Film and arts festival to address global, local humanitarian issues



About 70 people gathered on the South Mall Monday evening for the first of four nights of the UT Human Rights Film and Arts Festival. The festival will focus on issues such as drug wars, the sex-slave trade and the death penalty, with 15 films, human rights-related student artwork and speeches by several UT professors.

James Wilson, a UT history professor, and Jee-hyun Dong, a South Korean filmmaker, were among the guest speakers who introduced four films focusing on global human rights issues.

"In the West, we see problems in other countries - disease, poverty, AIDS - and are often left with a sense of hopelessness," said Wilson, a former Peace Corps volunteer. "But these countries aren't looking for our pity. They are looking for our support."

The festival is sponsored by the UT chapter of Amnesty International and several religious and political student organizations.

"This is an idea that we have been considering for many years," said Matthew Bomberg, group coordinator of UT's Amnesty International chapter. "We're shooting for a turnout of about 100 people a night."

On Wednesday, the festival will shift in focus from global to domestic human rights issues­, such as the death penalty, and will feature two local films.

"A Voice from Death Row," directed by UT radio-television-film senior Nathaniel Christ, is a documentary about Shujah Graham, a man who was exonerated from death row, and the movement against the death penalty within Texas.

"My goal is to get people involved," Christ said. "I want to show people that there is a movement in their own backyard that they can take part in."

"State vs. Reed," a documentary about another man on death row in Texas, is directed by UT graduates Ryan Polomski and Frank Bustoz and will be viewed on Wednesday.

Robert Jensen, UT journalism associate professor, will speak Wednesday to discuss domestic human rights issues.

"A lot of lip service is given to the concepts of human rights, but often governments are less committed to these concepts than they are rhetorically," Jensen said.

The final night of the festival will focus on globalization and issues of fair trade, foreign debt, the sex trade and the politics of food, said Adam Avramescu, president of the UT chapter of Oxfam America, a co-sponsor of the event.

"The progressive groups on campus are a close-knit community." Avramescu said. "We've all worked hard together to put on this event."

Films, speeches and organization tables will be located on the South Mall from 6 p.m. until 10 p.m. through Thursday. For more information, visit: http://studentorgs.utexas.edu/amnesty/festival/index.htm