This weekday matinee series, featuring five past Nestor Almendros Award-winning films, commemorates the 20th anniversary of the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival. These screenings are included in the HRWIFF09 Series Pass that may be purchased in person at the Walter Reade Theater box office (cash only).
To purchase tickets online click on theSHOWTIME under Buy Tickets.
Admission: $11 public $8 seniors (62+) $7 Film Society members, students (with ID) and children (6-12, accompanied by an adult) Online service charge: $1.25 per ticket ordered. Cash only at the box office.
Iraq in Fragments
James Longley, USA, 2006; 96m
In Arabic and Kurdish
Culled from 300 hours of footage taken over a two-year period, filmmaker James Longley's documentary feature shadows ordinary Iraqi citizens in three crucial yet fractured regions—Baghdad, the Shiite south, and the Kurdish north—as they struggle through a chaotic present and face a distant, uncertain future.
Ford Transit Hany Abu-Assad, Palestine, 2002; 80m
In English, Arabic, and Hebrew
Director Hany Abu-Assad follows cab driver Rajai and his passengers through Ramallah and Jerusalem, as they detour around roadblocks and speed through short cuts. Rajai's passengers form a heterogeneous group of ordinary people and local celebrities who, with humor and sincerity, express divergent opinions about the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel.
Regret to Inform Barbara Sonneborn, USA, 1998; 72m
In English and Vietnamese
Filmmaker Barbara Sonneborn, a Vietnam War widow, presents an unforgettable group of war widows from both North and South Vietnam and the U.S. Stunning archival footage adds further layers to this unique perspective of a shared bond between women from opposite sides who have survived the emotional aftermath of personal loss.
Born Into Brothels Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman, USA, 2003; 85m
In Bengali and English
Directors Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman chronicle the amazing transformation of the children they come to know in the red light district of Calcutta. Briski, a professional photographer, gives them lessons and cameras, igniting the latent spark of artistic creativity within them.
Buy Tickets Thu Jun 18: 4* *Intro/Q&A with director Ross Kaufman
Jung: In the Land of the Mujaheddin Alberto Vendemmiati and Fabrizio Lazzaretti, Afghanistan/Italy, 2000; 114m
In Dari and Italian
In this beautifully produced look at Afghanistan, a new hospital tries to help war victims, knowing that every day brings the same calamities. Patients arrive one after the other, and the situation is nowhere near ending.
Buy Tickets Fri Jun 19: 4* *Intro/Q&A with director Fabrizio Lazzaratti
