From: Dominique Arel [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
http://www.nationalities.org/
THE 2006 ASN WORLD CONVENTION FILM LINEUP:
13 NEW DOCUMENTARIES SCREENING WITH 100 PANELS!
The 2006 ASN World Convention, taking place at the Harriman Institute,
Columbia University, New York, on 23-25 March, is unveiling a lineup of
thirteen recent international documentaries on topics ranging from ethnic
violence to terrorism, identity formation, modernization, and the Orange
Revolution.
From Denmark comes ONDSKABENS ANATOMI (THE ANATOMY OF EVIL), a seering
investigation into the motivations of the perpetrators of mass killing in
the recent Balkan wars. Director Ove Nyholm and experts on ethnic violence
will participate in a post-screening debate. The film was in official
competition at the 2005 International Documentary Festival Amsterdam.
No less than five films will focus on the Caucasus. POWER TRIP relates the
rocambolesque attempt by a multinational power company to make their
Georgian customers pay for their newly privatized electricity. ABKHAZIA: ONE
SIDE OF A CONFLICT and TEN YEARS AND STILL WAITING provide Georgian and
Abkhaz perspectives on the enduring Abkhaz conflict. The two films were made
by local journalists with the support of the British NGO Conciliation
Resources. BESLAN: SIEGE OF SCHOOL NO. 1 documents the terrorist attack that
has riveted the world's attention. MASSACRES EN TCHETCHENIE, shown on
France's premier pay-TV channel, includes disturbing amateur video filmed by
Russian officers during an anti-terrorism operation in a Chechen village.
Two documentaries look at history. HOW TO FIX THE WORLD is a digitally
animated adaptation of Soviet psychologist Luria's research on the cognitive
changes that people experienced when learning to read in Central Asia in the
1930s. THEY LOOKED AWAY
investigates the controversial issue of why Auschwitz was not bombed by the
Allies at the end of World War.
Hours before Ukrainians will go back to the polls for a contested
parliamentary election, the ASN Convention will screen a brand new
documentary on the Orange Revolution, ORANGE CHRONICLES, shot diary-like by
a young Ukrainian-American. BY THE DAWN'S EARLY LIGHT: CHRIS JACKSON'S
JOURNEY TO ISLAM is a documentary examining the life and career of a NBA
star, and his controversial refusal to stand during the national anthem,
serving as an ethnographic window into Muslim American communities. DAYS
MADE OF FEAR-KOSOVO 1998-2005 and THE GLORY OF HIGH DECANI are two short
films on the fate of ethnic minorities in Kosovo since the 1999 war.
In addition, regular academic panels, CINEMA AND THE NEW WORLD ORDER IN
HUNGARY, SLOVENIA, AND THE UNITED STATES and MOVING IMAGES AND MODERN WAR,
will revolve around the medium of cinema and television.
The ASN 2006 World Convention features a hundred panels (as well as these
thirteen films) covering the Balkans, Central Europe, Eurasia (including
Turkey and Afghanistan), the Caucasus, Russia, Ukraine, and a
fast-developing Nationalism Studies section. The program of the convention
can be accessed at www.nationalities.org. The convention is open to the
public and a registration form can be downloaded at
http://www.nationalities.org/ASN_2006_REGISTRATION_FORM.pdf. For information
on the convention, please contact Gordon N Bardos, ASN Convention Director,
at [log in to unmask] or 212 854 8487. For information on the films, please
email Dominique Arel, ASN President, at [log in to unmask]
THE ASN 2006 FILM SCHEDULE
FRIDAY MARCH 24, 11.15 AM-1.15 PM
V3
Beslan: Siege of School No. 1
US 2005 (45 mins)
English voice-overs and subtitles
A film by Eamonn Matthews
Contact: Tamara Rosenberg, Channel Thirteen ([log in to unmask])
The siege of School No. 1 in Beslan, Russia, on September 1, 2004 was the
bloodiest act of terrorism in Russia since Chechnya declared independence in
1991. As the trial of the only terrorist who survived the siege begins, this
wrenching film examines the three-day ordeal that saw Chechen gunmen hold
more than 1,000 hostages, most of them children. The film includes firsthand
testimony and video shot by terrorists inside the school, examining the
events that unfolded, the Russian government's failure to manage the crisis,
and the legacy of Beslan for survivors, bereaved families and Russia's
future stability.
V9
Massacres en Tchetchénie (Massacres in Chechnya)
France 2004 (32 mins)
Russian and Chechen with French subtitles
A film by NPA Productions ([log in to unmask])
An English voice-over will be provided
Journalist Mylène Sauloy recovered amazing amateur video filmed by Russian
officers during an anti-terrorism operation in a Chechen village in the
south of Grozny. One soldier shot footage of his company surrounding the
village of Komsolmskoe, where hundreds of injured Chechen fighters sought
refuge. The village was razed and many rebels were arrested on camera. In
another document presented during the inquest, many rebels were found dead
or tortured. Mylène Sauloy returns to the village to find many surviving
fighters and civilians. Living hidden in Chechnya or as European refugees
survivors testify to the violence of Russian repression in Chechnya.
FRIDAY MARCH 24, 2.45-4.45 PM
V5
Ondskabens anatomi (The Anatomy of Evil)
Denmark 2005 (89 mins)
Serbo-Croatian with English subtitles
A film by Ove Nyholm ([log in to unmask])
Director Ove Nyholm will attend the screening.
Danish director Ove Nyholm searches for an answer to questions like: what
are a mass murderer's motivations in a situation of war? After genocide,
how does he manage to return to everyday life as if nothing happened?
Looking specifically at the Serbian case, Nyholm examines how police and
paramilitary dealt with the aftermath of the murders they committed, and at
the role of politicians in the crisis. Nyholm also draws parallels with the
logic and justifications of Hitler's Einsatz troops. Nyholm ultimately
formulates the line that lies at the basis of genocide: "You have to die, so
I can live."
V7
By the Dawn's Early Light: Chris Jackson's Journey to Islam
2004 (52 mins)
English
A film by Zareena Grewal ([log in to unmask])
Director Zareena Grewal will attend the screening.
This documentary examines Mahmoud Abdul Rauf's life, career, and
controversial refusal to stand during the national anthem at an NBA game,
serving as an ethnographic window into Muslim American communities. The
film explores constructions of nationalism and religion, the centrality of
the American media as the stage for competition for religious authority, and
the complexities of identity politics in America at the end of the twentieth
century, especially urgent after the tragedy of 9-11. Ironically, the film
ends invoking another terrorist attack; Mahmoud's home was burned down by
the KKK two days after filming ended.
FRIDAY MARCH 25, 5-7 PM
V6
How to Fix the World
US 2004 (89 mins)
English
A film by Jacqueline Goss ([log in to unmask])
Director Jacqueline Goss will attend the screening.
A digitally animated adaptation of Soviet psychologist A. R. Luria's
research in Central Asia and interviews with Uzbek and Kyrgyz farmers who
lived on or near the Soviet-sponsored collective farms in the 1930's. The
Soviets had introduced literacy programs into these primarily Muslim
oral-based agricultural communities, and, interested in documenting the
cognitive changes that people experience when learning to read, Luria
captured the cultural conflict of Soviet Socialism and Islam. These
interviews are brought to life through digital animation, illustrating a
particular historical moment when one culture attempted to transform another
in the name of education and modernization.
SATURDAY MARCH 25, 9-11 AM
V2
Abkhazia: one side of a conflict
Georgia 2004 (52 mins)
Russian with English subtitles
A film by Studio Re in conjunction with Conciliation Resources
Ten years and still waiting
Georgia [Abkhazia] 2004 (48 mins)
Russian with English subtitles
A film by Studio Re in conjunction with Conciliation Resources
Rachel Clogg ([log in to unmask]) will introduce the films.
These two films, made together by Georgian and Abkhaz journalists, in
consultation with Teresa Cherfas and George Carey, and with the support of
the British NGO Conciliation Resources, explore life on both sides of the
Georgian-Abkhaz divide. Mamuka Kuparadze's "Abkhazia: One Side of a
Conflict" is a Georgian view on life and attitudes in Abkhazia a decade
after a yearlong war between Georgia and Abkhazia. Sveta Korsaia's
subsequent film, "Ten Years and Still Waiting," gives an Abkhaz perspective
on life in Georgia and the aspirations of its population,
including those displaced by the conflict.
SATURDAY MARCH 25, 11.15 AM-1.15 PM
V4
Power Trip
US 2003 (55 mins)
English and Georgian with English subtitles
A film by Paul Devlin, Valery Odikadze, and Claire Missanelli
([log in to unmask])
Claire Missanelli will attend the screening
In an environment of corruption, assassination, and rioting, the story of
chaotic post-Soviet transition is told through culture clash, electricity
disconnections and blackouts. AES Corp., the massive American "global power
company," has purchased the privatized electricity distribution company in
Tbilisi, capital of the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. While manager
Piers Lewis teaches the formerly communist populace that they must pay for
electricity, the Georgians devise clever ways to get it free. Lewis must
balance his love for the Georgian people with the hardships his company
creates for them as they rebuild a nation from the rubble of Soviet
collapse.
SATURDAY MARCH 25, 2.45-4.45 PM
V8
They Looked Away
US 2003 (53 mins)
English
A film by Stuart G. Erdheim ([log in to unmask]) and Ashley Lazarus
Director Stuart G. Erdheim will attend the screening.
Paul Miller will lead a discussion after the film.
In the debate over the Allied response to the Holocaust no issue has aroused
more controversy than the (non) bombing of Auschwitz. They Looked Away is
the first documentary to present evidence of the Allies' knowledge about
Auschwitz during the Hungarian deportations, and to assess, using
comparative historical methodology, the feasibility of destroying gas
chambers and crematoria. The film presents archival research on
reconnaissance, intelligence, defenses, and bombing operations in the
Auschwitz region, aerial imagery of Auschwitz and Buchenwald, and first-time
interviews with Hungarian survivors, Holocaust scholars and WWII pilots,
bombardiers, and photo interpreters directly involved in Allied bombing
missions.
SATURDAY MARCH 25, 5-7 PM
V10
The Orange Chronicles
US 2006 (105 mins)
English and Ukrainian with English subtitles
A film by Damian Kolodiy ([log in to unmask])
www.orangechronicles.com
Taras Kuzio will lead a discussion after the film.
After the US Presidential Election, disillusioned Ukrainian-American
filmmaker, Damian Kolodiy, journeys to his family's homeland and finds
himself in the middle of the Orange Revolution where he witnesses the true
meaning of democracy. Orange Chronicles focuses on the passionate people who
filled the frozen streets of Kyiv in protest of an unjust election and the
corrupt government that created it. Narrated by the filmmaker, who
volunteered as an election monitor, the documentary captures the revolution
from the inside out, and in the process, Kolodiy rediscovers his own modern
Ukrainian identity as does the country itself.
V11
Kosovo: Images of an Unresolved Tragedy - Films by Ninoslav Randjelovic
Days Made of Fear - Kosovo, 1998-2005
November 2005 (24 mins)
Serbian with English narration and subtitles
The Glory of High Decani
February 2003 (23 mins)
Serbian with English narration and subtitles
Director Ninoslav Randjelovic ([log in to unmask]) will attend the
screening.
These two documentaries examine events, changes, and life in Kosovo over the
past several years. Days Made of Fear examines the issue of standards for
the treatment of ethnic minorities, offering evidence based on events from
1999-2005 that these standards have not yet been met. The Glory of the High
Decani examines spiritualtiy in Kosovo through the ancient Serbian monastery
High Decani, one of the last centers of Orthodox faith in Kosovo today. The
film testifies that true spirituality is the ultimate diplomacy - "diplomacy
of the heart," shown in our ability to forgive, show compassion, and love
one another.
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