Contact:            Ericka Stallings, Director of Public Relations at Ericka.Stallings@tufts.edu

Film Series:        Stories from the Land: Environmental Films from the Asian Diaspora

Dates:               Nov. 10- 21, 2004

Where:              Remis Auditorium in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Tufts University (Medford and Boston Chinatown Campuses), the Peabody Essex Museum (Salem)

We are pleased to present Stories from the Land: Environmental Films from the Asian Diaspora, November 10-21.  This is a unique event and the first environmental film festival in the New England area focusing on Asia and Asian American issues. The films are from the Asian-Pacific region and from Asian American communities in the United States. Most of these films have never been screened in the New England area Many of these films have received numerous national and international awards. Several films were produced in the original languages, but all have English subtitles and/or narrations.

Screening will be held in several locations including: the Museum of Fine Arts, Tufts University: Medford and Boston Chinatown Campuses, and the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass.

This film festival is being coordinated by a collaboration of local organizations: Tufts University College of Citizenship and Public Service, the Asian Community Development Corporation, the Asian American Resource Workshop, the Peabody Essex Museum, and students who are passionate about environmental and international issues.

Tapes and images are available.

For a more detailed listing of the films and related programs, see www.storiesfromtheland.org. 

For the First time an Environmental Film Festival focused on Asian and Asian American films is coming to Boston this November!!

Stories from the Land: Environmental Films from the Asian Diaspora

All Programs include Film Screenings + Discussion

The films to be screened address issues communities face when struggling against environmental discrimination including: minority rights, peace and justice, economic issues, social issues, history, cultural diversity, human rights, the empowerment of women, children, and more.

To deepen audience interest in international and local environmental issues, there will be discussions by guest speakers or a Q&A session with directors after each screening. This event is not just about watching movies, the aim is also to deepen knowledge and encourage professionals, young people, and community members to get involved through their professional and volunteer activities.

Films to be Screened: Directors and Guest speakers are coming!

For Example…

Buddha Weeps in Jadugoda:  Wednesday., Nov. 17^th, 7:00 p.m. at Tufts (Medford campus) Barnum Hall/008 Auditorium

(India, 1999, 55min)  Director: Shriprakash

Jadugoda is a tribal populated area in Singhbhum District of Bihar (India). It first came into prominence when Uranium deposits were discovered in the area by Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL). Jadugoda is India's only uranium mine. UCIL make no attempt to protect the lives of the people and the environment of the area. The unsafe mining of Uranium has resulted in excessive radiation leading to genetic mutation and slow death. Medical reports reveal that the impact of radiation on lives of the tribes has been devastating. The film Buddha Weeps in Jadugoda is an attempt to record the tragedy that has played havoc with the lives of tribal people of Jadugoda. Won EARTH VISION Grand Prize in 2000. Screening followed by Q&A session with Director Shriprakash

Wrapped in Green:  Friday, Nov. 19^th, 7:00 p.m., at Tufts (Boston Chinatown campus) Jaharis Hall Auditorium

(China, Japan, 2002, 66min) Director: Zhang Kemig

Tian, a woman with a small business selling batteries in a small town in China, happened to read an article about used batteries' impact on the environment. Now she fights a lonely battle collecting used batteries all over her town, in spite of local the government's indifference and her family's opposition. This film depicts her unique activism as well as the greatness of possibility that one person can do for the environment.  Won EARTH VISION Grand Prize in 2003. Screening followed by Q&A session with Director Zhang Keming

Chinatown Is Not For Sale: Saturday, Nov. 13 4:00pm, at Tufts (Boston Chinatown campus) Jaharis Hall Auditorium

(USA, 2002, 43min) Directors:  Youth Organizers of the Chinatown Justice Project (CJP) of CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities

Chinatown Is Not for Sale is about Manhattan's Chinatown community’s struggle against gentrification and displacement, the impact of racist real estate practices in Chinatown, and how low income Chinese tenants are displaced to "make room" for young white professionals. The film also includes footage of CJP's efforts to combat this displacement.  This screening is sponsored by Chinese Youth Initiative.

Many More Films will be screened. For more information visit us at: http://uccps.tufts.edu/storiesfromtheland/program-film.htm

Special Premier Screenings at MFA: Guest speakers will attend!

Wednesday, Nov 10^th, 7:15 pm, MFA Remis Auditorium

Daughter From Yan’an

Daughter From Yan’an by Kaoru Ikeya (En-an no Musume, Japan, 2002, 120 min.). Director Kaoru Ikeya recounts the true-life story of He Haixia, a village girl raised by her adopted family in rural Yan’an, China. Haixia was born to former Red Guards but was separated from her birth parents when they were sent away from Beijing during Mao’s Cultural Revolution. Now married and with a child of her own, Haixia longs to know her real mother and father. She searches for them with help from another former Red Guard from her parents’ generation, Huang Yuling, who struggles with his own past in order to aid her. This engrossing film examines, in personal detail, the toll the massive Chinese human rights violations of the 1970s have taken on the children of the Cultural Revolution.  In Mandarin with English subtitles. Screening followed by Q&A session with Carma Hinton, a film artist whose work has dealt with similar issues.

Guest Speaker: Carma Hinton (Filmmaker) Carma Hinton was born in Beijing in 1949, and lived there until she was twenty-one. Mandarin Chinese is her first language and culture. She is a scholar as well as a filmmaker. She received a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1976, and a Ph.D. in art history from Harvard University. She has taught Chinese language, history, and culture at Wellesley, Swarthmore, Middlebury, and MIT. She was also a lecturer in the Teachers as Scholars program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, in 1998-99 and 1999-2000.For her work in film, she was awarded a Rockefeller Intercultural Film/Video Fellowship in 1988. She co-produced and co-directed The Gate of Heavenly Peace (1995), a documentary about the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, and Morning Sun (2003), a two-hour documentary about the culture behind China's Cultural Revolution (c.1964-1976).

Thursday, Nov 18^th, 7:45 pm, MFA Remis Auditorium

Alexei and the Spring

Alexei and the Spring by Seiichi Motohashi (Alexei to Izumi, Belarus/Japan, 2001, 104 min.). Characterized by a curious blend of nuclear dread and pastoral simplicity (Variety), Alexei and the Spring is a charming documentary that chronicles life in Budische, a small village in the Republic of Belarus contaminated by radioactive fall-out from the nuclear accident at Chernobyl. A stalwart fifty-six residents remain in Budische, mostly elderly people with one exception: 34-year-old Alexei, who recounts the rhythms of the community before and after the accident. Crucial to the town’s survival is a 100-year-old spring, miraculously untainted by nuclear radiation, which becomes a real and symbolic destination for the villagers. In Japanese or Belarusian with English subtitles. Screening followed by Q&A session.

Ticket Rates

Ticket rates differ for each venue.

Daily ticket rate from 5$ up to 10$, Festival PASS includes Program booklet, 15$/students, 25$/regular.  Free tickets are also available for certain guests.  See our website for more info http://uccps.tufts.edu/storiesfromtheland/ticket.htm

Contact

For more info, please contact: Ms. Sato Asaoka, Festival Director

Sato.asaoka@tufts.edu  617-627-5761

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