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Rare theme From “The Women’s Kingdom”

The festival gets off to a start at 6.15 p.m. with the screening of “Assaulted Dream”. The film tells the tale of thousands of people who leave impoverished Central American countries to get into the U.S. By crossing the northern border of Guatemala into Mexico they’re embarking on one of the most dangerous migration routes in the world. In a small border town in the farthest south of Mexico, migrants try to jump on a freight train that will carry them to the U.S. border. But hardly anyone manages to make the 5,000-km trip. A moving film about the end and the beginning, the hope and the doom of the Assaulted Dream.

It will be followed at 7.45 p.m. by “Independent Intervention”, an award-winning documentary about the U.S. media coverage of the war in Iraq. Focussing on the human costs of war, it contrasts the mass media’s coverage of the invasion of Iraq with independent reports of the brutal ground realities.

At 9 p.m., “The Woman’s Kingdom” will be screened. Keepers of one of the last matriarchal societies of the world, Mosuo women live beyond the strictures of mainstream Chinese culture. This short documentary offers a rare glimpse into a society virtually unheard of 10 years ago and now often misrepresented in the media.

On March 13, 6.15 p.m., “Lost Children”, will be screened. For over 18 years, a civil war in northern Uganda has dragged on almost unnoticed by the rest of the world. The rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army are waging a bloody guerrilla campaign against the Government of Uganda. They abduct children and conscript them as soldiers, forcing them to kill their own people. It documents the traumatic stories of four children.

“John & Jane” will follow at 7.45 p.m. It is a blend of observational documentary and tropical science fiction, and follows the stories of six call agents.

At 9 p.m., “Outlawed: Extraordinary Rendition, Torture & Disappearances in the ‘War on Terror’ ”will be screened. It tells the stories of Khaled El-Masri and Binyam Mohamed, two men who have survived extraordinary rendition, secret detention and torture by the U.S. Government working with other governments worldwide.

On March 14, 6.15 p.m., “With or Without Fidel”, a groundbreaking documentary that features Cuba’s leading politicians, intellectuals and dissidents, who debate the direction of the island’s 48-year-old revolution will be screened.

“Leila Khaled Hijacker”, will follow at 7.15 p.m. – a gripping tale of a woman hijacker in the Leonardo da Vinci airport, Rome.

At 8.15 p.m., “Between Midnight & The Rooster’s Crow” will be screened. Canadian oil giant EnCana is under fire for the construction of the world’s most controversial mega projects, faced with mass-opposition in Ecuador, as well as abroad. The story follows the journey of Canadian filmmaker as she investigates why an oil company is mired in social and environmental controversy in the Amazon.

“City of Guilt”, at 9.15 p.m. will wrap up the festival. It focuses on the population explosion in the Philippines. Contraceptives are frowned upon and abortion is illegal, but as the film reveals, every year more than half a million Filipina women are so desperate that they undergo illegal abortions, though many end up seriously ill in hospital.

For more details, phone 93800 79006.

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