This touring program continues Friday through Thursday, May 11 through 17, at Facets Cinematheque. Tickets are $9, $5 for members, and all screenings are by video projection. For more information call 773-281-4114 or see facets.org.
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RThe Camden 28 Anthony Giacchino’s dramatic 2006 documentary revisits the 1971 burglary of a draft office in Camden, New Jersey, by Catholic pacifists protesting the Vietnam war. Ratted out by one of their own, they were caught red-handed, and 28 plotters were brought up on felony charges; incredibly, some of them rushed to comfort their betrayer after his son suffered a fatal accident. The ensuing trial revealed that the feds had used their mole to further the plot along, which ultimately persuaded a jury to acquit all of the defendants on the basis of “overrreaching government participation.” The video lapses into self-congratulation near the end, as many of the principals reunite for a 2002 retrospective, but for the most part this is a powerful tale of conscience, betrayal, and forgiveness. 82 min. (JJ) a Fri 5/11, 9 PM, and Mon 5/14, 8:45 PM.
RDreaming Lhasa Set in Dharamsala in northern India, this 2005 drama considers the challenges facing the Tibetan diaspora, in the person of a Tibetan-American documentary filmmaker, the local musician assisting her, and a refugee monk whose search for a missing freedom fighter leads him to exile communities in Jaipur and Delhi. The story incorporates harrowing documentary testimony from former Tibetan political prisoners, but essentially this is a hopeful look at a resilient people keeping their traditions alive as they move into the digital age. The magnificent Himalayan panoramas are enhanced by a score combining folk music, Tibetan rock, and tunes by Western artists like the Cowboy Junkies. Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam directed. In English and subtitled Tibetan. 90 min. (AG) a Sat 5/12, 9 PM.
ALSO SHOWING:
Source a Sat 5/12, 3 PM, and Wed 5/16, 7 PM.