Thursday, April 7, 2011

Human Rights Film Festival Will Feature More Than 20 Films, Music, Special Guests

Starting April 13, the 8th Annual Patois: The New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival will feature more than 20 films, live music, filmmaker Q & As, special guests and much more. Please check out the fest website, http://patoisfilmfest.org, for more information, including a special festival pre-screening of the film Civil Indigent at Tulane University.

You can also buy tickets online at brownpapertickets.com/producer/53219, and watch trailers for the films at patoisfilmfest.org.

PATOIS: Noun. Pronunciation: pa'twä

Definition:

1: Any language that is considered nonstandard. Can refer to pidgins, creoles, dialects, and other forms of native or local speech.

2: Many of the vernacular forms of English spoken in the Caribbean, especially in reference to Jamaican Creole.

3:The language used at the intersection of art and social justice in New Orleans.


PATOIS SCHEDULE

APRIL 13 -17, 2011


WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 7pm
OPENING NIGHT PROGRAM
New Orleans Museum Of Art


IN DEEP WATER: A WAY OF LIFE IN PERIL
Directed By Fault Lines, Al Jazeera English, Documentary Short |USA|22 MIN
On the Gulf Coast, it has been widely accepted that the fishing and oil industries can co-exist. In the wake of the Deepwater disaster, the more destructive (and more lucrative) industry may be the last one standing.
Featuring discussion with Monique Harden, co-director and attorney, Advocates for Environmental Human Rights.

HOT COFFEE
Directed by Susan Saladoff, Documentary Feature |USA|88 MIN
Most people think they know the “McDonald’s coffee case,” but what they don’t know is that corporations have spent millions distorting the case to promote tort reform. HOT COFFEE reveals how big business, aided by the media, brewed a dangerous concoction of manipulation and lies to protect corporate interests. By following four people whose lives were devastated by the attacks on our courts, the film challenges the assumptions Americans hold about “jackpot justice.”
Featuring Q & A with director Susan Saladoff.

SPECIAL EVENT
OPENING NIGHT PARTY
Blue Nile, 9pm

PATOIS joins forces with The New Orleans Video Access Center (NOVAC) in hosting a night of music, food and drink. Performance by Kora Konnection Trio featuring Morkeba Kouyate and Thierno Dioubate. Free admission.


THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 7pm
Warren Easton Senior High School
IN THE LAND OF THE FREE
Directed by Vadim Jean Documentary Feature|USA|84 MIN|
Narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, this documentary feature tells the ongoing story of the case of three extraordinary men: Herman Wallace, Albert Woodfox and Robert King known as the Angola 3 who have spent almost a century between them in solitary confinement in Angola, the Louisiana State Penitentiary. All three men appear to have been targeted by the prison authorities for being members of the Black Panther party and because they fought against the terrible conditions and systematic sexual slavery that was rife in the prison. Herman and Albert are still held in solitary confinement after 37 years.
Featuring Q & A with director Vadim Jean and a panel discussion with Robert King and Innocence Project director Emily Maw.


FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 7pm
Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center
40
Directed by Emre Sahin | Narrative Feature |Turkey|89 MIN
Set in the chaotic streets of Istanbul, 40 is a story of three strangers making their way in a city of 12 million, all searching...for one bag. Shot entirely on location, 40 combines intense story telling with documentary style cinematography embarking on a synchronized journey dealing with faith, love, luck, destiny, human trafficking...and a bag of cash that falls from the sky.
Featuring Q & A with actor Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine, star of 40 and supporting cast member in Treme.


FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 9pm
Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center
BETTER THIS WORLD
Directed by Kelly Duane and Katie Galloway Documentary Feature
|USA|93 MIN

Two boyhood friends from Midland, Texas - David McKay and Bradley Crowder - fall under the sway of Brandon Darby, a charismatic revolutionary ten years their senior. At the volatile 2008 Republican Convention, the “Texas Two” cross a line that radically changes their lives. The result: eight homemade bombs, multiple domestic terrorism charges and a high stakes entrapment defense hinging on the actions of a controversial FBI informant. A dramatic story of idealism, loyalty, crime and betrayal.
Featuring discussion with Bradley Crowder, the subject of the film.


SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 12pm
Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center
ALL FOR THE NATION
Directed by Carol Mansour, Documentary Feature |LEBANON|54 MIN
According to the Lebanese nationality law, Lebanese women that choose to marry a foreign man are denied the right to extend their citizenship to their husbands and children. Without citizenship, those families are denied most social, civil and economic rights. This is the first documentary in Lebanon that deals with such a fragile and controversial topic. The film is told through the intimate stories of five Lebanese families from different social, religious and economic backgrounds but whose lives and experiences are bound together by a discriminatory nationality law. It chronicles the lives of these families, their joys, pains, expectations and deceptions.

PEOPLE AND POWER’S EGYPT: SEEDS OF CHANGE
Documentary Short | QATAR |22 MIN
Chronicles the longtime planning and organizing in Egypt that played a major part in the revolution. Produced by Al-Jazeera English.


SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 2pm
Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center
BLACK AUGUST
Directed by Dream Hampton, Documentary Feature |USA|54 MIN
Featuring exclusive interviews with exiled activist Assata Shakur, former Black Panther Kathleen Cleaver, political prisoner Mutulu Shakur and others, BLACK AUGUST documents the movement behind the annual event that the non-profit Malcom X Grassroots Movement has produced for more than a decade to raise awareness about and support for political prisoners in the U.S. Along with being a concert film, Black August highlights performances in New York, Cuba and South Africa featuring Mos Def, Dead Prez, Talib Kweli, David Banner, Common and others.

MORE THAN A ROOF
Directed by National Economic and Social Rights Initiative, Housing is a Human Right and Campaign to Restore National Housing Rights, Documentary Short |USA|35 MIN
The story of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing's first official fact finding mission to the U.S. in the fall of 2009, including a visit to New Orleans.


SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 4pm
Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center
KINGDOM OF WOMEN
Directed by Dahna Abourahme, Documentary Feature |LEBANON|54 MIN
The story of the women of Ein El Hilweh refugee camp between 1982-1984 is an important chapter in the history of Palestinian refugee women in Lebanon. After the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, the camp was destroyed and its men imprisoned. “The Kingdom of Women” documents the community and organizing spirit of the women during this period, how they were able to rebuild the camp, protect and provide for their families while their men were held captive.

HAITI: SIX MONTHS ON
Documentary Short |USA|23 MIN
Six months after the earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people, the dust is starting to settle over Port-au-Prince. The UN and NGOs are as omnipresent as the rubble - but the chasm between Haiti’s poor majority and the foreign organizations that are there to help seems wide as ever. Produced by Al Jazeera English.

ROAD MAP TO APARTHEID
Directed by Ana Nogueira and Eron Davidson |USA|10 MIN
There are many lessons to draw from the South African experience of Apartheid relevant to conflicts all over the world. Roadmap To Apartheid explores in detail the apartheid comparison as it is used in the enduring conflict in Palestine.


SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 6pm
Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center
KINSHASA SYMPHONY
Directed by Claus Wischmann and Martin Baer, Documentary Feature |Germany|95 MIN
Kinshasa is the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the third-largest city in Africa. Almost 10 million people live here and they number among the poorest inhabitants on this planet. Kinshasa is the home of Central Africa’s one and only symphony orchestra - L’Orchestre Symphonique Kimbanguiste. It is a film about the Congo, about the people of Kinshasa and about music.


SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 8pm
Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center
PHIL OCHS: THERE BUT FOR FORTUNE
Directed by Kenneth Bowser, Documentary Feature |USA|96 MIN
From civil rights to the anti-war movement to the struggles of workers, folksinger Phil Ochs wrote topical songs that engaged his audiences in the issues of the 1960s and 1970s. In this biographical documentary, veteran director Kenneth Bowser shows how Phil’s music and his fascinating life story and eventual decline into depression and suicide were intertwined with the history-making events that defined a generation.
Followed by music event - Protest in Song: A Special Performance by Jonathan Freilich and Alex McMurray as The Tom Paines.

SUNDAY, APRIL 17, 12pm
Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center
COINTELPRO 101
Directed by Freedom Archives, Documentary Feature |USA|56 MIN
Cointelpro 101 exposes illegal surveillance, disruption, and outright murder committed by the US government in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Cointelpro, (FBI COunter INTELigence PROgram) was carried out to surveil, imprison and eliminate leaders of social justice movements and to disrupt, divide and destroy the movements as well. Many of the government’s crimes are still unknown. Through interviews with activists who experienced these abuses first-hand and with rare historical footage, the film provides an educational introduction to a period of intense repression and draws relevant lessons for the present and future.


COMMITMENT
Directed by Kuldeep Tagore and Waymon Boone, Narrative Short|USA|16 MIN
Faiz must make a life-changing decision.


SUNDAY, APRIL 17, 2pm
Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center
THE COLORS OF THE MOUNTAIN
Directed by Carlos Cesar Arbelaez, Narrative Feature |COLOMBIA|90 MIN
Manuel, 9, dreams of becoming a great goalkeeper. His wishes seem set to come true when Ernest, his father, gives him a new ball. But an unexpected accident sends the ball flying into a minefield. Despite the danger, Manuel refuses to abandon his treasure...


SUNDAY, APRIL 17, 4pm
Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center
CAFETERIA MAN
Directed by Richard Chisolm
Special Screening| Documentary Feature |USA|

78 MIN
Cafeteria Man is the true story of rebel chef Tony Geraci and his mission to radically reform Baltimore’s public school food system with a recipe for change. Q and A with director Richard Chisolm and Tony Geraci.

Refreshments provided by NOLA Locavores.


THE COW WHO WANTED TO BE A HAMBURGER
Directed by Bill Plympton, Animated Short |USA|6 MIN
A 2011 Academy Award Nominee for Best Animated Short Film

The Cow Who Wanted to be a Hamburger is a children’s fable about the power of advertising, the meaning of life and ultimately the test of a mother’s love.



CLOSING NIGHT FILM
SUNDAY, APRIL 17, 7pm
New Orleans Museum Of Art
KEEPER OF THE FLAME
Directed by Brian Nelson, World Premiere | Narrative Short | USA |32 MIN
Keeper of the Flame is a coming of age family drama that takes place in the Mardi Gras Indian world based upon a true story. It is the first ever movie about the New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian culture created by and from an insider’s perspective.

Featuring a Q & A with director Brian Nelson followed by a performance of The New Pokey Way Band And Guardians Of The Flame.


SUNDAY, APRIL 17, 9pm
New Orleans Museum Of Art
THE SONS OF TENNESSEE WILLIAMS
Directed by Tim Wolff, Documentary Feature | USA |

75 MIN
The Sons of Tennessee Williams tells the story of the gay men of New Orleans who created a vast and fantastic culture of wildly popular ‘drag balls’ starting in the late 1950s. These men worked with the traditions of Mardi Gras to bring gay culture into public settings in the early 1960s. By 1969, there were four gay Mardi Gras clubs legally chartered by the state of Louisiana, throwing yearly extravaganzas at civic venues around the city. They succeeded in staging a flamboyant, costumed revolution and won freedoms during a time, as now, when laws and people fought against them.

Director Tim Wolff and cast members will be in attendance.

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