Bangalore Film Society and Alliance Francaise Bangalore presents

'Documentaries and Features on Human Rights'-

5 films that evocatively comprehend and comment on the human condition

15th & 16th March, 2007

Venue:- Alliance Française de Bangalore,
No. 108, Thimmaiah Road,
Vasanthnagar Bangalore - 560052

Venezuela Rising

Friday 16th March
Time:5:00pm

Dir: Jennifer Wager

Venezuela Rising follows grandmother and community organizer Gladys Bolivar and her compatriots over four days before, during and after a huge public referendum where it will be decided whether Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will continue in office or step down. The entire nation has been mobilized - will it be SI - yes, he will be recalled; or NO - he will remain in office. Hugo Chavez has been an extremely popular president to most Venezuelans, but his revolutionary politics of the nationalization of the country’s oil resources has drown the ire of some in the Latin American country. Most in Venezuela feel that no less than the entire future of their country is at stake. Issues of democracy and politics are addressed - what constitute a free and fair election - and is that enough to ensure citizens participation. How are elections the ultimate measure of a thriving democracy? Venezuela rising gets behind the headlines and into the neighborhoods of Caracas to find out just how Venezuelan participatory democracy works on the ground.

Darwin's Nightmare

Friday 16th March
Time:6:30pm

Dir: Hubert Sauper

In the 1960s, the Nile Perch is introduced into Lake Victoria in Tanzania. The voracious predator quickly decimates all the other species in the lake. A lucrative export industry springs up around this ecological disaster as Northern markets flock to buy the white flesh of the huge fish. But above the lake, hulking ex-Soviet cargo planes lumber to and fro daily apparently plying a totally different trade : weapons.

Leila Khaled Hijaker

Saturday 17th March
TIme:3:30pm

Dir: Lina Makboul

Sitting int the departure lounge at the Leonardo Da Vinci airport in Rome she looked like a stylish lady. No one would have guessed what she was about to do. She had bought the white a couple of days earlier in the exclusive shop by the Spanish steps to match her handbag and her white sun hat. She held her handbag tight. It was only a couple of minutes before the departure of flight TWA 840. She had just met her fellow hijacker, Salim, for the first time a couple of hours earlier. They had first class tickets. The gun hurt her hip. She had taped it inside her panties. It was august 29, 1969 and TWA flight 840 had just taken off. The destination was Tel Aviv, Israel. A short while later she left her seat, threatened the crew with hand grenades and entered the cockpit. She took hold of the microphone announcing, “Ladies and Gentlemen, your attention please, kindly fasten your seatbelts. This is your new captain speaking. The Che Guevara commando unit of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine…” Twenty-four year old Leila Khaled had just completed her first hijacking and became the first woman ever to hijack an airplane. One year later she did it again. Leila Khaled Hijacker tells the story of who she is and what made her become a freedom fighter to some and a terrorist to others.

To Disobey

Time: 4:50pm

Dir: Patricio Henriquez
They form but a small minority. One percent. Ten out of thousand. They dared to defy military authority and discipline. They deliberately went against orders. They weren’t drafted into the armed forces; they volunteered. They believed in honor and in the values held by the military. Then in the middle of a conflict, they were ordered to torture, to kill unarmed civilians, to rape or to have woman raped. They were instructed to hide the evidence of their crimes in the interest of their Nation. And they were told to keep quiet to protect their brothers in arms. Igal Vega, an Israeli soldier refused to fight against civilians. Efran Jaña, a colonel in the Chilean army, disobeyed orders from General Pinochet in 1973. Camilo Mejia, an American veteran of the war in Iraq, was court-martialled for refusing further service in the ‘war for oil’. The price they paid for remaining true to their convictions is more than they ever bargained for.

It all starts Today

Time:6:30pm

Dir: Bertrand Tavernier

Daniel Lefebvre is the head teacher of a small infants’ school in a socially deprived area of Northern France. The local community has been hit hard by job losses after the closure of mining works, and many families struggle to cope with a subsistence income. In the face of budgetary restrictions, the local authorities do what they can to help the worse off, but it is woefully inadequate. Daniel is incensed at the failure of the social services and feels compelled to take charge in helping the families of the children he teaches. It is hopeless battle but Daniel persists, even though he is beset by his own family problems...

Admission Free

Venue:- Alliance Française de Bangalore,
No. 108, Thimmaiah Road,
Vasanthnagar Bangalore - 560052

Tel: 25492774/ 25493705 Mob: 9888213516
Website: http://bfs.wikia.com