When Tracy McGrady of the NBA heard of the massive challenges children from Darfur were facing in the refugee camps in Chad, he decided to travel there. This film highlights the Darfuri refugees' thirst for quality education in the camps.
The film shatters the silence that surrounds the use of sexual violence as a weapon of conflict. Many tens of thousands of women and girls have been systematically kidnapped, raped, mutilated and tortured by soldiers from both foreign militias and the Congolese army.
Amigos del Cine Latinoamericano Spring 2011 Film Series titled Globalization and Power through Latin American Cinema.
War Child chronicles the shocking, inspiring, and ultimately hopeful odyssey of Emmanuel Jal, a former child soldier of Sudan's brutal civil war. He is now an emerging international hip hop star sharing a message of peace for his war-torn land and beloved Africa.
(Ivan O'Mahoney, United Kingdom/Azerbaijan, 2006.)
This award-winning BBC documentary follows the story two young political activists, Murad and Emin, as they try to stage a peaceful overthrow of the government of Azerbaijan. Our screening is scheduled to include a teleconference with the film's protagonists.
(Aleksey Balabanov, Russia, 2007. 89 min.)
Set against the backdrop of the Soviet Union's quagmire of a war in Afghanistan, Cargo 200 throws a brutal light on the moral implosion of government, society, and personal relationships in early 1980s USSR. Both a comedy and a horror film, it is not for the faint of heart.
Four thought-provoking and entertaining films spanning the diverse realities, histories, and cultures of Asia. Each film will be followed by a moderated discussion.
Sunday, February 6, 2011, 2:00 p.m.
Japan Unreeled: 'The Spirit of Taiko' (2005)
Featuring a musical demonstration by members of Pittsburgh Taiko
Sunday, February 13, 2011, 2:00 p.m.
China Unreeled: 'Up the Yangtze' (2008)
Sunday, February 27, 2011, 2:00 p.m.
India Unreeled: 'Smile Pinki' (2008)
(Corneliu Porumboiu, Romania, 2006. 89 min.)
The first Romanian film to tackle the 1989 revolution head-on, 12:08 is a bitter but genuinely funny satire that makes jabs both at Romanian media culture and the unwillingness of Romanian society to come to terms with its own unsettled conscience.
Apart of the Amigos del Cine Latinoamericano Spring 2011 Film Series
entitled Globalization and Power through Latin America Cinema
As usual, we will give a short introduction of the film and after the presentation you are welcome to stay for a discussion.
Some films are adult in nature and may not be appropriate for young audiences.
The making of the collective is the central question of two of director Chen Kaige's early films, Yellow Earth (1984) and The Big Parade (1985). Both films re-enact the problematic, sometimes violent process through which individuals are transformed into members of 'the People.' In Yellow Earth, this transformation hinges on the relationship between collecting folk songs and 'collecting' peasants - 'mobilizing and recruiting them into the ranks of the People.
