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Criminology

FALSE CONFESSIONS

By Katrine Philp

Defense attorney Jane Fisher-Byrialsen exposes the dark side of the American justice system.

Law enforcement agencies across the U.S. commonly use a complex psychological tactic during interrogations to get suspects to confess to crimes, often without regard for whether or not the suspect is actually guilty. FALSE CONFESSIONS follows defense attorney Jane Fisher-Byrialsen as she fights to put an end to this institutionalized injustice. Through the stories of four of her cases, including that of Korey Wise who was only sixteen when he was manipulated into a false confession in the infamous Central Park Jogger case, the film examines the psychological aspect of how people end up confessing to crimes they have not committed as well as the consequences of these confessions - for those accused, for their families and for society.

On the heels of the difficult and critically important national conversation sparked by Ava Duvernay's miniseries about The Central Park Five, FALSE CONFESSIONS is an urgent in-depth look at the dark side of the American Justice system that goes even further into investigating the social, racial and legal issues at stake.

DVD (Color, Closed Captioned) / 2019 / 91 minutes

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GRAVES WITHOUT A NAME

Director: Rithy Panh

After The Missing Picture (Un Certain Regard winner, Cannes and Oscar nominee for the Best Foreign Language Film in 2014), Rithy Panh continues his personal and spiritual exploration of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge era. His earlier films, S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine and Duch: Master of the Forges of Hell, analyzed the mechanisms of the crime. Graves Without a Name searches for a path to peace.

When a thirteen-year-old child, who lost the greater part of his family under the Khmer Rouge, embarks on a search for their graves, whether clay or on spiritual ground, what does he find there? And above all, what is he looking for? Spectral trees? Villages defaced beyond recognition? Witnesses who are reluctant to speak? The ethereal touch of a brother or sister's body as the night approaches? Graves Without a Name is a cinematic movie by a master filmmaker that reaches well beyond the story of a country to that which is universal.

DVD (French & Khmer w/ English subtitles) / 2018 / 115 minutes

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GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY

Director: Harry Moses

Guilty Until Proven Guilty explores Louisiana's criminal justice system through the story of Tim Conerly, a young African-American man who was arrested in the wake of an armed robbery in New Orleans and waited 28 months for a trial for a crime he says he did not commit. After more than two years in the Orleans Parish Jail, Conerly must choose between accepting a plea bargain of seven years or risking a sentence of 49 1/2 to 198 years if he is convicted at trial. It's a choice that no human being should have to make...and one that someone with more resources could almost certainly avoid having to make.

DVD / 2018 / 53 minutes

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HOME TRUTH

By April Hayes and Katia Maguire

Filmed over the course of nine years, HOME TRUTH chronicles one family's pursuit of justice, shedding light on how our society responds to domestic violence and how the trauma from domestic violence tragedies can linger throughout generations.

In 1999, Colorado mother Jessica Gonzales experienced every parent's worst nightmare when her three young daughters were killed after being abducted by their father in violation of a domestic violence restraining order. Devastated, Jessica sued her local police department for failing to adequately enforce her restraining order despite her repeated calls for help that night. Determined to make sure her daughters did not die in vain, Jessica pursued her case to the US Supreme Court and an international human rights tribunal, seeking to strengthen legal rights for domestic violence victims. When her legal journey finally achieved widespread national change and she became an acclaimed activist, Jessica struggled to put her life and relationships back together.

DVD (Color) / 2018 / 72 minutes

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TRIBAL JUSTICE

Directed by Anne Makepeace

Documents an effective criminal justice reform movement in America: the efforts of tribal courts to return to traditional, community-healing concepts of justice.

TRIBAL JUSTICE is a feature documentary about a little known, underreported but effective criminal justice reform movement in America today: the efforts of tribal courts to create alternative justice systems based on their traditions. In California, the state with the largest number of Indian people and tribes, two formidable Native American women are among those leading the way. Abby Abinanti, Chief Judge of the Yurok Tribe on the northwest coast, and Claudette White, Chief Judge of the Quechan Tribe in the southeastern desert, are creating innovative systems that focus on restoring rather than punishing offenders in order to keep tribal members out of prison, prevent children from being taken from their communities, and stop the school-to-prison pipeline that plagues their young people.

Abby Abinanti is a fierce, lean, elder. Claudette White is younger, and her courtroom style is more conventional in form; but like Abby, her goal is to provide culturally relevant justice to the people who come before her. Observational footage of these judges' lives and work provides the backbone of the documentary, while the heart of the film follows offenders as their stories unfold over time, in and out of court. These other stories unfold over time, engaging viewers with the dedication of the judges, the humanity of the people who come before them, and a vision of justice that can actually work.

Through the film, audiences will gain a new understanding of tribal courts and their role in the survival of Indian people. The film will also inspire those working in the mainstream legal field to consider new ways of implementing problem-solving and restorative justice, lowering our staggering incarceration rates and enabling offenders to make reparations and rebuild their lives.

DVD / 2017 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adults) / 87 minutes

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DESTRUCTION OF MEMORY, THE

By Tim Slade
Narrated by Sophie Okonedo
Based on the book 'The Destruction of Memory: Architecture at War' by Robert Bevan

The bombing of Sarajevo's National Library and the burning of its ancient books. The looting of the Iraqi National Museum and destruction of its priceless historical objects. The beheading of Kahled al-Asaad, long-time lead archaeologist for the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the city of Palmyra, Syria, for refusing to give up hidden artifacts. In the "cradle of civilization" and beyond, the last century has seen the rise of cultural destruction: the intentional annihilation of irreplaceable artwork, artifacts, historical sites and their stewards in desperate attempts to erase collective history and identity.

When cultural destruction is wrought, do victims have any legal recourse? Back in 1933, Raphael Lemkin, a young Polish lawyer, proposed that the destruction of cultural heritage legally become an international crime. In 1946, the United Nations included genocide as a war crime, but omitted the cultural dimension, which Lemkin considered essential. Finally, in March 2016, the International Criminal Court (ICC) charged Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi, who is linked to al-Qaeda, for destroying holy and historic sites in Timbuktu, Mali. Lemkin's voice can be heard in the language of today's international law and justice.

Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Tim Slate and narrated by Tony Award-winning actress Sophie Okonedo, this powerful documentary proposes hope: As crimes of cultural destruction are increasingly reported, perpetrators can be brought to justice and awareness can grow. Increasingly, the power of modern technology can be harnessed to document, protect, and to play a role in the rebuilding process. THE DESTRUCTION OF MEMORY introduces heroes who risked their lives to protect not their cultural identity, safeguarding an invaluable record of who we are. It uses meticulous research and compelling interviews to examine how and why cultural destruction has happened, and how the work to protect, salvage and rebuild can respond.

Distinguished international experts interviewed in THE DESTRUCTION OF MEMORY include Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO; Fatou Bensouda, prosecutor for the International Criminal Court; Gunter Blobel, Nobel Laureate; Bonnie Burnham, President Emerita of the World Monuments Fund; Daniel Libeskind, architect; Dirk Moses, genocide historian; Andras RiedlmayerCorine Wegener, Cultural Heritage Preservation Officer of The Smithsonian Institution, Robert Bevan, architect and author of the book "The Destruction of Memory: Architecture at War" upon which the film is based, and more.

DVD (Color, Closed Captioned) / 2016 / 85 minutes

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INCARCERATING US

Directed by Regan Hines

Exposes America's prison problem and explores various criminal justice reforms.

Incarcerating US exposes America's prison problem and explores ways to unshackle the "land of the free" through vital criminal justice reforms. With 2.3 million people behind bars, the U.S. has the largest prison population in the history of the world.

Through dramatic first-hand accounts, expert testimony, and shocking statistics, Incarcerating US asks fundamental questions about the prison system in America: What is the purpose of prison? Why did our prison population explode in the 1970s? What can make our justice system more just?

The film begins with a brief overview of U.S. prisons and the flawed policies that fueled unprecedented overincarceration. In many cases, these laws exacerbate problems they were designed to solve. Through both empirical evidence and the eyes of those tragically affected by the system for committing minor crimes, we see the failures of two major initiatives: the War on Drugs and mandatory minimum sentences.

Incarcerating US tells the story of America's broken criminal justice system through the eyes of those who created it, those who have suffered through it, and those who are fighting to change it. After decades of failures, now is the time to unshackle the land of the free.

DVD / 2016 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adults) / 84 minutes

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PROFILED

By Kathleen Foster

Profiled knits the stories of mothers of Black and Latin youth murdered by the NYPD into a powerful indictment of racial profiling and police brutality, and places them within a historical context of the roots of racism in the U.S. Some of the victims-Eric Garner, Michael Brown-are now familiar the world over. Others, like Shantel Davis and Kimani Gray, are remembered mostly by family and friends in their New York neighborhoods.

Ranging from the routine harassment of minority students in an affluent Brooklyn neighborhood to the killings and protests in Staten Island and Ferguson, Missouri, PROFILED bears witness to the racist violence that remains an everyday reality for Black and Latin people in this country. Moving interviews with victims' family members are juxtaposed with sharply etched analyses by evolutionary biologist, Joseph L.Graves, Jr, (The Race Myth) and civil rights lawyer, Chauniqua D. Young, (Center for Constitutional Rights, Stop and Frisk lawsuit). PROFILED gives us a window on one of the burning issues of our time.

DVD (Color) / 2016 / 52 minutes

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RETURN, THE

Directed by Kelly Duane de la Vega, Katie Galloway

After California's "Three Strikes" law was amended, thousands of lifers were suddenly freed, but re-entry presented problems for the lifers, their families and their communities.

In 2012, California amended its "Three Strikes" law--one of the harshest criminal sentencing policies in the country. The passage of Prop. 36 marked the first time in U.S. history that citizens voted to shorten sentences of those currently incarcerated. Within days the reintegration of thousands of "lifers" was underway.

THE RETURN examines this unprecedented reform through the eyes of those on the front lines--prisoners suddenly freed, families turned upside down, reentry providers helping navigate complex transitions, and attorneys and judges wrestling with an untested law. At a moment of reckoning on mass incarceration, what can California's experiment teach the nation?

DVD / 2016 / (Grades 9-12, Adults) / 84 minutes

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TADMOR

By Monika Borgmann and Lokman Slim

Amidst the popular uprising in Syria that began in 2011, a group of former Lebanese detainees of the Assad regime decides to break their long-held silence about the horrific years they spent imprisoned in Tadmor, Palmyra, one of the Syrian government's most dreaded prisons.

They testify publicly about the systematic torture and humiliation they experienced. And to reclaim and overcome this dark chapter in their lives, in TADMOR they recreate the prison in an abandoned school near Beirut. There, and by playing out the roles of both "victims" and "victimizers," they will relive their survival.

DVD (Color) / 2016 / 103 minutes

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DREAMCATCHER

By Kim Longinotto

"You got any dreams you wanna catch?" Sundance award winner DREAMCATCHER takes us into a hidden world of prostitution and sexual trafficking through the eyes of one of its survivors, Brenda Myers-Powell. A former teenage prostitute with a drug habit, Brenda defied the odds to become a powerful advocate for change in her community, and works to help women and young girls break the cycle of sexual abuse and exploitation. DREAMCATCHER lays bare the hidden violence that devastates the lives of these young women, their families and the communities where they live in Chicago and Brenda's unflinching intervention that turns these desperate lives around.

With unprecedented access, multi-award winning director, Kim Longinotto (SISTERS IN LAW, ROUGH AUNTIES, SALMA) paints a vivid portrait of a community struggling to come to terms with some of its most painful truths and of the extraordinary woman who uses her past to inspire others to survive. With warmth and humor, Brenda gives hope to those who have none in the four magic words she offers up to everyone she meets: "It's not your fault."

DVD (Color) / 2015 / 98 minutes

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EL POETA

Directed by Katie Galloway, Kelly Duane de la Vega

After his only son is murdered in the Mexican drug war, a mystic poet launches an international crusade to save his country.

EL POETA tells the story of renowned Mexican poet Javier Sicilia, who ignited mass protests and an ongoing movement for peace after the brutal murder of his 24-year-old son Juan Francisco - collateral damage in a drug war that has left 60,000+ dead since 2006 - the majority civilians.

Drawing on the philosophical, artistic and spiritual dimensions of Sicilia and his movement, EL POETA reinterprets the "hard news" horror story of the Mexican drug war as a deeply personal, poetic and at times even hopeful one, tracing Sicilia's path from poet and father to movement leader and international symbol of grief and redemption.

DVD / 2015 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adult) / 55 minutes

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FEAR OF 13, THE

Director: David Sington

After 23 years on Death Row a convicted murderer petitions the court asking to be executed. But as he tells his story, it gradually becomes clear that nothing is quite what it seems.

The Fear of 13 is a stylistically daring experiment in storytelling, a psychological thriller constructed from a single four-day long interview. In a monologue that is part confessional and part performance, Nick, the sole protagonist, tells a tale with all the twists and turns of classic crime drama. But as the story unfolds it reveals itself as something much deeper, an emotionally powerful meditation on the redemptive power of love and literature. A final shocking twist casts everything in a new light.

DVD / 2015 / 96 minutes

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IN HIS OWN HOME

Directed by Malini Johar Schueller

IN HIS OWN HOME is a new, critically acclaimed documentary about police racism and campus militarization.

Before Michael Brown and Ferguson, Missouri, the headline-making killing of Trayvon Martin and the death of Eric Garner at the hands of New York City police officers, there was the shocking 2010 shooting of Kofi Adu Brempong, a disabled Ghanaian graduate student attacked by University of Florida campus police responding to a 911 call.

The powerful documentary, IN HIS OWN HOME, recounts the events of that fateful March day and their aftermath: we watch live video of the police attack on Kofi's apartment; we hear accounts of those who marveled at the number of snipers "ready to shoot at any time" as they surrounded the apartment of a lone student, as well as from fellow students who attest to Kofi's peaceful demeanor; and, we hear from police officers who explain how they felt threatened and had to shoot. And, in the aftermath, we bear witness to the administration's shortcomings and the students and community activists who demand justice.

Underlining an ongoing pattern of racism and police brutality, as well as the frightening "militarization" of campuses nationwide, IN HIS OWN HOME speaks to widespread and pervasive issues in our country that will, for the time being, remain among our most controversial and disconcerting.

DVD / 2015 / 31 minutes

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ROOM OF BONES, THE (EL CUARTO DE LOS HUESOS)

By Marcela Zamora Chamorro

Across Mexico and Central America, the last twenty years have been plagued by a meteoric and troubling rise in desaparecidos, or missing persons. Mass murder has become all too common, and the identity of the perpetrators remains unknown as the relationship between governments, gangs, and other criminal organizations is shrouded in mystery. As civil and legal systems have failed to thoroughly investigate the crisis, families of victims are left to seek closure and justice on their own. In THE ROOM OF BONES, El Salvadoran filmmaker Marcela Zamora follows a group of forensic anthropologists in her home country tasked with the noble but gruesome work of unearthing human remains and matching them with names of desaparecidos. The result is a harrowing portrait of a region in crisis.

DVD (Spanish, Color) / 2015 / 60 minutes

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WHEN JUSTICE ISN'T JUST

Director: David Massey

Directed by Oscar-nominated and NAACP Image Award winner David Massey, this dynamic documentary features legal experts, local activists, and law enforcement officers delving into ongoing charges of inequality, unfair practices, and politicized manipulations of America's judicial system. Additionally, the Black Lives Matter movement and citizens nationwide question the staggering number of police shootings of unarmed Black men and women.

DVD / 2015 / 40 minutes

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ABOUT EXECUTING EICHMANN

By Florence Jammot

On December 15, 1961, in Jerusalem, Adolf Eichmann was sentenced to death for crimes against the Jewish people and against humanity.

The court's judgment was largely met with public consensus, but some spoke out against it, and on May 29, 1962, a group of Holocaust survivors and intellectuals, including philosophers Hannah Arendt, Hugo Bergmann, Martin Buber and Gershom Scholem, sent a petition to Israeli President Yitzhak Ben-Zvi demanding that Eichmann's death sentence be commuted.

By opposing Eichmann's execution they raised questions about the Holocaust and also defended values of Judaism, raising questions about Jewish morality for Israel, and about the very nature of a Jewish State.

ABOUT EXECUTING EICHMANN brings together the texts, eyewitness accounts, archival footage, audio recordings, and materials from the time, with discussions amongst contemporary Israeli historians and philosophers to both set out the facts, and go over the arguments. Amongst those taking part are historians Anita Shapira and Hanna Yablonka, and philosophers Moshe Halbertal and Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin. Returning to a little remembered debate that was central to that era, they also expose its relevancy today, and why it deserves to be revisited.

DVD (Color, Closed Captioned) / 2014 / 60 minutes

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CULTURED CRIMINAL, THE

By Florin MARKSTEINER

The Cultured Criminal, revisits the 1890 Birchall-Benwell Affair, one of the most sensational murder cases in Canadian history.

The 19th-century Canadian murder case is a dramatized short period piece, which stars Mark Cowling as Reginald Birchall, a dissolute Englishman and Oxford-educated son of a cleric who moved to Ontario after selling off his inheritance to cover his gambling debts.

In 1890, Birchall conned two men into entering a partnership and then killed one, Frederick Benwell (Paul Watson). Birchall apparently intended to slay the other man as well, but failed to carry out the plan. Tried for murder, Birchall was found guilty despite the absence of a confession and was hanged in November 1890.

From a gruesome discovery in the Blenheim Swamp to the trial in Woodstock's Old Town Hall and beyond, the production is highly stylized and a dramatic recreation of the events that shook the quiet nation at the time.

It's short running time lends itself to the style of the film and you may find yourself totally immersed in the true story.

DVD (Black and White) / 2014 / 38 minutes

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KNOW HOW

Director: Juan Carlos Pineiro Escoriaza

Written and acted by young people in New York City's foster care system, Know How presents dramatic stories ripped from their own life experiences. Five characters' worlds intersect as they confront loss, heartbreak, adulthood, and bureaucracy in this tale about transience and perseverance.

Addie lives with her Aunt Janet in what's known as "kinship" care; her biological parent is unfit to care for her. Addie's closest friends are from her block: Juice, a drug dealer, and Marie, a girl on the verge of spiraling out of control.

Marie's grandmother has been in the hospital for months now and the prognosis is bleak. Her boyfriend Trey takes care of her as best he can, but both of them are struggling in the foster system.

When the Administration for Children's services (ACS) finds out that Megan's been physically and sexually abused they remove her from her family. Separated from her sister Kayla, she's placed in a treatment facility that is anything but safe.

Eva only has one more year of school, and yet her sister Desi cannot seem to find the time to attend classes. When ACS discovers their father's crack addiction, the family is torn apart.

Austin and his brother James have been living on the street-hungry for a good meal. Desperate, they resort to petty crimes to survive, but soon find themselves embroiled in a turf war that's bigger than they are.

Know How captures the reality of life in foster care from the point of view of those living in it. It's not a documentary nor is it fiction. It's a hybrid approach for using film to create social change. Instead of professional screenwriters and actors, these true stories are written and performed by a cast of ordinary foster care youth, and their performances are powerful, moving, and eye-opening. KNOW HOW is also a musical that brings authentic voices and unseen stories to the screen, and emerged from the efforts of The Possibility Project, a non-profit organization in NYC that brings teenagers together to transform the negative forces in their lives into positive action through projects like this one.

Why make a film by young people in foster care? Because the system doesn't work and the human cost of its dysfunction is too great to ignore. Consider this: a few years after aging out of foster care, only 50% of young people will complete high school or a GED, 60% will be convicted of a crime, 75% will receive public assistance, and only 6% will complete a college degree. The system needs to change.

DVD / 2014 / 106 minutes

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FACING FEAR

Directed by Jason Cohen

A former neo-Nazi skinhead and the gay victim of his hate crime meet by chance 25 years later, are reconciled and collaborate in educational presentations.

In this Academy Award-nominated short documentary, worlds collide when a former neo-Nazi skinhead and the gay victim of his hate crime attack meet by chance 25 years after the incident that dramatically shaped both of their lives. Together, they embark on a journey of forgiveness that challenges both to grapple with their beliefs and fears, eventually leading to an improbable collaboration...and friendship.

FACING FEAR retraces the haunting accounts of the attack and the startling revelation that brought these men together again. Delving deep into their backgrounds, the roots of the ideologies that shape how they handle the reconciliation process are exposed. Self-doubt, anger and fear are just a few of the emotions they struggle through as they come to terms with their unimaginable situation.

DVD / 2013 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / 23 minutes

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KILL TEAM, THE

Directed by Dan Krauss

Soldier Adam Winfield attempted to thwart atrocities being committed by his platoon in Afghanistan but was then himself charged in one of the largest war crimes investigations in US history.

THE KILL TEAM goes behind closed doors to tell the riveting story of Specialist Adam Winfield, a 21-year-old infantryman in Afghanistan who attempted with the help of his father to alert the military to heinous war crimes his platoon was committing. Tragically, his father's pleas for help went unheeded. Once Adam's fellow soldiers got wind of what he'd done, they threatened to silence him -- permanently. Forced to choose between his conscience and his own survival, Adam found himself drawn into a moral abyss, faced with a split-second decision that would change his life forever.

With extraordinary access to the key individuals involved in the case -- including Adam, his passionately supportive parents, and his startlingly candid compatriots -- THE KILL TEAM is an intimate look at the personal stories so often lost inside the larger coverage of the longest war in US history.

DVD / 2013 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adult) / 79 minutes

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UNREAL DREAM, AN

Director: Al Reinert

From Oscar-nominated director Al Reinert, An Unreal Dream is the terrifying true story of Michael Morton, who spent over two decades in Texas prisons for a crime he didn't commit.

In 1986, Christine Morton was brutally murdered in front of their only child. After Michael was accused and convicted his son Eric, only three at the time, was raised by family members and eventually cut off all contact with the father he believed had killed his mother.

The Innocence Project, in partnership with John Raley, a Texas attorney working on his first ever criminal case, spent years fighting for DNA testing and investigating possible prosecutorial misconduct in Michael's case. Twenty-five years after the murder, DNA analysis of a bloody blue bandana found near the crime scene not only cleared Michael, but yielded a hit on a known felon who has since been charged with the murder of Christine Morton, along with the murder of another young woman two years later.

Upon his release in late 2011, Michael riveted the outside world with his lack of bitterness or anger. Instead, he reached out to his estranged son, and focused his newfound freedom on the fight for reform. An Unreal Dream tells his story, and sheds needed light on America's flawed criminal justice system.

DVD / 2013 / 92 minutes

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VALENTINE ROAD

Directed by Marta Cunningham

In 2008, eighth-grader Brandon McInerney shot classmate Larry King at point blank range. Unraveling this tragedy, the film reveals the heartbreaking circumstances that led to the shocking crime as well as the aftermath.

On February 12, 2008, in an Oxnard, California, classroom, 14-year-old Brandon McInerney shot classmate Larry King twice; Larry died of the wounds two days later. Larry (Leticia), a gender-variant youth of color, had liked to wear makeup and heels to school, and had publicly announced a crush on McInerney. For this reason, some of McInerney's defenders say the victim had "embarrassed" the shooter--and was therefore at least partly to blame for his own murder.

VALENTINE ROAD is about an outrageous crime and an even more outrageous defense of it, but the film goes much deeper than mere outrage. In the end, it's the story of two victims of homophobia. Larry was killed because of it, but Brandon's life was horribly twisted by it as well. And it's the story of a community's response--sometimes inspirational and sometimes cruel--to a terrible tragedy.

Filmmaker Marta Cunningham deftly looks beyond the sensational aspects of the murder, introducing us to Larry's friends, teachers and guardians, as well as Brandon's loved ones--both children had led difficult lives. In examining Brandon's prosecution and defense, the documentary poses difficult questions about punishing juveniles for serious crimes, while exposing society's pervasive and deadly intolerance of young people who don't conform to its gender "norms."

VALENTINE ROAD brilliantly focuses on how bigotry and prejudice are community-wide problems, rather than only the acts of individuals. It asks how schools can respond to the the full complexity of students' lives, and support students in crisis before tragedy strikes.

DVD / 2013 / (Grades 8-12, College, Adult) / 88 minutes

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DUCH: MASTER OF THE FORGES OF HELL

Director: Rithy Pan

Between 1975 and 1979, the Khmer Rouge was responsible for the deaths of nearly 2 million people - a quarter of the Cambodia population. Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch, directed both the M13 and S21 centers where tens of thousands of people were tortured and executed. He is the first Khmer Rouge leader to be brought before an international criminal justice court, where he was found guilty and sentenced to 35 years in prison. Panh films an incredible, horrifying in-depth interview with Duch, who candidly talks about his ascension in the Khmer Rouge party, and his involvement in the mass murder of his fellow Cambodians. As The Hollywood Reporter said, Panh's film is "likely one of the most elaborate discussions with someone responsible for mass genocide."

DVD (Khmer and French with English subtitles) / 2011 / 103 minutes

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EL SICARIO, ROOM 164

By Gianfranco Rosi & Charles Bowden
Directed & photographed by Gianfranco Rosi

The term sicario goes back to Roman Palestine, where a Jewish sect, the Sicarii, used concealed daggers (sicae) in their murders of Romans and their supporters. In modern language, a sicario is a professional killer or a hit man.

In an anonymous motel room on the U.S./Mexico border, a Ciudad Juarez hitman speaks. He has killed hundreds of people and is an expert in torture and kidnapping. He was simultaneously on the payroll of the Mexican drug cartels and a commander of the Chihuahua State Police. There is currently a $250,000 contract on his life and he lives as a fugitive, though he has never been charged with a crime in any country. With his face obscured by a black mesh hood, he tells his story to the camera inside the very motel room he once used to hold and torture kidnapped victims. Aided only by a magic marker and notepad, which he uses to illustrate and diagram his words, the sicario describes, in astounding detail, his life of crime, murder, abduction and torture.

DVD (Color) / 2011 / 84 minutes

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IMPUNITY

By Juan Jose Lozano & Hollman Morris

In 2005, Colombia's new "Commission for Peace and Justice" started gathering evidence about the horrific violence carried out by illegal paramilitary groups. A highly controversial justice and peace process was designed to allow paramilitary leaders to hand in their weapons and give themselves up voluntarily in exchange for reduced sentences. IMPUNITY documents the hearings in which paramilitary commanders, such as "HH" describe atrocities they have committed in detail, as the families of their victims listen and watch on projected screens.

Through a series of commission testimonies, footage of paramilitary crimes, and interviews with victims and experts, IMPUNITY shines a light on the brutal history of paramilitary violence. Yet due to serious irregularities in the justice and peace process, many families express their fear that they will never know the truth surrounding the deaths of their loved ones, and that the perpetrators will escape punishment. In an era where many countries are tempted to sacrifice justice in the name of "peace", what happens in Colombia will resonate beyond its borders.

DVD (Color) / 2010 / 85 minutes

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IN THE NAME OF THE FAMILY: HONOR KILLINGS IN NORTH AMERICA

By Shelley Saywell

Schoolgirl Aqsa Parvez, sisters Amina and Sarah Said, and college student Fauzia Muhammad were all North American teenagers-and victims of premeditated, murderous attacks by male family members. Only Muhammad survived. Emmy winner Shelley Saywell examines each case in depth in this riveting investigation of "honor killings" of girls in Muslim immigrant families. Not sanctioned by Islam, the brutalization and violence against young women for defying male authority derives from ancient tribal notions of honor and family shame.

As friends and relatives trace escalating tensions leading to the crimes, IN THE NAME OF THE FAMILY explores community reactions to the tragic events. The film also delves into the dual, precarious existence of other young Muslim women struggling to bridge two worlds, along with Muslim women's efforts to help girls at special risk. With consummate documentary skills and a passion for human rights, Saywell puts a much needed human face on a subject that is all too often silenced or sensationalized in post-9/11 North America.

DVD (Color) / 2010 / 90 minutes

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ON THE OTHER SIDE OF LIFE

Directed by Andy Wolff and Stefanie Brockhaus

Through a clever dramatic narrative structure, On the Other Side of Life rises above a social environment study to become a far-ranging discourse about the future of an Africa ground to pieces between tradition and modernity.

Lucky and Bongani pretend to be cool and in the know. To survive in a Cape Town township, they learned their lessons early: where to get drugs, where to get money, how to pick up girls and how to get rid of them.

Their mother does not pay much attention to them, but at least their grandmother is on their side. The two brothers share everything: the bed, the food and now even an accusation of murder.

The first thing they get in prison is an unmistakable lesson about the rules there. No questions... newcomers are at the bottom of the hierarchy. Together they must learn who may be attacked and who must be served. It's a matter of survival. And, Once out on bail, something special awaits them-an initiation of a different kind.

The brothers move through three cultures, each of which calls for its own gestures and rituals. The deep rift between the generations becomes painfully obvious. The old people still have the sense of honour of African tradition; their successors have only a tiny chance of escaping the squalid suburbs. What will be their package in life?

DVD (English and Xhosa with English Subtitles) / 2010 / 88 minutes

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THEY KILLED SISTER DOROTHY

Director: Daniel Junge
Narrated by Martin Sheen

At the mouth of the Amazon River, a murder trial is taking place. The victim - Sister Dorothy Stang, a 73-year-old Catholic nun from Dayton, Ohio - was shot six times at point blank range. The events that led to her death, and the trials that follow, reveal the larger battle being fought for the future of the rainforest.

With unprecedented access to both sides of the conflict, this gripping documentary follows the real-life drama at the trials of Dorothy's killers, while exploring the conflicts in the Amazon that led to that fateful day.

DVD-R (With English Subtitles) / 2009 / 94 minutes

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JENA 6, THE

Narrated by Mumia Abu Jamal

Jena-A small town in Louisiana-six families fought for the lives of their sons.

Two nooses were left as a warning to black students trying to integrate their playground, fights broke out across town, a white man pulled a shotgun on black students, someone burned down most of the school, and the DA put six black students on trial for attempted murder. The quiet town of Jena became the site of one of the largest civil rights demonstrations in the South since the 1960s.

The Jena 6 is the story of hidden racial inequality and violence becoming visible. It is a powerful symbol for, and example of, how racial justice works in America-where the lynching noose has been replaced by the Da's pen.

DVD / 2008 / 30 minutes

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BEYOND HATRED

Director: Oliver Meyrou

In 2002, three French neofascist skinheads went to a public park in Rheims looking for an 'Arab' to attack when they came across Francois Chenu, a young gay man. When he refused to deny his homosexuality when taunted with gay slurs, he was viciously beaten and thrown unconscious into a pond, where he drowned.

In this deeply moving, award-winning documentary, Chenu's family reflects on the murder of their 29-year-old son and courageously tries tomove beyond feelings of hatred and revenge. Filmed in classic verite style, without unnecessary exposition or narration and in a non-sensationalist manner, Beyond Hatred explores the social and psychological roots of homophobia and similar hate crimes, and demonstrates the emotional maturity that enables the rare human quality of forgiveness. Featuring interviews with prosecution and defense lawyers, relatives of the accused, and the parents and sister of the victim, this remarkably intimate film reveals the gradual process of emotional catharsis - from initial shock and grief to an understanding of how the deprived and prejudiced backgrounds of their son's killers generated such violence.

DVD (French, With English Subtitles) / 2007 / 85 minutes

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DHAMMA BROTHERS, THE

Directed by Jenny Phillips, Anne Marie Stein and Andrew Kukura

An overcrowded maximum-security prison is dramatically changed by the influence of an ancient meditation program.

Behind the high security towers and double row of barbed wire and electrical fence at Donaldson Correction Facility dwells a host of convicts who will never see the light of day. But for some of these men, a spark is ignited when it becomes the first maximum-security prison in North America to hold an extended Vipassana retreat, an emotionally and physically demanding course of silent meditation lasting ten days.

The Dhamma Brothers tells a dramatic tale of human potential and transformation as it closely follows and documents the stories of the prison inmates who enter into this arduous and intensive program. This film, with the power to dismantle stereotypes about men behind prison bars also, in the words of Sister Helen Prejean (Dead Man Walking), "gives you hope for the human race."

DVD (Color) / 2007 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adult) / 76 minutes

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S21: THE KHMER ROUGE KILLING MACHINE

Director: Rithy Pahn

In 1975-79, almost two million Cambodians lost their lives to murder and famine when the Khmer Rouge forced the urban population into the countryside to fulfill their ideal of an agrarian utopia.

The notorious detention center code-named 'S21' was the schoolhouse-turned prison where 17,000 men, women and children were tortured and killed, their "crimes" meticulously documented to justify their execution.

In this award-winning documentary and astonishing historical document, survivor Vann Nath confronts his captors, some of whom were as young as 12 years old when they committed their atrocities.

DVD (Khmer, With English Subtitles) / 2003 / 101 minutes

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