We are bringing your attention to two films currently featured in the DOC NYC documentary film festival: Nasrin and A La Calle. Both can be purchased and streamed on the DOC NYC website:
These remarkable documentary efforts represent the crucial and courageous work of the community that we aim to support. We are involved in the campaigns spearheaded by both films, and developing collaborations with their respective filmmakers.
On September 21st, forty-two days into Nasrin Sotoudeh’s hunger strike in Evin Prison in Tehran, Convisero co-sponsored a panel in her support, recorded here, with IGL alumnus, author, and activist Amir Soltani, Karin Karlekar of PEN America, the Hon. Irwin Cotler of the Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, and Roya and Ladan Boroumand of the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran. Nasrin has since broken her strike, and has been granted temporarily leave from imprisonment due to her deteriorating health.
The film Nasrin, profiling her extraordinary efforts to promote human and women’s rights in Iran despite the resulting dire threat to her safety, was created by Jeff Kaufman and Marcia S. Ross, with whom we are now in contact to help amplify the impact of the film. Convisero will remain dedicated to supporting Nasrin’s cause, and that of human rights in Iran.
A La Calle, co-directed by Maxx Caicedo and Nelson Navarette, follows the fight of Venezuelans to reclaim democracy from the regime of Nicolás Maduro. Through secretive means, the filmmakers were able to capture interviews with opposition leaders, including the political prisoner Leopoldo López, and ordinary Venezuelan citizens whose lives and rights have been utterly disrupted.
We are now in contact with Maxx, and with veteran impact campaign strategist Bonnie Abaunza, thanks to the introduction of Lily Anderson, an IGL alumna who by serendipity is Maxx’s partner. We have begun envisioning a Convisero event with them for early in the New Year, and have introduced them to a friend, Professor José Ignacio Hernandez, Special Prosecutor of the Interim Government of Venezuela.
Human rights and corruption in Venezuela are an ongoing concern of The Trebuchet. We befriended José when he participated in our study group on “Confronting Corruption in Defense of Human Rights” at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy of the Harvard Kennedy School. At that time, in my capacity as a Senior Fellow of the Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, I was also advising the Hon. Irwin Cotler as he chaired the OAS Panel of Independent International Experts investigating crimes against humanity in Venezuela. These are issues that we are eager to continue pursuing with José, Irwin, and the social campaign of A La Calle.