WAUKESHA – The University of Wisconsin-Waukesha, the Plowshare Center and Carroll College are co-sponsoring the third annual Waukesha United Nations Association Traveling Film Festival (UNAFF) on Wednesday, March 26. 

All of the films are documentaries, produced by independent film makers and submitted to a jury organized by the UNAFF committee at Stanford University, California.  The local Waukesha committee selected 20 films from several hundred from all over the world. The films deal with such topics as human rights, environmental survival, women’s issues, culture and social concerns, war and peace.

Deirdre Keenan, local UNAFF Committee Chair, said, “The films provide penetrating examination of critical issues. They are all provocative and moving.”

Local committee members include:  Jon Canny, Kaitlin Daugherty, Elena De Costa, Deirdre Keenan, Lynn Knight, Ernabelle Mundschau, Ruth Van Heitsma, and Welody Wilson.

Admission is FREE and open to all. Parking on the UW-Waukesha campus also is free, and no permit will be required.  Parking at Carroll College is available in lots near Shattuck Hall.

The UW-Waukesha films will be shown in Northview Hall, Room 133 and the schedule  is:

2:00 p.m.      Introduction/Welcome Remarks

2:10 p.m.      Abstaining from Reality, 9 min

2:30 p.m.      Baghdad ER, 64 min

3:50 p.m.      American Soldier, 3 min

4:00 p.m.      Mr. Dial has Something to Say, 60 min

5:15 p.m.      Like a Ship in the Night, 30 min

6:00 p.m.      Rights on the Line: Vigilantes on the Border, 25 min

6:40 p.m.      Toxic Bust: Chemicals and Breast Cancer, 41 min

7:30 p.m.      Interview with an Executioner, 13 min

8:00 p.m.     America’s Brutal Prisons, 48 min

The Carroll College films will be shown in the Shattuck Recital Hall and in Shattuck B-25 and the schedule is:

9:00 a.m.      Hidden Wounds, 57 min

10:20 a.m.    A Life Among Whales, 57 min 

10:20 a.m.    When Abortion Was Illegal, 28 min

11:00 a.m.    Global Focus IV: The New Environmentalists, 30 min

11:30 a.m.    Abstaining From Reality, 9 min 

11:45 a.m.    Like a Ship In the Night, 30 min  

11:45 a.m.    Rights on the Line: Vigilantes on the Border, 25 min                   

12:25 p.m.   Toxic Bust: Chemicals and Breast Cancer, 41 min

1:15 p.m.     The Devil Came on Horseback, 89 min

1:15 p.m.     Hot House, 90 min

3:00 p.m.     In the Tall Grass, 57 min

3:00 p.m.     Small Town Gay Bar, 81 min

4:05 p.m.     Baghdad ER, 64 min

5:15 p.m.     Soldiers of Conscience, 86 min

7:00 p.m.     Mr. Dial Has Something to Say, 60 min 

8:10 p.m.     La Sierra, 70 min 

9:45 p.m.    America's Brutal Prisons, 48 min 

10:35 p.m.   Interview with an Executioner, 13 min

This is the third year the traveling film festival will be available in Waukesha. For additional information about the UNAFF, visit unaff.org.  For more information about the Waukesha UNAFF Traveling Film Festival, please contact Lynn Knight at UW-Waukesha (262) 521-5445 or Deirdre Keenan at Carroll College (262) 524-7254

Brief descriptions of the films follow:

Abstaining From Reality: The film examines the Bush administration's abstinence-only approach in HIV prevention programs in Kenya and Uganda and the consequences of those policies.

American Soldier: This short film documents the life and death of an American soldier through the lens of family photographs.

America's Brutal Prisons: The film examines the violence inside prisons throughout the United States in the context of the Abu Ghraib incidents.

A Life Among Whales: This film explores the relationship between people and whales, along with our stewardship of Earth and our co-existence with some of its creatures.

Baghdad ER: The film provides a rare, graphic look at the day-to-day hardship, humanity, heroism, and sacrifice of the U.S. Military and medical personnel in Iraq.

The Devil Came on Horseback: This film examines Darfur and those who are acting to end the tragedy.  It addresses the question: Why has the West not taken more urgent action to stop the genocide?

Global Focus IV – The New Environmentalists: Six passionate activists put themselves between corrupt governments and greedy corporations to safeguard the Earth’s natural resources.

Hidden Wounds: One-in-five troops returning from the current war in Iraq will suffer some form of post-traumatic stress disorder; the film explores this painful reality through the stories of three veterans.

HotHouse: The film provides a rare look inside Israeli prisons where almost ten thousand Palestinians are incarcerated, featuring interviews with prisoners.

Interview with an Executioner: This film presents conversations with former executioner, Don Cabana, talking about his days as a penitentiary warden to his anti-death penalty work thirty years later.

In the Tall Grass: This film tells the story of Rwanda’s search for reconciliation as the country reckons with the genocide using a network of traditional community courts called gacaca.

La Sierra: During the last decade, over 35,000 people have been killed in Colombia's civil war.  The film follows urban gang members engaged in armed warfare for the control of barrio neighborhoods.

Like a Ship in the Night: Because abortion is illegal in Ireland, at least 8,000 women a year travel to England for abortions. The film follows their difficult journey.

Mr. Dial Has Something to Say: This film explores the world of Afro-American improvisational visual arts, concentrating on the works and life of one artist, while confronting the implications of “outsider” art.

Rights on the Line: Vigilantes at the Border: This film exposes the anti-immigrant politics that lurk behind the Minuteman Project and shows the continuum between official border militarization and vigilante action.

The Shape of Water: Five women take revolutionary action in response to environmental degradation, archaic traditions, lack of economic independence, and war.

Small Town Gay Bar: This film looks at gay men and women in rural, Bible Belt areas fighting to create and maintain community and gain basic rights in the face of great opposition.

Soldiers of Conscience: This film looks at the struggles of conscience that enable some soldiers to kill for their country and some soldiers to refuse to kill. 

Toxic Bust: Chemicals and Breast Cancer: This film uncovers growing evidence that links breast cancer to chemical exposure.

When Abortion was Illegal: Untold Stories: The film looks at the experiences of women who faced unwanted pregnancy during the era of illegal abortion in the U.S. and their emotional, physical, and legal consequences.

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