Celebrating documentary film as a powerful tool to elicit social change and obtain justice, the Human Rights Film Festival returns to 911. An incredibly moving events, the festival offers not just a means to raise awareness, but a portal to increase education and action. Organizers will help you get involved to advance favorable progress for many of the situations presented.

Thursday, October 22

7:00 p.m.

Peacetrees Vietnam: Reversing the Legacy of War

This documentary tells the story of the Bainbridge Island-based PeaceTrees Vietnam project, which brought together Americans and Vietnamese to clear landmines, plant trees, and create the Friendship Forest Park on one of the fieriest battlegrounds of the war. Members of PeaceTrees Vietnam will be present to discuss the project. 58 minutes/color

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Kim's Story: The Road from Vietnam
A film by Shelley Saywell
Narrated by Kate Nelligan

If there was one photograph that captured the horrific nature of the Vietnam War, it was that of a nine-year old girl running naked down the road, screaming in agony from napalm. That girl was Kim Phuc and this is her story of survival and healing. 48 minutes / color / 1996

9:15 p.m.

Round Eyes in the Middle Kingdom
A film by Ronald Levaco

Filmmaker Ronald Levaco was born in China of Russian Jewish parents, but his family fled as the revolution spread in 1949. Forty-five years later, Mr. Levaco returns to the country of his birth to discover what happened to Israel Epstein, his father's best friend, a Russian Jew who decided to stay. 52 minutes / color / 1995

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School 27
A film by Szymon Zaleski and Marilyn Watelet

School 27 chronicles the daily life of of the last group of students attending "School 27," a Jewish school in Poland. School 27 delves into the experience of Jewish children in post-war Poland and presents a portrait of that era as seen through their eyes.
64 minutes / color / 1997

Friday, October 23

7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.

Soldier Child
A film by Neil Abramson
Narrated by Danny Glover

This new film tells the story of Ugandan children who are being kidnapped and forced to serve as soldiers in a Sudanese zealot's army. World Premiere! The filmmaker will be present.

Saturday, October 24

5:00 p.m.

My House is on Fire
A film by Rodrigo and Ariel Dorfman

This cinematic adaptation of an Ariel Dorfman short story depicts the atmosphere of fear, anxiety and unknowing that comes with being "illegal." The story is told through the eyes of two children of illegal Latin American immigrants. 19 minutes / color / 1997

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Ya Basta! The Battle Cry of the Faceless
A film by Thierry Zeno

In Mexico on January 1, 1994, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation staged an armed take-over of several Chiapas municipalities. Rather than power, however, the Zapatistas demanded land, work, housing, education, healthcare, food, justice, independence, freedom and democracy for the indigenous Indian people. In this documentary the Indian men and women speak, re-situating their struggle in its human, cultural and historical context.50 minutes / color / 1997

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Mexico: Dead or Alive
A film by Mary Ellen Davis
Produced by the National Film Board of Canada

The story of politics and human rights in modern day Mexico through the eyes and experiences of one man, Dr. Mario Rojas Alba. A physician and former member of the Mexican Congress, Dr. Rojas fled his native land after being brutally attacked over his inquiries into political murders committed by local police. 56 minutes / color / 1996

7:30 p.m.

Sacrifice: The Story of Child Prostitutes from Burma
A film by Ellen Bruno

An examination of the social, cultural, and economic forces at work in the trafficking of Burmese girls into prostitution in brothels in Thailand. Four young prostitutes recount their experiences making a poignant plea for survival. Second film to be announced. 50 minutes / color

Inside Burma: Land of Fear

Dir best human rights documentary about Burma. Pilger and Munro go undercover to expose the harsh military regime. Includes footage of forced labor, an interview with Aung San Suu Kyi, historical background on Burma, and much more. directed by David Munro, Reported by John Pilger

9:30 p.m.

Ducktators
A film by Wolter Braamhorst and Guus van Waveren

A unique look at the use of cartoons as propaganda during World War II. Cartoons proved to be an excellent way to deliver propagandistic and educational ideas in a seemingly innocuous manner to the general public and armed forces alike. Ducktators not only offers a rare glimpse at forgotten cartoon material from this moment in history, but goes further to reveal insights about the psyche of the public at that time. 46 minutes / color / 1997

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The Electronic Curtain
A film by Walther Grotenhuis

The Electronic Curtain examines the replacement of the former Iron Curtain by a new, highly sophisticated invisible electronic curtain designed to curb illegal immigration from eastern to western Europe.
50 minutes / color / 1997

Sunday, October 25

5:00 p.m.

Crossroads
A film by Hillie Molenaar and Joop van Wijk

At a crossing of roads leading from Uganda into Tanzania and from Kenya via Rwanda to Zaire, Mama Shillingi started her "hotelli," offering food and shelter to truck drivers. That is, until 1994, when thousands of dead bodies came floating down the nearby Kagera River. Shortly thereafter, the refugees arrived. Within days, half a million people had settled there. With shocking simplicity, the inhabitants sketch a moving picture of the sudden changes in their lives at the crossroads. 55 minutes / color / 1996

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White City, Black Lives
A film by Teboho Mahlatsi
A Mail & Guardian Television Production

For this film, five residents of White City, a neighborhood in Soweto, were trained how to use small Hi8 cameras, so that they could tell the story of their own lives, in their own way, to represent themselves to their fellow citizens, and the world. 56 minutes / color / 1997

7:00 p.m.

Eternal Memory: Voices from the Great Terror
A film by David Pultz
Narrated by Meryl Streep

An historical documentary treatment of the Stalinist purges and terror in the former USSR during the 1930s and 1940s. Centering on the Ukraine, the film incorporates historical footage, interviews with witnesses and survivors, historians, and public officials. 81 minutes / color / 1997