The REAL: Life on Film documentary festival provides a dynamic forum for documentaries exploring issues of cultural identity, human rights and provides a voice for those otherwise muffled by bigotry, poverty and war.
The not-for-profit festival, which will open in Melbourne on May 1 and in Sydney on May 9, sources its films from documentary festivals around the globe and here in Australia. REAL: Life on Film was conceived by a team of young volunteers committed to human rights, freedom of choice and individual expression. The best of the impressive 60 entries in the DOCO 2001 competition will be showcased throughout the program, with winners of its three awards for excellence being announced at the festival's opening night in Melbourne.
From the bitter conflict in the Middle East, to anti-corporate protests in Seattle, to continuing tension in East Timor, REAL: Life on Film provides an opportunity for these films and film makers to be dissected and debated.
Highlights include: Melbourne Rising (Australia) — documents the S11 protests against the World Economic Forum in Melbourne; Showdown in Seattle: Five Days That Shook the WTO (USA) — the protests at the 1999 World Trade Organisation summit; Daring to Resist (USA) — a portrait of three women's courageous resistance to the Nazi regime; Public Enemy (France/Germany) — "an electrifying" portrait of the Black Panther Party in 1960s' USA; Remembering Country (Australia) — The story of Harold Furber, an Aboriginal "desert kid" removed from his family and placed in a mission on Croker Island in 1957; and Buried Country (Australia) — the untold story of Aboriginal country music.
Other highlights include: Children of Shatila (Lebanon) — Young refugees are given the opportunity to communicate their experiences through images and words; Business Behind Bars (Australia) — Australia has the highest proportions of inmates in private prisons in the world; and The Secret Safari (Australia) — the story of one of the most successful and audacious military operations in the armed struggle against South Africa's apartheid regime.
REAL: Life on Film screens in Melbourne at Cinemedia at the Treasury Cinema, May 1-7, and in Sydney at the Chauvel Cinema, Paddington, May 9-13. Tickets are $12/$9. Visit <http://www.reallifeonfilm.com> for program details.