DoubleTake Offers Diverse Quartet

The DoubleTake Documentary Film Festival (see story, p. 4) features over 100 documentaries, but the following are four to look forward to.

Smith Family (2001, 88 min.) Kim Smith led a life that was as average as her last name. She and her military husband Steve had two sons. Her entire family was active in the Mormon Church. They were living the quintessential middle-class American life... until their ninth anniversary, when Steve confessed to having had affairs with other men. Three years later, Kim discovered she was HIV positive; soon after, Steve developed AIDS. Instead of breaking the Smith family apart, these hardships bring them closer together.

Lifetime Guarantee: Phranc's Adventures in Plastic (2001, 58 min.) Phranc--the All-American Jewish, lesbian, folk-singing, surfing, Tupperware lady--spent the last twenty years trashing gender stereotypes and touring the world with punk and alternative bands including the Smiths, the Dead Kennedys, the Pogues and the Violent Femmes. Now she's started a gentle revolution in Tupperware sales.

Hostage: The Bachar Tapes (2001, 17 min.) Souheil Bachar was kidnapped in Beirut in 1983. He was held in solitary confinement for ten years--except for 27 weeks in 1985, when he was held in the same room with Americans Terry Anderson, Thomas Sutherland, Benjamin Weir, Martin Jenco and David Jacobsen. They each wrote books, but Bachar has made 53 videotapes. These are the two of them packaged together, that he wants America to see.

AMANDLA! A revolution in four part harmony (2002, 104 min.) This is the history of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa as told through the freedom songs that were integral in bringing about the abolishment of segregation. Amandla! gives voice to the stories and lives of South Africans in their fight for liberty and justice, highlighting how music and in particular, singing, not only played a role in toppling apartheid but have now become anthems in the new South Africa.