Syracuse University’s 13th annual Human Rights Film Festival took place from Sept. 24 to Sept. 26. The festival showed a variety of films, spanning the globe and different human rights issues. Professors Roger Hallas and Tula Goenka created the festival in 2003 and still run it. Here’s a film-by-film look at some of the highlights of the festival.

“(T)error”

“(T)error” is considered a documentary, but the film is even more — “(T)error” is a thriller, a drama, a social statement and a documentary, all in one. The film follows a man named Sharif who operates as an FBI informant, investigating and befriending potential terrorists to help the FBI. The true genius of the film, directed by Lyric Cabral and David Sutcliffe, is that it shows all sides of the story. The audience sees Sharif’s point of view, but we are also shown the point of view of the men he is investigating. This holistic view of the events lets the audience form its own opinions of who is right, who is wrong and who is justified.
From a filmmaking perspective, the documentary is stunning. At a brisk 79 minutes, the movie ran extremely fast, but each of the 79 minutes was essential and thrilling. It truly felt like a narrative piece. Featuring a haunting score and perfectly bleak cinematography, “(T)error” was a superb start to the festival.

“LandFill Harmonic”

The film places the audience in Paraguay, where we meet Favio Chavez, a man who wants to start a youth orchestra in a relatively poor area. However, he cannot afford instruments. Instead of giving up, Chavez leads a team to make instruments out of old garbage. The result is an inspiring story that leads to a fun and sobering film.
This film is engaging to watch as we see Chavez’s orchestra, entitled “The Recycled Orchestra” evolve from its humble beginnings to a YouTube sensation, and then on to perform with bands such as MegaDeath and go on a world tour. The film stays grounded, showing us the hard work and dedication behind the music. The children in the film are cute and fun to watch, and the tale as a whole is inspiring.This quick, inspirational documentary was the perfect display of the festival’s theme of Networks.

“Overburden”

Deep in a pocket of West Virginia there are small mining towns scattered throughout the Appalachian Mountain Range. For over a century, the coal industry dominated the entire culture of these areas. “Overburden” witnesses the rise of opposition to the coal industry, specifically for the health concerns and lack of diversification within the economy. Documentary director Chad Stevens spent over 10 years in the community surrounding Coal River Mountain, which was essentially ruled by the coal company Massey Energy and their magnate Don Blankenship.

Stevens had quite the challenge of finding the right story within the endless hours of video, audio and text he had piled up from his time in the area, but the final product (only 66 minutes) found the perfect voice. Most of the story focuses on three people: Lorelei Scarbro, a grandmother and a widow of a coal miner, Rory McIlmoil, an activist who introduces wind farm plans to help diversify the local economy and save lives, and Betty Harrah, a woman whose views on coal are forever changed by the death of her miner brother. Stevens weaves the personal stories of the women and their families with the legal and political battle that McIlmoil leads. “Overburden” astonishes by highlighting the lack of input these West Virginians have in their own lives under the control of Massey Energy, but also the hope that some of the community have for a greener, safer and more diverse future.

“Margarita, With a Straw”

Laila is an Indian girl with Cerebal Palsy and a love for music. She uses an electric wheelchair for most of her day and she has a hard time communicating with those outside of her everyday life, but director Shonali Bose makes it clear that she has the same emotions, desires and questions of anybody her age. After moving to the Big Apple to go to New York University on scholarship, Laila begins to date a blind Pakastani girl, Khanum.

With so much content in the situation, the story could have easily confused, but Bose’s control of the story (she also wrote the script) ensured that the audience is always seeing the situation from Laila’s point of view. You care so much for Lalia when she comes out to her mother, when she admits to Khanum that she cheated on her with a boy and when her mother dies of cancer.

I would not recommend sitting between your two parents to watch this one (I did), but the lesson Bose teaches is one necessary for everybody to learn. Seeking the “normal,” no matter who you are, will only take away from who you are as a person.

“Stories of Our Lives”

“Stories of Our Lives,” created by The NEST Collective, carries the audience into the lives of LGBTQ individuals from Kenya. The film is made up five different vignettes that reenacted real, meaningful moments and short stories that show what it’s like being part of the LGBTQ community in Kenya, where being gay is legally criminalized. “Stories of Our Lives” shows this harsh reality.

The movie’s opening scene shows the story of a lesbian couple in school. One of the girls ends up getting suspended when the school’s administration catches on to their relationship. Another vignette shows a man from Kenya having a sexual encounter with a white man from the U.K. Other vignettes include a man who worked on a farm and had to run away because he had a crush on his male coworker, and shows another man who gets beaten up when his straight friend sees him dancing with another man at a gay club. The film shows how the mistreatment oppressed groups face is dependent on their culture.

Published on September 27, 2015 at 11:43 pm

Contact: ksteve03@syr.edu