Latin American Films at the
Human Rights Watch International Film Festival 2004
June 10-24
Co-presented by Cinema Tropical

All screenings at Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater, 165 West 65th Street, plaza level (between Broadway and Amsterdam Ave.)

For tickets visit Filmlinc or call (212) 875-5600

$10 general admission
$7 for students with valid photo ID
$6 for members
$5 for seniors (only at screenings Monday - Friday before 6pm)
For group rates, please call (212) 875-5476 weekdays between 11:30am - 5:30pm.

For more information visit Human Rights Watch

What the Eye Doesn't See New York Premiere
Francisco J. Lombardi, Peru, 2003, 149 min, 35mm, drama.
In Spanish with English subtitles
Acclaimed filmmaker Francisco J. Lombardi (La Boca del Lobo; Tinta Roja; Don't Tell Anyone) delivers his most ambitious project to date with the political psychodrama What the Eye Doesn't See. Set in the final days of Alberto Fujimori's presidency in Peru, the film explores the corruption plaguing many Latin American governments as seen through the eyes of everyday people.

What the Eye Doesn't See focuses on the scandal caused by the release of the infamous "Vladi videos" — hidden camera tapes of presidential advisor Vladimiro Montesinos blackmailing high-level government officials — which eventually led to the end of Fujimori's presidency. But rather than recreate true stories, Lombardi uses a colorful array of fictional characters to show the ramifications of dishonest government on individual lives.

Six interweaving stories give us a picture of Peru's social reality as its citizens attempt to cope during a critical juncture in their history. Francisco Lombardi is the recipient of HRWIFF’s 2004 Irene Diamond Lifetime Achievement Award. What the Eye Doesn’t See will have a special presentation at the Film Society’s Latin Beat in September.

Friday, June 11, 8:30pm

Death Squadrons: The French School New York Premiere
Mari-Monique Robin, France, 2003, 60min., video, documentary
In English, French and Spanish with English subtitles
Little is known about the involvement of the French military in Operation
Condor, established in 1975 by the autocratic governments of South America. This supranational criminal organization's mission was the extermination of political opponents, both in their own countries and abroad.

For the first time ever, South American generals, including some of the leading perpetrators of Argentina's "Dirty War," speak in front of the (sometimes hidden) camera. They describe the interrogation lessons taught by French officers in the 1960's and 70's, the torture techniques, and the flights over the Atlantic where many victims were dropped to their deaths.

The French perfected their interrogation methods after their defeat in Indo-China and during the Algerian war. Death Squadrons also shows how, during the 1960's, the French were instrumental in training U.S. officers at Fort Bragg on counter-insurgency techniques that were later used by the U.S. military in Vietnam. With Argentina's Supreme Court about to decide whether generals involved in Operation Condor are to be judged in Argentina or extradited to Europe, this firsthand evidence of their involvement, as well as evidence implicating the French government, is explosively relevant to the ongoing battle for human rights.

Followed by:
The World Stopped Watching New York Premiere
Peter Raymont and Harold Crooks, Canada, 2003, 56 min., video, documentary
In Spanish and English with English subtitles
What happens to a country's people when the media spotlight is turned off? As the last battleground of the Cold War the Sandinista/Contra conflict was one of the biggest news stories of the 80s. At that time director Peter Raymont made the award-winning The World is Watching which documented the media circus in 1987 in Managua, Nicaragua.

In The World Stopped Watching, Raymont returns, sixteen years on, with two American journalists who appeared in that first documentary. They seek out the subjects of their old photographs and news stories to find out how their lives have changed over the years, and how Nicaragua has changed around them They discover a country no-longer torn apart by armed conflict, but still struggling with the aftermath of desperate poverty and endemic corruption, both of which go tragically unreported in the international press.

Friday, June 18, 3:30pm
Saturday, June 19, 4:30pm
Sunday June 20, 6:30pm

The Sixth Section
Alex Rivera, US, 2003, 26 min., documentary
The touching story of Grupo Union, an extraordinary transnational union created by a community of Mexican immigrants living and working in upstate New York. Through their collective efforts, they have raised tens of thousands of dollars to rebuild their Mexican hometown in Boqueron, Puebla. In the past few years, Grupo Union has brought electricity, an ambulance and a 2,000-seat baseball stadium to Boqueron. This revealing documentary sheds new light on an unexplored dynamic of the global economy and poignantly demonstrates how today’s 21st century immigrants are redefining "The American Dream." Filmmaker present. P.O.V. broadcast premiere on PBS, 2004.

Presented with Goodbye Hungaria (NY Premiere).
Jon Nealon, US/Hungary, 2003, 56m, documentary.

Thursday, June 17, 3:30pm
Friday, June 18, 9:15pm
Wednesday, June 23, 9pm
Thursday, June 24, 1:30pm