Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.11.2011, Qupperneq 33

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Issue 17 - 2011 www.grapevine.is
Amnesty International has been fighting
for human rights for half a century now,
and part of the organisation’s birthday
celebration is a film festival in Bíó Paradís
titled ‘(In)visible.’ The name is visualised
on posters with the "in" brushed over,
those are stories that in many cases are
hidden from the world but the filmmakers
felt needed to be brought to light and it
corresponds with Amnesty’s stated aim:
"To refuse to look away and demand that
human rights violations are made visible
but not covered up." The festival lasts
from November 3rd to 13th and brings us
twelve films. The Grapevine managed to
see eight of those before publication.
"My father always said we are part of a nation
that has been searching for its lost voice for
150 years. And he said: ‘we've come quite
close, we just have to reach out and we'll
regain it.’ His generation often tried, but
failed time after time. Then, it was our time
to try our luck. And for a few weeks we had a
feeling of being as close to our target as never
before. Today, when I see the blood-smeared
walls, I fear that once again it was nothing
more than just an illusion."
This is the disembodied voice of an
anonymous blogger in ‘The Green Wave,’ a
film about the 2009 Iranian election protests
and its aftermath. And it could have been
written about most failed revolutions in
history (and even some successful ones). But
let us recall Amnesty’s motto: "It is better to
light a candle than to curse the darkness."
And the Iranian revolution certainly lit some
candles and is seen by many as a catalyst for
the Arab spring of 2011.
The film is composed of three main
ingredients: interviews, archive footage and
animated segments accompanying blog
posts. The last part is the film’s biggest
strength, the Iranian bloggers were crucial in
getting the world to pay attention to the revolt
and it overcomes documentary filmmaking's
biggest obstacle—the fact that the biggest
atrocities usually take place off camera, while
also testifying that even in the blogosphere
the Persians infuse their writing with poetry.
Their battle was for democracy, but even
if that battle is won, many more await. India
is considered the world’s largest democracy,
but that is of little help to the 600 million
Indians living in poverty. ‘Nero’s Guests’
follows journalist Palagummi Sainath who
is investigating the suicide epidemic of
farmers: almost 200.000 farmers have taken
their own lives in India over the last decade,
usually because they have not been able to
provide for their families. Sainath is highly
critical of India’s media, the fastest growing
in the world, which he calls: "A politically
free media, but imprisoned by profit." As an
example he points to a fashion festival attract-
ing more than 500 journalists, while he is the
only one in the whole country specialising in
poverty.
In ‘The Devil’s Operation’ we also meet
poor farmers, this time in Peru. Their battle
is with companies that value gold over life
and want to build mines in mountains that
would ruin the farmers source of water—and
thereby their livelihood. But that battle is
soon overshadowed by more sinister opera-
tions, as the big companies employ spies,
hire military goons and torture the activist
while the government turns a blind eye.
Feminists, sex bloggers and Nazis
The most prominent human rights issue at
the festival is feminism, with no less than
four films dealing with the issue (includ-
ing two of the films I didn't get a chance to
screen, ‘Sisters in Law’ and ‘Pink Saris’).
‘The Jungle Radio’ centres on a feminist
radio station in Nicaragua. The station's
most controversial show is the ‘Messenger
Witch,’ who passes on stories about domestic
violence, names and all—with echoes of the
controversial Big Sister movement here in
Iceland. But even more disorienting are some
of the things some of the man say on camera,
the rhetoric often going something like this:
"...of course you shouldn't hit your wife—but
sometimes you just have to." Similar rhetoric
can be heard in ‘The Mobile Cinema,’
another film about how to bring the message
out there. It's a short film about a longer one,
the cinema of the title travels the Congo and
shows a documentary about rape—and we
see the reactions and discussions that spring
from the screenings. In a way it's about the
benefits a festival such as this can bring—but
it's a bit of a shame that the movie they travel
with, ‘Fighting The Silence,’ is not being
screened.
But while feminism might be promi-
nent, the films are very varied and the most
varied—and probably the best—is ‘An Inde-
pendent Mind.’ The film focuses on the right
to free speech, and what makes it so good
is the variety of stories. We get a pop star
from the Ivory Coast, Burmese comedians, a
Chinese sex blogger, an Algerian comic book
artist, a Basque rock band, a Guatemalan
journalist and a Syrian poet who is currently
a refugee in Sweden. And just to make sure
the debate afterwards won’t be too cosy, the
films ends with historian David Irving, who
went to prison for being a holocaust denier—
and while you remain very sceptical about his
arguments he talks a surprisingly good game.
But going back to the Syrian poet in
Sweden, we also have a Swedish director trav-
elling the other way. Peter Löfgren (who will
attend the screening in Iceland) discovers the
underbelly of the Syrian regime, for a long
time upheld as a beacon of light for democ-
racy in the Arabic world, but underneath a
crisp image darker secrets have emerged and
the regime seems to have been bloodier then
most, not to mention the indoctrination of
schoolchildren, taught from childhood to re-
vere their leader as a god. On the journey we
are accompanied by ‘Travel Advice for Syria,’
courtesy of the American Foreign Ministry,
which also gives the film its title.
Most of these films deal with events in
the third world. The West is mostly absent,
even if the links are explored in some of the
films, for example how western capitalism
feeds on the poverty of Indian and Peruvian
farmers. But ‘Nowhere in Europe’ deals with
political refugees from Chechnya who try to
emigrate to Europe. And while the West is
quick to condemn oppressive regimes it is
awfully slow in accepting that those who flee
them might deserve some help. The film tells
four different stories of refugees in Europe,
the most heartbreaking being the one of a
couple who get no secure place to live with
their disabled daughter and of the journalist
(prosecuted for his cooperation with Anna
Politkovskaya) who lives in constant limbo,
as his case is delayed again and again for
months and years on end.
To rebuild, again and again
These films are full of despair and short on
happy endings (even if they do happen). But
their very existence is a source of hope and
the protagonist will continue to try to right
the wrongs of this world, or to quote another
Iranian blogger: "I will rebuild you, my
homeland, even if I have to use the clay of my
body to do so. / I will build a pillar for your
roof, even if I have to use my bones to do so."
Ásgeir H. Ingólfsson
The Clay Of The World
Amnesty International’s film festival seeks to enlighten
Schedule:

November 3
The Green Wave
November 4
Sisters in Law
November 5
An Independent Wave
November 6
The Devil Operation
November 7
Pink Saris
November 8
Travel Advice for Syria
November 9
Nero’s Guests
November 10
Silent Show
November 11
Budrus
November 12
Nowhere in Europe
November 13
The Mobile Cinema
The Jungle Radio
Films shown at 20:00 at Bíó Paradís,
admission 750 ISK/film.