UC Merced Connect: Human Rights film series brings movies to campus | The Sacramento Bee

The Human Rights Watch Film Series brings four movies to campus this month, all of which are free and open to the public.

The event is organized by anthropology professor Robin DeLugan and literature professor Nigel Hatton. Each film starts at 7 p.m. in the Classroom and Office Building, Room 105.

The films are:

• “An Unreal Dream: The Michael Morton Story,” Friday – In 1986, Michael Morton’s wife, Christine, was murdered in front of their only child. Michael was convicted of the crime and imprisoned in Texas for 25 years. A team of attorneys spent years fighting for the right to test DNA evidence found at the murder scene. The discoveries reveal that the price of a wrongful conviction goes well beyond one man’s loss of freedom.

• “Rafea: Solar Mama,” Feb. 14 – Rafea is a Bedouin woman who lives with her daughters in one of Jordan’s poorest desert villages on the Iraqi border. When she is selected for a program called the Barefoot College in India, Rafea joins 30 illiterate women from different countries to train to become solar engineers over the course of six months. Rafea immediately understands that she has a unique opportunity to give her children a better future and to provide the whole village with solar power.

• “The Naked Option,” Feb. 21 – Fueled by the determination for a better future, women in Nigeria’s Niger Delta use the threat of stripping naked in public, a serious cultural taboo, in a deadly struggle to hold oil companies accountable to the communities in which they operate. The women, at the risk of being raped, beaten or killed, are trained and armed, but not with anything you can see. Writer, producer, director Candace Schermerhorn will attend the showing.

• “My Afghanistan: Life in the Forbidden Zone,” Feb. 28 – Nagieb Kaja, a Danish journalist of Afghan origin, travels to Lashka Ga, capital of Helmland province in Afghanistan. Because journalists are not able to move safely outside the capital, contact with the civilian population in rural areas is almost impossible. But Khaja has a trick up his sleeve. He gives people living in outlying communities mobile phones equipped with cameras and asks them to film their daily lives, providing a rare glimpse into the war-torn existence of ordinary Afghans.

Students presenters

at parenting event

Two UC Merced graduate students will be presenting at the Merced County Parent Institute.

Alexander Khislavsky will be talking about positive parenting in his presentation, “Improving Your Child’s Behavior: Positive Results through Positive Attention.” Alexandra Main will talk about healthy parenting.

The event is meant to encourage parents, guardians and the community to inspire children and youth to dream big. It will be Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Golden Valley High School, 2121 E. Childs Ave. There will be more than 40 free workshops. Register at http://merced.k12oms.org/215-79706.