Jung
(War): In the Land of the Mujaheddin
(released
November 21, 2001)
Directed
by: Fabrizio Lazzaretti and Alberto Vendemmiati
Synopsis (from Human Rights Watch International Film Festival)
In
this beautifully produced look at Afghanistan, a surgeon and a war
correspondent decide to join forces and set up a hospital in a country
that has had to cope with war for the last twenty years. After the
Russians, the Taliban took society firmly into their grasp. "Houses
and schools have been burnt down, sons killed on the battlefield
and almost everybody is hungry," an Afghan woman explains from behind
her veil, perforated only by a few air holes. "Women are beaten
up in the street if they are wearing sandals that show part of their
legs, so everyone is terrified of breaking the extremely strict
rules of the Taliban," another woman explains. Meanwhile, tanks
have conquered the mountains, and the rugged, stunning landscape
is strewn with mines, which are stepped on every day by countless
innocent victims. The new hospital struggles to help all of these
war victims, but is struggling. The Italian surgeon gets discouraged
at times, because he knows that every day brings the same tragic
calamities.
Related
Web Sites:
This
film is part of the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival.
For showtimes and locations visit the Human Rights Watch International
Film
Festival web page at www.hrw.org/iff/about.html
Kandahar
(released December 14, 2001)
Directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Synopsis (from Yahoo!Movies)
Shot
on the border of Iran and Afghanistan, Kandahar is a politically
urgent story of a young female journalist named Nafas who escaped
Afghanistan with her family but must return and race against time
in an attempt to rescue her sister. The sister, maimed by an exploded
landmine and distraught over the constant persecution simply for
being a woman, has written to Nafas vowing that she will commit
suicide by the next solar eclipse. Nafas must disguise herself as
an Afghan wife by wearing the traditional head-to-toe covering of
the burka in order to find her sister in the Taliban-controlled
city of Kandahar.
The
film is inspired by the real-life experience of actress Niloufar
Pazira, who plays Nafas. In 1989, she fled her homeland of Afghanistan
and later received a similar letter not from a sister, but from
a long-time friend who wanted to end her life.
Related
Sites:
For
locations and playdates link to the movies official web site
www.kandaharthemovie.com/
No
Mans Land
(released December 7, 2001)
Directed by Danis Tanovic
Comedy and Drama, 1 hr. 28 min.
Synopsis
(from Yahoo!Movies)
Ciki
and Nino, a Bosnian and a Serb, are soldiers stranded in a trench
between enemy lines during the Bosnian war. They have no one to
trust, no way to escape without getting shot and a fellow soldier
is lying on the trench floor with a spring-loaded bomb [a landmine]
set to explode beneath him if he moves. With the two men stuck in
a bizarre predicament, a frustrated UN sergeant tries to help, despite
orders to remain at his post. When a journalist waylays the sergeant
while pushing for an exclusive scoop, she affects the unfolding
of events and turns a news story into an international circus. With
the world's press waiting for an outcome, no one willing to take
action (lest they accept responsibility) and a soldier still stuck
with a bomb beneath him, Ciki and Nino try to keep their humanity
amidst the insanity of war.
Related
Web Sites:
Official
Site
www.unitedartists.com/nomansland/
U.S.
Campaign to Ban Landmines 10 Minute Video
(released summer of 2001)
This
10 minute video includes footage from mine-affected countries, inspiring
clips from Ban Landmines Week in March 2001 in Washington, DC, statistics
on the global landmines crisis, interviews with campaign members
and landmine survivors, and ways to get involved with the campaign.
This resource will start any presentation off on an inspiring note.
Price: $8.00
To
order a copy, email landmines@fcnl.org.
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