Academy Award-Winning Film and Filmmaker at DCC on March 25
Release Date March 19, 2004

The Dutchess Community College Communications Arts Society Film Series – Women Make Documentaries – presents the Academy Award-winning film Panama Deception and its filmmaker Barbara Trent on Wednesdays, Wednesday March 24, at 5:30 p.m. in Dutchess Hall Theater at the main campus in Poughkeepsie.

Panama Deception, which received the 1993 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature documents the story of the December 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama – the events which led to it, the excessive force used, the enormity of the death and destruction, and the devastating aftermath. Panama Deception uncovers the real reasons for this internationally condemned attack, presenting a view of the invasion which widely differs from that portrayed by the U.S. media. For more information, contact Camilo Rojas at rojas@sunydutchess.edu or Dana Dorrity at (845) 431-8612.

Panama Deception includes footage of the invasion and its aftermath, as well as interviews with invasion proponents such as General Maxwell Thurman, Panamanian President Guillermo Endara, and Pentagon spokesperson Pete Williams, as well as with opponents U.S. Representative Charles Rangel (D-NY.), Panamanian human rights workers Olga Mejia and Isabel Corro, and former Panamanian diplomat Humberto Brown. Network news clips and media critics contribute to a staggering analysis of media control and self censorship relevant to any news coverage today, particularly during times of war.

Barbara Trent is a seasoned activist who has publicly exposed criminal activities in the White House, Pentagon, and CIA; and has been the target of at least three FBI counter intelligence operations. Her films have been acclaimed, exhibited, and broadcast around the world. Drawing on a quarter century of filming and community organizing, Trent engages audiences in a journey from skepticism, to illumination, to action as she examines the present day obstacles to having an independent news media in the United States. She educates audiences to “see through” the daily news and assists them in identifying ways to access alternative perspectives.

Appointed as an Expert Senior Training Specialist for the VISTA program under Jimmy Carter, Trent has been decorated with the Gasper Octavio Hernandez Award by the Journalist’s Union in Panama, and is a recipient of the Amercian Humanist Association’s Arts Award. Trent co-founded and co-directs the Empowerment Project, a media resource center serving hundreds of progressive videographers and filmmakers each year.

The DCC Communications Arts Society Film Series presents its final film of the season on Wednesday, March 31 at 5:30 p.m. with Startup.com, a film by Chris Hegedus and Jehane Noujaim, wchi premiered at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. An intimate, behind-the-scenes view of the recent dot com mania, Startup.com is a classic story about friendship and values at the dawn of the Internet Age which follows the adventures of childhood friends, Kaleil Isaza Tuzman and Tom Herman as they create govWorks.com, an award winning website that lets citizens interact with their local governments. An interview with filmmaker Chris Hegedus conducted by the DCC Learning in Progress will follow the showing.

NEWS & EVENTS | Dutchess Community College HOME

Comments and questions about this page can be directed to the Office of Community Relations.

Copyright © 2003