Culture and Conflict

In all corners of the world, civil wars have been a fact of modern history. But what happens when the fighting stops, if for years neighbor has been killing neighbor? How do people on both sides deal with the legacy of loss, anger, pain, distrust and a desire for revenge? On the island of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea thousands of people were killed in a war of secession that grew from a local uprising against an Australian copper company. When the ten-year-old civil war ended in 1998, the islanders had to deal with the challenging emotional terrain of personal reconciliation. Breaking Bows and Arrows documents the islanders' road to forgiveness and healing, a process governed by their own cultural tradition. Perpetrators and victims came together in ceremonies to heal the wounds of division. In one of the largest gatherings, ex-fighters join with the families of those they have killed to participate in traditional peacemaking rituals. One man retrieves the bones of a chief he had shot, ceremonially returning then to the bereaved wife. He seeks a release from this heavy burden of guilt and remorse; she seeks a release from the hatred she feels.

South Africa emerged from the evils of Apartheid more than a decade ago, but its problems are endemic. The gap between rich and poor has expanded, the confrontation between white and black people are on the rise, the crime rate has risen, and AIDS is decimating the mostly black population. Zimbabwe, once under British rule, still reels from the aftereffects of independence. The former colonials are blamed for failing to work out compensation and land reallocation. Violence against whites is on the increase. The international conference held in Durban in 2001 to address the issue of compensation for slavery ended without specific recommendations. Both of these countries still suffer the aftereffects of colonialism.

The United Nations peace keeping force in Bosnia included soldiers from nations and cultures that did not know where Bosnia was, or what the conflict was about. Among them was a force from Kenya which included several Samburu warriors. Bosnia Hotel films these warriors after their return to their ancestral land. It shows their present life as cattle herders on the African plain. They tell of their experience in the "white man's war."In many ways, their confusion about what was going on between the Serbs, Bosnians and Croats was not very different from many in the Western world who had full access to news reports. Why were neighbors killing one another, and why were women and children being killed? By "turning the tables", the indigenous people get to speak of their impression of the white man s civilization ... a place where people blow one another up with explosives without "even seeing their faces." If all the people were white, they ask why did they have such differences that could only be resolved in devastation. The film juxtaposes Samburu practices that are looked upon askance by "civilized" people -- animal sacrifice, the ritual drinking of blood from the freshly slaughtered animal, and circumcision of adolescent males-- with the warrior s observations of the white man s world in which, though there was much progress, neighbor killed neighbor and many large houses were shattered. The warriors earned money and now have material aspirations, but they still maintain their traditions. Theirs is a society with strong communal ties and deep faith. In the end, one warrior says of Bosnia, "it s a country much different than ours, but no better or worse." One wonders.

Dangerous Living: Coming Out in the Developing World is the first documentary to deeply explore the lives of gay and lesbian people in non-western cultures. Traveling to five different continents, we hear the heartbreaking and triumphant stories of gays and lesbians from Egypt, Honduras, Kenya, Thailand and elsewhere, where most occurrences of oppression receive no media coverage at all. By sharing the personal stories coming out of developing nations, Dangerous Living sheds light on an emerging global movement striving to end discrimination and violence against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people.