SEEING IS BELIEVING: HANDICAMS, HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE NEWS

One previewer called SEEING IS BELIEVING, simply, the single most important entry in the 2003 CIFF. A revolution has swept the world, one without a political agenda or moral standpoint. Yet this revolution puts might into the hands of the powerless and the oppressed. It is the video revolution, with the invention and proliferation of ever-smaller and affordable electronic motion picture cameras ('handicams'). What happens when beholders of injustice wield handicams to film more serious occasions than mere weddings and family vacations? The Rodney King incident in Los Angeles marked a breakthrough in video's ascension from consumer toy to a shattering incitement for social change. Now, from South Africa to the Congo to Mexico to the Czech Republic to the Philippines, grassroots activists record indisputable atrocities, neglect, corporate greed, racism and tribal genocide and get results, by disseminating searing images through mass media and public screenings. Sometimes, as in Mindano, the presence of a videographer in itself is enough to deter violence (for the moment). There is even a new international human-rights agency called Witness, that distributes handicams to those who need a voice (and vision) on the international stage. Today, even as Big Brother watches us, countless eyes stare back at Big Brother. Warning: SEEING IS BELIEVING contains graphic footage. And it should.