Christine Camdessus Movies
A Palestinian farmer who purchased a video camera to document the birth of his fourth son begins using it to record the struggle between his people and Israeli settlers, and continues to buy a new camera each time his old one is damaged in the fray. The year was 2005. Bil'in family man Emad Burnat was celebrating the birth of his fourth son Gibreel when the settlers began erecting a massive separation barrier in their village. Over the course of the next two years, Burnat alternated between documenting his son's development, and turning his camera on the peaceful protests over the controversial barrier. As the tensions swell, Burnat finds himself having to replace broken cameras with alarming frequency. This is the story of each of Burnat's cameras, and the images they captured as his friends, family, and loved ones waged a valiant struggle to preserve their way of life. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- 2006
Most people don't think of the Cold War as being a lot of laughs, but folks who lived on the darker side of the Iron Curtain look back at the funny side of life under Communism in this documentary. A number of Russian and East German writers, political figures, and ordinary folks are interviewed about the state of humor during the era of Communism, with most sharing the view that the widespread corruption, clumsy bureaucracy, and frequent incompetence of the U.S.S.R. made for great comedy (if less than ideal leadership). Director Ben Lewis and cartoonist John "Moose" Pagan intersperse the interviews with animated interpretations of common gags of the era, while some authorities discuss how humor was sometimes used for political ends in the Eastern Block (one Polish bureaucrat reveals one of his duties was to come up with jokes making fun of the then-rising Solidarity movement). Hammer and Tickle -- The Communist Joke Book was screened as part of the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
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