Director: Richard Ray Perez and Joan Sekler

Country: U.S.
Year: 2002
Running Time: 50 minutes
Format: Beta SP

The fight for Florida’s electoral votes in the 200 Presidential election drew intense media attention for months; this film suggests the result was a lot of heat and very little light. Using news footage and behind-the-scenes interviews, Unprecedented builds the case that the disenfranchisement of predictably Democratic voters- mostly black and older Jewish voters in South Florida districts- was deliberate and started almost as soon as Gov. Jeb Bush took office. Obvious Republican dividends were reaped in the 2000 election, and this film suggests the national election turned on inept national Democratic political maneuvering and an over eager Supreme Court.

--Jed Dietz

Presented By: Joan Sekler and Richard Ray Perez

Showing with Dissident

Director: Heidi Ewing

Country: U.S.
Year: 2002
Running Time: 19 minutes
Format: Beta SP

While Jesse Helms and others were huffing and puffing about Cuba, a quiet dissident named Oswaldo Playa started a democracy movement inside Cuba. Working toward seemingly impossible goals set up by the government, the Valera Project set out to get more than 10,000 signatures on a petition for the National Assembly. This was not easy since every known dissident was harassed and threatened. Playa and his team persevered and this record of their noble struggle reminds us how much we should cherish the unobstructed right to elect our leaders.

Joan Sekler is a founder of the Los Angeles Media Center, and has been an associate producer and/or publicist on numerous documentaries. She is a board member of the International Documentary Association.

Print Source: www.unprecedented.org

Print Source: www.lokifilms.com