DESCRIPTION/
Long Night's Journey Into Day studies South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) set up by the post-apartheid, democratic government to consider amnesty for perpetrators of crimes committed under apartheid's reign through four emotional stories. The first story is about Stanford student Amy Biehl who was murdered during a 1993 riot in Cape Town. The filmmakers accompanied Biehl's parents as they attended the hearings in South Africa and testified in support of the Commission's goals, stating, to the surprise of many, that they would not oppose amnesty for the four young black South Africans who were convicted for her murder. The other three stories in the film similarly depict the complexity of finding truth and reaching forgiveness. One is an examination of the 1985 disappearance and murder of two teachers and their friends by South African security forces. The others concern a 1996 guerilla bombing in Durban in which three white women died and an investigation into a complex 1986 shootout where Cape Town police killed seven young men.

BIOGRAPHY/
Frances Reid has been producing, directing, and shooting documentary films for over 30 years. Her most recent production is Skin Deep, winner of a Bronze Plaque at the Columbus Film Festival. In 1994, she received an Academy Award® nomination for her documentary short "Straight from the Heart." Her Producing and Directing credits include such films as the groundbreaking documentary In the Best Interests of the Children, a Blue Ribbon Winner at the American Film Festival. Her film The Faces of AIDS was awarded First Place by the Black Filmmakers' Hall of Fame.
Deborah Hoffman produced and directed the Academy Award nominated Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter. For editing the Times of Harvey Milk, she received a National Emmy and the film received an Academy Award®. She was an editor of Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt, another Academy Award winner. Most recently, Deborah edited Sing Faster: The Stagehands' Ring Cycle, the winner of this year's Sundance Filmmakers' Trophy. She has received two Emmy Awards, a Peabody, a Columbia DuPont, a DGA nomination, and many other awards for her work.


CONTACT/
Frances Reid
IRIS FILMS
2600 Tenth Street, Suite 413
E-mail: irisfilms@aol.com
URL: www.irisfilms.org