A Son's Sacrifice is a wonderful short movie about a man in New York who gave up his job in advertising to take over his father's halal slaughterhouse business.

The main character, Imram, is a very savvy, 27 year old modern guy and the relation with his traditional father is somewhat strained at times. This is a up-to-date movie that provides a glimpse of a traditional Muslim community living in New York, and the shows the differences between first generation immigrants and their children.

Nice quote: "We're closed to prepare for Qurbani so we don't slaughter chickens now -- why don't you order pizza or something?"

Delightful, made with humor and beautiful visuals. I thought this is the best short of the 2006 Full Frame Festival. See also http://www.sonsacrifice.com/.

Uganda Rising is a documentary about the horrible impact of the wars and rebellions in Uganda and its neighboring countries since the 1970s. It shows the fate of child soldiers in the Lord's Resistance Army, a rebel army that contains thousands of children who were abducted from their families.

What is the right balance between justice and truth in a society such as in Northern Uganda? An amnesty is in place for former child soldiers, and they are forgiven for the atrocities they performed. This is pretty successful and allows children to go back to a somewhat normal life. But what do you do to the top commanders? To end the war an amnesty would help, but that is flying in the face of justice.

There is a somewhat hopeful thread in Uganda Rising, on how how children bring hope and want to learn and study.

The documentary format was old fashioned with a traditional voice over and an excessive uses of freezing frames half way interviews. However, the story told by the documentary was extremely powerful. I saw the movie right after Surfing Soweto. I must admit that I was glad I was going to see more happy documentaries after seeing 2 movies that showed the lives of children in Africa.

Today is the Dutch-American Friendship Day.

It remembers the day that John Adams, the second president of the United States, was received by the States General in The Hague and recognized as Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of America.

It is also the day that the house John Adams purchased at Fluwelen Burgwal 18 in The Hague became the first American Embassy in the world.

The first two movies I saw on Saturday morning were part of the "Africa Stories" of the festival.

Surfing Soweto is a short documentary on the life of kids in Soweto, South Africa who ride on top of trains for fun and to get fame and attention in their world.

It's sad to see the circumstances these kids live in. The scene were they are waiting hours for their teacher to show up is telling -- they want to learn, but it's very hard.

The movie is available to view online for free.