Ethics historian, filmmaker to address UMaine Thursday

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Sy Rotter will host two presentations on ethics at UMaine tomorrow.

The University of Maine philosophy department will host film maker and ethics historian Sy Rotter for two separate presentations tomorrow.

Rotter, a resident of Washington, D.C., is the founder and president of Documentaries International Film and Video Foundation, based in the nation’s capital.

Rotter established Documentaries International in 1996 as an outlet to produce independent educational films and documentaries aimed at highlighting and honoring acts of moral courage by groups or individuals.

Since its establishment, the organization has produced nine films, primarily aimed at exploring the people’s struggle to uphold basic human values in instances like the Holocaust and the recent conflicts in the Balkans. The videos are equipped with discussion guides especially for educational use.

Recent award-winning productions made by Documentaries International include “It Was Nothing-It Was Everything: Reflections on Rescuers of Greek Jews During the Holocaust,” “Treason or Honor: Rescuing German Jews During the Holocaust” and “A Debt To Honor,” which is an account of the survival of 80 percent of Italy’s Jewish population despite Italy’s alliance and eventual occupation by Nazi Germany.

At 12:30 p.m. Thursday, Rotter will be the guest lecturer in the ongoing Socialist and Marxist Luncheon Series held in the Bangor Lounge of the Memorial Union. The topic of his presentation is “Making Sense of the Balkans: An Oxymoron or Wishful Thinking?” His talk will cover two films he produced recently in Macedonia and Croatia. These films cover the work of young volunteer peace workers as they try to resolve conflicts between religious and ethnic groups in the former war zone.

At 7 p.m., Rotter will present the annual John M. Rezendes Ethics Program lecture in 100 Neville Hall. The lecture, entitled “Stories and Issues of Moral Courage,” will include clips from his documentaries that span a century of peace actions

Question and answer sessions will follow both presentations and both are free and open to the public.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 28th, 2001, 12:00 am. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.