Films with: Torres Cordova, Thomas

Encounter with Simone Weil

What response does seeing human suffering demand of us? Filmmaker Julia Haslett seeks an answer in the controversial French philosopher and activist Simone Weil (1909-1943), whose life and work took on this question in a dramatic way. Adopting Weil as her guide through an engaging and profound moral landscape, Julia goes on a journey to understand Weil's loss of faith in revolutionary politics and the spiritual awakening that followed. Driving her obsession with Weil is the interwoven story of suffering within Haslett's own family, her father's suicide when she was 17 and now her older brother's severe depression. When Weil dies from self-starvation at the height of World War II, she is left wondering if death was the logical conclusion to Weil's philosophy and her attempt to share the pain of others?

DVD 8430

Strange fruit

A examination of the anti-lynching protest song made famous by Billie Holiday. Reviews the historical events, contexts and incidents of racial hatred that the song's title represents, and then the subsequent performances by Billie Holiday that brought the song and its message to a national audience. The film also follows the underlying problem of racism that continues into contemporary culture.

DVD 10669