One of the Hamptons Film Festival’s signature programs, the films of Conflict & Resolution is a competitive sidebar of work exploring issues of resolution and accountability in the context of global conflict. Too often war in film is treated as entertainment, and its far reaching implications and human realities go unexamined. This year’s program is a cross-section of eras, nations, people, and filmmaking styles, but each piece contributes to a deeper understanding of war and conflict and of the real lived experience of those involved.

The Hamptons International Film Festival is proud to announce THE HARVEST as the first recipient of the Conflict and Resolution Development award. THE HARVEST is the story of migration. It follows four American migrant child workers as they journey from their homes in South Texas every April, moving from farm to farm, crop to crop, state to state, working to help their families survive, yet struggling to keep their childhoods alive. The award is completion funds for a promising work-in-progress film exploring issues of global conflict, presented in conjunction with the festival’s signature Conflict and Resolution film competition and with the generous support of the Brizzolara Foundation.

Conflict & Resolution Competition Films:

City of Life and Death

China
2009
132 minutes
United States Premiere
Director: Lu Chuan

Acclaimed director Lu Chuanís much-anticipated Nanjing drama resists the swelling music and overwrought melodrama of so many depictions of war, shifting the focus from a top-down, authoritative history lesson to an unprecedented personal epic. This visually arresting realist masterpiece offers a genuine, affecting portrait of humanity in war that moves the fraught Nanjing narrative one step nearer to closure.

The Good Soldier
USA
2009
79 minutes
World Premiere
Directors: Lexy Lovell & Michael Uys

Directors Lexy Lovell and Michael Uys bring together veterans from each of the American wars of the last century who marched eagerly to defend their country in 1944, 1966, 1991, or 2003 only to return conflicted by the atrocities they saw and participated in, and questioning what true service to your nation really means.

How to Fold a Flag
USA
2009
85 minutes
United States
Directors: Petra Epperlein & Michael Tucker

“We were asked to believe that the war was over. We laughed - for we were the war.” So begins Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein’s (GUNNER PALACE) haunting tapestry of young Iraq veterans coming home. When the American flag is folded at a memorial service, each fold is sent to represent a virtue. Tucker and Epperlein unpack this symbolism, Tucker and Epperlein unpack this symbolism as they, along with the soldiers they follow, reconcile the idealized and abstract discourse of war with its heartbreakingly reality.

My Neighbor My Killer

Copresented by

USA/France,
2009
80 minutes
Director: Anne Aghion

Seven years after the Tutsi genocide, the Rwandan government put in place the Gacaca óopen-air hearings with citizen-judges meant to try their neighbors and rebuild the nation. As part of this experiment in reconciliation, confessed genocide killers are sent home from prison, while survivors are asked to resume living side-by-side. Filming for close to a decade, Anne Aghion has charted the emotional journey to coexistence.

Rabbit a la Berlin

Poland/Germany
2009
51 minutes
Director: Bartek Konopka

Winner of a top prize at this year’s prestigious Hot Docs documentary film festival, RABBIT A LA BERLIN is the charming true story of a community of wild rabbits that found safe haven within the confines of the Berlin Wall.

Films of Conflict and Resolution is sponsored in part by The Brizzolara Family Foundation.