Still from You Don’t Like the Truth.
The Mid-Hudson Amnesty International Chapter will host a screening of the award-winning Canadian documentary film, You Don’t Like the Truth: 4 Days in Guantanamo, at 7:15 p.m. Tuesday, December 4 at the Rosendale Theatre on Main Street.
Based on security-camera footage from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, the film has never before been seen in the U.S. It depicts interactions between a team of Canadian intelligence agents and 15-year-old detainee Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen picked up in Afghanistan for allegedly killing an American soldier.
Based on seven hours of video footage recently declassified by the Canadian courts, the documentary captures an unfolding high-stakes game of cat and mouse between captor and captive over a four-day period, analyzing the political, legal and scientific aspects of a forced dialogue.
The screening of You Don’t Like the Truth: 4 Days in Guantanamo will be followed by a question-and-answer session with Zeke Johnson, director of Amnesty International USA’s Security with Human Rights campaign, who will be in Guantanamo for the next round of pre-trial motions in the case against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
The Mid-Hudson Amnesty International Chapter is hosting the film screening in order to highlight the upcoming International Human Rights Day on Monday, December 10. While admission to the film is free, says club member Rosalyn Cherry, attendees are being asked to bring a stamped, handwritten letter to the event protesting human rights violations, as part of Amnesty International’s global campaign Write for Rights, designed to step up pressure on governments participating in human rights violations around the world.
This is the second year that the local chapter of Amnesty International has underscored the importance of International Human Rights Day with a film screening and letter-writing campaign, and they hope to make this an annual tradition. “Over one million letters were sent in 2011 to ensure that Prisoners of Conscience, human rights defenders, individuals and communities at risk are not forgotten,” says Cherry. More information on Write for Rights can be obtained at www.amnestyusa.org/writeathon.
On Saturday, December 8 at 9 p.m., the Mid-Hudson Amnesty International Chapter will host a fundraiser at High Falls Cafe with live music by the band Questionable Authorities, SUNY New Paltz’s only all-professor rock band, who’ll play classic rock hits. A number of SUNY faculty musicians will make guest appearances with the band, as well. Admission is free, but donations are encouraged (The band is even donating its entire $250 fee to the Mid-Hudson Amnesty International Chapter).
Film screening of You Don’t Like the Truth: 4 Days in Guantanamo, Tuesday, December 4, 7:15 p.m., free, Rosendale Theatre, 408 Main Street; (845) 658-8989, rosendaletheatre.org.
Amnesty Int’l fundraiser, Saturday, December 8, 9 p.m., free-donations-encouraged, High Falls Cafe, 12 Stone Dock Road, High Falls; (845) 687-2699, highfallscafe.com.