Staff Writer
20 March 2008
The Botswana Centre for Human Rights - Ditshwanelo - has an intriguing line-up for its 8th Annual Human Rights Festival.
This is a film festival addressing a variety of human rights issues. It is scheduled to run from next Thursday to April 3, 2008.
Works in the line-up include award winning internationally acclaimed films. The festival will kick-off with 'Shake Hands with the Devil', directed by Peter Raymond. The film tells the story of Lt-Gen Romeo Dallaire's experience in Rwanda during the genocide.
In 100 days (between April 6 and July 16 1994), about 800 people were killed in Rwanda where the Canadian general was head of UN peace-keeping troops. The victims, many of them Tutsi and moderate Hutus were hacked to death with machetes. Unsupported by UN headquarters and the Security Council, Dallaire and his handful of soldiers were incapable of stopping the genocide.
This is his story as he shares his remarkable emotional pilgrimage back to Rwanda 10 years after the genocide. Scarred by his experiences and reliving the horrors daily, Dallaire has more than once attempted suicide. The film has won a number of awards including, the 2007 Emmy Award for Best Documentary.
The Ditshwanelo festival will show 'Through the Eye of a Needle - The ANC Succession battle in the Eastern Cape' directed by Ben Cashdan and Riaan Hendricks. The film is based on the current leadership race in South Africa and the cast spent two weeks in OR Tambo region of the Eastern Cape (the former Transkei) trying to understand the positions of both sides.
They visited a community where recent protests over lack of service delivery took place, to record views about the leadership question.
The Ditshwanelo film festival will show another South African film, entitled: 'This Crazy Thing Called Grace', directed by Craig Matthew.
The film looks at the crazy world of Desmond Tutu through his own eyes. The film pays tribute to the former Archbishop and takes a 'fly-on-the-wall' approach to his daily duties; his meditative moments at home, and his personal attempts to come to terms with the atrocities unearthed by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). It is interspersed with coverage of the TRC hearing and archive footage to bring the testimonies alive. The film is a poignant narrative on the goals of the TRC and the man whose charisma and humanity helped make it happen.
The Ditshwanelo menu includes yet another thrilling South African film, 'A Lion's Trail', directed by Francois Venter. The film has a remarkable relation with one of the most recognisable pop songs in the world. How many people realise that the hit tune 'American' was written by Solomon Linda, a Zulu musician who never earned a cent in royalties and died in poverty? The film tells the story of how the Zulu song 'Mbube' was transcribed by American folk singer Pete Seeger into 'Wimoweh' finally gaining international recognition as the 'Lion Sleeps Tonight'.
Linda first composed 'Mbube' in the 1920s. Almost all international rights on the song are held by Americans. Linda's daughter remained poor in Soweto and began fighting copyright owners for their father's share of the profits.
Yet another interesting film to be aired by Ditshwanelo is 'Our Song, directed by Ernst Engels of Camelthorn Media for Development Trust. In recognition of the first anniversary of the 2005 Operation Murambatsvina in Zimbabwe, regional solidarity was harnessed in 2006. In 2007, a cast of actors comprising Batswana and Zimbabweans produced this play after conducting fieldwork among Batswana and Zimbabweans living in Botswana.
Showtime Productions worked with BOCISCOZ to produce 'Our Song'. Other films, to be viewed, include 'Black Gold' directed by Nick Francis, 'A World Without Water' directed by Brian Woods and Deborah Shipley, 'Masai Land: Restricted Area' directed by Kristin Sellfyan, and 'Fighting the Silence' directed by Femke van Velzen just to mention a few. Tickets go for P25.00 per day. For more information interested parties may log on to Ditshwanelo website at www.ditshwanelo.org.bw.
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