2006 Human Rights Film Series

October 5 - October 26

Wechsler Theater, 6:00 PM and WCL 6:00 pm

Amandla! A Revolution in Four Part Harmony (2002) October 3, 2006, 6:00 pm & 8 pm WCL, Room TBA
October 5, 2006, 6:00 pm, Wechsler Theater, 3rd Fl, MGC
By Lee Hirsch

Shot over the course of nine years, Amandla! documents the important role that music played in the fight for freedom during the apartheid movement in South Africa. The film documents the story of composer and activist Vuyisile Mini and features other South Africans who share their experiences of struggle and song, as well as the phenomenon of song giving the oppressed a means of expression and an underground form of communication while imprisoned.

The Agronomist (2003)
October 10, 2006, 6:00 pm & 8 pm, WCL Room 603
October 12, 2006, 6:00 pm, Wechsler Theater, 3rd Fl, MGC
By Jonathan Demme

As the owner and operator of Radio Haiti Inter, Haiti’s only public radio station, radio journalist and freedom fighter Jean Dominique lived a life of exile in New York City. He continued to fight tirelessly against the injustices in his nation until his assassination in April of 2000, which is still unresolved. Director Jonathan Demme incorporates historical footage to reveal Haiti’s tumultuous past and includes decades worth of interviews with both Dominique, himself, and with Michele Montas, his extraordinary wife and partner, to document the life of this extraordinary man and human rights activist.

Maquilapolis (2006)
October 17, 2006, 6:00 pm & 8 pm, WCL Room 603
October 19, 2006, 6:00 pm, Wechsler Theater, 3rd Fl, MGC
By Vicky Funari and Sergio de la Torre

Just over the border in Tijuana, Mexico is an area peppered with maquiladoras: massive sweatshops often owned by the world’s largest multinational corporations. This exceptional film documents the life of Carmen and Lourdes, two workers at a maquiladora who are able to offer personal perspectives on the story of globalization as they struggle to survive in the grueling life of a globalized city while becoming their own activists by co-authoring their own stories on videotape.

Discussion led by Maquilapolis filmmaker Vicky Funari to follow screening.

China Blue (2005)
October 24, 2006, 6:00 pm & 8 pm, WCL Room 603
October 26, 2006, 6:00 pm, Wechsler Theater, 3rd Fl, MGC
By Micha Peled

In this film, the words “Made in China” are given new meaning as documentary filmmaker Micha Peled delves into the Chinese clothing industry. The film, surreptitiously shot in the Lifeng Factory in Shaxi, South China, follows the life of 16-year old denim thread-cutter Jasmine, who, along with the millions of other factory workers in China, must struggle under the pressures of rising Western demands and shrinking wages. Hardly faceless workers, Jasmine and her new friends at the factory reveal glimpses of an emerging activism in a “new” China as they grapple with the oppression of market forces and greed in a globalized world.