The Rising Up for Human Dignity Film and Discussion Series took place May 7-21. Recording of the panel discussion, resources and actions can all be found below.
Rising Up For Human Dignity Film Series:
Syrian, Rohingya, and Congolese voices
Elevating the voices of artists and performers from within communities in conflict and their diasporas around the world who are rising up and speaking out for human dignity.
Featured
FOR SAMA (2019, Syria) dir Waad Al-Kateab
I AM ROHINGYA: A GENOCIDE IN FOUR ACTS (2018, Canada) dir Yusuf Zine
SEMA (2019, DR Congo) dir Machérie Ekwa
Brought to you by:
World Oregon, PSU Holocaust and Genocide Studies Project, Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education, Amnesty International USA Group 48, and Never Again Coalition
FOR SAMA is both an intimate and epic journey into the female experience of war. A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to Sama, all while cataclysmic conflict rises around her.
Her camera captures incredible stories of loss, laughter and survival as Waad wrestles with an impossible choice– whether or not to flee the city to protect her daughter’s life, when leaving means abandoning the struggle for freedom for which she has already sacrificed so much.
Panel discussion included Dr. Hisham Bismar, Noura Shikh Ayob and Elias Matar.
Click here for more info on the film and ways to take action.
This presentation is courtesy PBS | Frontline. Partners for this presentation include Portland Refugee Support Group, Lighthouse Peace Initiative and Alliance for Peacebuilding.
I AM ROHINGYA: A GENOCIDE IN FOUR ACTS is a powerful documentary that chronicles the journey of fourteen Rohingya youth who take to the stage in order to depict their families' harrowing experience in Burma and beyond; before, during and immediately after the escalation of military violence in their native homeland, the Arakan region of Burma; their unforgiving escape by foot and by boat to makeshift camps in Bangladesh; and their eventual resettlement in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario.
With no prior acting experience, the decision to re-enact the stories of their people becomes a courageous act of resistance, demonstrating to the world that they will not be erased, and they will not be silenced.
Panel discussion includes directors Yusuf Zine and Kevin Young, actor Ruma Ruma and Rohingya activist Sirazul Islam.
Click here for more info on the film and ways to take action.
This presentation is courtesy of Innerspeak. Partners for this event include Americans for Rohingya, Friends of Rohingya USA, American Jewish World Service, Alliance for Peacebuilding, and STAND.
SEMA (which means “speak out” in Swahili) is a film about survival made by survivors. It follows the lives of two women from different backgrounds whose lives are changed forever by rape, and who must find the strength to survive and make a difference for themselves and their children.
Thanks to the support of Dr Denis Mukwege, Panzi Hospital, and the courage of survivors, the National Movement of Survivors of Sexual Violence in DR Congo was formed. The Movement decided to create a film to tell the story of what a survivor of sexual violence faces. The survivors of The Movement came together to write the screenplay based on their own real experiences. The majority of the acting roles are played by the survivors themselves. In order to create a truly powerful film, they bravely reenacted their own traumas. The survivors took on these parts consciously, realizing the benefit of artistic expression as part of the healing process.
Panel discussion includes Maud-Salomé Ekila , Johana Amani and moderator Aerlyn Pfeil.
Click here for more info on the film and ways to take action.
This presentation is courtesy The National Movement of Survivors of Sexual Violence in DR Congo. Partners for this event include Panzi Foundation, Panzi Hospital, Dr. Denis Mukwege Foundation, Panzi Foundation USA, Action Kivu, Every Woman Treaty and Alliance for Peacebuilding.
Graphic design for Rising Up for Human Dignity Series by David Friedman.