10th THESSALONIKI DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL
Images of the 21st Century
March 7 – 16, 2008
FACES OF FASCISM
The thematic Section Faces of Fascism, to be presented for the first time during the 10th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, will showcase films that take account of the numerous contemporary manifestations of fascism, taking as its historical departure point The Night of the Broken Glass, the first pogrom against the Jews on November 9, 1938. Kristallnacht, as it is otherwise known, was the first step to the systematic persecution and annihilation of the Jewish populations of Europe that took place during the World War II.
2008 marks the 70th anniversary of the events of Kristallnacht; throughout these seven decades humanity has borne witness to many similar events, during which mass oppression, the violation of human rights and the use of systematic violence have prevailed. The genocide in Rwanda, the Srebrenica massacre, the deaths of 1.5 million people during the Khmer Rouge reign in Cambodia, the Guantanamo concentration camp of the 21st century and the recent events in Burma, Darfur and Kenya, prove that fascism continues to thrive internationally, thus signifying this Spotlight not only as contemporary, but as essential.
The Faces of Fascism section will include films such as Arto Halonen’s Shadow of the Holy Book, which exposes the synergies between dictatorial Turkmenistan and international companies, Sylvain Biegeleisen’s The Last Card, a personal, moving documentary about the memory of the Holocaust and Mary Ellen Davis’ Territories, about Canadian documentary photographer Larry Towell, are all pieces of the same predicament, the manifestations of fascism in the 21st century.
A panel discussion comprised of documentary directors, journalists and historical experts will accompany the Spotlight. The participants will be announced at a later date.
THE FILMS OF THE SECTION
AS SEEN THROUGH THESE EYES by Hilary Helstein, USA, 2007
BURMA: TWO NAMES FOR ONE DICTATORSHIP by Dimitris Gerardis, Greece, 2008
CHILDREN IN EXILE by Chris Swider, USA, 2007
CITIZEN NAWI by Nissim Mossek, Israel, 2007
EVEN IF SHE HAD BEEN A CRIMINAL by Jean Gabriel Peirot, France, 2006
GRAY MATTER by Joe Berlinger, USA, 2004
OPERATION HOMECOMING by Richard Robins, USA, 2007
PURITY BEATS EVERYTHING by Jon Bang Carlsen, Denmark, 2007
SHADOW OF THE HOLY BOOK by Arto Halonen, Finland, 2007
TERRITORIES by Mary Ellen Davis, Canada, 2007
THE LAST CARD by Sylvain Biegeleisen, Israel/France, 2007
THE TRUTH BE TOLD by Pimpaka Towira, Thailand, 2007
THREE TIMES DIVORCED Ibtisam Salh Mara'ana, Israel, 2007
TO FIND TIGER KIM by Bon Hwan Ku, Korea, 2006
UNDER THE HOOD: A VOYAGE INTO THE WORLD OF TORTURE by Patricio Henriquez, Canada, 2007
Foreign Press Contacts
Alexis Grivas / Lilly Papagianni
Foreign Press
Thessaloniki Documentary Festival
9 Alexandras ave., 11473, Athens, Greece
Tel: 30 210 8706000, Fax: 30 210 6448143
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