February 18, 2002

Contact: Dori Gerdes, Hall Center for the Humanities, (785) 864-4798.

Oscar-nominated documentary filmmakers to speak at KU Feb. 21

LAWRENCE -- Two Oscar-nominated documentary filmmakers will present the third installment of the 2001-2002 Humanities Lecture Series at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 21, at Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union at the University of Kansas.

The filmmakers, Frances Reid and Deborah Hoffmann, will discuss and show clips of their documentary, "Long Night's Journey into Day: South Africa's Search for Truth and Reconciliation," about South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Committee.

Funding for their appearance has been provided by the Sosland Foundation. The Hall Center for the Humanities sponsors the Humanities Lecture Series.

The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary, Feature, in 2001. It also won the Sundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary. It features four cases brought before the Truth and Reconciliation Committee, which was created to address human rights violations that occurred during apartheid. People convicted of a race crime during apartheid were allowed to appear before the committee to explain and apologize for their actions. As compensation for the truth, confessors were pardoned.

The film focuses on four cases: a black youth who murdered American Amy Biehl, an anti-apartheid activist who was in South Africa on a Fulbright Scholarship; a white policeman responsible for the deaths of four young anti-apartheid activists; a black anti-apartheid militant who killed three white women; and a black policeman who confessed his complicity in the death of seven township youths.

Frances Reid has been making documentary films for more than 30 years. Besides directing "Long Night's Journey into Day," Reid produced the documentary "Straight from the Heart," which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary, Short Subjects, in 1995. She also produced the documentary "Skin Deep: Building Diverse Campus Communities."

Deborah Hoffmann has been making documentaries for 20 years. Besides directing "Long Night's Journey into Day," Hoffmann wrote, directed and produced "Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter," which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary, Feature, in 1995. She also edited the documentaries "Color Adjustment" and "Times of Harvey Milk," and the television mini-series "Cadillac Desert."