Exposing TERROR

March 17-21, 2010
OSA Archivum

Exposing TERROR

Highlights of the Soros Documentary Fund/Sundance Documentary Film Fund, 1996-2009

A shocking terrorist attack on Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, the mysterious murder of hundreds of women in a small Mexican town, the firsthand accounts of gay bashers from US prisons, stories of children born into brothels in the slums of Calcutta, an Argentinean cameraman recording his own death during the 1973 Chilean military coup – merely a few of the intriguing stories presented in the documentary panorama “Exposing Terror.” Strong, at times overwhelming, feelings of pain, fear, hope, and compassion saturate these works. The world is changing fast, and the notion of terror has acquired new layers of meaning strongly influenced by oppressive political ideologies, religious fundamentalism, and individual intolerance. Exposing terror and recovering its roots is the only way to learn how to overcome today’s fears in order to face future challenges.

The films were supported by the Soros Documentary Fund/Sundance Documentary Film Fund. The Soros Documentary Fund was established by the Open Society Institute in 1996 with the aim to support documentaries on human rights, civil liberties, and social justice. In 2001, the fund became part of the Sundance Institute. It continues to support creative documentary filmmaking and remains an indispensable financial resource for documentary filmmakers around the world.

Downloadable program

Program curators: Oksana Sarksiova, Aniko Kovecsi
The program is prepared and hosted by OSA Archivum, Arany Janos u. 32, Budapest 1051

March 19, Friday 4 p.m.

Reporter / A riporter

Eric Metzgar / USA / 2008 / 90’ / in English

Nicholas Kristof is the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The New York Times. In the summer of 2007, Kristof traveled to the darkest areas of conflict and poverty in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a country in the midst of a humanitarian crisis. To date, 5.4 million people have been killed in Congo over the last decade. But Nick knows that statistics deaden his readers' interest and compassion. So to get the world to care, he goes in search of individuals whose stories will reflect the country's desperate crisis and mobilize readers worldwide. He journeys through ravaged villages and displacement camps, and makes a harrowing visit to Congo's reigning rebel warlord, General Nkunda, at his jungle hideout.

Awards and festivals:
Sundance Film Festival, USA, 2009
Hot Docs, Canada, 2009
Film Festival One World, Czech Republic, 2009

March 19, Friday 6 p.m.

Born into Brothels / Bordélyházak gyermekei

Zana Briski, Ross Kauffman / USA / 2004 / 85’ / in Hindi and English with English subtitles

Academy award-winning documentary Born into Brothels is a touching portrait of Calcutta’s red light district children. Facing abject poverty, abuse and despair, these children have little possibility to escape the fate of their mothers. The film chronicles the lives of eight children born in brothels and director Zana Briski's determination to teach them photography. What develops is much more than pictures.

Awards and festivals:
Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, USA, 2005
National Board of Review Award for Best Documentary, USA, 2004
Sundance Film Festival, Audience Award, USA, 2004

March 20, Saturday 2 p.m.

Señorita Extraviada / Missing Young Woman / Az eltűnt lányok városa

Lourdes Portillo / USA / 2001 / 74’ / in Spanish with English subtitles

A haunting investigation into a mysterious crime wave amid the disorders and corruption of one of the biggest border towns in the world. Between 200 and 400 girls have been murdered in Juárez, Mexico, where authorities ignore pleas for justice from the victims' families, crimes go unpunished, evidence of government complicity remains uninvestigated, and the killings continue to this day.

Awards and festivals:
Sundance Film Festival, Special Jury Prize, USA, 2002
International Documentary Association, IDA Award, USA, 2002
Human Rights Watch Film Festival, Nestor Almendros Prize, USA, 2002
Barcelona Human Rights FF, Gold Gandhi Award, Spain, 2002

March 20, Saturday 4 p.m.

El Immortal / Immortal / Halhatatlan

Mercedes Moncada Rodríguez / Nicaragua / 2005 / 78’ / in Spanish with English subtitles

In 1979, the Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua ended the dictatorship of the Somoza family. Fearing a second Cuba, the Reagan Administration financed and armed the counter-revolutionaries. What followed was a long and bloody civil war that left many Nicaraguans deeply scarred. Twenty years later, the tension is still palpable. The vivid memories of the war and the feelings of hatred and shame make it hard to pick up the pieces.

Awards and festivals:
Sundance Film Festival, Grand Jury Prize, nominated, USA, 2006
Guadalajara Film Festival, Best Latin-American Feature Documentary, Mexico, 2005
International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2006

March 20, Saturday 6 p.m.

Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars / Menekülttábor raggae

Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars is a band of six musicians who have been living as refugees in the Republic of Guinea. A brutal civil war forced them to flee their country while many of their family members were murdered in the conflict, leaving them with physical and emotional scars. Despite the traumas of the war these musicians have found refuge in reggae music, singing of the experiences of so many struggling to survive.

Awards and festivals:
Los Angeles International Film Festival, Best Documentary, USA, 2005
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Czech Republic, 2005
International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2005

March 21, Sunday 2 p.m.

My Terrorist / Az én terroristám

Yulie Gerstel, Michal Aviad / Israel / 2002 / 58' / in Hebrew and English with English subtitles

Fahad Mihyi, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Yulie Cohen, a sixth-generation Israeli, first met in August 1978, when Mihyi pointed a machine gun at the El Al flight attendant in a terrorist attack. Twenty-three years later, in an effort to help break the cycle of violence, Yulie considers writing a letter in support of Mihyi's parole, thus thrusting herself into the turbulent world of Middle East politics.

Awards and festivals:
International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, Silver Wolf Nomination, the Netherlands, 2002
Jerusalem Film Festival, Special Jury Prize, Israel, 2002
Human Rights Watch Film Festival, USA, 2002

March 21, Sunday 4 p.m.

Imagen Final / The Final Image / Az utolsó kép

Andrés Habegger / Sweden, Denmark, Argentina, Chile / 2008 / 95’ / in Spanish and English with English subtitles

Santiago de Chile, June 1973. Leonardo Henrichsen, an Argentinean cameraman, films his own death. 33 years later, Ernesto Carmona, a Chilean journalist, discovers the identity of the man who shot him. The Final Image is a film about one of the most famous images in history. It is a film about a group of journalists’ attempt to record a continent sinking into violence. It offers an opportunity to see rare and revealing archive material from the last 40 years.

Awards and festivals:
International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2008
Sundance Film Festival, USA, 2008

March 21, Sunday 6 p.m.

Enemies of the People / A nép ellenségei

Rob Lemkin, Thet Sambath / UK, Cambodia / 2009 / 93’ / in Khmer and English with English subtitles

A young journalist whose family was killed by the Khmer Rouge spends a decade making friends with the men and women who directed and perpetrated the Killing Fields. He obtains ground-breaking accounts from the notorious Brother Number Two and the grassroots killers and gains a new and terrifying perspective on the genocide. But the truth he discovers comes at a price.

Awards and festivals:
International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2009
Sundance Film Festival, World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Prize, USA, 2010
Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Best Documentary, USA, 2010

All screenings are in original language with English subtitles.