Movies that Matter

Arts Engine presents a series of powerful movies that seek to promote change.

By Zach Marks, Yale University
Thursday July 12, 2007

The top movies in America this week are “Transformers” and “Ratatouille.” But movies don’t have to be about shape-shifting robot toys and epicurean rats who dream of “Iron Chef” fame. Thankfully the good folks at Arts Engine are there to remind us that movies can make a real difference with their Seventh Annual Media That Matters Film Festival.

This year’s festival has 16 short features on a range of hot topics from immigration to the environment to anti-war activism. But these films do more than just educate their audience on important issues; they inspire viewers to take action. That’s why Campus Progress is hosting the Washington, D.C. premiere of the Media That Matters Film Festival on Wednesday, June 18—to remind our generation that movies aren’t just about having a good time for a few hours; they’re about having an impact on issues that matter.

Here’s a sneak peek at three of our favorites from this year’s festival:

“Garbage Dreams”

Mai Iskander, Director and Producer

“If there weren’t any garbage collectors, Cairo wouldn’t be clean,” says a teenager named Adham at the opening of Garbage Dreams. Unlike American adolescents who are notorious for letting garbage pile up in their bedrooms, Adham makes a living clawing through mountains of trash under the hot Egyptian sun everyday. He is one of 60,000 Zaballeen, entrepreneurial garbage collectors who collect and recycle one-third of Cairo’s waste—over 3,000 tons a day. But the Zaballeen’s source of income has recently been put at risk as Egypt has signed multimillion dollar contracts with foreign multinational companies to collect Cairo’s garbage. Garbage Dreams follows the Zaballeen’s struggle to save their livelihood in the face of a modernizing waste disposal system.

Their livelihood, while not glamorous, is indeed worth saving and not just for their sake. The Zaballeen recycle 80 to 90 percent of the garbage they collect compared to about 32 percent in the United States, according to the EPA.

“The Zaballeen cares more and separates the garbage more than the company worker,” an activist says at a community meeting in Mokattam, a Cairo slum whose 40,000 residents are mostly garbage collectors. “So we have to speak out and not keep silent about our rights!” Garbage Dreams makes you want to speak out for the Cairo collectors’ rights.

“Still Standing”

Educational Video Center’s Youth Organizers Television (YO-TV) Program, Producer

Imagine buying a house and raising your family in it. Imagine a hurricane destroying that house, taking your belongings and the lives of your loved ones. Imagine making the journey from Houston to New Orleans over and over in the ensuing months to repair that house with your own hands. Now imagine making that journey and finding your house demolished with no warning by the government that didn’t lift a finger to help you get back on your feet.

This is the story of Gertrude Ross, a determined New Orleans homeowner who fights for the right to rebuild her house while both her insurance company and the federal government fail to deliver any assistance. Hurricane Katrina ruined the lives of thousands of people like Ms. Gertrude (as she likes to be called) while the federal government idly watched them suffer. Still Standing puts a human face to the pain that survivors of the hurricane still endure more than a year after the storm. Produced by six young filmmakers between the ages of 17 and 23, the film makes a compelling case for not closing the book on this dark chapter of American history.

“Massacre at Murambi”

Sam Kauffman, Director and Producer

The most gripping film in this year’s Media That Matters Festival is easily Massacre at Murambi. It will make you shiver and leave you speechless.

“We begin with a lie,” the narrator opens. “We love our neighbors. Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. These are all beautiful words.” She asks us where we were on April 21, 1994. “You were of course very busy,” she says as scenes of college students heading to class and businesspeople strolling through an airport flash by. That was the day thousands of Tutsi in Murambi were told by the town’s mayor and head bishop to hide from the Interahamwe at a newly-built school.

“But it was a trap,” the narrator reveals. “A planned massacre.”

Interahamwe militiamen used machetes, lances, and automatic rifles to kill 50,000 defenseless men, women, and children. Kauffman’s dimly lit and slow moving cinematography complements the eerie soundtrack and riveting narration perfectly. As the camera pans across skulls of Murambi victims to bone-chilling background music, the narrator muses, “It has been said that if they were white we would have intervened in Rwanda.” Then a shot appears of stacked bodies that have been preserved and bleached with lime so their hair, flesh and muscle remain. The narrator continues: “Well, they’re white now.”

But Kauffman’s goal is not to dwell on the international community’s inaction during the Rwandan genocide. He’s calling for action on the genocide in Darfur. There is a brief moment of optimism that “this time we will do more than talk,” now that politicians, the media, religious institutions, and other organizations have devoted significant resources to calling for an end to the genocide. Then the narrator says doubtfully, “And so we end this story as we began it. With a lie.”

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