Born on Cambodian New Year in a Thai refugee camp, Socheata never knew how she got there. After her birth, her family left their past behind and became American. Her parents hid the story of surviving the Khmer Rouge genocide. In NEW YEAR BABY, she journeys to Cambodia and discovers the truth about her family. She uncovers their painful secrets, kept in shame, which also reveal great heroism.

Winner of the 2007 Audience Award and Special Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature at the Asian American International Film Festival.

In a middle class house on a quiet street in Baghdad, a family is fast asleep. Without warning, the front door is crashed in and American soldiers storm the house looking for weapons and bomb-making material. A search of the house uncovers no incriminating evidence, however Yunis Khatayer Abbas and three of his brothers are taken and detained. Bent on forcing Yunis to confess to crimes he did not commit, his captors press him with bizarre questions about music tastes, sexual preferences and Harrison Ford. His intelligence value exhausted, he is then transferred to Abu Ghraib Prison. The charge: Planning the Assassination of Tony Blair. Combining Tucker's embedded footage, Yunis' home movies, testimony from former guard Benjamin Thompson and original comic book art, Tucker and Epperlein trace the moving story of an ordinary man trapped in a Kafkaesque nightmare.

Join us for a discussion with James Yee, former Army Muslim Chaplain stationed at Guantanamo Bay.

CONFESSIONS OF AN INNOCENT MAN is a raw expose that examines William Sampson's harrowing experience while imprisoned in Saudi Arabia for a crime he did not commit. With no evidence of his guilt and despite pleading his innocence, Sampson was repeatedly tortured and received no counsel or visitation by his government until after his captors got what they wanted: a confession. He was then sentenced to death by public beheading but the cycle of physical and psychological violence would continue. Over time, Sampson's prison behaviour grew increasingly bizarre. Rejecting various Canadian government envoys, and pushing away his father, he set out to make himself as offensive as possible to his captors. It was these acts of defiance - despite the brutality and solitary confinement - that Sampson believes preserved his sanity. Finally freed after a total of 31 months, one burning question remains unanswered: Where was the Canadian government, and why wasn't more done to help? Today Sampson continues to fight to hold the Saudi government accountable for his inhumane and illegal treatment.

Join us for a discussion with filmmaker David Paperny.

A LESSON OF BELORUSSIAN is about young activists who never give up believing that Belarus will one day be free. Franek Viacorka studies at an elite school established by his father to promote the Belarusian language. However, the school has been banned and operating underground since 2003, a victim of the anti-democratic rule of President Alexander Lukashenko. Franek and his classmates are both passionate and thoughtful, expressing their critical attitude to the government by issuing an underground newspaper, recording music with activist lyrics and organizing an opposition concert. Despite the imprisonment of Franek's father and the constant threat of their own arrest, they are undeterred. In the March 2006 presidential election, they support the democratic opposition candidate in a mass demonstration in Minsk's main square. While the candidate is powerless to combat Lukashenko's corruption and use of riot police, Franek and his classmates realize that fearlessness is a victory in itself.

In Israel's occupied territories, thousands of Palestinians slip through the predawn darkness over highways, through traffic and across the border to work clandestinely in Israel everyday. In this powerful verite film, more personal than political, filmmaker Ido Haar explores the relationships that form between a group of Palestinian men who make an arduous and dangerous journey, loaded with blankets and bags, to find employment. Building luxury condominiums by day, and hiding in makeshift tents to avoid the authorities at night, they share food, friendship, nostalgia and an uncompromising urge to survive.

Join us for a discussion with Peter Lippman of the Palestinian Solidarity Committee.

Since 1999, more than 2,000 women have been murdered in Guatemala, with numbers escalating every year, yet lawmakers and government officials turn a blind eye. Powerful and uncompromising, KILLER'S PARADISE uncovers an emotionally wrenching human rights tragedy, while exposing an inept judicial system that allows it to happen. After almost four decades of civil war, Guatemala is a troubled society, but it can also be seen as a microcosm of the pervasive violence and injustice against women worldwide.

This film is part of Stop Violence Against Women Night.

Shot in the war zones of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), this extraordinary film shatters the silence that surrounds the shocking plight of women and girls caught in this country's intractable conflict. The most moving and harrowing moments of the film come as dozens of survivors recount their stories with an honesty and immediacy pulverizing in its intimacy and detail. Heart-wrenching in its portrayal of the grotesque realities of life in Congo, this powerful film also provides inspiring examples of resiliency, resistance, courage and grace.

Winner of the Special Jury Prize: Documentary at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

Join us for a discussion of the film featuring director Lisa F. Jackson and Tonya Sargent, volunteer with Mama Makeka House of Hope.

This film is part of Stop Violence Against Women Night.

Like no other film before, CHINA BLUE is a powerful and poignant journey into the harsh world of sweatshop workers. Shot clandestinely, this is a deep-access account of what both China and the international retailers don't want us to see: how the clothes we buy are actually made. Following a pair of denim jeans from birth to sale, CHINA BLUE links the power of the U.S. consumer market to the daily lives of a Chinese factory owner and two teenaged female factory workers. Filmed both in the factory and in the workers' faraway village, this documentary provides a rare, human glimpse at China's rapid transformation into a free market society.

BOMBHUNTERS explores the long-term consequences of war and genocide in Cambodia that persist in the form of landmines, unexploded ordnance (UXO), and other munitions. Through the lives and experiences of rural villagers who seek out and dismantle UXO to sell the scrap metal for profit, the film examines the social, cultural, and historical context of the legacy of war long after armed conflict has ended. Through the use of lipstick cameras as well as extensive fieldwork and interviews, the team profiles the experiences of individuals as they risk their lives to clear UXO from their land in order to both protect their families from harm and to make enough money to survive. The film also draws connections to other post-conflict nations around the world as their citizens continue to grapple with residual, persistent effects of war, and the complex realities of achieving "peace."

Join us following the screening for a discussion with director Skye Fitzgerald.