VOA标准英语2010年-Silverdocs Film Festival Explores Chal

The Silverdocs film festival is widely regarded as one of the most important film festivals in the country. Each year, the festival offers independently-produced non-fiction films from around the world, attracting filmmakers and moviegoers alike. The festival is presented by the American Film Institute, and is sponsored by the Discovery Channel.

This year, the festival showcased 102 films, representing the work of artists from 54 countries. It also featured a special "Peacebuilding on Screen" program: a series of films selected in collaboration¹ with the United States Institute of Peace, a congressionally-funded, independent institution that promotes the non-violent resolution of conflicts around the world. The six films featured at Silverdocs all had non-violent struggle and peaceful resolution as their central theme.

Israel and the Palestinian Territories

 

Courtesy Just Vision
“I hope this film can have the same effect on its viewers as the village’s efforts had on those who experienced it – inspiring more people to believe in, cover, support and join the unarmed struggles taking place in the West Bank and East Jerusalem today,” Julia Bacha, Director/Producer, Budrus.

In the film Budrus, award-winning filmmaker Julia Bacha follows Ayed Morrar, a Palestinian villager turned community organizer, as he leads fellow residents of Budrus in peaceful protests to save their village from destruction by Israel's Separation Barrier.  The controversial network of fences and 8-meter-tall concrete walls is being built by the state of Israel to secure hundreds of kilometers of its border with the Palestinian West Bank.

The non-violent demonstrations² against the Barrier gain traction³ as women villagers, local Fatah and Hamas members and Israeli peace activists⁴ join in the struggle.

"Combining tactics borrowed from the first intifada in the 1980s with the active participation⁵ of Israeli and international activists, this movement, though still fragile, carries great potential for the region," said filmmaker Julia Bacha in a statement on the film's website.

In My so-Called Enemy, filmmaker Lisa Gossels follows six girls from Israel and the Palestinian Territories during a week at a peacebuilding camp in the United States. The camera then follows the girls over the next six years, bearing witness to the long-term impact the camp experience has had on their lives at home.

Africa

War Don Don deals with the aftermath of the devastating⁶ civil war in Sierra Leone that erupted in 1991 and lasted eleven years. The film, who's title means "the war is over," follows the trial of Issa Sessay, a former rebel leader accused of crimes against humanity, as an international court seeks to bring him to justice.

In a statement on the film's website, award-winning director/producer Rebecca Richman Cohen said she was "fascinated by the range of roles that one man could assume amidst the intensity⁷ of such a brutal⁸ conflict."

In another film from Africa, Grace, Millie, Lucy...Child Soldiers filmmaker Raymonde Provencher tackles the plight⁹ of girl soldiers in Northern Uganda, as told through the voices of several survivors¹⁰. Grace Akallo, a former child soldier and a central character in the story, explains that in Northern Uganda, children have for years been abducted¹¹, tortured and forced to come back to their own families, to kill.

"When people talk about child soldiers," she said at a post-screening discussion at Silverdocs, "they don't realize that 50 percent of these child soldiers are girls."

"They're forced to become child soldiers, and child wives," she said.

Central America and Southeast Asia

The peace building strand¹² of films at Silverdocs also included a film from Guatemala called La Isla - Archives of a Tragedy.

This skillfully-crafted film deals with "the crimes against humanity, genocide and forced disappearances¹³ committed by national security forces against members of the opposition¹⁴, as revealed in the secret police archives discovered accidently some years ago," said filmmaker Uli Stelzner.

And in the only short film in the series, called Found, filmmaker Paramita Nath chronicles a young woman's poetic¹⁵ response to the words and images she finds in a scrapbook that her father kept during his time in a refugee camp in Thailand during the 1970s.

 

Silverdocs and the United States Institute of Peace

“What was important about the partnership¹⁶ with USIP is that it’s not just about the films and their issues, it’s about the craft that the filmmaker is bringing to telling that story,” Sky Sitney, Artistic¹⁷ Director, AFI-Discovery-Silverdocs.

Sky Sitney, artistic director of the Silverdocs festival, says partnering with the United States Institute of Peace is a unique way of bridging the theme of peacebuilding to the medium of film.

"Connecting with the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) – which is on the ground dedicated¹⁸ to global peacebuilding – connecting their expertise¹⁹ in that arena²⁰ to the power of documentaries to get audiences engaged through character-driven stories, has been a really meaningful partnership," Sitney said.

Tara Sonenshine, executive vice²¹ president of the United States Institute of Peace, says the USIP has for many years recognized the power of film and media to change minds, change attitudes and change behavior.

"So this collaboration," notes Sonenshine, "is an outgrowth of a long commitment the Institute has had to the importance of film and media, not only in peacebuilding itself, but in educating, informing, inspiring and engaging people in the subject of making peace."  

"The common theme of all of these films," added Sonenshine, "is that making peace is tough, and requires patience and understanding, but it is worth investing in."

Both Sitney and Sonenshine hope that their mutual²² interest in film and peacebuilding can lead to future collaborative efforts.

 

1 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

2 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

3 traction   

n.牵引；附着摩擦力

参考例句：

• I'll show you how the traction is applied.我会让你看如何做这种牵引。
• She's injured her back and is in traction for a month.她背部受伤，正在作一个月的牵引治疗。

4 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

6 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

7 intensity   

n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度

参考例句：

• I didn't realize the intensity of people's feelings on this issue.我没有意识到这一问题能引起群情激奋。
• The strike is growing in intensity.罢工日益加剧。

8 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

9 plight   

n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定

参考例句：

• The leader was much concerned over the plight of the refugees.那位领袖对难民的困境很担忧。
• She was in a most helpless plight.她真不知如何是好。

10 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

11 abducted   

劫持，诱拐( abduct的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（肢体等）外展

参考例句：

• Detectives have not ruled out the possibility that she was abducted. 侦探尚未排除她被绑架的可能性。
• The kid was abducted at the gate of kindergarten. 那小孩在幼儿园大门口被绑架走了。

12 strand   

vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地）

参考例句：

• She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ears.她把一缕散发夹到了耳后。
• The climbers had been stranded by a storm.登山者被暴风雨困住了。

13 disappearances   

n.消失( disappearance的名词复数 )；丢失；失踪；失踪案

参考例句：

• Most disappearances are the result of the terrorist activity. 大多数的失踪案都是恐怖分子造成的。 来自辞典例句
• The espionage, the betrayals, the arrests, the tortures, the executions, the disappearances will never cease. 间谍活动、叛党卖国、逮捕拷打、处决灭迹，这种事情永远不会完。 来自英汉文学

14 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

15 poetic   

adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的

参考例句：

• His poetic idiom is stamped with expressions describing group feeling and thought.他的诗中的措辞往往带有描写群体感情和思想的印记。
• His poetic novels have gone through three different historical stages.他的诗情小说创作经历了三个不同的历史阶段。

16 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

17 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

18 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

19 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

20 arena   

n.竞技场，运动场所；竞争场所，舞台

参考例句：

• She entered the political arena at the age of 25. 她25岁进入政界。
• He had not an adequate arena for the exercise of his talents.他没有充分发挥其才能的场所。

21 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

22 mutual   

adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的

参考例句：

• We must pull together for mutual interest.我们必须为相互的利益而通力合作。
• Mutual interests tied us together.相互的利害关系把我们联系在一起。