Event

'The Abominable Crime' Filmmaker, Human Rights Lawyer Visit Harvard University

Simone Edwards at a refugee camp in the Netherlands. She is one of the main characters in "The Abominable Crime." Image by Common Good Productions. The Netherlands, 2013.

Thursday, March 31, 2016 (All day)

On Thursday, March 31, 2016, filmmaker Micah Fink and human rights lawyer Maurice Tomlinson visit Harvard University to explore the culture of homophobia and examine that status of LGBTQ rights in Jamaica. The Abominable Crime screens as part of the day-long visit.

Fink participates in a noontime talk with the Office for the Arts Learning from Performers program. At the same time, Tomlinson participates in a brown bag talk at the Harvard Kennedy School Carr Center for Human Right Policy Sexuality, Gender and Human Rights program.

The Harvard Divinity School screens The Abominable Crime later that afternoon followed by a discussion with Fink and Tomlinson.

The Abominable Crime explores the culture of homophobia in Jamaica through the eyes of gay Jamaicans who are forced to choose between their homeland and their lives. More than three years after its release, the film is increasingly having significant impact on discussions of homophobia in Jamaica, helped in part by the strong cultural tailwinds created by the U.S. Supreme Court decision on the legalization of gay marriage. It is also being widely used as a community engagement tool by activists and educators in Jamaica and around the world.

The film has been accepted into 24 film festivals, won five major awards, is translated into three languages and has been broadcast nationally in the United States and in Belize, a country currently struggling to address its legacy of anti-gay laws inherited from its colonial past. The film is able to be downloaded or rented from iTunes, Hulu, Amazon, YouTube and Vudu. In 2014, the film won Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival's inaugural Amnesty International Human Rights Prize for a Caribbean film that best highlights a human rights issue.

This screening was made possible with support from www.moviesthatmatter.nl

Talks and Screening at Harvard University
Monday, March 31, 2016
Noon: Micah Fink, Office for the Arts Learning from Performers program
Noon: Maurice Tomlinson, Harvard Kennedy School and Carr Center for Human Right Policy Sexuality, Gender and Human Rights program
3 PM – 5 PM: Screening of The Abominable Crime and discussion with Fink and Tomlinson, Harvard Divinity School
Cambridge, Massachusetts