PROJECT Belonging: Photo montages of Sri Lankans living in Switzerland

This project intends to share personal stories and anecdotes of people who would otherwise be categorised into a generic migrant community; a glimpse into the lives of these people which could break down stereotypes and facilitate co-existence with not only the host community but also with other migrant communities. The project also hopes to enable a deeper understanding within the Sri Lankan diaspora particularly as a reconciliatory step towards bringing the Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim populations together.

To view photo Montage, The Entrepreneur http://vimeo.com/27938892

a grain of sand: Granito

The scorched earth campaign to exterminate the Mayans during Guatemala’s 36 year civil war, spearheaded by General Rios Montt, dictator and military leader, responsible for massacres, rape and torture, was found by a UN backed Truth Commission to be an act of deliberate genocide. Pamela Yates’ documentary film ‘When the Mountains Tremble’ and its outtakes narrated by Nobel laureate Rigoberta Menchú are being used 26 years later as forensic evidence. It has resulted in an indictment for Montt on grounds of genocide in a case brought by Menchú herself. ‘Granito: how to nail a dictator’ documents this process and the role of documentary filmmaking in recording evidence, opening up new means of redress for human rights abuses around the world and in the specific context of Sri Lanka, where the evidence of abuses of its civil war remain scattered across the globe.

Trailer on Youtube

Listen to Pamela Yates on the weekly podcast of the International Centre for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) http://ictj.org/en/news/features/4509.html


Photo credit: Jean-Marie Simon