"IN SHIFTING SANDS" - from the THE ASSOCIATED PRESS: Former U.N. inspector accuses U.S. of provoking U.N. confrontation with Iraq as a pretext for U.S. airstrikes 

UNITED NATIONS, July 18, 2002 - In a new documentary film, a former U.N. weapons inspector accuses the United States of manipulating the United Nations to provoke a confrontation with Saddam Hussein as a pretext for U.S. airstrikes on Iraq.  
 Scott Ritter, a former U.S. Marine intelligence officer, says in the 90-minute documentary that he did not provoke the confrontation the Americans wanted in March 1998, but fellow inspector Roger Hill -- an Australian -- did have a confrontation in December of that year. [...] 

July 4, 8p.m.: DCTV program 
 

Former LAPD narcotics officer Mike Ruppert has spent 20 years crusading to expose drug dealing and infiltration of the police by the CIA. Following Sept. 11, the publisher of the From the Wilderness newsletter made waves by claiming that - contrary to the official story - elements of the U.S. government had specific knowledge of the attacks well in advance of Sept. 2001. To this day, in a never-ending series of lectures across the United States and around the world, Ruppert continues to argue his highly controversial thesis: that the Bush administration intentionally allowed the Sept. 11 attacks to go ahead, so as to gain the justification for an already-planned war in Afghanistan and for an extreme right-wing program of repression and militarization in the United States itself. In this film, Ruppert methodically presents the evidence for his case at a Nov. 2001 lecture, which ended with a standing ovation from a crowd of 800 people in Portland, Oregon. The broadcast media have accused Ruppert of unfounded conspiracy theory, even more so on the left/alternative end of the political spectrum. But he was recently able to raise more than 100,000 dollars from his Internet readership towards the purchase of full-page advertisements in major American newspapers, with the intent of repeating his claims to a potential audience of more than 40 million readers. By featuring this lecture at the festival, we are giving viewers the chance to decide for themselves what they think. 
 
July 4th, 10 p.m.  

The Panama Deception documents the untold story of the December 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama; the events which led to it; the excessive force used; the enormity of the death and destruction; and the devastating aftermath. The Panama Deception uncovers the real reasons for this internationally condemned attack, presenting a view of the invasion which widely differs from that portrayed by the U.S. media and exposes how the U.S. government and the mainstream media suppressed information about this foreign policy disaster. The Panama Deception includes never before seen footage of the invasion and its aftermath, as well as interviews with both invasion proponents like Gen. Maxwell Thurman, Panamanian President Endara and Pentagon spokesperson Pete Williams, and opponents like U.S. Representative Charles Rangel (D-NY.), Panamanian human rights workers Olga Mejia and Isabel Corro and former Panamanian diplomat Humberto Brown. Network news clips and media critics contribute to a staggering analysis of media control and self censorship relevant to any news coverage today, particularly during times of war. Among the film's excellent reviews are: "meticulously researched" (Hal Hinson, Washington Post); "outstanding" (Betsy Sherman, Boston Globe); "tough....provocative....moving....beautifully edited" (Vincent Canby, New York Times); and "lays out simply and forcefully the case against the 'official' version" (Peter Rainer, Los Angeles Times). 
www.empowermentproject.org/pages/panama.html 
 
July 7, 6 p.m. 
 
 

Produced on the eve of the 1988 election, COVERUP presents hard-hitting look at Papa Bush, Oliver North, Bill Casey, John Poindexter and their dealings in Central America, the Middle East and at home. "A tangled tale of politics, drugs, hostages, weapons, assassinations, covert operations and the ultimate plan to suspend the Constitution of the United States. COVERUP starts where the hearings left off!" Among the questions posed: Did future CIA chief Bill Casey and George Bush cut a deal with Iran in 1980 to avoid an "October Surprise," keeping the American hostages in Tehran until after the defeat of Jimmy Carter and the inauguration of Ronald Reagan? What were the details of the plan for martial law in the United States, devised by Oliver North in tandem with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA, now the main agency in the "Homeland Security Department")? Did the CIA-backed Contra army in Nicaragua finance itself by smuggling cocaine into the United States, with the Agency's backing? And why didn't the congressional Iran-Contra investigation ask any of these questions in public?  
According to COVERUP, the Iran-Contra scandal was not an aberration - it was part of  a pattern of abuses of power by covert operators willing to subvert domestic and international law to ensure the United States' continued global dominance. Coverup is an investigative documentary about world-wide covert activities backed by the U.S. government. ... activities that were NOT revealed by the Iran-Contra Hearings of the U.S. Congress. It wades in where the official hearings were afraid to tread, revealing a tangled web of political leaders, international drug smugglers, weapons dealers, hostages, assassinations, the C.I.A. and the effect of covert U.S. foreign policy on people throughout the world. 
www.empowermentproject.org/pages/coverup.html 
These subjects remain painfully relevant. John Poindexter, the White House's fall-guy for Iran-Contra, convicted on five felony counts of lying to Congress, is back in government as the head of the Total Information Awareness project at the Pentagon's research arm, DARPA (see his department's unbelievable logo, right). His job will be to create the most powerful database technology in history, potentially able to electronically track everything everyone does in real time - for the purpose of "catching terrorists," of course.  
And Oliver North's original FEMA plans for suspending the Constitution and rounding up 400,000 people into concentration camps have evolved into a sophisticated, extraconstitutional "Shadow Government" of unelected officials, presumably under Dick Cheney. It was in Nov. 2001 that Cheney first thought to inform the elected leadership of the Congress that this Shadow Government had been activated on Sept. 11, 2001, and was still active... North's 1984 plans called for the rehearsal of rounding up 400,000 Central American aliens and 30,000 U.S. citizens, presumably radicals. The contingency plans of today may instead place more of an emphasis on counting Arabs... which brings us to our next film... 
 
July 9, 6 p.m. 

German Premiere: 

 

"The filmmaker has really captured the human cost and real-life  consequences of the 9/11 arrests ... very compelling." - Lucas  Guttentag, American Civil Liberties Union 

"An insightful documentary." - Human Rights Watch 

"As we wage a war against global terrorism and extremists in our midst,  Brothers and Others is a powerful documentary about the 'hidden' victims  of 9/11, the thousands of Arabs and Muslims who have been detained  without trial and many of whose lives have been shattered. It reminds  us of the need to balance our desire for security with an equal concern  for the rule of law and civil liberties which make America the great  nation that it is." - John L. Esposito - Author of Islamic Threat: Myth  or Reality and Professor of Religion and International Affairs at  Georgetown University 
 
July 4, 6p.m. 
 

July 9, 8 p.m.-- Discussion with the film's writer and producer Elsa Rassbach.

THE KILLING FLOOR is the true story of a Southern black migrant who defied the rising racial tensions in the Chicago Stockyards during World War I and joined with Polish and German workers to build an interracial union, only to see these efforts jeopardized by the brutal 1919 Race Riot. 

After hearing that labor shortages mean high-paying jobs for blacks in northern cities, Frank Custer (Damien Leake) leaves his wife Mattie (Alfre Woodard) and his children in Mississippi to travel to Chicago with his best friend, Thomas Joshua (Ernest Rayford). Frank lands a job on the cattle "killing floor" and is taken under the wing of "Heavy" Williams (Moses Gunn), who has had bitter experiences with white workers.  Thomas is beaten up by white thugs and decides to enlist in the army.  Frank at first resists joining the white-led union, but he finally becomes a member after a German immigrant, Bill Bremer (Clarence Felder) helps him to rise from laborer to butcher.  The union begins to rely on Frank to organize other blacks, and he thus incurs the wrath of "Heavy,"  who considers Frank a traitor to his race.  With the war raging and supplies for the troops critical, the government brings about a compromise of the meatpacking companies with the union.  Wages rise, and Frank brings Mattie and the children to Chicago.   

Thomas returns from the war a hero, but also a much more violent man who carries a pistol and threatens white racists with it.  Soldiers returning from the battlefields must compete with black workers for jobs.  Racial tensions mount.  During a union rally  "Heavy" provokes rioting in the Stockyards.   Tensions boil over into the city streets in the violent Race Riot of 1919, in which Thomas is killed.  It is unsafe for blacks to walk to work in the Stockyards. Disillusioned with the union, most blacks turn against Frank and follow "Heavy."  When the meatpacking companies offer to escort the black workers back into the Stockyards on condition that they stay out of the union, the union calls for all workers to stay home to avoid more bloodshed.  Frank breaks with Bill Bremer and goes in to work with the black workers. Secretly he wears his union button to begin the task of organizing all over again. 

The screenplay by Leslie Lee is based upon an original story by Producer Elsa Rassbach 
The film is the directorial debut of actor Bill Duke.  The excellent cast includes Damien Leake ("Serpico," "Apocalypse Now," "The Cotton Club"); Alfre  Woodard ("Crooklyn," Oscar Nomination for "Cross Creek"); Moses Gunn ("Ragtime," "The Never Ending Story"), Ted Levine ("The Silence of the Lambs,""Manhunter"), and Dennis Farina ("Get Shorty," -----"Crime Story").  

The film has received many awards, including the Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Award and the Cine Golden Eagle.  It has been shown in numerous festivals such as Cannes (Critic's Week), London, Locarno, Mannheim. 

The film was created for US public television and premiered in the American Playhouse series.  It has also been shown on Channel Four in England and had theatrical screenings in New York, LA, and London. 

July 5, 6 p.m.

Statement by the director about the film 

Aus Anlass der Irakkrise begannen Berliner Filmemacher während der diesjährigen Berlinale einen Dokumentarfilm zu drehen, in dem die Ohnmacht gegenüber politischen und medialen Entwicklungen thematisiert wird. Es entstand eine dialektische Montage aus Interviews, Statements und freestyles. Obwohl fast alle Protagonisten den Krieg ablehnten, hätten die Standpunkte nicht unterschiedlicher sein können: während sich z. B. Jack Valenti hinter seinen Präsidenten stellte, aber diplomatisch verklausuliert den Krieg verurteilte, fragte John Hurt verzweifelt, warum niemand auch nur den Versuch unternahm, die Motive der Anschläge auf die Twin Towers näher zu betrachten.  
An der Herstellung von Freedom2speak-Berlinale beteiligten sich spontan 80 Filmemacher. Der Film, in den 12 Tagen des Festivals konzipiert, gedreht und geschnitten, wurde schon am letzten Tag der Berlinale in der Panorama Sektion als rough-cut vorgeführt werden und fand sehr großen Zuspruch.  
Das ermunterte uns, F2s weiter zu entwickeln. Mit einem transkontinentalen Brückenschlag von Berlin nach New York und von dort nach Frankreich versuchen wir, der momentanen Sprachlosigkeit zwischen Europa und den USA kreativ zu begegnen. Während f2s-Berlinale die Ohnmacht und Wut widerspiegelt, sollen auf den weiteren Stationen die Hintergründe von derzeitigen politischen und medialen Entwicklungen untersucht und problematisiert werden. 
Freestyles als radikal subjektive Aussage einzelner Filmemacher werden episodisch mit szenischen Gesprächssituationen zu einem Filmdokument verwoben, mit dessen Aufrichtigkeit ein weiterer Aspekt der Aufgaben von Kunst- und Kulturschaffenden erfüllt wird: Gedächtnis zu sein. 
Der Ihnen vorliegende Film zeigt die ersten Schritte unserer in Berlin begonnenen Arbeit. Die Dreharbeiten in New York sind gerade abgeschlossen, Ende Mai wird der französische Part fertig sein, so dass wir am 20. Juni das fertige Produkt vorlegen können. 
 
http://www.freedom2speak.com/ 

July 3, 10 p.m. - Discussion with director Rick Minnich. 

By Nancy Cohen, 60', USA 1991

www.lambstar.com:

Film consists of last detailed interview with political activist  Hoffman on the eve of his 50th birthday. "My Dinner With Abbie"  premiered at the Forum des Jungen Films, Berlinale 1990, A.F.I.  Festival in Los Angeles, International Documentary Festival in  Amsterdam and won best in category "Struggle for Human Rights and  Justice" at Vermont Earth Peace Film Festival 1992. Film used as a  fundraiser for The National Lawyers Guild and was broadcast on PBS in  1995 and 1997. Screened as centerpiece for Town meetings post War in  Iraq, 2003. 

Greg Palast: Floridagate 

U-Bahn "Görlitzer Bahnhof" 
Bus: 129, N29, 140, 265 
Tel. +49 (0) 30 611-60-16 

Pressekontakt:  
Hans Habiger  
Tel. +49 (0) 30 243-13-033 
<habiger@eyz-kino.de>