For the tenth time, the Arts Arena presents the UNAFF Traveling Film Festival in a specially curated selection of films over two days. Conceived in 1998 at Stanford UNAFF screens documentaries by international filmmakers dealing with topics such as human rights, the environment, women’s issues, children, refugee protection, homelessness, racism, disease control, universal education, war and peace. Many UNAFF selections have gone on to win Oscars and other major awards. Films will be screened in the presence of UNAFF founder Jasmina Bojic and a number of directors of the films.
Synopses are below. Exact screening times will be posted shortly.
May 12, Le Grand Action, 5 rue des Ecoles, Paris 5e.
14:30 to 15:30
DRAWN TOGETHER: COMICS, DIVERSITY AND STEREOTYPES
(53 min) US
Director/Producer: Harleen Singh Drawn Together: Comics, Diversity and Stereotypes looks at the pervasive culture of racist stereotyping in U.S. society through the lens of comics and their dynamic creators. 15:45 to 17:15 SEATS AT THE TABLE
(90 min) UK/US
Director/Producer: Chris Farina This feature documentary film depicts Russian literature as the unlikely medium that brings together a University of Virginia literature class and residents of a maximum-security juvenile correctional center. Their interactions become the catalyst for powerful relationships that break down the initial stereotypes with which both groups began, transforming and empowering all involved as they discover through literature their shared humanity. Refreshments 17:45 to 19:15 JAZZ AMBASSADORS
(90 min) UK/US
Director: Hugo Berkeley
Producer: Mick Csàky The Cold War and Civil Rights collide in this remarkable story of music, diplomacy and race. Beginning in 1956, when America asked its greatest jazz artists to travel the world as cultural ambassadors, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington and their mixed-race band members, faced a painful dilemma: how could they represent a country that still practiced Jim Crow segregation? 19:45 to 21:15
LIVING IN THE FUTURE’S PAST
(84 min) US Director: Susan Kucera
Producer: Jeff Bridges Academy Award Winner, Jeff Bridges presents this beautifully photographed tour de force of original thinking on who we are and the environmental challenges we face. Bridges, alongside prominent scientists and authors, weaves evolution, emergence, entropy, dark ecology, and what some are calling the end of nature, into a story that helps us understand our place among the species of Earth’s household. The film upends our way of thinking and provides original insights into our subconscious motivations, the unintended consequences, what to do about our fossil slaves, and how our fundamental animal nature influences our future as humankind. May 13, Columbia Global Centers | Paris, 4 rue de Chevreuse, Paris 6e. 18:30 to 19:45 DEATH BY DESIGN
Director: Sue Williams
Producers: Sue Williams, Hilary Klotz Steinman Consumers love – and live on – their smartphones, tablets and laptops. A cascade of new devices pours endlessly into the market, promising even better communication, non-stop entertainment and instant information. The numbers are staggering. By 2020, four billion people will have a personal computer. Five billion will own a mobile phone. But this revolution has a dark side, hidden from most consumers. In an investigation that spans the globe, filmmaker Sue Williams investigates the underbelly of the electronics industry and reveals how even the smallest devices have deadly environmental and health costs. From the intensely secretive factories in China, to a ravaged New York community and the high tech corridors of Silicon Valley, the film tells a story of environmental degradation, of health tragedies, and the fast approaching tipping point between consumerism and sustainability. 20:00 to 21:15 GENERATION ZAPPED
Director: Sabine el Gemayel
Producers: Sabine el Gemayel, Peter Sullivan, Carolyn Chen Generation Zapped is an eye-opening documentary, which reveals that wireless technology poses serious health risks, from infertility to cancer. Through interviews with experts in science and public health, along with people who suffer from high sensitivity to wireless radiation, the film suggests ways to reduce your exposure and protect your family. Wine
