HUMAN RIGHTS FILM FESTIVAL AT HEADQUARTERS 3-9 DECEMBER
Press Release
HUMAN RIGHTS FILM FESTIVAL AT HEADQUARTERS 3-9 DECEMBER
19981203 All correspondents are invited to attend the Human Rights Film Festival, organized by the International Council of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), in cooperation with the United Nations, from 3 to 9 December at Headquarters. All screenings will begin at 6 p.m. in the Dag Hammarksjöld Auditorium and will be moderated by Georges Leclère, Executive Director of NATAS. Each showing will include a film screening followed by a panel discussion, with time for questions from the audience.The screening schedule follows:
Thursday, 3 December -- E.S.M.A.: The Judgment Day (50 mins.) In the 1970s and early 1980s, the Argentinian military government launched a horrific "dirty war" against its people, capturing, torturing and killing an estimated 30,000 alleged subversives. This disturbing and moving documentary looks at the trials of those military leaders, which were conducted in the 1980s, and the painful testimonies of relatives of the disappeared, and the victims who managed to survive.
Panellists:Margaret Crahan, Professor, Latin American Studies, Hunter College, N.Y.; Alexandro Garro, Professor, Columbia University Law School, N.Y.; Jorge Vaillant, ARTEAR, Argentina, Film Presenter.
Friday, 4 December --They Were Not Silent: The Jewish Labour Movement and the Holocaust (30 mins.) The film tells the dramatic story of the anti-Nazi and rescue activities of the American Jewish labour movement. It uncovers their aid to the underground fighters of the ghettos of East Europe, and their assistance to Holocaust survivors in refugee camps across the globe from Germany to Shanghai.
Panellists:Hans Corell, Under-Secretary-General and Legal Counsel, United Nations; Jack Jacobs, Professor of Government, John Jay College, N.Y.; Roland Millman, Film Director/Producer.
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Monday, 7 December --For Everyone, Everywhere (30 mins.) World premiere of the United Nations documentary. The horrors of the Nazi concentration camps during the Second World War awakened world awareness to the need to codify standards of basic human rights applicable throughout the world. This documentary uses rare archival footage to chronicle the history of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the struggle by Eleanor Roosevelt and a coalition of diplomats, jurists and intellectuals to implement this document at the United Nations. Filmed on four continents, the documentary further surveys the current state of world human rights standards.
Panellists:Harris Schoenberg, Executive Director, Coordinating Board of Jewish Organizations, Bnai Brith International; Steve Whitehouse, Chief, Video Section, United Nations Department of Public Information; Jacqueline Nzoyihera, Associate Human Rights Officer, New York Office, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights; Michael Posner, Executive Director, International Lawyer's Committee on Human Rights.
Tuesday, 8 December --Steelworks (Triumph by the Bay) (30 mins.) The film explores the free speech and civil disobedience movement in Berkeley, California, in the 1960s.
Panellists:Patricia Steele, Film maker; Kellis Parker, Professor, Civil Rights Law, Columbia University, N.Y.; Rev. Cecil Williams.
Wednesday, 9 December -- Classified X (40 mins.) Written and performed by Melvin Van Peebles, this film explores the portrayal of African-Americans in the history of cinema in the United States.
Panellists:Melvin Van Peebles, Writer and Film maker; Katherine Powell, Professor, Columbia Law School, N.Y.; Michael Dyson, Professor, African-American Studies, Columbia University, N.Y.
All showings are open to delegates, staff, non-governmental organizations, media and to others by invitation.
For further information, contact: International Council of National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences at (212) 489-6969; or United Nations Department of Public Information at (212) 963-0353 or 963-3771.
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