This screening will feature Prof Michael Smith to kick-off the Film Festival and discuss the role of human rights and documentation.

Unwilling to accept a desk job but desirous of "serving his country," Marine Captain Brian Steidle quits his job with the US Marine Corps and accepts a six-month post with the African Union as an unarmed military observer in Sudan. Soon after arriving in Darfur, however, Steidle realizes that things are going terribly wrong in this huge, remote province bordering Chad. Unable to intervene, Steidle uses his camera to document what some, including the US Government, have called a genocide - and which has involved what international law calls "crimes against humanity and war crimes" -the conflict in Darfur that has claimed at least 200,000 lives and displaced 2.5 million people since early 2003.

This screening will be followed by a student-led discussion by members of OAS.

In the agonies of war-torn Africa are deeply etched in the bodies of women. In eastern Congo, recently engaged, 20-year-old Lumo Sinai is brutally attacked by local soldier, and left with a fistula- a condition that renders her incontinent and threatens her ability to give birth. Rejected by her fiance and cast aside by her family, Lumo finds her way to the one place that may save her, a hospital for rape survivors. On this uncertain road to recovery, Lumo proves that the solidarity of women can bind even the most irreparable of wounds.
In Swahili, French and English with English subtitles

This screening will be followed by a discussion led by Professor Herbert Braun from the History department.

Cocalero is a film about controversial Bolivian president Evo Morales and his rise to prominence. The story follows the presidential campaign of Morales as he moves from union meetings in the Andes and Amazon to formal fundraising dinners and mass rallies in cities. The political rise of Morales, an outspoken critic of the United States whose political power base is in the coca-growing areas of central Bolivia, dates to his work with farmers resisting a coca eradication drive prompted by the US-backed war on drugs.
*Nominee, Grand Jury Prize, Sundance Film Festival 2007
In Spanish and Quechua with English subtitles

This screening will be followed by a discussion led by graduate student Nadim Khoury from the Politics Department.

About nine thousand Palestinians are imprisoned in Israeli jails. Shot inside four Israeli prisons, Hot House explores the emergence of a Palestinian national leadership within Israeli prisons and challenges main-stream polarization of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The documentary-feature captures the experiences of men and women, from Fatah and Hamas, serving multiple life sentences and the remarkable degree to which they influence the political process in the outside world.
*Winner of the Special Jury Prize, Sundance Film Festival 2007.
In Hebrew, English and Arabic with English subtitles

This screening will feature a student-faculty Q&A discussion with Professor William B. Quandt of the Politics Department and students from ASA.

The film centers on Malalai Joya, who became one of Afghanistan's most famous and infamous women in 2003 when she challenged the power of warlords in the country's new government. Two years later, the 28-year-old ran in her country's first democratic parliamentary election in over 30 years. How do you introduce democracy in a country where a majority of the people are illiterate, votes are for sale, and many women cannot leave their children to vote? As the film eloquently illustrates, it takes more than Western soldiers and diplomats.
* Winner of the 2007 Sundance , World Cinema Prize: Documentary
In English, Farsi and Pashto with English subtitles

This screening will feature Prof. Daniel Chavez from the Spanish and American Studies Department.

During Pinochet's long regime, a motley crew of photojournalists shot and framed Chile's people and turmoil from many points of view. In the streets, in the middle of bloody riots and protests, these fearless photographers learned their craft and created many of the now legendary images which helped focus world attention on the Pinochet regime's repressive tactics. For them, taking pictures was a form of involvement, even resistance, a way of being more than mere spectators but vital actors. They lived dangerously and they lived to tell. This is their story.
In Spanish with English subtitles

This screening will feature a student-facilitated discussion after the film.

Franek Viacorka studies at an elite school established by his father to promote the Belarusian language. However, the school has been banned and operating underground since 2003, a victim of the anti-democratic rule of President Alexander Lukashenko. In the March 2006 presidential election, they support the democratic opposition candidate in a mass demonstration in Minsk's main square. While the candidate is powerless to combat Lukashenko's corruption and use of riot police, Franek and his classmates realize that fearlessness is a victory in itself.
In Polish and Belarusian with English subtitles

This screening will feature discussion led by a professor from the Urban Planning department.

The Unforeseen, executive produced by Terrence Malick, follows the career of Gary Bradley, an ambitious west Texas farm boy who went to Austin and became one of the state's most powerful real estate developers in the boomtown growth era of the 1970s. When one of his developments threatened a local treasure, "Barton Springs," the community fought back and the subdivision became a lightning rod for environmental activism. The Unforeseen shows the negotiation between the destruction of the natural world and the American Dream in its debates over land, economics, property rights, and the public good.

This screening will feature Heather Maxwell from the Music Department who teaches a course on African Dance and Music.

Focusing on the legendary African singer and activist Fela Anikulapo Kuti and his son Femi, Suffering and Smiling depicts the impact of their politically charged music. In the 1960, Fela used his songs to speak out against the country's corrupt leaders. Fela gave voice to Nigeria's disenfranchised underclass and sang of a free and united Africa. Upon his death in 1997, Femi has continued his father's legacy. Equally passionate and charismatic, he sings about the dire situation in his country asking why the world's most resource-rich continent has the poorest people.
In English and Yoruba with English subtitles