Presentation of WITNESS
Presentation of the work of WITNESS an organisation, which advances human rights advocacy through the use of video and communications technology. WITNESS (www.witness.org) partners with locally-based human rights organizations globally, equipping, training and supporting so that they can engage in digital witnessing and make and use powerful videos to fight for human rights. WITNESS has trained and equipped over 150 groups, and currently works with over 40 partner organizations worldwide.
Sam Greggory and Gillian Caldwell of Witness, will discuss strategies for developing advocacy plans built around visual evidence, testimony and stories, and for using video to target domestic and international institutions including the UN and regional commissions, media and other audiences (including via the web) in order to create social change. It will include video clips and case studies of WITNESS partners’ work, as well as taking Questions about the challenges involved.
Further WITNESS films and complete films will be shown during the N5M film program.
Testimonies....
Throughout the Next 5 Minutes there will be points of testimony. A session in which we will have the opportunity to experience first hand accounts by eyewitnesses with supporting mediation. These accounts will be as in so far as it is possible presented as and of themselves. Although the groups will take questions these are primarily points of testimony rather than opportunities for debate. These include:
- RAWA were powerful media advocates in getting the word out about women's rights under the Taliban. They have an ability to bring the global witness into the soccer stadiums of the Taliban, and then into the homes of Afghans during the US-led military campaign post-9/11
- Shared Footage Group Gujarat
An informal group of people with a background of film and television...we came together in the aftermath of the riots in Gujarat in early 2002...we decided to document whatever we could with our meagre resources and to make this footage available to all (who would use it to promote harmony), without any notions of authorship or ownership.... and people started calling this the "shared footage group".... people kept chipping in with money, or equipment or services, and after spending many months there we have ended up with over two hundred fifty hours of video material relating to the riots and rehabilitation process...over a hundred people have taken part in this project.
- Jenny Wesly has been working at Imagine IC a cultural centre in de Bijlmer (Amsterdam Southeast), with a software application Nine. The application was created by artist Graham Harwood to facilitate less alphabetized approaches to testimony, Jenny Wesly has been working with a group of descendents of slaves, older Surinamese women. She is using Nine to make visible the connections between their current situation and the history of slavery in Suriname.
- Gregg Bordowitz films Fast Trip Long Drop and Habit followed by an interview by David Garcia leading to an open discussion with the audience.
(see screening program for details)