Film

Cuba: Dealing with Racism

As a documentary on racial discrimination in Cuba is released, Havana Times.org republishes a mainstream media article on the debate, while Babalu Blog says: “I guess this reporter figured out that the overwhelmingly white leadership and the overwhelmingly black prison population in Cuba was not just a coincidence after all.”

Source: Global Voices Online

Russia: Fate of Mennonites during Stalin

Otto's Random Thoughts publishes a review of a documentary film on the fate of Mennonites in Stalin's Russia.

Source: Global Voices Online

Southeast Asia: Controversies and tragedies of 2008

In the previous post (Southeast Asia: Newsmakers of 2008), I wrote about the major events that took place in Southeast Asia. In this article, I will highlight other stories which became controversial as well. Another objective is to gather and categorize the linkposts on the right side of the Global Voices, pertaining to the region.

Source: Global Voices Online

Macedonia Timeless

On December 24, 2008, there was a presentation of a promotional video for Macedonia – “Macedonia Timeless.”

The video is written and directed by Milcho Manchevski (an Academy Award nominee in 1995), and its purpose is to promote Macedonia as a tourist destination. The video will be aired on CNN, and a dozen countries in eight different languages. There is a special website www.macedonia-timeless.com, designed to support the campaign.

Source: Global Voices Online

Bolivia: The Business of Digital Piracy in El Alto

Music and movie piracy in Bolivia is commonplace. Wilfredo Jordán takes a look at the business in El Alto, Bolivia and how many vendors travel to the Peruvian border to purchase good to resell [es].

Source: Global Voices Online

New film on Philippine revolution

FeudArt posts trailers and a backgrounder of Baler, a new film based on events during the Philippine revolution against Spanish colonizers at the end of the 19th Century.

Source: Global Voices Online

Costa Rica: Call for Collaborative Christmas Video

Costa Rican online collective nosedecirlaerre.com which translates into “I can´t pronounce the R” has set out a call for participation from Costa Ricans and those familiar with their culture to create a collaborative video for Christmas. The campaign is called Uniting Ticos for Christmas and the requirements are quite simple: dancing in the Costa Rican style of “swing criollo” the popular end of the year song Jugo de Piña and saying something in Costa Rican slang, on video.

Source: Global Voices Online

Cuba: Gabo in Havana

Both Yohandry's Weblog (ES) and Havana Times blog about Nobel Laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez's visit to Cuba “for the final days of the Havana Film Festival, an annual event that he rarely misses.”

Source: Global Voices Online

Armenia: CNN Genocide Coverage Controversy

Too short for Armenians and too long for the Turkish government, a two-hour CNN documentary by Christiane Amanpour on genocide includes a 45-second mention of the WWI extermination of Ottoman Empire's indigenous Armenian population. Premiered on December 4, 2008, Scream Bloody Murder has made many Armenian bloggers angry, leading them to recall Hitler's rhetoric for impunity, “Who, after all, remembers the Armenians?”

Source: Global Voices Online

Cuba: Two Sides of Che?

Havana-based Circles Robinson wonders how Cuban audiences will react to the new film about Che Guevara, while diaspora blogger Uncommon Sense advises readers to enroll in “The Ché Guevara Re-Education Program.”

Source: Global Voices Online

Central & Eastern Europe: Obituaries

Edward Lucas re-posts The Economist's obits of Mieczyslaw Rakowski, a Polish Communist journalist and politician, who died on Nov. 8, and of Boris Fyodorov, a Russian economic reformer, who died on Nov. 20. Borut Peterlin notes the death of Vilko Filač, the “cameraman of Emir Kusturica’s best movies.”

Source: Global Voices Online

The Balkans: Tragic Legacy

Cafe Turco writes on the inaccuracies in Resolution 819 film and posts a translation of Hasan Nuhanović's article that challenges “the veracity of some scenes.” Srebrenica Genocide Blog writes on a recent exhumation of “50 complete and 883 partial human remains of Srebrenica genocide victims” and links to a

Source: Global Voices Online

Egypt: First Human Rights Film Festival

The Cairo Human Rights Film Festival kicked off yesterday (November 23) and will continue until Thursday (November 27). The event is being organized by the American Islamic Congress and it's Middle East Director Dalia Ziada in partnership with the Hisham Mubarak Law Center, Ibn Khaldoun Center for Development and the New Woman Foundation and will feature seven films.

On her blog, Dalia wrote:

Source: Global Voices Online

Morocco: Bloggers Ignored by Film Festival

Allal El Alaoui reports that the Marrakesh International Film Festival ignores bloggers and freelance film critics, as well as, in some cases, Moroccans in general.

Source: Global Voices Online

Egypt: No Manhood for the Manhood Drink!

Egypt has launched a fierce campaign against sexual harassment in the aftermath of the recent events here, here, here, here, and here. But people working in the media industry do not seem to get the idea.

Source: Global Voices Online

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