YBCA's Human Rights And Film Opening Night: "8"

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Thursday night was the opening of the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts' Human Rights and Film, a month long event where the YBCA presents films with distinctive human rights themes.

8, the first movie of the event, was presented that night. The film consists of 8 short films by acclaimed directors all over the world like Gus Van Sant, Mira Nair and Gaspar Noé. Each short film depicts a Millennium Development Goal (MDG), a goal set by the United Nations to achieve by 2015. The list of MDGs range from eradicating extreme poverty and hunger to achieving universal primary education to developing global partnerships.

The shorts ranged from very literal, like Gus Van Sant's San Francisco based "Mansion on the Hill" about reducing child mortality (infant mortality statistics over a background of skateboarders) to more symbolic films like Jane Campion's environmental sustainability film "The Water Diary," that depicted Australian youth. The universal education themed film, "The Letter," was brilliantly-made in Icelandic by Mexican actor and director, Gael García Bernal (Is Bernal fluent in Icelandic? Does the world really need another reason to love him?).

The films also range between the traditional like the black and white "Story of Panshin Beka," the maternal health short shot in the Peruvian Amazonia, to modern like the global partnership short "Person to Person" which actually has a little appearance by U2's frontman, Bono.

Each film definitely has their own point of view. One of my favorites was the simple yet effective West African film "SIDA," comprised of a man sitting in his room telling the story of his life with AIDS via voiceover. His mouth never moves, but his eyes detail all the pain and suffering he goes through. Very moving.

Check out the entire Human Right + Film lineup at the YBCA. The next film in the series is Youth Producing Change on March 11th.