Location
What do oil spills in the Amazon, landmines in Afghanistan, monks in Burma, and a Kenyan-born Nobel laureate have in common? They're all featured in films screening at the 2009 Amnesty International Film Festival, November 12-15 at Vancity Theatre, 1181 Seymour Street, Vancouver. This is the 14th year for the Festival, the flagship event for a series of Amnesty International film nights and festivals that take place across Canada.
Highlighting the violation of human rights are films that reveal the impact of oil exploration and development on Indigenous groups (Our Land My People, Justicia Now, and The Blood of the Kouan Kouan), the effect of landmines and cluster munitions on civilian populations (The Italian Doctor, and Remnants of a War), and the ways children experience human rights violations (The Stolen Child, Stolen Childhoods, and War Child).
On the hopeful side, Taking Root describes the life of Wangari Maathai, who went from defending Kenyan forests and women's rights to winning the Nobel Peace Prize; The Reckoning introduces audiences to the recently formed International Criminal Court, created to address war crimes and crimes against humanity; and Burma VJ reveals the dedicated undercover video journalists who braved detention and torture to bring the world images of monks being beaten and arrested in Burma.
