Salina Art Center

The Judge and the General

Thursday, October 29, 2009
5:00 & 7:00 pm
Art Center Cinema, 150 S. Santa Fe

Veteran journalists Elizabeth Farnsworth (sister of Salinan Marcia Anderson) and Patricio Lanfranco examine the unusual case of Judge Juan Guzmán who struck a blow for human rights in Chile — and the world.

Salina, KS – The Salina Art Center presents The Judge and the General, showing at the Art Center Cinema, 150 S. Santa Fe, on Thursday, October 29, at 5:00 and 7:00 pm.  Conversation with film director, Elizabeth Farnsworth, will follow both screenings.

When in 1998 Chilean judge Juan Guzmán was assigned the first criminal cases against the country’s ex-dictator,
General Augusto Pinochet, no one expected much. Guzmán had supported Pinochet’s 1973 coup—waged as an anti
Communist crusade—that left the democratically elected president, Salvador Allende, and thousands of others dead or
“disappeared.” The filmmakers trace the judge’s descent into what he calls “the abyss,” where he uncovers the past—
including his own role in the tragedy. The Judge and the Generalreveals one of the 20th century’s most notorious
episodes and tells a cautionary tale about violating human rights in the name of “higher ideals.”

About the filmmakers:

Elizabeth Farnsworth Producer/Director
Elizabeth Farnsworth was chief correspondent and principal substitute anchor on PBS’s The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer from 1995-2000. She then became a senior correspondent, reporting mostly from overseas. She now freelances for The NewsHour and makes documentaries. Her documentary “Thanh’s War” (co-directed with John Knoop), which aired on PBS in 1991, garnered a CINE Golden Eagle, among other awards, and “The Gospel and Guatemala” (co-produced with Stephen Talbot), which aired on PBS in 1983, received a San Francisco International Film Festival Golden Gate Award.

Farnsworth’s writings have appeared in Foreign Policy, World Policy Journal, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Nation, Mother Jones and other publications. She has lived in Peru and Chile and has a master’s degree in Latin American History from Stanford University. Farnsworth was assistant producer of “Que Hacer?,” a feature film set during the Chilean election campaign of 1970, and has followed Chile closely ever since.  She lives in San Francisco.

Patricio Lanfranco
Producer/Director
Patricio Lanfranco, a Chilean citizen living in Santiago, has been a researcher and producer for two decades. As senior producer of the news department of Chilean National TV (TVN), he produced the live television coverage of the 1995 trial of Manuel Contreras, former chief of Pinochet’s secret police, for the 1976 Washington, D.C. murder of Orlando Letelier, former Chilean Ambassador to the United States.. He has produced reports for the BBC and assisted in the production of many stories for Thee NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. He has also coordinated and produced for the Australian Broadcasting Company’s flagship Foreign Correspondent program. In 2003, he won the Chilean National Television Council Award.

Tickets forThe Judge and the General are $7 ($6 for Salina Art Center members) and may be purchased at the door. For more information regarding The Judge and the General, an expanded film review, or a complete Art Center Cinema film flyer (PDF) visit http://www.salinaartcenter.org, or call the Art Center at 785-827-1431.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­The Salina Art Center is located at 242 S. Santa Fe. The Art Center Cinema is located a block away at 150 S. Santa Fe, Salina, Kansas.  Art Center galleries are open Wednesday through Saturday from noon to 5:00 pm, and Sunday from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm.  Business office hours are 9:00 am – 5:00 pm Monday through Friday.