Adolfo Perez Esquivel: Rivers of Hope

Last updated
Adolfo Perez Esquivel: Rivers of Hope
Directed by Dawn Gifford Engle
Written byDawn Gifford Engle
Produced byJacque Gellein
Rip Gellein
Elizabeth Parmly Weber
Ivan Suvanjieff (executive producer)
Starring Adolfo Perez Esquivel
CinematographyElizabeth Holloway
Dave Wruck
Edited byElizabeth Holloway
Music byAmanda Guerreño
Production
company
Distributed byR-Squared Films (2015, Worldwide, video)
Release date
  • June 14, 2015 (2015-06-14)
Running time
78 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguagesEnglish
Spanish

Adolfo Perez Esquivel: Rivers of Hope is a 2015 American documentary film produced by The PeaceJam Foundation about the life of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Adolfo Perez Esquivel. [1] [2] [3] The film focuses on the historical analysis of the 80-year period of Argentinian turmoil dating from Esquivel's birth in 1931 to 2014. [4] [5]

Contents

Content

Nobel Peace Laureate Adolfo Perez Esquivel, the subject of the film. Adolfo Perez Esquivel 1983b.jpg
Nobel Peace Laureate Adolfo Perez Esquivel, the subject of the film.

Nobel Peace Laureate Adolfo Perez Esquivel grew up during one of the most unstable time periods in Argentinian history. He lived his early life as an artist and an activist. In 1974 he devoted his time to building nonviolent movements for change in Latin America, a left-wing peace organization. That same year, he was named secretary-general of the newly formed Servicio Paz y Justicia (Peace and Justice Service or SERPAJ) a group that coordinates nonviolent movements in the region. Esquivel regularly traveled the world both for his art and for his peace work.

In 1977 while attempting to renew his passport, Esquivel was arrested and held captive without trial for 14 months during the Argentine Dirty War. The Argentinian Dirty War was a name used by the Argentine Military Government for a period of state sponsored terrorism that took place from 1974 to 1983, in which the right-wing government hunted down and killed left-wing dissidents. [6] [7] During this time period, an estimated 30,000 people disappeared. [8]

Throughout the film the audience is shown archival footage and first hand accounts by Esquivel about the Dirty War Prison system. In one scene a reporter interviews one of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo during the Argentine 1978 FIFA World Cup. The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo are a group of mothers whom walk around the outside of the Argentine capital in the thousands, asking to know where all their sons and daughters have gone. As one of the disappeared, Esquivel was imprisoned without trial. He was tortured regularly, and feared for his life every day. [9]

In 1978, Esquivel was named Amnesty International's Political Prisoner of the Year resulting in thousands of letters from the international community demanding his release. Due to the Global outcry, the Argentinian government was forced to release him in 1978. After his release he continued to work for SERPAJ. [10]

Appearances

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adolfo Pérez Esquivel</span> Argentine activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate (born 1931)

Adolfo Pérez Esquivel is an Argentine activist, community organizer, painter, writer and sculptor. He was the recipient of the 1980 Nobel Peace Prize for his opposition to Argentina's last civil-military dictatorship (1976–1983), during which he was detained, tortured, and held without trial for 14 months. He also received, among other distinctions, the Pacem in Terris Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jorge Rafael Videla</span> President of Argentina from 1976 to 1981

Jorge Rafael Videla was an Argentine military officer and dictator who was the 42nd President of Argentina and as well as the 1st President of the National Reorganisation Process from 1976 to 1981. His rule, which was during the time of Operation Condor, was among the most infamous in Latin America during the Cold War due to its high level of human rights abuses and severe economic mismanagement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mairead Maguire</span> Northern Irish peace activist (born 1944)

Mairead Maguire, also known as Mairead Corrigan Maguire and formerly as Mairéad Corrigan, is a peace activist from Northern Ireland. She co-founded, with Betty Williams and Ciaran McKeown, the Women for Peace, which later became the Community for Peace People, an organization dedicated to encouraging a peaceful resolution of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Maguire and Williams were awarded the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mothers of Plaza de Mayo</span> Argentine human rights group for "disappeared" children

The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo is an Argentine human rights association formed in response to the National Reorganization Process, the military dictatorship by Jorge Rafael Videla, with the goal of finding the desaparecidos, initially, and then determining the culprits of crimes against humanity to promote their trial and sentencing.

Pietro Ameglio is a Uruguayan-born Mexican civil rights and peace activist known for his advocacy of nonviolence and efforts to promote peace and anti-militarism in Mexico.

Beccar is a town located 17 km (11 mi) north of the Buenos Aires metropolitan area in the Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is part of the partido of San Isidro in Gran Buenos Aires. It is situated close to the historic town of San Isidro and it is characterized by tree lined streets and plazas, red tiled roofed style chalets, high-rise apartment buildings that line the Avenida Centenario zone and by being close to the coast of Rio de la Plata river and yacht clubs. Nearby there is a large shanty town (Villa La Cava). Beccar is served by a 10-minute walk to scenic Tren de la Costa light rail line at Punta Chica station and the commuter railway at Beccar station with easy access to Buenos Aires city centre and the weekend retreat of the Village of Tigre.

The Man of Peace is an award conceptualized in 1999 by the annual World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Rome. The purpose of the award is to recognize individuals who "from personalities from the world of culture and entertainment who have stood up for human rights and for the spread of the principles of Peace and Solidarity in the world, made an outstanding contribution to international social justice and peace".

On 10 November 1998, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed the first decade of the 21st century and the third millennium, the years 2001 to 2010, as the International Decade for the Promotion of a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World.

Hildegard Goss-Mayr is an Austrian nonviolent activist and Christian theologian.

The International Salon for Peace Initiatives is organized in the framework of the International Decade for the Promotion of a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World (2001–2010) declared by the United Nations in 1998. Organized by the French Coalition for the Decade, it has been taken place in Paris every two years since 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roberto Cossa</span> Argentine playwright and theatre director (1934–2024)

Roberto M. Cossa was an Argentine playwright and theatre director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alcira Argumedo</span> Argentine politician and academic (1940–2021)

Alcira Susana Argumedo was an Argentine sociologist, academic and was member of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies. She was nominated as a candidate for president on the Proyecto Sur ticket for the 2011 general elections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dawn Gifford Engle</span> American peace activist & film director

Dawn Engle is the co-founder and former executive director of the non-profit PeaceJam Foundation.

Jean Goss was a French nonviolent activist.

Servicio Paz y Justicia is a Human Rights Non Governmental Organisation in Latin America, founded in 1974. It is a Christian based and nonviolent organization, and is committed for the defense of political prisoners in the different South American dictatorships during the Dirty War in the 1970–80s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates</span>

The World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates was initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev in the 1990s, as a forum in which the Nobel Peace Laureates and the Peace Laureate Organizations could come together to address global issues with a view to encourage and support peace and human well-being in the world. Its Permanent Secretariat is an independent, non-profit, ECOSOC non-governmental organization, based in Piacenza, operating on a permanent basis. A permanent staff, mainly composed of volunteers, promotes the work of the Nobel Peace Prize Winners and organizes the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates on a yearly basis. To date, the Permanent Secretariat has organized 17 Summits, the most recent having been held in February 2017 in the city of Mérida, Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luis D'Elía</span>

Luis D'Elía is an Argentine activist and politician who served in the government of Néstor Kirchner. He is the founder and head of the Federation of Land, Housing and Habitat, which has been described as a "violent wing" of the Confederation of Argentine Workers.

PeaceJam is a US-based global youth organization led by Nobel Peace laureates. It was founded by musical artist Ivan Suvanjieff and his wife, the economist Dawn Engle in 1993.

References

  1. "Adolfo Pérez Esquivel: Rivers of Hope (Straight Shooter Review)". Micro Film Maker. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  2. "Harlem Film Festival" . Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  3. "Winners World Humanitarian Awards". World Humanitarian Awards. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  4. "Nobel Peace Laureate Adolfo Perez Esquivel in Monaco invited by PeaceJam". MONACO REPORTER. June 17, 2015. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
  5. "Adolfo Perez Esquivel: Rivers of Hope". Film Freeway. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  6. Weinberg, Leonard; Pedahzur, Ami; Perliger, Arie (2009). Political parties and terrorist groups (2nd ed.). Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. p. 60. ISBN   978-0415775373.
  7. "Argentina Dirty War - 1976-1983". Global Security. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
  8. "Fernández Meijide calificó de "mentira" la cifra de 30 mil desaparecidos". Losandes. Archived from the original on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
  9. "Adolfo Perez Esquivel Rivers of Hope". Adolfo Perez Esquivel Rivers of Hope. IMDB. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
  10. "Adolfo Perez ESquivel". PeaceJam. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 31 August 2015.