Monday, May 23: Witness Bahrain

Witness Bahrain: Monday, May 23, 7:00 pm
$10 suggested donation
Screening followed by discussion with film director (Jen Marlowe) 

About Witness Bahrain:
"One of the best documentaries I have seen this year....the film is fearless, insightful, and has a big heart for those who are in this long but beautiful struggle."
-Charles Mudede, The Stranger

"Marlowe succeeds in capturing the dynamic of regime repression and popular resistance in the year following the government’s brutal response to the pro-democracy protests that rocked the country in 2011, and presents a vivid portrait of Bahraini heroes like human rights activist Nabeel Rajab." 
--Joe Stork. Deputy director, Middle East and North Africa division, Human Rights Watch 

"Witness Bahrain is an authentic account of how Bahrani medics and others have tried to cope in the aftermath of the government crackdown that began in 2011. It shows the day to day, night to night reality of what it's like to live under a repressive regime, and the courage of those who show defiance."
-Brian Dooley, Director of the Human Rights Defenders Program, Human Rights First

Synopsis:
Witness Bahrain is a piercing look into Bahrain after the Arab Spring, and documents a reality that is as relevant (and as under-covered) today as when filmmaker Jen Marlowe was shooting the film. The award-winning film uncovers stories of doctors arrested and tortured for treating wounded protesters, nurses caring for injured youth at underground clinics, and children who were killed or arrested by riot police. Marlowe also filmed while hiding upstairs in the home of prominent human rights defender Nabeel Rajab as the police came to take him to prison because of Tweets he sent that the regime objected to.
The government of Bahrain is denying entry to all but a few journalists and human rights defenders, so Marlowe had to enter the country under false pretenses and film clandestinely, and was ultimately deported by the Bahraini regime. The result is a one-hour documentary film cut from guerrilla style footage shot with a small, hand held camera, capturing the most intimate, in-depth portrayal of the Bahraini government’s violent repression of Bahrain’s pro-democracy movement to date.

Co-sponsoring by Physicians for Human Rights