Parents and Children
January 2009
Banner photo: © Frans Lemmens/Getty Images
SGI-USA Hosts Human Rights Film Festival
Film director Linda Booker
The SGI-USA Santa Monica Culture of Peace Resource Center hosted the opening of the 8th Annual Human Rights Film Festival on October 24. The goal of the festival, curated by the Echo Park Film Center, was to highlight social justice issues too often ignored by the mainstream media.
The festival offered an opportunity for viewers to participate in and take ownership of the event, deconstructing the traditional barriers between filmmaker and audience. It was intended as a vehicle to promote thought, discussion, debate and action.
For the first time, the festival screened films at three different venues across Los Angeles: the SGI-USA Culture of Peace Resource Center in Santa Monica on October 24, the Echo Park Film Center on October 25 and the Metabolic Studio/FarmLab on October 26.
The festival featured films from a variety of countries, including Taiwan and Mexico, examining the real-life stories that underlie human rights issues. It opened with a screening of the film Love Lived on Death Row at the SGI-USA center, followed by a reception with the director, Linda Booker. The film tells the story of four siblings whose father was sentenced to death for the murder of their mother in 1990. In 2004, the siblings decided to visit him in prison, seeking answers so they could move on with their adult lives. The film's portrayal of a family torn apart by tragedy and reunited by another impending tragedy is a powerful examination of capital punishment.
The founder and programmer of the film festival, Mr. Paolo Davanzo, also previously participated as a speaker in the 2008 SGI-USA Culture of Peace Distinguished Speaker Series where he delivered a talk, on February 16, titled "Working Locally, Thinking Globally: Community Approaches to Media Activism and Literacy."
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