Documentary Educational Resources - Subject / Politics, Law & Justice / War / All Films

40 Years of Silence

Wed, 10 Oct 2018 09:18:00 GMT

40 Years of Silence
Buy Now: $320.00

40 Years of Silence: An Indonesian Tragedy tells the story of one of the largest unknown mass-killings of the 20th century. In 1965-66, an estimated 500,000 to 1,000,000 people were secretly killed when General Suharto began a bloody purge of suspected communists throughout Indonesia. For decades, the Indonesian government repressed all memory of this event, and the world looked away.

Based on the research of prominent anthropologist Robert Lemelson and edited by two-time Academy Award winner Pietro Scalia, this film follows the compelling testimonies of four individuals and their families from Central Java and Bali, as they break their silence for the first time. Told in understated detail, the cumulative effect of their stories is heartbreaking, profound and ultimately redemptive.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Winner, Best Asian Documentary, Endeavors Documentary Film Festival, Singapore, 2013

Nominee, Best Editing in a Documentary Film, St. Tropez International Film Festival, Nice, France, 2013

Winner, Award of Excellence, Canada International Film Awards, 2013

Winner, Best Foreign Feature, Oregon Film Awards, 2012

Winner, Award of Excellence, International Film Festival for Peace, Inspiration & Equality, Indonesia, 2012

Nominee, Most Innovative Production, History Makers Awards, 2011

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Don't Fence Me In

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 07:05:00 GMT

Don't Fence Me In
Buy Now: $295.00

Since 1962, Burma has been ruled by a military junta. Life has deteriorated markedly for its citizens. Despite its former prosperity and its rich resources, it was voted least developed nation by the UN in 1987, and human rights atrocities continue to prevail. Forced from their homes by the government, more than 100,000 people live in refugee camps along the border between Burma and Thailand; hundreds of thousands more hide in jungles on the Burma side. They are the Karen people, one of the largest ethnic groups in Burma.

Don't Fence Me In chronicles the life of 70-year-old freedom fighter Major Mary On and her people's struggle for self-determination. Mary explains how the Karen are fighting for their very survival; the Burmese military's goal is “to wipe the Karen away so if you want to see them you'll have to go see them in the museum. See just an image or picture.” Her charismatic storytelling is accompanied by rare, clandestine footage smuggled out of the Karen refugee camps.

She illuminates the plight of the Karen still inside Burma, having little food and hiding in the jungle, yet proving remarkably resilient. While the Karen have lost their land, their way of life, and many of those who lived and fought beside them for independence, they have not lost their ties to a rich and beautiful history that transcends their present day despair. The film reveals the Karen refugees' spirit and determination to survive as political and historical forces conspire against them. Don't Fence Me In is an eloquent and moving chronicle of human rights abuses that must finally be brought to the attention of the global community.

"Deeply moving and hauntingly beautiful, Don't Fence Me In... tells a universal story of struggle against oppression and the creativity and courage that inspire people to make meaning of their lives, as their most basic rights - including the right to live - are systematically violated." — Ellen Bruno, filmmaker of the award-winning documentary Sacrifice: The Story of Child Prostitutes from Burma

"Don't Fence Me In... provides a steppingstone for discussion and study in Asian studies, sociology, women's studies. It is highly recommended." — Educational Media Reviews Online, Karen Hartman, Rutgers University

"A good introduction to issues concerning Burma's indigenous peoples. It also provides a useful picture of the day-to-day lives of refugees from one of the world's longest running conflicts." – Visual Anthropology

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Grand Jury Award, Best Documentary, Washington DC Independent Film Festival, 2006
Director's Citation, Black Maria Film Festival, various U.S. locations, 2006
Finalist – Short Film & Video Competition, USA Film Festival, Dallas, Texas, 2004

Frame By Frame HBO Documentary Film Series, San Francisco, 2004

Worldwide Short Film Festival, Toronto, Canada, May 2004

Cracow Film Festival, Poland, 2004
26th Annual IFP Market, New York, 2004
FlickerFest International Short Film Festival, Sydney, Australia, 2005
Slamdance Film Festival, Utah, 2005
Intermedia Arts, Minnesota, 2005
Foreign Correspondent's Club of Thailand, 2005
Frameline29, Roxie Cinema, San Francisco, 2005
Association for Asian Studies Conference, San Francisco, 2006
8th Annual Artfest Film Festival, Harrisburg, Pennslyvania, 2006
Society for Visual Anthropology/American Anthropological Association Conference, USA, 2006
Alternative ASEAN Film Festival on Migration, Philippines, 2006
Judges Award & Audience Award, San Diego Women's Film Festival, 2006
Burma Human Rights Day Screening, Int'l Rescue Committee, San Francisco, CA, 2007
Migration Film Festival, Singapore, 2007
Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival, CA, 2007
National Museum of Women in the Arts Festival of Film & Media Arts, Washington DC, 2007
6th Festival Film Dokumenter - Jogjakarta, Indonesia, 2007
India International Women Film Festival, New Delhi, 2007
Migrant Worker Film Festival, Seoul, Korea, 2008
This Human World - Human Rights Film Festival, Vienna, Austria, 2009

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Daughter from Danang

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 07:04:00 GMT

Daughter from Danang
Buy Now: $320.00

A heartbreaking documentary that upsets your expectations of happily-ever-afters, Daughter from Danang is a riveting emotional drama of longing, identity, and the personal legacy of war.

To all outward appearances, Heidi is the proverbial "all-American girl", hailing from small town Pulaski, Tenn. But her birth name was Mai Thi Hiep. Born in Danang, Vietnam in 1968, she's the mixed-race daughter of an American serviceman and a Vietnamese woman. Fearing for her daughter's safety at the war's end, Hiep's mother sent her to the U.S. on Operation Babylift, a Ford administration plan to relocate orphans and mixed-race children to the U.S. for adoption before they fell victim to a frighteningly uncertain future in Vietnam after the Americans pulled out.

Kim believed her daughter would be in danger in Vietnam. "What I heard really worried me," Kim says. "If you had worked for Americans and had racially mixed children, they said those kids would be gathered up, they would be soaked in gasoline and burnt." The parting was devastating to both mother and child, who would know nothing about each other for 22 years.

Now, as if by a miracle, they are reunited in Danang. But what seems like the cue for a happy ending is anything but. Heidi and her Vietnamese relatives find themselves caught in a confusing clash of cultures and at the mercy of conflicting emotions that will change their lives forever. Through intimate and sometimes excruciating moments, Daughter from Danang profoundly shows how wide the chasms of cultural difference and how deep the wounds of war can run — even within one family.

At its core, filmmakers Gail Dolgin and Vicente Franco have created a thought-provoking film about identity, family and culture: What shapes our sense of self? What defines our concept of family? And how do cultural expectations influence our choices? Since the film takes places against the backdrop of the Vietnam War it reveals how the trauma inflicted by that conflict continues to haunt and harm those who survived it.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Academy Award Nominee, Best Documentary Feature, 2002
Grand Jury Prize, Best Documentary, Sundance Film Festival, 2002
Grand Prize, Golden Gate Award, San Francisco International Film Festival, 2002
Feature Selection, New Directors/New Films, New York, 2002

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Dead Presumed Missing?

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 07:04:00 GMT

Dead Presumed Missing?
Buy Now: $295.00

Between 1963-74, about 2000 Turkish and Greek Cypriots disappeared during hostilities between the two communities of Cyprus. Following an abortive coup in 1974, Turkey invaded and occupied the north of the island. 200,000 Greek Cypriots, a third of the population, fled their homes, becoming refugees in the south. During the Turkish invasion, many died in the war, but their bodies were never recovered. Others (including women and children) vanished behind the advancing Turkish army. To this day, Turkey refuses to offer any explanations. The fate and whereabouts of the Greek and Turkish Cypriots missing remains an official secret. In the confusion of 1974, some, but not all, of the missing Greek Cypriots were buried hurriedly on the Greek side. The return of the remains of the rest cannot be realized since they are behind Turkish lines. In spite of various attempts at resolution, including a UN Committee, both sides still guard the unidentified hidden bones of each others' missing persons The film was shot in 2001 when the possibility of DNA identifiication redefined the problem and gave it a new urgency. By following the desperate attempts of two Greek women to discover the fates of their loved ones, the film explores the signficance of mortuary rituals and the different political lives of dead bodies among the Greek and Turkish Cypriots. Useful in Political Anthropology classes, and to those interested in ethnic violence, recuperation, memory, rituals, DNA identification, and politics of the body.

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Divided Loyalties

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 07:04:00 GMT

Divided Loyalties
Buy Now: $320.00

Divided Loyalties studies the stories of Greek and Turkish Cypriot refugees and nationals who seek to reconcile their fractured heritage from the history of the proud, yet divided island: Cyprus. Shot in 16 mm the film reveals both a visual and emotional landscape of the island. Structured around the chronological political legacy of Cyprus, award-winning director and cinematographer Sophia Constantinou explores the memories and personal histories of its natives, as well as her own family. Unknown to many, Cyprus, as of 2001, is one of the most densely militarized zones in the world. The United Nations, Turkey and Great Britain continue to hold strong military presences in Cyprus -severing the island into separate Greek and Turkish territories. Cypriots are constantly reminded of their disjointed identities by the military border zone physically splitting the island into North and South regions. Such turbulence resulted in the scattering of Cypriots around the globe, deunifying familial, individual and collective identities. Important for teaching international relations, middle eastern studies, anthropology, conflict resolution and identity.

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Fambul Tok

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 14:52:00 GMT

Fambul Tok
Buy Now: $320.00

Seven years after the last bullet was fired, a decade of brutal fighting in Sierra Leone finds resolution as people come together to talk around traditional village bonfires. Some had perpetrated terrible crimes against friends or family. Some had faced horrible losses: loved ones murdered, limbs severed. But as they tell their stories, admit their wrongs, forgive, dance, and sing together, true reconciliation begins.

This is the story of Fambul Tok (Krio for "family talk"), and it is a story the world needs to hear. In Fambul Tok, this story is told by the people who are living it. Our guide is human rights activist John Caulker, a Sierra Leonean with a vision of peace for his country. Village by village, Caulker organizes a grassroots program to help communities hold reconciliation ceremonies — and hold fast to the new peace. He finds his people eager to turn ancient customs towards healing contemporary wounds, and the result is stories viewers will never forget.

Bonfire to bonfire, dark memories move into the light. Sahr and Nyumah, childhood friends torn apart when Nyumah was forced to cut Sahr's father's throat. Esther, raped as a child by a group of soldiers — among them her uncle Joseph, just 13 years old himself at the time. The radical forgiveness they request or offer is shocking – and inspiring. Their stories challenge Western perceptions of justice and provoke new ways of thinking about crime and punishment, conflict and community. Never is this more true than when Captain Mohamed Savage, the notorious rebel commander believed to have committed some of the worst atrocities in the war, is onscreen. A defiant, menacing voice in his first meetings with Caulker, we witness his transformation as he encounters Fambul Tok, admits who he is, and expresses his desire to return to the site of many of his alleged atrocities, to apologize.

Fambul Tok raises questions about efforts to create peace in Africa through Western-based traditions of crime and punishment, challenging the neo-colonial idea that Africa needs to be "saved" by the West. By illuminating a successful peace process that is based on reviving communal traditions of confession, forgiveness, and restorative justice, the film encourages individuals and communities around the world to engage in the kind of grass-roots transformation that leads to peace.

Disc 1 - Fambul Tok (82 min, 2011)

Includes the original, multiple-award-winning film by Sara Terry, and its epilogue (18 min, 2012), in which viewers follow notorious rebel commander Captain Mohamed Savage as he returns to his village

Disc 2 - Fambul Tok: Forgiving Savage (52 min, 2012)

The brand new, never-before-released educational version, produced by Catalyst for Peace. This version integrates material from the epilogue, as well as new, previously unreleased footage, edited to under an hour for ease of classroom and community use.

Also on this disc, two special bonus features which highlight how the film itself is in turn sparking new transformation:

American Teens "Walk the Tok" (13 min) - Middle schoolers in Philadelphia, PA (USA) use the lessons of Fambul Tok to resolve conflicts in their classroom and school.

Fambul Tok Ex-Combatant Workshop: Waterloo (14 min) - Captain Savage works with Fambul Tok in Sierra Leone to screen the film featuring his story and to facilitate a workshop for over 40 former leaders of various armed groups, encouraging them to follow his example and apologize for the what they did in the war.

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Inside the Khmer Rouge

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 12:45:00 GMT

Inside the Khmer Rouge
Buy Now: $320.00

Inside the Khmer Rouge takes an in-depth look at the history, domination, and current status of the Khmer Rouge (a Communist regime) in Cambodia. The film features revealing interviews with soldiers of both the modern Khmer Rouge and those who fight in opposition. A comprehensive timeline of the regime's five-year occupation in Cambodia is dissected and includes a review of key individuals, ideologies, and locations where devastation hit hardest. Following this, the film takes a look at the effects on the Cambodian citizens upon the retraction of Vietnamese forces.

Inside the Khmer Rouge continues to investigate the current tactics the modern Khmer Rouge implement and their attempts to persuade followers in order to rebuild and expand their regime. Oppositely, local forces or "jungle soldiers" discuss their devices for assuring the destruction and atrocities once caused by the Khmer Rouge never happen again.

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Jakub

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 11:12:00 GMT

Jakub
Buy Now: $320.00

Jakub, by the Czech filmmaker Jana Sevikova, presents an extensive ethnographical-sociological study of the life of the Ruthenians, filmed in the Maramuresh mountains in the north of Romania and in the former Sudetenland in Western Bohemia. The film was made over a period of five years during the time of both totalitarian regimes and was completed in 1992 after the revolution.

Jakub Popovich is the primary character, whose story provides the link between 1947, when the film begins, and the present. Scientists at the Ethnographic-Folklore Institute, a part of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague acted as collaborators in the making of this film. The film has received international attention from filmmakers for its unique structure and cinematic quality, as well from educators and research scientists for its content.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Nyon Festival of Documentary Film, 1992

Berlin Film Festival, 1993

Minneapolis Film Festival, 1993

Montage '93 Rochester NY

Toronto Film Festival, 1993

Olympia Film Festival, 1993

Award for Excellence, Society for Visual Anthropology, 1994

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The Last Kamikaze

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 06:41:00 GMT

The Last Kamikaze
Buy Now: $320.00

This film explores the minds of former suicide bombers who participated in the first well-orchestrated suicide mission in modern history, the one carried out by the air arm of the Imperial Japanese Navy during WWII. Although in the beginning, these suicide pilots were university graduates and intellectual elites in their 20s, by 1942 the Navy was aggressively recruiting a large number of boys who were only in their low teens. Fortunately, some never flew their final suicide mission because the war ended before it was their turn to fly out. The producer/director interviews several friends of his deceased father (who was also a former suicide pilot) in order to understand the mindset and motives behind such an extraordinary behavior. Now in their 70s and 80s, these individuals reflect upon their past and talk candidly about their lives, issues related to patriotism, spirituality, and on-going turmoil in the Middle East.

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Melting Wok

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 14:49:00 GMT

Melting Wok
Buy Now: $295.00

Mainak Bhaumik's film provides insight into India's often-overlooked Chinese population, examining the thriving Chinatown in Kolkata, Bengal. There, skilled Chinese immigrants have historically established themselves in business - especially tanneries and shoemaking - and created a unique Indo-Chinese cuisine. Exploring the factors that make up Chinese-Indian identity, the film looks at the Indian cultural stereotypes of Chinese immigrants and the effects of government resettling of Chinese-Indians during the 1962 border conflict between the two countries. A portrait emerges of a hardworking and traditionally enclosed immigrant community, but one that is becoming increasingly assimilated with mainstream Indian culture.

Melting Wok pays attention to the unique contributions and experiences of Chinese-Indians, while also helping the audience to understand the larger phenomena of immigration and cultural identity.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

European Association of Social Anthropologists' Film, Video & New Media Festival, Slovenia, 2008

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