AsiaLENS: AEMS Documentary and Independent Film Series: My Daughter the Terrorist

• Event Date: Tuesday, March 2, 2010
• Time: 7:00 pm (CST)
• Location: Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, IL
• Cost: Free Admission

• Film

My Daughter the Terrorist

By Beate Arnestad, 2007, 58 minutes. In Tamil with English subtitles.

Discussion led by Ritu Saksena (Associate Director, Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, UI).

This fascinating documentary is an exceedingly rare, inside look at an organization that most of the world has blacklisted as a terrorist group. Made by the first foreign film crew to be given access to the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) of Sri Lanka, the film offers important insights into the recently re-ignited conflict in Sri Lanka. Twenty-four-year-olds Dharsika and Puhalchudar have been living and fighting side-by-side for seven years as part of LTTE's elite force, the Black Tigers. Their story is told through cinema verité footage, newsreel footage, and interviews with the women and Dharsika's mother. The women describe heartbreaking traumas they both experienced at the hands of the Sri Lankan army, which led them to join the guerrilla forces. As they discuss their readiness to become suicide bombers and their abiding loyality to the unnamed "Leader" - who they are sure would never harm civilians - grisly images of past LTTE suicide bombings provide somber counterpoints. Their curiosity flat affects raise the possibility that they have been brainwashed. This even-handed documentary sheds light on the reasons that the Tamil Tigers continue their bloody struggle for independence while questioning their tactics.

Visit United States distributor Women Make Movies (external link) for information, related links, and to purchase the film. The official website is Snitt Film Production (external link).

AsiaLENS in organized by the Asian Educational Media Service in collaboration with the Spurlock Museum to present recent documentary films on issues in contemporary life in Asia.