Films for Change - Sinema presents International Social Action Film Festival 2009 » Featured

S:ISAFF09 – The Human Condition

Festival Director — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 20:45:36 +0000

The festival opens on the 9th of September, 2009 (09-09-09) with the highly acclaimed “War Dance” (Sean Fine & Andrea Nix Fine), a story about the refuge children of war-torn Uganda overcoming tremendous adversity and triumphing over their bleak futures in a national music and dance competition.

The presentation of about 50 short and feature length films from around the globe ends on Singapore’s Children’s Day – 1st October – with the closing film “Holly” (Guy Moshe), a powerful film about child prostitution and sex trafficking in Cambodia.

S:ISAFF Opening Film: War Dance (USA)

Festival Director — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 20:44:40 +0000

Set in Northern Uganda, a country ravaged by more than two decades of civil war, ”War Dance” tells the story of Dominic, Rose, and Nancy, three children whose families have been torn apart, their homes destroyed, and who currently reside in a displaced persons camp in Patongo. When they are invited to compete in an annual music and dance competition, their historic journey to their nation’s capital is also an opportunity to regain a part of their childhood and to taste victory for the first time in their lives.

Director: Andrea Nix Fine, Sean Fine
Genre: Documentary
Running time: 105 mins
Year: 2006
Country: USA
Language: English, Swahili
Ratings: PG

Crash (USA)

Festival Director — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 19:15:23 +0000

Several stories interweave during two days in Los Angeles involving a collection of inter-related characters, a police detective with a drugged out mother and a thieving younger brother, two car thieves who are constantly theorizing on society and race, the white district attorney and his irritated and pampered wife, a racist white veteran cop (caring for a sick father at home) who disgusts his more idealistic younger partner, a successful Hollywood director and his wife who must deal with the racist cop, a Persian-immigrant father who buys a gun to protect his shop, a Hispanic locksmith and his young daughter who is afraid of bullets, and more.

Director: Paul Haggis
Cast: Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Jennifer Esposito, Brendan Fraser, Terrence Howard, Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges, Thandie Newton, Ryan Philippe, Larenz Tate, Michael Peña
Genre: Crime/Drama
Running time: 112 mins
Year: 2004
Country: USA
Language: English, Persian, Spanish, Mandarin, Korean
Ratings: TBA

Earthlings (USA)

Festival Director — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:45:05 +0000

“Earthlings” is a feature length documentary about humanity’s absolute dependence on animals (for pets, food, clothing, entertainment, and scientific research) but also illustrates our complete disrespect for these so-called “non-human providers.” The film is narrated by Academy Award nominee Joaquin Phoenix (GLADIATOR) and features music by the critically acclaimed platinum artist Moby.

“Earthlings” uses hidden cameras and never before seen footage to chronicle the day-to-day practices of some of the largest industries in the world, all of which rely entirely on animals for profit. Powerful, informative and thought-provoking, ”Earthlings” is by far the most comprehensive documentary ever produced on the correlation between nature, animals, and human economic interests.

Director: Shaun Monson
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix
Genre: Documentary
Running time: 95 minutes
Year: 2003
Country: USA
Language: English
Ratings: M 18

Open Air Sinema: Baraka (USA)

herman — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:30:55 +0000

Baraka, the Sufi term for “blessing”, is a nonverbal film with dramatic images of nature, religious ritual, oppressive city life, and war. The film, in the words of director Ron Fricke, is a journey of rediscovery and reconnecting. The dominant message is a mystical one: God is nature, big cities are unnatural, and we connect with nature through organic religious rituals. The movie was filmed during a 13 month period in 24 countries at over 150 locations. It was shot on 70 millimeter film which gives it especially high resolution (the normal film size for a feature-length movie is 35 millimeter). Baraka follows in the tradition of the groundbreaking nonverbal film Koyaanisqatsi (1983), directed Godfrey Reggio, of which Fricke was the cinematographer. Wearing the director’s hat this time, Fricke set out to make “The ultimate nonverbal film in the ultimate format,” as Baraka’s producer Mark Magidson puts it.

Director: Ron Ficke
Genre: Documentary
Running time: 96 mins
Year: 1992
Country: USA
Language: English

Ratings: PG

S:ISAFF Closing Film – Holly (USA)

Festival Director — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:45:28 +0000

Shot on location in Cambodia, including many scenes in actual brothels in the notorious
red light district of Phnom Penh, HOLLY is a captivating, touching and emotional
experience.

Patrick (Ron Livingston), an American card shark and dealer of stolen artifacts, has
been ‘comfortably numb’ in Cambodia for years, when he encounters Holly (Thuy
Nguyen), a 12-year-old Vietnamese girl, in the K11 red light village. The girl has been
sold by her impoverished family and smuggled across the border to work as a prostitute.

Holly’s virginity makes her a lucrative prize, and when she is sold to a child trafficker,
Patrick embarks on a frantic search through both the beautiful and sordid faces of the
country in an attempt to bring her to safety.

Harsh, yet poetic, this feature forms part of the ‘K-11’ Project, dedicated to raising
awareness of the epidemic of child trafficking and the sex slavery trade through several
film projects. The film’s producers endured substantial hardships in order to be able to
shoot in Cambodia and have also founded the RedLight Children Campaign, which is
a worldwide grassroots initiative generating conscious concern and inspiring immediate
action against child sexploitation.

Director: Guy Moshe
Cast: Ron Livingston, Virginie Ledoyen, Chris Penn, Udo Kier and introducing Thuy Nguyen
Genre: Drama
Running time: 113 mins
Year: 2006
Country: USA
Language: English, Khmer and Vietnamese, with English subtitles
Ratings: M 18

Flow For Love of Water (USA)

Festival Director — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 18:00:01 +0000

An inspired, yet disturbingly provocative, wake-up call: our life-giving water is a resource in peril across the planet. The film highlights a global crisis on water politics, pollution and human rights and warns that water, the quintessence of life and our most precious resource, can no longer be taken for granted. Unless we effect global change impoverished nations could be wiped from the planet and by their thirst for survival, people across the planet are fighting for their birthright.

Director: Irena Salina
Cast: Maude Barlow, Shelly Brime, Anthony Burgmans
Genre: Documentary
Rating: TBA
Running time: 83 mins
Year: 2008
Country: USA
Language: English

Available on the following date(s):

Forum: 22 Sep 2009 / Time: 1930/ SGD 17.12

Homeless FC (Singapore)

Festival Director — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 06:00:52 +0000

Twice a week in Hong Kong, an unlikely group of men gather to play football. They call themselves the Dawn Team, for all of the players have lived through some pretty dark times. Beyond a love for the game, the one thing that unites these people is the fact that they all know what it’s like to be homeless. The documentary follows the Dawn Team through one tumultuous year in pursuit of their dreams. Directors James Leong and Lynn Lee – last seen in 20th SIFF with their film Aki Ra’s Boys, return to the festival with another heartwarming, human-interest documentary about human tenacity and optimism in adversity.

Director: James Leong & Lynn Lee
Genre: Drama
Running time: 103 mins
Year: 2007
Country: Hong Kong
Language: Mandarin and Dialects with English Subtitles
Ratings: NC 16