Breakthrough presents the 5th Tri Continental Film Festival, India 2009 -"Human Rights in Frames."
India’s premiere Human Rights Film Festival opened in Delhi on January 15 and was inaugurated by critically acclaimed actor and social activist Nandita Das. From January 15-18,documentary films will screen at the India Habitat Centre and the AllianceFrancaise de Delhi. The festival will then travel to Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata. The festival features 28 films from more than 20 countries and will include 11 Asia premieres, 8 India premieres and one world premiere.
The festival opened with the Asia premiere of Tribeca Film Festival Award winner, Pray the Devil Back to Hell, directed by Gini Reticker, an extraordinary story of a small group of Liberian women who win peace for their shattered country. The film shares this year’s Tri-Continental Jury Award for Best Film with The Sari Soldiers by Julie Bridgham, which showcases the leadership of six women through the Maoist struggle in Nepal. Other Asia premieres include the riveting film, The Choir, directed by Zimbabwean Michael Davie, about the powerful role of music in surviving South Africa’s largest prison. La Americana documents the human stories behind the current US immigration debate while Up the Yangtze chronicles the contradictions that accompany odernization in contemporary China.
The renowned five-member jury selected the films from more than 150 submissions: Aruna Vasudev (India), Nick Deocampo (The Philippines), Madhusree Dutta (India), Amir Muhammad (Malaysia) and Anurag Kashyap (India). Last year’s Jury Award went to A Jihad for Love by Parvez Sharma.
The Tri Continental Film Festival began in Latin America in 2002, in Africa in2003 and was introduced in India by Breakthrough in 2004. It has become the primary platform for human rights cinema across all three continents, showcasing internationally acclaimed and award-winning films about social justice issues impacting the global south. Breakthrough is an innovative, high-impact transnational human rights organization that uses media, popular culture, grassroots training and education to transform attitudes and advance equality, justice and dignity. Breakthrough currently works in India and the United States, the world’s two largest democracies, on several issues including violence against women, sexuality and HIV/AIDS, racial justice and immigrant rights. For more on Breakthrough, visit http://www. breakthrough.tv/t_blank. For more on the festival, go to http://www.triconfilm.com/t_blank
Lisa K. Kothari, daughter of Kiran and Rupa Kothari of Warren, NJ, and her teammate Jeanmarie Dunn-Kane, both 2009 J.D. Candidates at Temple University, Beasley School of Law, won first place in the nationwide American Bar Association Section of Taxation 2008 Law Student Tax Challenge. The team won Outstanding Written and Oral Competition and the Best Written Submission. Teams from law schools across the country competed in the challenge.
The competition was based on a problem released in August 2008, which dealt with the structuring of a potential tiered partnership investing in New Orleans’s Ninth Ward under the New Markets Tax Credit program. Each team of two researched and drafted a planning memorandum and client letter, due in November 2008. Of all of the J.D. submissions received, six teams were selected as semifinalists and invited to the annual ABA Section of Taxation Midyear Meeting in New Orleans, LA for further competition on January 9, 2009.
The semi-final round consisted of a mock partner presentation and meeting, with teams fielding technical questions on both partnership taxation and tax credit issues. Based on performance in the semifinal, three teams moved to the final round and faced a second panel in a mock client meeting, forcing competitors to simplify and explain the tax consequences of various proposals while also addressing business concerns. Each oral defense round was 25 minutes long, with scores for both panels based on teamwork, technical tax knowledge and individual presentation.
Judges of oral rounds included: Hon. John O. Colvin, Chief Judge, U.S. Tax Court; Deborah Butler, Associate Chief Counsel, IRS; Nathan Hochman, Assistant Attorney General/Tax Division, U.S. Department of Justice and leading tax professionals.
The winners were announced and the awards were presented at the ABA Section of Taxation Young Lawyers Division reception. The first place award included a monetary reward of $1,000, free membership in the ABATax Section for three years and free registration for all Tax Section meetings for three years. The first place award for Best Written Submission included a $500 monetary reward.
Lisa graduated with honors from The Pingry School in Martinsville, NJ, and completed her B.S.B.A. in finance from the McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University.
BY VRN
