Keene, N.H., connects with KSC and current issues through film
On Saturday, April 12, 2014, the Monadnock International Film Festival featured and awarded the film Watchers of the Sky the Jonathan Daniels Award. It is a film that focuses on the concept of genocide in the past and present, a topic that Keene State College prides itself on for having the only Holocaust and Genocide Studies major in the country. Approximately seven years in the making according to Luis Moreno Ocampo, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and one of the five focus people of the film, the movie examines the life of Raphael Lemkin. The story features Lemkin, a lawyer-turned-refugee from Poland during the Holocaust, who came up with the term “genocide” in an attempt to turn it into an international crime punishable by international law.
Brian Cantore / Photo Editor:
MONiff members walk the red carpet at The Colonial Theatre.
The film follows Lemkin’s story as well as four other people involved in making genocide punishable by international law; Ocampo’s struggles in the ICC; Samantha Power, author of the book, A Problem From Hell and influential United States Ambassador to the United Nations; Benjamin Ferencz, an inspirational prosecutor from the Nuremberg court cases against the crimes of the Jewish holocaust; and Emmanuel Uwurukundo, a current and devoted United Nations refugee officer who survived the genocide in Uganda while the rest of his family was killed. While examining the struggle Lemkin was faced with surviving as a refugee, the film also magnifies the fact that genocide is still a very real threat to many people of the world today.
Ocampo, as well as the director of the film, Edet Belzberg and executive producers of the film Elizabeth Bohart and Amelia Green-Dove, appeared in a panel after the viewing to answer questions mediated by Dr. James Waller, chair of the Holocaust and Genocide Studies program at KSC. One of the questions asked of the panel was what initially led them to create the film. Belzberg stated, “I came to Lemkin’s story from the book, A Problem from Hell. After the third chapter, I knew I had to make the movie.” The author of the book, Samantha Power, was also one of the five people the feature film focused on.
When asked by Waller to comment on the problems today with genocide and inaction by multiple world powers, Ocampo said, “There is a conflict between the citizens of the world and the states of the world.” In terms of the United States, Ocampo said, “I don’t think there is any chance the U.S. will help ratify the ICC. I don’t think the U.S. Government will do a lot, but I feel the U.S. citizens will.”
According to the film, genocide is not something just left in the history books — the current president of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir, is at large for his genocide and humanity crimes. The panelists also expressed concern about the conflict in Syria. In an attempt to explain the situations that are happening in the world today concerning genocide and crimes against humanity, Ocampo stated, “Imagine if your daughter is raped and you go to the police and they say, ‘Yes, we raped her and we will do so again tomorrow,’ that is what is happening.”
Brian Cantore / Photo Editor:
Don Baldini, resident artist, and Haik Kocharian, photographer, film director/producer and singer/songwriter.
During the question session, one audience member and mother of award-winning director and screenwriter, Haik Kocharian, spoke up. The mother stated, “My English isn’t good, but I would just like to say that I myself am Armenian and would like to thank you for this film.” To recognize the film festival, Ocampo commented on the positive effect that movies have on the world. “Lenkin’s mission in life was to move the nations. We are ignoring the continued genocide. We have a problem and we have to face it, and I think any movie about the subject is a step in the right direction,” said Ocampo.
Belzberg also commented on the impact of the film community and said, “We received this invitation [to MONiff] before we received any real recognition for this film. I’m so grateful to everyone, and I can’t wait to come back next year as a viewer.” Waller spoke again at the end of the panel and quoted Arthur Ashe, a famous African American tennis player, in reference to what people can start doing to better the world: “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”
Also see Equinox reporter Eric Jedd’s commentary piece on films featured in this year’s film festival on B1.
Eric Jedd can be contacted at ejedd@keene-equinox.com