From the website of the Loft Cinema (3233 E Speedway):

THE HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH FILM FESTIVAL bears witness to human rights violations and creates a forum for courageous individuals on both sides of the lens to empower audiences with the knowledge that personal commitment can make a difference. The film festival brings to life human rights abuses through storytelling in a way that challenges each individual to empathize and demand justice for all people.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:

Saturday, February 4 • 11am • The Loft Cinema
INTRODUCTION: DOCUMENTARY FILM (60 min)
An introductory discussion on the genre of documentary film.
Facilitated by Jeff Yanc, Loft Cinema Program Director.

Tuesday, February 7 • 7pm • The Loft Cinema
IF A TREE FALLS (Dir. Marshall Curry, 85 min.) **2012 ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE / BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE!**
Post screening discussion with Dr. Paul Robbins, Professor and Director, School of Geography & Development,
University of Arizona.

Wednesday, February 8 • 7pm • Tubac Center for the Arts, 9 Plaza Road
Tubac, Arizona
LOVE CRIMES OF KABUL (Dir. Tanaz Eshaghian, 72 min.)
Post screening discussion with Anissa Tanweer, Graduate student and journalist, School of Middle Eastern Studies,
University of Arizona.

Tuesday, February 21 • 7pm • Grace St. Paul Church, 2331 E. Adams St.
Tucson, Arizona
LOST ANGELS: SKID ROW IS MY HOME (Dir: Thomas Nappers, 75 min.)
Post screening discussion with Bill Magnotto, Executive Director, La Frontera Partners, Inc. & Richard Van Rhoads, MD, Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, University of Arizona.

Tuesday, March 13 • 7pm • The Loft Cinema
PRESUMED GUILTY (Dir: Roberto Hernandez and Geoffrey Smith, 87 min.)
Post screening discussion facilitated by Dr. William Beezley, Department of History, University of Arizona.

Thursday, March 15 • 7pm • Grace St. Paul Church, 2331 E. Adams St.
Tucson, Arizona
OUT IN THE SILENCE (Dir: Dean Hamer & Joe Wilson, 65 min.)
Post screening discussion facilitated by Stephen Russell, Fitch Nesbitt Endowed Chair and Director, Frances McClelland Institute, Norton School Family and Consumer Sciences, University of Arizona and President – Elect, Society for Research on Adolescence.

Tuesday, March 20 • 7pm • Joel D. Valdez Main Library, 101 N. Stone Ave.
Tucson, Arizona
THE GREEN WAVE (Dir: Ali Samadi Ahadi, 80 min.)
Post screening discussion facilitated by Dr. Anne Betteridge, Director, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, University of Arizona.

Sunday, March 25 • 2pm • Quincie Douglas Library, 1585 E. 36th St.
Tucson, Arizona
LOST ANGELS: SKID ROW IS MY HOME (Dir: Thomas Nappers, 75 min.)
Post screening discussion with Bill Magnotto, Executive Director, La Frontera Partners, Inc. & Richard Van Rhoads, MD, Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, University of Arizona.

Tuesday, March 27 • 7pm • The Loft Cinema
LAST BEST CHANCE (Dir: Shari Robertson and Michael Camerini, 100 min.)
Post screening Q&A with directors Michael Camerini & Shari Robertson.

Wednesday, March 28 • 10am • Universidad Pedagogica Nacional, Campus Nogales, Sonora, Mexico
LAST BEST CHANCE (Dir: Shari Robertson and Michael Camerini, 100 min.)
Post screening Q&A with directors Michael Camerini & Shari Robertson.

Wednesday, March 28 • 2:30pm • Tubac Center of the Arts, 9 Plaza Road
Tubac, Arizona
MOUNTAINS AND CLOUDS (Dir: Michael Camerini & Shari Robertson, 120 min.)
Post screening Q&A with directors Michael Camerini & Shari Robertson.

Tuesday, April 3 • 7pm • Joel Valdez Main Library, 101 N. Stone Ave.
Tucson, Arizona
LOVE CRIMES OF KABUL (Dir. Tanaz Eshaghian, 72 min.)
Post screening discussion with Anissa Tanweer, Graduate student and journalist, School of Middle Eastern Studies,
University of Arizona.

Tuesday, April 17 • 7pm • The Loft Cinema
GRANITO: HOW TO NAIL A DICTATOR (Dir: Pamela Yates, 80 min.)
Post screening discussion with Dr. Elizabeth Olgesby, Associate Professor, School of Geography and Development, Center for Latin American Studies, University of Arizona & Kate Doyle, Senior Analyst of U.S. policy in Latin America at the National Security Archive.

This program was made possible by the Arizona Humanities Council.
With additional funding from: Bookmans Entertainment Exchange, The Fund for Civility, Respect, and Understanding, University of Arizona School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, and Joe F. Tarver.

The only film I’ve seen before is “Out in the Silence” – a powerful film about a Pennsylvania gay high school student who was severely bullied (which has played at the Loft and Himmel Library). I picked up a yellow flyer of this film festival, which has descriptions of the movie contents, but you can google the titles as well. And thanks to attorney Joe Tarver for his sponsorship, as he is married to Peggy Johnson, the Loft’s Executive Director.

3/14/12 update: I watched the Mexican film “Presumed Guilty” at the Loft and an a former practicing attorney I was horrified at the lack of presumption of innocence in the Mexican criminal justice system. The defendant in this documentary was not informed of the charges against him, nor were his witnesses allowed to testify at the trial. In the “review” he had to cross examine the prosecution’s witnesses, despite having an attorney, and the judge & prosecutor did not consider the new evidence presented. Amazingly enough the film makers were able to persuade an appeals court judge to finally release him after 2 years in prison, from his jail cell shared with 20 other men.