to get rid of the protestors, the school board gets rid of Wayne, banning him from giving the class at school. As the film follows his fight to be reinstated, it becomes apparent that while most of the town supports abortion rights and Dr. Goldner's work, few want to confront the right-to-lifers and the controversy they bring with them. Thurs June 22: 3:15 Sat June 24: 7 Sun June 25: 3:30 Mon June 26: 1

nuyorican dream good kurds, bad kurds: no friends but the mountains

Co-presented with The New Festival NUYORICAN DREAM Laurie Collyer, US, 1999, 97m (35mm, doc) Filmmaker present. In an American media landscape offering few Puerto Rican stories, NUYORICAN DREAM makes an urgent and resounding arrival. Combining cinema vérité and personal documentary with astounding access to her subjects over a seven-year period, director Laurie Collyer delivers a powerhouse of emotion and insight with this chronicle of the struggles and aspirations of three generations of the Marta Gutierrez family. The film follows Robert Torres, Marta's eldest son and the only member of his family to finish both high school and college and make it out of the Bronx tenements. College was supposed to lead to the American Dream, but the experience of transcending class has alienated Robert from his classmates and, ultimately, his family. Two of his sisters battle drug addiction, and his younger brother attempts to stay out of jail while his mother shoulders the family problems, housing both children and grandchildren on a meager income. Robert's position between the worlds of school and the street lends the film a powerful double consciousness: a deeply personal and sympathetic view of his troubled family and an incisive analysis of the effects of colonialism and poverty on Puerto Rican people. Preceded by: A Day's Work, A Day's Pay Kathy Leichter and Jonathan Skurnik, US, 2000, 9m (video, doc) In this trailer for the upcoming documentary, welfare recipients in New York City learn to speak out for their rights and fight for a more just and effective welfare-to-work system. Fri June 23: 6:15 Mon June 26: 8:30 (NY Premiere) GARAGE OLIMPO Marco Bechis, Argentina, 1999, 98m (35mm, drama) Filmmaker present. Buenos Aires during the military dictatorship: Maria lives with her mother and Felix, a shy, young boarder in love with her. Felix appears to be without a past or family. He works as a watchman at a garage. Maria works teaching reading and writing in a slum and is active in a small organization that opposes the military dictatorship. One morning, a squad of plainclothes soldiers seize Maria and take her to the Garage Olimpo--one of the numerous torture chambers used by the military, situated in the very heart of Buenos Aires, whose atrocities remain invisible to the people who pass by. Quickly Maria realizes that this is the garage where Felix works, supervising and sometimes performing tortures on those kidnapped by the military. Felix's obsession with Maria becomes her only weapon against the nightmarish world surrounding her. Fri June 23: 9:15 Sun June 25: 8:45 Mon June 26: 3:15 (NY Premiere) GOOD KURDS, BAD KURDS: NO FRIENDS BUT THE MOUNTAINS Kevin McKiernan, US, 2000, 79m (video, doc) Filmmaker present. A war of national liberation or a war against terrorism? Filmmaker and acclaimed freelance journalist Kevin McKiernan poses this question at the outset of this stirring, provocative film lensed by legendary cinematographer Haskell Wexler. It's all in how you define "good" and "bad": "Good Kurds" are those in Iraq; they're Saddam Hussein's victims whom we want to help. "Bad Kurds" are those waging an armed insurrection against US ally Turkey; they're at the receiving end of U.S. weapons. McKiernan went to northern Iraq to cover the uprising against Saddam. Just a few miles away, no one was covering the hidden war in Turkey, so he decided to bring out the story. GOOD KURDS, BAD KURDS brings sharp clarity to a complicated history while providing disturbing insight into both U.S. immigration and foreign policy. Preceded by: ICC: A Call for Justice EVC's Youth Organizers Television, US, 2000, 15m (video, doc) What is the International Criminal Court (ICC)? Who will benefit? Why won't America ratify the treaty? Through archival footage, spoken word poetry and interviews with survivors of torture, advocates and diplomats, the Youth Organizers crew explores these and other questions surrounding the ICC. Sat June 24: 1 Wed June 28: 6 Thurs June 29: 1 (US Premiere) Co-presented with the Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival LA BODA Hannah Weyer, US, 2000, 53m (video, doc) Filmmaker present. Elizabeth is marrying Artemio in Nuevo Leon, Mexico, and you are cordially invited to the wedding (la boda). Meet these two young people from the U.S.-Mexican border region whose lives are framed by the challenges of migrant life. Through Elizabeth, we see a family and community continually on the move, keeping alive their roots in Mexico even as they incorporate American-style dreams and their often harsh realities. With complete access to her subject, filmmaker Weyer gives the viewer an absorbing entry into a young girl's passage through daughter, worker, student, woman, wife and world citizen. Followed by: (NY Premiere) HOMELAND Jilann Spitzmiller and Hank Rogerson, US, 1999, 60m (16mm, doc) Filmed over three years, against the harsh yet stunning backdrop of South Dakota, HOMELAND weaves an intimate and lyrical portrait of contemporary Native American life, focusing on four Lakota Indian families living on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Through the personal stories of a spiritual leader, a grandmother, a community activist, and an artist, the film follows the families as they face the ever-present realities common to most American Indian reservations--alcoholism, extreme unemployment, and scarce housing. With their family loyalty, spiritual ways, and keen sense of humor, they strive to build a better life for their children and the generations to come. Sat June 24: 3:45 Sun June 25: 5:45

public enemy the jahalin

(NY Premiere) PUBLIC ENEMY Jens Meurer, France / Germany, 1999, 88m (35mm, doc) Film participants Bobby Seale, Kathleen Cleaver, Nile Rodgers and Jamal Joseph schedueled to be present: Kathleen, Nile, Jamal on Sat., 6/24 at the 9:15 pm screening Bobby, Kathleen on Thur., 6/29 at 9:00 pm Closing Night screening. "We're going to organize ourselves, we're going to stand up, we're going to arm ourselves and we're going to walk on this racist, pig-ass power structure and we're going to say, 'stick-'em-up, motherfucker, we've come for what's ours'", says Bobby Seale, public speaker, activist, author and the only surviving founder of the Black Panthers. With this opening tour-de-force speech, the tone is set for an electrifying, visceral, in-depth look at the Black Panther movement. Utilizing fascinating archival footage of rallies, confrontations with authority and behind-the-scenes moments in the movement, the film focuses on the members who have survived. Along with Bobby Seale, we meet law professor Kathleen Cleaver, the highest ranking female Panther and one of the most outspoken members; Jamal Joseph, who spent nine years in prison for Panther activities and is currently active as a poet and playwright; and in perhaps the most surprising twist, Nile Rodgers, former Panther who went on to found the 80's rock group Chic and create a successful songwriting/performing career. Four incredibly vibrant, talented, passionate people whose political force has carried on into their lives, and who still feel the power and exhilaration of the early days of a unique socio-political revolution that changed both the societal image and the self-image of all African-Americans. Sat June 24: 9:15 Tues June 27: 3:45 Wed June 28: 1 Thurs June 29: 9 (NY Premiere) CHILDREN OF SHATILA Mai Masri, Lebanon, 1998, 50m (video, doc) Fifty years after the exile of their grandparents from Palestine, the children of the Shatila camp attempt to come to terms with the overwhelming realities of being refugees in a place that has survived massacres, sieges and starvation. Documentary filmmaker Mai Masri focuses on the lives of two Palestinian children: Farah, age 11, and Issa, age 12. Given video cameras, they express through the lens all the facets of their daily lives as well as their history. Their ideas and creativity guide the film at every stage. Out of their personal narratives evolves the story of the camp as a whole, and through their images and words, Farah and Issa articulate the feelings and hopes of their generation. Preceded by: (US Premiere) NAIM & WADEE'A Najwa Najjar, 1999, 20m (video, doc) With beautiful archival footage of Yaffa in the 1930's and 40's, NAIM & WADEE'A explores the social life of an upper middle class Palestinian couple who were forced in 1948 to leave their home. Their story and the emotional loss of home is recounted in voice-over by their three daughters. And: (World Premiere) THE JAHALIN Talya Ezrahi and Lewie Kerr, UK, 2000, 29m (video, doc) A young Israeli woman travels into the West Bank to meet a Bedouin family who have lived for generations in the desert hills around Jerusalem. Through intimate interviews and striking vérité scenes, she documents their struggle against the encroaching Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim: a struggle for land and cultural autonomy that has culminated in a massive eviction campaign by the government and the gradual relocation of the entire tribe to a fenced-in site bordering Jerusalem's largest garbage dump. Mon June 26: 6 Wed June 28: 8:45 Thurs June 29: 3:30 (US Premiere) THE PUNISHMENT Goran Rebic, Austria, 1999, 90m (35mm, doc) THE PUNISHMENT uses interviews and cityscapes to describe the conditions in Belgrade immediately after NATO's bombing campaign in the spring of 1999. The film is a cinematic essay about dissidence and destruction, about the loss of hope and home. From the voices of an endangered opposition spoken in impassioned vérité inerviews (including school children, philosophers, human rights activists and combatants), filmmaker Goran Rebic unfolds a startling view of the personal and societal effects of the conflict that the rest of the world was never shown. THE PUNISHMENT addresses subjective realities because so-called objective realities have long since ceased to have any validity. Preceded by: The Job Johan Eriksson, UK, 1999, 26m (video, doc) A television reporter's stark confessions from two assignments to Kosovo where he was investigating mass graves before the NATO bombing campaign. Powerful eyewitness interviews and firsthand film footage of the atrocities in Kosovo include an unforgettable scene of one man introducing the viewer to all 22 members of his family, recently massacred and buried in rows on the family's farm. Tues June 27: 1 Wed June 28: 3:30 Thurs June 29: 6