UNAFF Film Festival: Friday’s Schedule

The UNAFF 2012 International Documentary Film Festival continues in Palo Alto. All of today’s films will be screened at Stanford University.  

The mission of UNAFF, the United Nations Association Film Festival, is to promote social change through education. TICKET INFORMATION

The documentaries will be screened at Stanford University, Annenberg Auditorium, Cummings Art Building, 435 Lausen Mall.

5:40 p.m. Sacred Stones
(52 min)

Directors/Producers: Muayad Alayan, Laila Higazi

Description:

Known by many as Palestine's white petroleum, natural stone is Palestine's most highly demanded raw material. However, the Palestinian stone industry is largely held hostage to serving Israeli construction needs, including the construction of illegal settlements on Palestinian land. Inside villages, cities and refugee camps, natural stone is unearthed at maddening unsustainable rates, leaving behind a wreck of environmental, social and health problems. Any complaints of ordinary Palestinians face persecution by the Israeli occupation, fall on the deaf ears of international organizations, or are merely ignored by Palestinian officials, who are unable to change the course this industry has taken.

6:40 pm: Reportero
(71 min)

Director/Producer: Bernardo Ruiz

Description:

Reportero follows veteran reporter Sergio Haro and his colleagues at ZETA, a Tijuana, Mexico-based muckraking weekly, as they stubbornly ply their trade in what has become one of the most deadly places in the world to work as a journalist. Since the ZETA's founding in 1980, three of the paper’s staffers have been murdered and the founder viciously attacked. In the case of former editor, Francisco Ortiz, he was gunned down just after buckling his two children into the back seat of his car. Ortiz was murdered for printing the names and faces of drug traffickers accustomed to operating with impunity and anonymity. “Impunity reigns in Mexico, especially here along the northern border,” explains Adela Navarro, Sergio’s boss and Zeta’s co-director. “With guns and money, drug traffickers have control over police, judges, prosecutors, and entire towns. This makes investigative journalism extraordinarily difficult.” Yet, Semanario Zeta, a weekly with a print circulation of nearly 30,000 is an anomaly. For three decades, the paper has aggressively chronicled the activities of organized crime figures and crooked politicians. After nearly twenty-five years of reporting, the death of three of his colleagues and threats against his own life, Sergio has every reason to walk away from this line of work. Instead, he writes every week for ZETA, telling the stories of the residents of northern Mexico during a wave of unprecedented violence in his country.

8:30 pm: Karama Has No Walls
(26 min)

Director: Sara Ishaq
Producer: Sara Ishaq and Hot Spot Films

Description:

Juma’at El-Karama (Friday of Dignity) marks a turning point in Yemen’s revolution. The tragic events that took place on this day, when pro-government snipers shot dead fifty-three protesters and injured a thousand more, shook the nation to its core and propelled hundreds of thousands more to flock to the square in solidarity with their fellow citizens. Military officials defected and joined the protests. Members of parliament resigned and announced their support for the revolution. Southern separatists, northern Houthi affiliates, and apolitical Yemenis united. Entire tribes set aside their weapons, made amends with rival tribesmen and pitched up tents in the square in support of one cause: the liberation of Yemen from the shackles of a barbaric, oppressive regime. It gave the Yemeni nation a sense of responsibility toward their fellow citizens, particularly those who lost their lives on that fateful day.

9:10 pm: Where Soldiers Come From
(90 min)

Director: Sara Ishaq
Producer: Sara Ishaq and Hot Spot Films

Description:

Juma’at El-Karama (Friday of Dignity) marks a turning point in Yemen’s revolution. The tragic events that took place on this day, when pro-government snipers shot dead fifty-three protesters and injured a thousand more, shook the nation to its core and propelled hundreds of thousands more to flock to the square in solidarity with their fellow citizens. Military officials defected and joined the protests. Members of parliament resigned and announced their support for the revolution. Southern separatists, northern Houthi affiliates, and apolitical Yemenis united. Entire tribes set aside their weapons, made amends with rival tribesmen and pitched up tents in the square in support of one cause: the liberation of Yemen from the shackles of a barbaric, oppressive regime. It gave the Yemeni nation a sense of responsibility toward their fellow citizens, particularly those who lost their lives on that fateful day.

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