Democracy & Human Rights Festival

The Salt Lake City Film Center is having a Democracy and Human Rights Film Festival this week. The schedule is below. I'm probably going to be going to quite a few of them (I also volunteer for the Film Center) if anyone is interested in going with me. I'm fairly certain all screenings are free.

If you can only make one, I'd suggest going to Shut Up & Sing, the Dixie Chicks' documentary about the controversy that erupted after Natalie Maines said she was ashamed that Bush is from Texas (by the way, Bush was born in Connecticut). NBC has been in the news lately for refusing to air ads for the movie.

DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS FESTIVAL

Wed Nov 1 WESTMINSTER COLLEGE, VIEVE GORE CONCERT HALL, EMMA ECCLES JONES CONSERVATORY, 1840 S 1300 E (NW corner of campus)
7pm HOME FRONT (94 min)
Directed by: Richard Hankin; Country: USA; Language: English; Genre: Documentary; Year: 2006
Tagline: Coming home is half the battle. HOME FRONT gets behind the complexities of a family beginning again after a son comes home from Iraq disabled.
Presenting Partners: National Ability Center and Splore
Producer Meredith Lavitt Williams will be at the screening to discuss the movie.

Thur Nov 2 Broadway Theatre, 111 E Broadway, SLC
7pm DIXIE CHICKS: Shut Up & Sing (93 min)
Directed by: Barbara Kopple, Cecilia Peck; Country: USA; Language: English; Genre: Documentary; Year: 2006
Tagline: The personal attacks, a changing world, making music, having babies, receiving death threats, and even a fair amount of laughter. Like the title of their hit single, The Dixie Chicks are not ready to make nice quite yet.

Fri Nov 3 CITY LIBRARY AUDITORIUM, 210 E 400 S
1pm FOUR SHORT DOCUMENTARIES:

RIGHTS ON THE LINE (25 min)
Produced by: WITNESS; Country: USA; Language: English; Genre: Documentary; Year: 2006
Tagline: This film exposes the ugly anti-immigrant politics that lurk behind the Minuteman Project and shows the continuum between official border militarization and vigilante action.

OUTLAWED: Extraordinary Rendition, Torture And Disappearances In The 'War On Terror” (27 min)
Produced by: WITNESS; Country: USA; Language: English; Genre: Documentary; Year: 2006
Tagline: The stories of two men who have survived extraordinary rendition, secret detention, and torture by the U.S. government. Featuring relevant commentary from President George W. Bush and Condoleezza Rice, the U.S. Secretary of State.

WAR OF AGRESSION: Bush Crimes Commission Hearings (28 min)
Produced by: Commission of Inquiry on Crimes Against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration; Country: USA; Language: English; Genre: Documentary; Year: 2006
Tagline: A compelling moral condemnation of the Bush regime. We know that it is the most demented, lawless, contemptible of human life, and egregiously evil government in the history of the Republic -- Here is proof. You’ll see evidence and substance in the form of stunning testimony from eyewitnesses and experts on torture, global warming and HIV/AIDS that this regime is guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Fri Nov 3 CITY LIBRARY AUDITORIUM, 210 E 400 S
3pm THE POWER OF NIGHTMARES: The Rise of the Politics of Fear (180 min)
Directed by: Adam Curtis; Country: UK; Language: English; Genre: Documentary; Year: 2004
Tagline: A fascinating three hour BBC series that looks at the how the failure of the liberal state and Great Society gave rise to Neo- Conservativism in the United States and Radical Fundamentalism in the Middle East. The series argues that for the first time in the history of the western world our leaders and media rule by fear instead of hope and that this could be the end of democracy and enlightenment.


Fri Nov 3 CITY LIBRARY AUDITORIUM, 210 E 400 S
7pm THE LAND OF THE BLIND (110 min)
Directed by: Robert Edwards; Country: UK/USA; Language: English; Genre: Drama; Year: 2006
Tagline: A soldier recounts his relationship with a famous political prisoner attempting to overthrow their country's totalitarian government. Starring Ralph Fiennes and Donald Sutherland.

Fri Nov 3 JUAN DIEGO HIGH SCHOOL, 300 E 11800 S, Draper
7pm GOLDEN VENTURE (70 min)
Directed by: Peter Cohn; Country: USA; Language: English; Genre: Documentary; Year: 2006
Tagline: This film chronicles the struggles of passengers who were aboard the Golden Venture, an immigrant smuggling ship that ran aground near New York City in 1993. The Golden Venture crash fed a media circus and became a symbol of a growing national concern over illegal immigration.

Sat Nov 4 CITY LIBRARY AUDITORIUM, 210 E 400 S
12pm SENTENCED HOME (76 min)
Directed by: David Grabias, Nicole Newnham; Country: USA; Language: English; Genre: Documentary; Year: 2006
Tagline: After settling in Seattle in the ’80s, three Cambodian refugees were drawn into gang life and ultimately ended up in jail. In the wake of 9/11, Cambodia was pressured to change their policy against accepting deportees, so now these Cambodian Americans are faced with leaving their families and returning to a land they barely know.

Sat Nov 4 CITY LIBRARY AUDITORIUM, 210 E 400 S
1:30pm REDS – 25th Anniversary Edition (194 min)
Directed by: Warren Beatty; Country: USA; Language: English/Russian/German; Genre: Biography/Drama; Year: 1981
Tagline: A radical American journalist becomes involved with the Communist revolution in Russia and hopes to bring its spirit and idealism to the United States. Winner of 3 Academy Awards and featuring an all-star cast including Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson.

Sat Nov 4 CITY LIBRARY AUDITORIUM, 210 E 400 S
5pm IN THE FACE OF EVIL: Reagan’s War in Word and Deed
(110min)
Directed by: Stephen K. Bannon, Tim Watkins; Country: USA; Language: English; Genre: Documentary; Year: 2004
Tagline: Chronicles Ronald Reagan’s crusade to destroy “the most tyrannical and depraved political system the world has ever known” and the rise of neo-conservative foreign policy.
Producer McKay Daines will be at the screening to discuss the movie.

Sat Nov 4 CITY LIBRARY AUDITORIUM, 210 E 400 S
7:30pm MR. CONSERVATIVE: Goldwater on Goldwater (90 min)
Directed by: Julie Anderson; Country: USA; Language: English; Genre: Documentary; Year: 2006
Tagline: This biographical documentary, illuminated by interviews with major public figures and never-before-seen home movies and photos, takes a look back on the man, his morals, his missteps ... and his enduring legacy as "Mr. Conservative."

Sat Nov 4 JUAN DIEGO HIGH SCHOOL, 300 East 11800 South, Draper
7pm BETWEEN TWO FIRES (14 min)
Produced by: WITNESS; Country: USA; Language: English; Genre: Documentary; Year: 2006
Tagline: Two decades of armed conflict between the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and the Ugandan government in Northern Uganda has led to civilians being displaced from their homes, rampant abuse and gross violations of human rights.

Sat Nov 4 JUAN DIEGO HIGH SCHOOL, 300 East 11800 South, Draper
7:15pm INVISIBLE CHILDREN (55 min)
Directed by: Jason Russell; Country: USA; Language: English; Genre: Documentary; Year: 2006
Tagline: When three young American filmmakers’ travels take a turn and they find themselves stranded in Northern Uganda, they discover children being kidnapped nightly from their homes and forced to fight as child soldiers. Through their eyes, we see the terror of abduction, courage of survival, the heartbreak of losing a brother, and innate joy - found only in a child.

Sun Nov 5 CITY LIBRARY AUDITORIUM, 210 E 400 S
1pm STEALING AMERICA VOTE BY VOTE (68 min)
Directed by: Dorothy Fadiman; Country: USA; Language: English; Genre: Documentary; Year: 2006
Tagline: This film documents significant irregularities in the Presidential election of 2004 while underscoring the fact that election fraud and reform are not partisan issues. The 2004 Election ignited both personal and political passions for millions of people. For many, their involvement did not end when the election was over.
Director Dorothy Fadiman, Former Emery County Clerk Bruce Funk and Community Activist Barbara Bellows-TerraNova will be on hand for a discussion following the screening.

Sun Nov 5 CITY LIBRARY AUDITORIUM, 210 E 400 S
3pm GROUND TRUTH: After The Killing Ends (78 min)
Directed by: Patricia Foulkrod; Country: USA; Language: English; Genre: Documentary; Year: 2006
Tagline: This film takes an unflinching look at the training and dehumanization of US soldiers, and how they struggle to come to terms when they come back home.
Co-presented by MILITARY FAMILIES AGAINST THE WAR and UTAH MILITARY FAMILIES SPEAK OUT who will be at the screening for a discussion.

Mon Nov 6 CITY LIBRARY AUDITORIUM, 210 E 400 S
4pm We will be screening the FOUR SHORT DOCUMENTARIES shown on Friday again for those who might have missed them. Please see film details from Monday.
SHORTS: RIGHTS ON THE LINE; OUTLAWED: Extraordinary Rendition, Torture And Disappearances In The 'War On Terror”; PERVERSION OF JUSTICE; WAR OF AGRESSION: Bush Crimes Commission Hearings.

Mon Nov 6 CITY LIBRARY AUDITORIUM, 210 E 400 S
7pm Temma Martin, immigration activist, will give a 10 min pre-film presentation

CROSSING ARIZONA (97 min) (Spanish Language Series)
Directed by: Joseph Matthew and Dan DeVivo; Country: USA; Language: English/Spanish Genre: Documentary; Year: 2005
Tagline: With Americans on all sides of the immigration issue up in arms and Congress embroiled in a knock-down-drag-out policy battle over how to move forward, CROSSING ARIZONA shows how we got to where we are today.
Director Dan DeVivo will introduce and discuss his new film.