Best of the Fest

Due to popular demand following sold-out screenings in 2004, we are delighted to announce BEST OF FEST which will give you the chance to catch two of the must-see films in this year’s festival again on Friday, March 25. Please check the Ritzy Box Office during the festival for full details.

All films are preceded by short introductions only, there are no trailers. Latecomers will be allowed entry at the manager’s discretion. The Programme may be subject to last minute alteration, please check with the box office. The films represent many points of view, not necessarily those of Human Rights Watch.

Theatre Meets Film

ROYAL COURT INTERNATIONAL PLAYWRIGHTS

Throughout the last decade the Royal Court Theatre has been involved in the development and production of new plays by international playwrights from all parts of the world. The Royal Court Theatre's International Playwrights Programme has collaborated with the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival since 2002, introducing specially commissioned short human rights plays from over a dozen countries. Some of these plays will be presented before related screenings.
These plays were commissioned with the support of the Genesis Foundation.

In April, the Royal Court presents two striking new pieces of work, STONING MARY, a playwright's response to atrocities which we don't hear about soon enough; and MY NAME IS RACHEL CORRIE, the words of a peace activist whose life ended as she stood between a bulldozer and a Palestinian home.

Click here for further information and to book
Tickets from £7.50
Box Office 020 7565 5000
www.royalcourttheatre.com
Royal Court, Sloane Square, London SW1

Associated Ritzy Cafe Events

MUSIC LIVE AND DIRECT FROM AROUND THE GLOBE

On the following nights a live band with a link to one of the films shown that day will perform in the intimate, upstairs Ritzy Cafe.

Fri 18 Mar - Baadasssss! Reception in the Ritzy Café
A reception in the Ritzy Café follows the screening of Baadassss!
Special Guest DJ Charlie Dark (Blacktronica) spinning a choice selection of funk and soul.
8pm - 11pm FREE

Sun 20 Mar - DJ Eric Soul and guests
Eric is no stranger to the Ritzy Café: his fortnightly Afro-groov night on a Wednesday is a local favourite. Moving to a Sunday for the HRWIFF with his blazing melange of hip hop, soul and an array of global urban sounds from New York via Paris and London to Dakar and Johannesburg, his night will include a live performance referencing the afternoon’s screening of The Refugee All Stars.
(The Refugee All Stars screens at 16:30 in The Ritzy Cinema)
8pm – 11pm FREE

Wed 23 Mar - She'koyah
Drawing on the music usually being played at funerals, weddings, engagements and other festivities all over Eastern Europe, She’koyah transform any space they play into a debauched celebration. Accordion, clarinet, double-bass, violin…anyone familiar with the way Balkan countries soundtrack their parties will know that this is can be no ordinary function band. Recently artists such as Ojos De Brujo, Oi-va-voi, LoJo and Manu Chao have let gypsy rhythms and instrumentation into their mix. Come hear a band that play the real deal.
( Videoletters screens in The Ritzy Cinema at 18:30)
8pm – 11pm FREE

Thu 24 Mar - Ana Robles
Argentinean born singer Ana Robles from Cordoba is joined by a bassist and percussionist to serve up Latin and Argentinean tunes, both standards and originals. Having moved to London after a stint in Brazil, Ana’s voice blends the warmth and intimacy of South America with a contemporary jazz feel for Argentinean and Latin music.
(Una de Dos screens in The Ritzy Cinema at 18:30)
8pm – 11pm FREE

Fri 25 Mar - 40 Thieves
The last night of the Human Rights Watch film festival will consist of a screening of the most popular film from the last week. Who better to play in the Ritzy Café that night than arguably our most popular global-electro band, 40 Thieves. Samples, violin, oud and clarinet combine into a beat driven mix of bass, drums and Mid-eastern tunes. Hip-hop and rhythm and blues influenced electronic textures melt with Idris Rahman’s distinctive solo clarinet whilst the gypsy violin adds a whole new dimension of Eastern-European themes.
8pm – 11pm FREE

For more information and further details, please check the Ritzy web site's Upstairs at the Ritzy page or call 020 7733 2229.

Open Wound: Chechnya 1994 to 2003

MARCH 16-27 AT TROLLEY GALLERY, 73A RED CHURCH STREET, LONDON E27DJ

December 2004 marked a decade since Russia launched war in Chechnya. Ten years on and two conflicts later, the international community‘s policy of disengagement has not worked. Tens of thousands of civilians are dead and hundreds of thousands are displaced yet the international community continues to look the other way. Since the U.S.-led war on terror began after September 11, 2001, international concern for human rights abuses in Chechnya has virtually disappeared while the Russian government‘s brutal campaign against civilians continues. The muting of this concern has not been lost on the Kremlin, which has used the “war on terrorism” to justify its actions in Chechnya.

Over the last ten years, Stanley Greene made some twenty trips to Chechnya as a photographer and he has come back as a witness to the death and destruction that took place, is taking place, and will go on unless the international community refuses to be deceived any longer.

With Open Wound: Chechnya 1994 to 2003, an exhibition of images taken from his recently published book of the same title (Trolley), Stanley Greene does not ask us to pity the people of Chechnya. What he demands is our outrage.

Stanley Greene is the recipient of the 2004 W. Eugene Smith Award in Humanistic Photography and Open Wound: Chechnya 1994 to 2003 is thefirst prize award-winner for the 2004 World Press Photo for Daily Life stories.

For more information please contact Charlie Devereux/Trolley Books at charlie@trolleynet.com, tel. 020 7739 5948, http://www.trolleybooks.com

Education Programme

The festival‘s free education programme aims to meet the needs of teachers working with human rights issues, and to support important and sometimes difficult conversations in ways that inspire youth dialogue around issues of human rights. Films are selected from this year‘s festival and the HRWIFF‘s catalogue of films for education audiences. Each event includes:

• Free screening plus Q&A with filmmakers, writers, human rights activists;
• Free Teaching Resources for Film, Media, Communications, Sociology and PHSE/Citizenship at Key Stages 3 and 4, GNVQ and 16+;
• Programme notes for students.

Wed 16 March, Ritzy Cinema, 10.30-12.15

Street children in Dhaka over 6 years, surviving long working hours and demands of school and family. For ages 13+. Key issues: Children‘s Rights. Child labour. Bangladesh. Download free teaching materials (pdf file - 3 pages, 680 kb)

Thu 17 March, ICA Cinema,12.30-2.30

On the front line with independent journalists covering the US invasion of Iraq, one of the largest media events in history. For ages 15+. Key issues: Journalism. Media representation of war. Download free teaching materials (pdf file - 3 pages, 660 kb)

Fri 18 March, Ritzy Cinema, 10.30-1.00

For ages 15+. Key issues: Black independent cinema (US/UK, 1970s to today). Media representations of black culture.Download free teaching materials (pdf file - 4 pages, 742 kb)

Mon 21 March, Ritzy Cinema, 11.00-1.00

For ages 15+. Key issues: Young people‘s rights. Living in war Ð media representations. Lebanon and Israel. Download free teaching materials (pdf file - 4 pages, 707 kb)

Tues 22 March, Ritzy Cinema, 10.30-12.30

For ages 13+. Key issues, in 2 short films: Children‘s Rights. Disability (Autism and Aspergers Syndrome). Women‘s Rights (Africa). Download free teaching materials (pdf file - 4 pages, 113 kb)

For further information and bookings, please contact Corinna Downing at londonff@hrw.org, marking the subject line “Education Programme ”.

The Education Programme is supported by Film London and UKFC

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