| No More Tears Sister |
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| Directed By:
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Helene Klodawsky
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| Produced In:
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Canada, 2004
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| Running Time:
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60 minutes
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| Genre:
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Documentary
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| Language:
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| Themes:
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Sri Lanka,Children's Rights, Ethnic Conflict, Women's Rights,
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| Distributor:
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The National Film Board of Canada
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| Trailer
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Click Here to view the trailer
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Synopsis:
If love is the first inspiration of a social revolutionary, as has sometimes been said, no one better exemplified that idea than Dr. Rajani Thiranagama. Love for her people and her newly independent nation, and empathy for the oppressed of Sri Lanka - including women and the poor - led her to risk her middle-class life to join the struggle for equality and justice for all. Love led her to marry across ethnic and class lines. In the face of a brutal government crackdown on her Tamil people, love led her to help the guerrilla Tamil Tigers, the only force seemingly able to defend the people. When she realized the Tigers were more a murderous gang than a revolutionary force, love led her to break with them, publicly and dangerously. Love then led her from a fulfilling professional life in exile back to her hometown of Jaffna and to civil war, during which her human rights advocacy made her a target for everyone with a gun. She was killed on September 21, 1989 at the age of 35.
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Links:
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Read a commentary by Human Rights Watch Children's Rights director Jo Becker on the Tamil Tigers' recruitment of child soldiers and about the role that expatriate Sri Lankans play in the ongoing conflict.
Download the film's P.O.V. Lesson Plan
Find out what happened to the people featured in the film after the film was completed.
Read about Human Rights Watch Research in Sri Lanka.
Read about the history of conflict in Sri Lanka.
Since Rajani's death in 1989, University Teachers for Human Rights has continued her work of documenting human-rights abuses.Learn more about the current situation in Sri Lanka in this interview with members of the organization.
Read letters written by Rajani Thiranagama
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