UPandOUT documentary film series

All screenings: 7pm. FREE refreshments, FREE admission, FREE door prizes - every first Thursday of the month.  Come early! at 6:45 we begin with an introductory, documentary short and begin serving refreshments.  

Location: 243 Broadway, Cambridge, MA (at the corner of Windsor & Broadway; entrance on Windsor). See google map. Equi-distant from MIT and Central Sq T-stops.

Financial Crisis. Panic. Bailout. The current crisis appeared to materialize out of nowhere. Even regulators and financial authorities would have us believe that they were taken entirely by surprise. Dire headlines demanded quick action to prevent the collapse of the financial system. Politicians told us that we have to bail out Wall Street to keep Main Street afloat. The same political class tries to convince everyday Americans that the reasons for the bailout are too complicated for us to understand, so we must leave the solutions to the financial experts . . . the same ones that didn't see this coming. At the same time, they give our hard-earned money to Wall Street fat cats, without any strings attached, turning a deaf ear to our intense and vocal opposition. 

Life On The Edge of A Bubble challenges the prevailing view of the sudden, unforeseeable and unique nature of the recent financial crisis by bringing to light the unfamiliar historical pattern; in fact, each generation has found itself precariously perched on the edge of a bubble. While the media focuses on symptoms, this film addresses the root causes that politicians, lobbyists and corporate executives conveniently avoid. The pattern unfolds for the viewer in an entertaining and accessible blend of archival footage, historical vignettes, and snapshots of current events, revealing the story in a sometimes irreverent, often surprising manner.

In View from a Grain of Sand director Meena Nanji combines verite footage, interviews and archival material to fashion a harrowing, thought-provoking, yet intimate portrait of the plight of Afghan women in the last 30 years - from the rule of King Mohammed Zahir Shah to the current Hamid Karzai government to the activist work of RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan. [This is a MUST SEE for all Americans whose understanding of the Middle East and the role we play in it is completely skewed by a U$/Israeli imperialist agenda.]

"There are VERY few films that approach the issue of Afghanistan, Afghan women's rights, and US policy with a decent level of sensitivity, political maturity, and sophistication. Meena Nanji's film is one of those very rare films that tackles all the important issues with grace, and conviction..." -- Sonali Kolhatkar, Co-Director of Afghan Women's Mission

Evidence of Revision: Part 5, The RFK assassination continued, MK UlTRA, and the Jonestown Massacre ... all related  opens to a short interview with Gore Vidal on Media Matters: “If anybody gets assassinated it's always ‘the lone-crazed killer. The lone-crazed killer; communist lone-crazed killer. These murders have almost always been plots.”

Project MK-ULTRA was the code name for a covert CIA mind-control and chemical interrogation research program, run by the Office of Scientific Intelligence. Begun in the early 1950s and continuing at least through the late 1960s, it used US citizens as its test subjects. The published evidence indicates that Project MK-ULTRA involved the surreptitious use of many types of drugs, as well as other methods, to manipulate individual mental states and to alter brain function. To this day most specific information regarding Project MKULTRA remains highly classified.

"Political murder is a part of our lives. It has been through our history [there were a rash of assassination is the 60's alone].” ~Walter Cronkite.  

For more info on the 5-DVD series, see notes below for June screening.  

Evidence of Revision: the Assassination of America is a 5-part documentary series whose purpose is to present the publicly unavailable and even suppressed historical audio, video, and film recordings largely unseen by the American public relating to the assassination of the Kennedy brothers, the little known classified "Black Ops" actually used to intentionally create the massive war in Viet Nam, the CIA "mind control" programs and their involvement in the RFK assassination and the Jonestown massacre and other important truths of our post-modern time. 

Evidence of Revision: Part 4, The RFK assassination as never seen before walks you through the political life of Robert Kennedy. After setting the stage, the film gives ample evidence to confute the ‘official story’ of RFK’s assassination, which leaves many questions unanswered: Why was RFK rerouted from his original destination in the hotel straight into the path of an assassin's bullet? Who was the girl in the polka dot dress seen fleeing the hotel exclaiming "we shot him, we shot Kennedy"? Was there a CIA presence at the hotel that night? Why were additional bullets recovered but never entered into evidence? Was Sirhan Sirhan a mind-controlled patsy? You be the judge.

Filmed during the massive Israeli attack on Lebanon in 2006, 33 Days chronicles the lives of four young people working in theatre, media and emergency relief. Through their creativity and commitment, the film tells untold stories that forever marked the lives of those who survived that fateful summer in Beirut. 

“A lot of people think this [assault] was just a small skirmish, but a million people were displaced from their homes, all victims of circumstances,” recalls director Mai Masri. “As one woman says in the documentary, ‘We want dignity, not canned food.’ What was also important about [the 2006 assault] was that it also unified the Lebanese for a while. Political divides were forgotten and when Hezbollah scored some victories, it was celebrated as a Lebanese victory against those who attacked our civillians."

Twenty-five Thousand Tents, Maybe More powerfully documents the lives of Palestinians currently stranded in al-Tanaf detention camp in a no man's land on the Iraq Syria border. These Palestinians first found refuge in Iraq after the Zionist occupation of Palestine and the expulsion of its people in 1948. Following the US invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003, they have been forced to flee and find refuge elsewhere once again. This profoundly moving and instructive film gives voice to the suffering and heroism of Palestinians as they tell of personal experiences, the hardships they endure, what led them to flee Iraq, as well as their aspirations and hopes for the future.

SPECIAL for April: Guest speaker! We are thrilled to announce that Thaer Shafiq Ali will be with us for this film, to tell his own amazing story. 

Thaer’s story is one of incredible courage. In 2005, with violence escalating in Iraq against Palestinian refugees, he begins plans to lead an exodus of threatened Palestinian families to Syria, to ask for refuge. Come and hear Thaer talk about his astounding odyssey. Thaer is also an amazing artist; some of his paintings will be on display for sale.

In Breaking the Silence, award-winning journalist John Pilger investigates the discrepancies between American and British claims for the 'war on terror' and the facts on the ground as he finds them in Afghanistan and Washington, DC.

In 2001, as the bombs began to drop, George W. Bush promised Afghanistan "the generosity of America and its allies". Now, the familiar old warlords are regaining power, religious fundamentalism is renewing its grip and military skirmishes continue routinely. In "liberated" Afghanistan, America has its military base and pipeline access, while the people have the warlords who are, says one woman, "in many ways worse than the Taliban". 

MALCOLM X- PRINCE OF ISLAM is the EXPLOSIVE and GRIPPING documentary that shows never before seen footage of al-Hajj Malik Shabazz, a truly Islamic hero.

... we have the example of Brother Malcolm. He courageously stood firm in the midst of his enemies and was ready to sacrifice everything in the pursuit of seeking the pleasure of Allah (swt). In ‘Prince of Islam’ we learn about his childhood struggles through to him joining the heretical group ‘Nation of Islam’ to him finally accepting the true religion of Islam after performing the Hajj in Makkah.

"If we don't stand for something, we may fall for anything." - Malcom X

Children of Shatila:  More than 350,000 Palestinian refugees live in Lebanon, 15,000 of them in the refugee camp of Shatila in Beirut. Through the eyes of two children who live in this camp, Issa and Farah, this documentary explores the determination to keep family and dreams thriving in a landscape that has been sculpted by war, poverty, grief and displacement.

Issa, a little boy who lives with his grandfather, sustained severe injuries when he was hit by a speeding car and has trouble learning in school. Farah lives with her parents and two sisters. The children’s memories and history are shaped by the violence that surrounds them. Both have lost family in the massacres and attacks that followed the 1948 Diaspora and the 1982 invasion of Lebanon by Israel. An aunt was decapitated, an uncle shot — every family and friend they know has lost someone to the violence. 

2008:

ZERO: An Investigation into 9/11, has one central thesis - that the official version of the events surrounding the attacks on 9/11 can not be true. This brand new feature documentary from Italian production company Telemaco explores the latest scientific evidence and reveals dramatic new witness testimony, which directly conflicts with the US Government's account.

Featuring presentations from intellectual heavy weights; Gore Vidal, and Noble Prize winner Dario Fo, the film challenges assumptions surrounding the attacks. In the words of the Italian daily newspaper, Il Corriere de da Sera, "What results is a sequence of contradictions, gaps, and omissions of stunning gravity."

The importance of this film can not be overstated. If its thesis is correct, the justification for going to war in Iraq is built on a series of outrageous lies. 

A British report on Israeli violence in Gaza against not only Palestinian civilians, but international aid volunteers and foreign reporters as well.

In 2003, Dispatches reporter Sandra Jordan and producer Rodrigo Vasquez risk their lives to reveal the shocking level of daily violence and murderous hate in the Gaza Strip. The Dispatches team reveals what life is like in what has become a fully blown war zone.

Director David Neunuebel grew up in an average American home where the Middle East and the Palestinian/Israel conflict were never part of his world. Yet after his first visit to the area he knew something was terribly wrong. What he saw, after many more trips, went counter to every American instinct he'd been taught growing up. This documentary is an attempt to get "beyond the mirage."

Beyond the Mirage: The Face of an Occupation is an opportunity to hear from people who actually live in the region and goes beyond what we get from the American media.

Mi·rage′ (mi·rähz′) n. a strongly held but false belief: delusion, hallucination, illusion, mirage, phantasm, misconception

Palestine Blues follows the repercussions of the Israeli Security Wall and Settlement expansion in the engulfed/annexed Palestinian farming communities of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.  Instead of focusing on the Wall as an object, Palestine Blues examines the grassroots resistance movement that has sprung up against it.

Focusing on the village of Jayyous (close to Qalqilia) and its nonviolent campaign against the wall, the film documents the heroic victories and tragic defeats of this farming community’s fight for survival.

This Body Is a Prison is "A look at the psychological impact of the occupation in the West Bank, but there's a lot of layers to it. In the literal sense, its looking at how society is divided with tangible things like the wall, checkpoints and roadblocks, but its also looking at individual people and saying that the same things happening in society as a whole are happening inside individuals. The documentary really focuses on children. Adults fit in to the extent that they discuss children's experiences." ~ Dylan Bergeson

July 3rd, 2008 - Leila Khaled, Hijacker

Leila Khaled, Hijacker documents the life of the PFLP activist Leila Khaled, who achieved notoriety with two airplane hijackings in 1969 and 1970. The film, by Palestinian-Swedish writer Lina Makboul, addresses the distinction between terrorism and the struggle for freedom.

All That Remains is Nada El Yassir's powerful documentary that explores the struggle of Bedouins of the Naqab against Israeli policies that aim to strip them of their land and their way of life.

Palestinian Arab Bedouins once peopled the entire Naqab (Negev) Desert, a region which accounts for 60% of historic Palestine. With the creation of Israel in 1948, the majority of these Palestinians were uprooted. Those who remain are either being forcibly concentrated within one of seven designated townships; or - if they refuse to abandon their lifestyle and economy - end up living in one of 46 "unrecognized villages" lacking water, electricity, schools, roads or medical services. 

Human Rights Watch in a 2008, March 28th report on the situation says the Bedouin are victims of widespread government discrimination. The 130-page report, “Off the Map: Land and Housing Rights Violations in Israel’s Unrecognized Bedouin Villages,” documents how discriminatory Israeli laws and practices force tens of thousands of Bedouin in the south of Israel to live in “unrecognized” shanty towns where they are under constant threat of seeing their homes demolished and their communities torn apart. 

USA vs Al-Arian tells the story of Sami Al-Arian, a  university professor and pro-Palestinian civil rights activist who in February 2003,was arrested in Tampa, Florida and charged with providing material support to a terror organization. For 2 ½ years he was held in solitary confinement, denied basic privileges and given limited access to his attorneys. While the Bush administration considered this a landmark case in its campaign against international terrorism, Sami Al-Arian claims he was targeted in an attempt to silence his political views.

The film follows Sami Al-Arian’s wife Nahla and their five children throughout his 6 month-long trial. It is an intimate family portrait that documents the strain brought on by the trial, a battle waged both in court and in the media. In the film a tight-knit family unravels before our very eyes as trial preparations, strategy and spin consume their lives. This is a nightmare come to life, as a man is prosecuted for his beliefs rather than his actions. 

2,000 Terrorists centers on the search for justice of four survivors of the massacres of Sabra and Shatila who are among a group that has initiated legal action against Ariel Sharon and others responsible for the killings.

In 1982, following Israel's invasion of Lebanon and the evacuation of the PLO, Israeli defense minister Ariel Sharon declared that '2,000 terrorists' remained in Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. Monitored by the Israeli army, a Lebanese militia entered the camps to exterminate these remaining 'terrorists'. Two days later more than two thousand civilian inhabitants were killed: men, women and children, in what the United Nations officially declared to be genocide. 

Rachel, An American Conscience contains interviews and footage of Rachel Corrie in Palestine. She was a 23-year-old American student and human rights activist. On March 16th, 2003, an Israeli soldier, driving a US Caterpillar bulldozer 2-stoires high, crushed her to death According to numerous witnesses and photographic documentation, she was killed intentionally.

The US has yet to condemn this atrocity by an "ally" who receives more US funding than any other nation on earth, well over $10 million per day. Congress has yet to pass a resolution condemning this use of American tax money to kill an American citizen. Israel has called this atrocity "regrettable."

The US media have yet to accord this horror the attention it would normally merit. There were virtually NO follow up stories; NO STORIES about the memorial service held the next day in Gaza that was broken up by an Israeli tank, while the bulldozer that killed her drove slowly, exultantly past. NO STORES about Israeli forces blocking the ambulance carrying her remains from exiting Gaza. NO STORES about Rachel's grieving parents and siblings. NO STORES.

MALCOLM X- PRINCE OF ISLAM is the EXPLOSIVE and GRIPPING documentary that shows never before seen footage of al-Hajj Malik Shabazz, a truly Islamic hero.

... we have the example of Brother Malcolm. He courageously stood firm in the midst of his enemies and was ready to sacrifice everything in the pursuit of seeking the pleasure of Allah (swt). In ‘Prince of Islam’ we learn about his childhood struggles through to him joining the heretical group ‘Nation of Islam’ to him finally accepting the true religion of Islam after performing the Hajj in Makkah.

"If we don't stand for something, we may fall for anything." - Malcom X

In the summer of 2002, Michel Khleifi and Eyal Sivan, a Palestinian and an Israeli, travelled together from the south to the north of their country of birth, traced their trajectory on a map and called it Route 181. This virtual line follows the borders outlined in UN Resolution 181 that was to partition Palestine into two states. 

As they travel along this route, they encounter men and women, Israeli and Palestinian, young and old, civilians and soldiers, filming them in their everyday lives. Each of these characters has their own way of evoking the frontiers that separate them from their neighbours: concrete, barbed-wire, cynicism, humour, indifference, suspicion, aggression… 

Frontiers have been built on the hills and in the plains, on mountains and in valleys but above all inside the minds and souls of these two peoples and in the collective unconscious of both societies. 

With Route 181: Fragments of a Journey in Palestine-Israel, Michel Khleifi and Eyal Sivan take us on a disorientating journey across this tiny territory with vast ramifications.

2007:

Goal Dreams is a wonderful new documentary feature focusing on national and personal identity as experienced by a sports team like none before.

How can a team without a recognized homeland, no permanent domestic league, no place to train and with players and coaches scattered around the globe compete in the world of modern football? Founded in 1928, the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) is considered one of the oldest football associations in the Arab World.

Since being recognized by FIFA in 1998, the team has risen 70 places in the international rankings, despite never having been able to play on home soil.

Following the team as they prepare for the 2006 World Cup, Goal Dreams chronicles the suspension of domestic league games after an Israel air strike on Palestine Stadium, while Austrian coach Alfred Riedle makes a heroic effort to mold players from diverse countries such as the USA, Chile, Palestine and Lebanon into a national team unlike any other.

In the summer of 2002, Michel Khleifi and Eyal Sivan, a Palestinian and an Israeli, travelled together from the south to the north of their country of birth, traced their trajectory on a map and called it Route 181. This virtual line follows the borders outlined in UN Resolution 181 that was to partition Palestine into two states. 

As they travel along this route, they encounter men and women, Israeli and Palestinian, young and old, civilians and soldiers, filming them in their everyday lives. Each of these characters has their own way of evoking the frontiers that separate them from their neighbours: concrete, barbed-wire, cynicism, humour, indifference, suspicion, aggression… 

Frontiers have been built on the hills and in the plains, on mountains and in valleys but above all inside the minds and souls of these two peoples and in the collective unconscious of both societies. 

With Route 181: Fragments of a Journey in Palestine-Israel, Michel Khleifi and Eyal Sivan take us on a disorientating journey across this tiny territory with vast ramifications.

Sucha Normal Thing - A Simple Journey into the Israeli-Occupied West Bank

"We are human beings and we feel," reflects a Palestinian hotel manager. Capturing the voice of individual Palestinians, internationals, and Israeli peace activists, Sucha Normal Thing documents untold stories of ordinary people amidst the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Filmed in the fall of 2003 by American filmmaker Rebecca Glotfelty, Sucha Normal Thing vividly explores visceral moments of life and death under occupation. From the busy cities of Jerusalem, Ramallah, Hebron, and Nablus, to the villages of Sa'aer and Zbuba, Sucha Normal Thing brings forth stories of Palestinians struggling to maintain a normal existence under Israeli occupation as well as Israelis, Palestinians, and internationals working non-violently toward peace.

Sucha Normal Thing captures the uncertainty of a "normal" day for the filmmaker and the Palestinian farmers, children, doctors, teachers and others living and working in the West Bank. Amidst stories of fear, anger, and hopelessness, exist moving stories of humans determined to persevere, to rise above the situation, to remain hopeful despite the uncertainty of daily life. A Palestinian father declares, "I want my children to be free, think free, not to be caged in the occupational culture." Hopeful for a life of freedom from the occupation.

American documentary filmmaker James Longley traveled to the Gaza Strip in January of 2001, planning to stay for two weeks and collect preliminary material for a film about the Palestinian intifada. He threw away his return ticket and stayed for another 3 months, shooting over 75 hours of material throughout the Gaza Strip.

Gaza Strip follows a range of people and events following the election of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, including the first major armed incursion into "Area A" by IDF forces during this intifada. The film is filmed almost entirely in a verite style, presented without narration and with little explanation, focusing on ordinary Palestinians rather than politicians and pundits. More observation than political argument, Gaza Strip offers a rare look inside the stark realities of Palestinian life and death under Israeli military occupation.

Reviews
"This documentary is vastly revealing ... and it's bigger than a summer blockbuster, more important than all our movie stars or the academy awards ..."
- StaticMultimedia.com

"... well-made and harrowing documentary ... you can understand my desperate desire not to believe what I was seeing."
- Jordan Hiller, www.bangitout.com

"... offering sequences that could rival Bunuel or Fellini ... one of the most important documentaries of recent times."
- Phil Hall, Film Threat

A thought-provoking and powerful documentary film on the current and historical root causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Unlike any other film ever produced on the conflict -- 'Occupation 101' presents a comprehensive analysis of the facts and hidden truths surrounding the never ending controversy and dispels many of its long-perceived myths and misconceptions.

The film also details life under Israeli military rule, the role of the United States in the conflict, and the major obstacles that stand in the way of a lasting and viable peace. The roots of the conflict are explained through first-hand on-the-ground experiences from leading Middle East scholars, peace activists, journalists, religious leaders and humanitarian workers whose voices have too often been suppressed in American media outlets.

The film covers a wide range of topics -- which include -- the first wave of Jewish immigration from Europe in the 1880's, the 1920 tensions, the 1948 war, the 1967 war, the first Intifada of 1987, the Oslo Peace Process, Settlement expansion, the role of the United States Government, the second Intifada of 2000, the separation barrier and the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, as well as many heart wrenching testimonials from victims of this tragedy. 

Location: 243 Broadway, Cambridge, MA (at the corner of Windsor & Broadway; entrance on Windsor)

Come early! at 6:45 we will begin with an introductory, documentary short and begin serving pizza. Pick up your free copies of Remember These Children (brochure) and Occupied Living (DVD compilation of youtube videos).

 

Set during the current Intifada, this documentary follows four Palestinian families living in Dheisheh Refugee Camp near Bethlehem. They talk about their past and discuss the future with humor, sorrow, frustration and hope. "until when..." paints an intimate in-depth portrait of Palestinian lives today.

Fadi is 13 and cares for his 4 younger brothers, the Hammashes are a close-knit family who pass on the lessons of life with humor and passion, Sana is a single woman who endures long commutes to do community work, and Emad and Hanan are a young couple trying to shield their daughter from the harsh realities of the occupation. They talk about their past and discuss the future with humor, sorrow, frustration and hope.

"Remaining unashamedly Palestinian and independent in its point of view, this is a valuable and honest documentary offering great insights by way of interviews, archival photographs, and cinematography which presents a vivid sense of place and daily life." Vancouver International Film Festival

July location: 243 Broadway, Cambridge, MA (at the corner of Windsor & Broadway; entrance on Windsor)

Come early! at 6:45 we will begin with an introductory, documentary short and begin serving pizza. 

When filmmaker Mai Masri returned to her hometown of Nablus after a fourteen year absence, she discovered a new generation of Palestinian fighters: the children of the Intifada.

Winner of the Award of Public at the Freminin Pluriel Festival, Children of Fire captures their courageous story on film and paints a daring portrait of the Palestinian uprising. 

"Dramatic, bravely filmed...if you closed your eyes you could have been witnessing the Nazi occupation of the Warsaw Ghetto." - Daily Express

June location: 243 Broadway, Cambridge, MA (at the corner of Windsor & Broadway; entrance on Windsor)

Come early! at 6:45 we will begin with an introductory, documentary short and begin serving pizza. (We apologize for a slow start in May due to technical glitches; won't happen again.)  Pick up your free copy of Remember These Children.

 

May 3 - Checkpoint - The Palestinians After Oslo (58 min) Download flyer

The signing of the Oslo Peace Accord in 1993 sparked worldwide hope for a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Checkpoint takes a critical look at this peace agreement and its aftermath. 

Tom Wright and Therese Saliba lived in the West Bank from 1995 to 1996 and chronicled these events as they unfolded. Checkpoint portrays a side of the story little known to American audiences: the devastating effects of the agreement on Palestinian lives. With an engaging style and offbeat humor, the documentary exposes shallow mass-media interpretations of the conflict and reveals the immense imbalance of power between the two sides. 

Palestinian and Israeli human rights activists, as well as political figures like Hanan Ashrawi, give their views of the major events of the period: Rabin's assassination, the Palestinian Authority takeover of West Bank towns, the first Palestinian elections, the suicide bus bombings, Arafat's abuse of power, Netanyahu's election, and the September 1996 uprising.


Checkpoint takes its title from the innumerable Israeli roadblocks, which ironically have become a permanent feature in the new era of Palestinian "autonomy." In the post-Oslo era, the checkpoint becomes the symbol of Israeli control and domination. In the face of these obstacles, Israelis and Palestinians seek to grapple with these grave injustices and to set forth an alternative vision for a just peace. 

May location: 243 Broadway, Cambridge, MA (at the corner of Windsor & Broadway; entrance on Windsor)

Come early! at 6:45 we show The Easiest Targets: The Israeli Policy of Strip Searching Women and Children (13 min)
Read Alison Weir's column, Humiliation and Child Abuse at Israeli Checkpoints, Strip-Searching Children at Counterpunch. Alison Weir is executive director of If Americans Knew.

 

April 5th - Dead in the Water  (69 min)  Download flyer

During the Six-Day War, Israel attacked and nearly sank the USS Liberty belonging to its closest ally, the USA. Thirty-four American servicemen were killed in the two-hour assault by Israeli warplanes and torpedo boats. Israel claimed that the whole affair had been a tragic accident based on mistaken identification of the ship. The American government accepted the explanation.

For more than 30 years many people have disbelieved the official explanation but have been unable to rebut it convincingly. Now, Dead in the Water uses startling new evidence to reveal the truth behind the seemingly inexplicable attack.

April location: 243 Broadway, Cambridge, MA (at the corner of Windsor & Broadway; entrance on Windsor)

Come early! at 6:45 we show The Easiest Targets: The Israeli Policy of Strip Searching Women and Children (13 min)
Read Alison Weir's column, Humiliation and Child Abuse at Israeli Checkpoints, Strip-Searching Children at Counterpunch. Alison Weir is executive director of If Americans Knew.

prior months and years not listed online....