Independent films come to Hub in Human Rights Film Festival

Shun Hollywood glitz for a weekend; get down in the trenches with filmmakers who shoulder cameras for humanity. This weekend, Jan. 23 -- 30, the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival has come to town.

When the police do the killing does it become "justifiable homicide?" Academy Award winning documentary filmmaker Jonathan Stack went inside the notorious Angola prison to make the gritty "The Farm."

This time he examines the brutal murder of two Puerto Rican young men shot to death by NYPD detectives in the Bronx in early 1995, and the possibility that a cover-up at the highest levels vindicated the police when they deserved to go to prison for their action. This hard hitting movie is screened at the Coolidge Corner Video Screening Room, Fri., Jan. 24, at 6 and 8 p.m.

The following day, Sat., Jan. 25, an insider's look at the public defenders going about their job, "Presumed Guilty," is screened at two p.m., also at the Coolidge.

These unsung heroes of the criminal justice system clash daily with judges who don't want to hear them out and prosecutors who arrogantly try to send every defendant away apparently believing that an arrest is as good as a conviction. Pamela Yates filmed the worker bees of the courtroom and their clients for three years to make her film.

At 4 p.m., again in the Coolidge, you have the opportunity of seeing Raoul Peck's new film, "Profit and Nothing But."

His dramatic documentary about assassinated African leader Patrice Lumumba was shown in Boston last year. Peck who had grown up in the Congo where his family immigrated to escape Haitian dictator Duvalier, this time looks at his native Haiti.

"Profit And Nothing But" follows suit with the examination of the impact of globalization on Jamaica in "Life And Debt" that was screened at the Strand in the fall. Peck's movie will also be screened Mon., Jan 27 at 7 and 9 p.m. at the Coolidge.

Other films in the festival are being screened at the International Institute of Boston and the Museum of Fine Arts., where "Sweet Sixteen" is the opening night offering, tonight at 7:30.

Show your film!

A similar festival is looking for short films made by young people. The 3rd annul Media That Matters Film Festival will be shown as part of an installation at Lincoln Center in New York during the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival next year. The deadline for submission is Feb. 6, 2002.

Many of the short films screened at the film festival at Boston Youth Works this past summer would be ideal for this festival. Film and video works must be a maximum of eight minutes in length. Docs, animation, games, music videos, interactive online projects, PSA's and youth productions are welcome. See http://www.newfilmmakers.com for more information.

There are at least three awards of $1000 each presented at an awards ceremony in New York. The Sundance Channel will be sponsoring an award for the best youth-produced film, video, or new media project. For further questions, you can call Shira Golding (Film Festival Coordinator) at (646)230-6288.

She's a winner

"Best Discovery of the Year" designation from the Boston Film Society went to Boston International Festival of Women's Cinema for screening Lorna Lowe Streeter's emotionally moving documentary "Shelter." The true life drama focused on the filmmaker's search for her birth parents and her longing for a comforting maternal presence in her life. Streeter also showed her movie at the Roxbury Film Festival.

Asunder

Does this sound gripping? Blair Underwood, Debbie Morgan, and Michael Beach as young marrieds caught up in a thriller about revenge and obsession. Tim Reid's indie film "Asunder" comes to Northeastern University's Blackman Auditorium for one screening, Fri., Feb. 7 at 7:30 p.m.

Filmmaker Reid will be at the screening for a Q. & A. session. The event is part of The Color of Film Series which debuted with the Jamaican shot documentary "Life And Debt" shown at the Strand last fall.

Founder of the sponsoring organization Color of Film Collaborative Lisa Simmons says that the series came about "because we realized with the success of the Roxbury Film Festival that there really is an audience for the films we want to screen."

You can call 617-282-1234 for more information.