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 MY DAUGHTER THE TERRORIST (58 minutes) Sri Lanka/Norway/USA Director: Beate Arnestad Producer: Morten Daae Description: This fascinating documentary is an exceedingly rare, inside look at an organization that most of the world has blacklisted as a terrorist group. Made by the first foreign film crew to be given access to the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) of Sri Lanka, the film offers insights into the recently re-ignited conflict in Sri Lanka. Twenty-four-year-olds Dharsika and Puhalchudar have been living and fighting side-by-side for seven years as part of LTTE's elite force, the Black Tigers. Their story is told through cinema verité footage, newsreel footage, and interviews with the women and Dharsika's mother. The women describe heartbreaking traumas they both experienced at the hands of the Sri Lankan army, which led them to join the guerrilla forces. As they discuss their readiness to become suicide bombers and their abiding loyalty to the unnamed "Leader"-who they are sure would never harm civilians-grisly images of past LTTE suicide bombings provide somber counterpoints. Their curiously flat affects raise the possibility that they have been brainwashed. This even-handed documentary sheds light on the reasons that the Tamil Tigers continue their bloody struggle for independence while questioning their tactics. Biography: Beate Arnestad worked for many years and in many different positions at Norwegian broadcaster NRK, mainly in the divisions of culture and entertainment. Her first documentary was Where the Waves Sing (2002), tracing the life of a former painter and governor in the forgotten Danish-Norwegian colony Tranquebar in India. While living in Sri Lanka from 2003 to 2006, she started exploring the concept of women in war, which turned into the film My Daughter the Terrorist. She is currently starting work on a new documentary, this time based on recent African history. Contact Information: Kristen Fitzpatrick Women Make Movies 462 Broadway #500 New York, NY 10013 E-mail: ordersw@wmm.com Web site: http://www.snitt.no/mdtt/index.htm |
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