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Colby-Sawyer College's Human Rights Film Series Explores Issues of Resistance and Reconciliation

NEW LONDON, N.H., Jan. 26, 2004 – Colby-Sawyer College's continues its Human Rights Film Series: Resistance and Reconciliation, a series of films that explore a variety of important human rights issues. In this series of powerful and thought-provoking films, the filmmakers highlight issues such as Chile's political turmoil as the catalyst for the rise of strong student leaders and a Jerusalem doctor's moral and ethical plight to save the lives of wounded suicide attackers and their victims alike.

In "Pinochet's Children," three individuals talk about their lives after General Pinochet took control of Chile in 1973.

The Human Rights Film Series is sponsored by the Colby-Sawyer College Cultural Events Committee. The event is free and open to the public and will be held in handicapped-accessible locations.

The film series continues with “Pinochet's Children” on Tuesday, Feb. 10, at 7 p.m. in Wheeler Hall, Ware Campus Center. Alejandro Goic was 16, Enrique Paris, 12, and Carolina Tohá, eight years old, when General Pinochet seized power in Chile on Sept. 11, 1973. During the coup Alejandro and Carolina lost their fathers, and all three lost their innocence and youth. Eventually all went on to become powerful student leaders in the tumultuous eighties. With thoughtful, emotional interviews and rich archival footage, “Pinochet's Children,” directed by Paula Rodriguez, beautifully renders three people's course of life against the background of the socio-political developments in their homeland of Chile.

The second film, “Welcome to Hadassah Hospital,” a powerful story about integrity and humanity set against the violence in Israel today, will be presented on Tuesday, Feb. 24, at 7 p.m. in Wheeler Hall, Ware Campus Center. Director Ramón Gieling takes a startling, close-up look at the individuals who make up the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. Filmmaker Gieling cleverly exposes the pulse of his film when he chooses as his main character the charismatic, controversial and bluntly philosophical Dr. Avi Rivkind. Dr. Rivkind, along with his staff, must regularly treat those affected by, and sometimes those involved in suicide attacks in Israel.

In a tangible twist of irony, victims and offenders are often treated side by side. The doctors take the situation for granted and make no distinction between their patients; for the patients, the situation is more difficult to swallow.

The film series is sponsored by the Colby-Sawyer College Cultural Events Committee.

Colby-Sawyer, founded in 1837, is a comprehensive liberal arts college located in the scenic Lake Sunapee Region of central New Hampshire. Students from 25 states and five foreign countries learn in small classes through a select array of programs that integrate the liberal arts and sciences with pre-professional experience. Visit us on the World Wide Web at www.colby-sawyer.edu. Colby-Sawyer College, 541 Main Street, New London, N.H. 03257 (603) 526-3000 (phone)

Colby-Sawyer College
541 Main Street
New London, NH 03257
Tel: 603-526-3000