A few colleagues/mentors of mine are presenting at the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival. Carol Dysinger, my former editing professor @ NYU film (and a fellow Hedgebrook alum), and my former bosses Michael and Shari, who directed and produced an HBO documentary series on immigration reform policy. Check them out if you're in town. More info from the program listings below:

Last Best Chance brilliantly presents a political legend, Senator Edward Kennedy, in his final battle for comprehensive immigration reform in the US. Seeking legislation that he believes would best serve US interests and provide greater security and dignity to many of the 20 million people currently living in the shadows, Senator Kennedy joins forces with talented allies on the outside to marshal fellow Senators Obama, Clinton, Menendez, Kyl and McCain toward a “Grand Bargain.”

But deep at the heart of this fast-moving story, below the level of strategy and protocol, we find a moral tale of modern American politics. Ted Kennedy, one of a handful of people who through his personal efforts truly changed the face of America, is forced to decide how much he wants this deal and what he is willing to trade for his greatest legacy.

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Drawing from nearly 300 hours of vérité footage shot between 2005 and 2008, Camp Victory, Afghanistan skillfully explores the reality of building a functioning Afghan military. Filmmaker Carol Dysinger achieves a remarkable intimacy in telling the story of several US National Guardsmen stationed in Herat, Afghanistan, and the Afghan officers they are assigned to mentor. Although the United States has poured military aid into Afghanistan, money alone does not produce security—people do. Frustrations are evident as are moments of humor as the film vividly exposes the difficulties faced by men from two very different worlds as they attempt to understand and work effectively together in this monumental endeavor.