The Center for Human Rights and International Justice, in collaboration with Harvard University and the University of Buenos Aires, hosted a film festival the week of March 19, 2007 at Boston College. The festival, The Meaning of “Home”—Lives of Migrants Through Film, explored the issues of migration, displacement, and justice in Africa, Latin America, and Europe, featuring four films, Prelude to Kosovo, Maria Full of Grace, Dirty Pretty Things, and Sometimes in April. Each film was followed by a short discussion, with two of the discussions held with the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). Please see the UBA website for more: www.redibis.com.ar/filmfestival2007/index.htm. The Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil also participated in the film festival. Please see their website: http://www.museu.ufrgs.br/programacao/index.php.

Monday, March 19th
7 p.m., Higgins 300
Prelude to Kosovo
Prelude to Kosovo is a documentary film depicting the bitter civil war in the former Yugoslavia. Shot on location in Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia, the film combines graphic footage and interviews with religious and political figures while examining the ideology of “ethnic cleansing” and the massacres resulting from a nationalist quest for political, cultural and religious domination. The Serbian Orthodox, Bosnian Muslim and Croatian Catholic perspectives are all represented. The film was followed by a discussion led by Boston College Professors John Michalczyk and Cynthia Simmons.

Tuesday, March 20th
4:30 p.m., Campion 139
Maria Full of Grace
Maria Full of Grace tells the story of Maria Alvarez, a young girl who lives with three generations of her family in a cramped house in rural Colombia and works stripping thorns from flowers in a rose plantation. The offer of a lucrative job involving travel – becoming a drug "mule" – changes the course of her life. Far from the uneventful trip she is promised, Maria is transported into the risky and ruthless world of international drug trafficking. Her mission becomes one of determination and survival and she finally emerges with the grace that will carry her forward into a new life. The screening of the film and the discussion led by Professor Catalina Laserna of Harvard University, will be simultaneously viewed by students at the University of Buenos Aires.

Wednesday, March 21st
4:30 p.m., Campion 139
Dirty Pretty Things
Dirty Pretty Things follows the story of Okwe, a kind-hearted Nigerian doctor, and Senay, a Turkish chambermaid, two immigrants to England who work at the same West London hotel. The hotel is run by Señor Sneaky and is the sort of place where dirty business like drug dealing and prostitution takes place. However, when Okwe finds a human heart in one of the toilets, he uncovers something far more sinister than just a common crime.

Thursday, March 22nd
4:30 p.m. in Campion 139
Sometimes in April
Sometimes in April is an epic story of courage in the face of daunting odds, as well as an exposé of the West's inaction as nearly a million Rwandans were being killed. The plot focuses on two brothers embroiled in the 1994 conflict between the Hutu majority and the Tutsi minority in Rwanda. The protagonists, both Hutus, are reluctant soldier Augustin Muganza, married to a Tutsi and father to three, and his brother Honoré, a popular public figure espousing Hutu propaganda from a powerful pulpit: Radio RTLM in Rwanda. The drama unfolds congruently, both during the genocide in April, 1994, when Augustin and his family desperately try to flee the slaughter, and in 2004, when Augustin visits the United Nations Tribunal in Arusha, where Honoré awaits trial for the incendiary role he and other journalists played in the genocide. The film was followed by a discussion led by Boston College Professors Raymond Helmick and Elisee Rutagambwa.