The People of Kibera, the Largest Slum in Africa

This is ... wow. Wow, wow wow. This is a short documentary film about Kibera's residents screened on Al Jazeera English. Kibera is the largest slum in Africa, and it is also where I spent the summer of 2009, working on a water and sanitation project.

I am kind of shaky after watching this -it 'took me back' in a way I haven't experienced since getting back. The images are extremely powerful, and portray it much in the way I remember it. The part that is most important to me, is that it portrays the slum through the eyes of real people - it shows the human side, not just the numbers or statistics. If you have a minute, and want a glimpse into one of the world's largest slums, I highly recommend it.

Warning - the beginning few minutes are graphic, and show a birth.

Shout out to Africa is a Country for posting the video.

Tonight, I watched Iron Jawed Angels.

My friend Jen brought this over to the "Palm House" when I lived there with Elisa back in the day. It sat on on top of our television for months, but we never found the time to watch it.

I watched it tonight and it blew me away.

Thank you Jen, for introducing it to me all those years ago, and letting us keep it unwatched for all of those months.

Its part of the story about how women fought for the right to vote. I think everyone in America should watch it.

Teachers, it would be fabulous to show in your class room (there is one scene you will need to fast forward through, so screen it first).

I'm all pumped up and ready to go.

Jimmy Carter, Man from Plains

Last night I watched the documentary Jimmy Carter, Man from Plains. I loved it, and highly recommend it.

It follows Jimmy Carter through his life in 2006, right after his book Palestine: Peace not Apartheid was published. It is about the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel's policies there. The book raised a huge amount of controversy, and Carter faced enormous amounts of criticism for the provocative use of the word 'apartheid' in the title. The documentary shows him defending his choice, and trying to raise discussion about what is actually happening over there.

Watching the documentary bought back a slough of emotions regarding my experience in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

The film was produced (is that the right word?) by Participant Media.
A friend of mine, who will be interning there this summer, turned me on to to the organization, and I am amazed at the way in which they conduct their business. Every film I have seen that they are involved with has made me THINK. Even more important is the way in which they make their films. Check out their mission statement. THAT is what I'm talking about!!!

Waltz With Bashir

Rent this movie.
It is an Israeli film - a documentary, about a Israeli man's memories of fighting in the Israeli/Lebanese war and the 1982 massacre of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. Though it was Lebanese Christian Phalangist militia that carried out the massacres, the controlling Israeli forces essentially allowed it to happen, and the man in the film cannot remember his role or if he was there. The film takes you through his search for answers about the past, what happened, and how he was involved.

The producers chose to use animation, which is the only reason I was able to even to begin to stomach this film. It allows them to cover extremely difficult material in a very powerful way. It also allows them to portray the dreams and flashbacks of the people being interviewed in a way that regular film would not allow.

It was nominated for an Academy award for best foreign film this year.

Whether or not you are interested in the Arab/Israeli conflict, it is worth it to see, because it brings up enormous questions about war, violence, massacre, responsibility and memory.

I should warn - it is hard to watch, and very, very heavy. However, it is worth it.

Bella

I *loved* this movie.
Say hello to a man so beautiful he rivals Gael. Yes, I said it - he rivals Gael.

In Grahamstown, the movie tickets are R22 - which is equivalent to $2.17 (at the current exchange rate of 10?!? rand to the dollar - thank you economic crisis) Needless to say, we have seen a lot of movies this year at the good old Roxbury Theatre. Rosa is usually my movie buddy, and we have a system down - one of us buys the movie tickets, and the other buys a big tub of popcorn. In South African movie theatres, they have flavors to put on the popcorn - like chutney, cheese, salt and vinegar, sour cream and onion, etc... so we cover the popcorn in a flavor (our fav. is the chutney) and then chow down. Because most of the movies start at 5:30, we miss dinner - but flavored popcorn and R22 movies = totally worth it.

La chureca

Watch this short documentary, if you can. It is only about 10 minutes long and very imformative.
It is also near and dear to my heart - it is about the people who live and work in the dump in the city of Managua, Nicaragua. The name of this dump is La Chureca. When I worked in Nicaragua two summers ago, I was working at Project Chacocente with families who had lived in this dump... that summer completely changed my life.

This film is especially wonderful to me because the film maker (Benjamin Packard) is the best friends of one of my very favorite and dearest friends. I found out he was interested in working on a documentary about people who work in a dump and told him about Project Chacocente (the project I had worked at)... passed on the email addresses I had, and voila! Connections make the world go round.

Enjoy.

la chureca from retainer films on Vimeo.

Youth Day - in memory of the Soweto Uprising

Today, South Africa commemorates the Soweto uprising of June 16th, 1976. On that day, thousands of school children rallied in Soweto (a township outside of Johannesburg), in protest of the apartheid government's imposition of Afrikaans as the language of instruction in their schools. The protest was intended to be peaceful, and was supported by the teachers in Soweto. However, police had barricaded the road upon which the students were marching. The crowd by this point had gathered to somewhere between 3 and 10 thousand students. A shot was fired, and chaos broke out. Police open fired into the crowd, killing scores of children. It is estimated between 200 and 600 people died, with thousands injured.

Many state the Soweto uprising as the 'beginning of the end' of apartheid. The event attracted international attention, with the photograph above of Hector Pieterson's dead body becoming the icon of the tragedy.

Today the country remembers those who were killed, but also those who stood up in the face of violence and joined together against injustice. I am reminded today of the power that we all have to effect change.

If you are interested, Cry Freedom and A Dry White Season are both fantastic movies that depict the riots.