Julia Bacha

(82 mins, USA, 2009)

Ayed Morrar, a Palestinian community organizer, unites local Fatah and Hamas members along with Israeli supporters in an inspiring nonviolent movement to save his village of Budrus in the West Bank from destruction by Israel’s Separation Barrier. This compelling account of one village’s struggle tells a much larger story about what is possible in the Middle East. Ayed succeeded in doing what many believe to be impossible: he united feuding Palestinian political groups, he brought women to the heart of the struggle and he welcomed hundreds of Israelis to join this nonviolent effort.

Introduction and Q&A with Nadav Greenberg from Just Vision, producers of the documentary.

Co-sponsored by the Middle Eastern Studies Program and the Judaic Studies Program.

Film Resources: Official Film Website, Trailer, IMDb,

This year’s symposium explores the significance of archiving for digital human rights media, highlighting projects related to African-American history (When the Levees Broke, 4 Little Girls and Eyes on the Prize), AIDS activism (The ACT UP Oral History Project) and the Holocaust (The Shoah Foundation Institute Visual History Archive).

With Sam Pollard (filmmaker, editor and Professor at the Tisch School of the Arts, NYU); Jim Hubbard (filmmaker and co-founder of the ACT UP Oral History Project); Samuel Gruber (lecturer, Judaic Studies Program, SU); and Lydia Wasylenko (librarian, SU Library).

Major funding provided by the Mellon Central New York Humanities Corridor, an Andrew W. Mellon initiative, Imagining America and The SU Humanities Center.

Download a printable event poster.

David Weissman

(90 mins, USA, 2011)

A reflective and deeply moving look at the early impact of AIDS on San Francisco’s gay community through the perspectives of five men and women who survived this unimaginable crisis. Early in the epidemic, San Francisco’s compassionate, multifaceted, and creative response to AIDS became known as the “San Francisco Model,” which continues today as a powerful standard to aspire to in seeking a healthier, more just, more humane society.

Includes panel discussion with local AIDS activists Michael DeSalvo and Nick Orth; and Prof. Roger Hallas (SU English).

Co-sponsored by the LGBT Resource Center and the LGBT Studies Program.

Film Resources: Official Film Website, Trailer, IMDb,

Pink Saris

Kim Longinotto

(96 mins, UK/India, 2010)

An intimate portrait of the indefatigable Indian activist Sampat Pal Devi, who leads a powerful grassroots movement, the Gulabi (Pink) Gang, against the discrimination and sexual abuse faced by Dalit women in Uttar Pradesh. Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Kim Longinotto captures extraordinary scenes in which Sampat launches herself into the center of family dramas witnessed by scores of spectators, convinced that her very public mediation is the best path for these vulnerable young women.

Film Resources: Trailer, IMDb, Interview with Filmmaker,

Nostalgia for the Light

Patricio Guzmán

(90 mins, France/Chile/Germany, 2010)

This hauntingly beautiful odyssey across Chile’s Atacama Desert by the country’s most acclaimed filmmaker explores an aching paradox: the burial site for many disappeared victims of Pinochet’s regime is also the best place on earth for astronomers to view the heavens. While astronomers examine the most distant and oldest galaxies, at the foot of the mountains, surviving relatives of the disappeared continue to search, even a quarter century later, for the remains of their loved ones, in order to reclaim their families’ histories.

Co-sponsored by the Latino-Latin American Studies Program.

Film Resources: Trailer, IMDb, Interview with Filmmaker,

Onir

(110 mins, India, 2010)

Weaving together the tumultuous lives of four characters struggling with their identity, this provocative film paints a compelling portrait of contemporary Indian society as it grapples with the vital issues of religious conflict, homophobia, sexual abuse and single motherhood. Shot in four different cities across India, I Am is a fusion of stories based on true events where the protagonists share a common dream: a desire to regain their lives, to regain an identity which has been taken away from them. Starring Juhi Chawla, Manisha Koirala, Rahul Bose, Nandita Das, Sanjay Suri and Purab Kohli.

Film Resources: Official Film Website, Trailer, IMDb,