May 22 , 2007

Contact: Bob Adams
(425) 564-3081
badams@bcc.ctc.edu

United Nations Association Film Festival
brings close-up views of world issues to BCC May 30

BELLEVUE, WASH. – Five highly regarded international documentaries on major world-wide issues, part of the United Nations Association Film Festival (UNAFF), will be presented publicly at Bellevue Community College Wednesday, May 30.

The screenings, all of which are free of charge and open to the community, will be held from 10:30 a.m. through 8 p.m. in room 201 of the college’s N Building, at the south of the campus (located at 3000 Landerholm Circle S.E., Bellevue, at the intersection of S.E. 28th St. and 148th Ave. S.E.).

The UNAFF was founded ten years ago at Stanford University to provide an opportunity for creative exchange and education among groups and individuals often separated by geography, ethnicity and economic constraints.

The five documentaries to be shown at BCC will focus on the politics and environmental impact of energy, the imbalance between human consumption of seafood and the ocean’s ability to produce it; globalization, as told through stories of Chinese bead-makers and the Mardi Gras revelers who use their products; the extraordinary journey of the Lost Boys of Sudan; and the complexities of womanhood and national identity in the Middle East.

One of the Lost Boys of Sudan, BCC student William Deng, will participate in the discussion following the 5:30 p.m. showing of a documentary about his and his compatriots’ incredible ordeal.

Several Palestinian BCC students will help lead the discussion following the 7:30 p.m. showing of "Paradise Lost."

The festival is sponsored at BCC by UN Association Seattle, Phi Theta Kappa international honor society, BCC Student Programs and the college’s Center for Liberal Arts, with assistance from Center for Liberal Arts Fellow Dr. James Maynard, a former United Nations advisor to governments in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

The full schedule of presentations May 30 is as follows:

10:30 a.m.
"Oil on Ice,” by Dale Djerassi and Bo Boudart

This vivid documentary discusses the fate of the U.S. Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the lives of if caribou-hunting native residents, in relation to governmental decisions about energy policy, transportation and development.

12:30 p.m.
“Farming the Seas,” by Steve Cowan and Barry Schienberg

The imbalance between human consumption of seafood and the ocean’s ability to produce it is increasing rapidly. While fish farming, or aquaculture, is considered to be the wave of the future, there are serious potential risks. With the aquaculture industry exploding across the globe, a growing number of communities and fisheries experts are engaged in intense debate over its environmental, socio-economic, health and food-safety consequences.

2:30 p.m.
“Mardi Gras: Made in China,” by David Redmon

Through contrasts of humor and sadness, hope and violence, this film tells a story of globalization as lived by workers in a bead factory in China and the Carnival revelers who exchange their beads during Mardi Gras.

5:30 p.m.
“ A Great Wonder: Lost Children of Sudan ,” by Kim Shelton and Leigh Kimball

This film traces the extraordinary journey of three young Sudanese orphans, a fraction of the 17,000 "Lost Boys" of Sudan, who have spent the majority of their lives either in flight from war or in refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya. Having navigated the hazards of warfare, disease and starvation, and their arrival and resettlement in Seattle, this is not your average immigration story. Over the course of 18 months these youths have recorded their experiences through their own eyes and in their own words on video. The resulting "diaries" serve as a personal thread throughout the film, incorporating first-hand accounts of their experiences in war with their radically different lives as immigrants in America.

7:30 p.m.
“Paradise Lost,” by Ebtisam Mara’ana and Duki Dror

Arab-Israeli filmmaker Ebtisam Mara’ana grew up in Paradise (“Fureidis” in Arabic), one of the few Arab communities remaining in Israel after the 1948 war. Paradise became culturally and politically isolated as Jewish settlements sprung up around it. The film offers insight into the contradictions and complexities of modern womanhood and national identity in the Middle East.

For further information about the film festival, please call (425) 564-2550, or visit the Center for Liberal Arts website at http://bellevuecollege.edu/liberalarts/.

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