Islamic Execution— This Friday, June 23, the New Mexico Coalition to Repeal the Death Penalty will present the award-winning Iranian film Day Break beginning at 7 p.m. at the KiMo Theater in Downtown Albuquerque. The film was shot inside Tehran’s century-old prison and revolves around the imminent execution of a young man found guilty of murder. In Iranian society, a victim’s family not only has the right to condemn or forgive an accused killer, they also have the responsibility of carrying out said execution. This apparently leads to an all-too-common situation, in which criminals are stuck in prison at the whim of families wavering between forgiveness or revenge. The film is a well-made, well-acted think piece, sure to spark discussions of both the death penalty and cultural differences between the United States and the Middle East. A public forum will be held after the screening led by the film’s award-winning producer/director, Hamid Rahmanian. Tickets are available online (www.nmrepeal.org), through Ticketmaster (888-7800) or at the KiMo Box office.
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Falluja Film— This Thursday, June 22, the People Before Profit film series at the Albuquerque Peace and Justice Center will continue with Falluja. This difficult-to-come-by film on alleged U.S. war crimes in Falluja was produced by an independent Japanese producer and is in Arabic with English subtitles. Falluja has become a symbol of the resistance movement against the occupation of Iraq by U.S. forces. In April 2004, U.S. forces invaded Falluja with several thousand soldiers. Ten days after the siege of Falluja was lifted, Toshikuni Doi went into Falluja to produce this documentary. This film explains why international human rights groups have labeled U.S. actions in Falluja as war crimes. The film will begin at 7 p.m. The Peace and Justice Center is located at 202 Harvard SE.
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Filmmaker Docs DeLay— This weekend, the Guild Cinema in Nob Hill will be presenting the local premiere of the documentary film The Big Buy: Tom DeLay’s Stolen Congress . On Sunday, June 25, at 2 p.m., the film’s codirector Mark Birnbaum will be on hand to present the film and to participate in a Q&A session. Birnbaum’s film shows how Tom DeLay and his “Republican Revolution” systematically set out to destroy the Department of Education, HUD, OSHA, the NEH, the NEA, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy. This plan to “completely redesign government” was laid out in a 1994 interview with the (now former) House Majority Leader. Birnbaum’s film (hopefully) serves as a warning about how easily our government can be hijacked. Tickets are only $5 and are available at the Guild box office (3405 Central NE).
