March 18, 2010
Anatomy of Hate. Download image.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Michael Ramsdell, director of the award-winning documentary "The Anatomy of Hate: Dialogue of Hope," will present a free screening of the film and a discussion Thursday, March 25 at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).
The event will be held at 7 p.m. in the Hill University Center Alumni Auditorium, 1400 University Blvd. Admission is free. The event is sponsored by the UAB Office of Student Involvement and Diversity. Call 205-934-8225 for more details.
The 90-minute film by Ramsdell, of Under the Hood Productions, examines some of the most venomous ideologies and violent conflicts of the modern age, including the White supremacist movement, Muslim extremism, Palestinian Intifada, Israeli settlers and soldiers and U.S. forces in Iraq.
"A lot of the film was shot in Alabama," says Ramsdell, "and a lot of contacts were made there. The Southern Poverty Law Center gave me a small grant to keep shooting."
Ramsdell says he shot video at the Donaldson Correctional Facility in West Jefferson County and at Ku Klux Klan rallies in locations just outside of Birmingham.
"The Anatomy of Hate" features first-hand footage and interviews with leading experts in sociology, psychology and neurology and personal stories of hatred and redemption. The film reveals the emotional and biological mechanisms that make mankind susceptible to hate.
"The Anatomy of Hate" was named "Best Political Documentary" at the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival and was an official selection for Docufest in Atlanta in 2009.
Other sponsors for the event include the Ford Foundation Difficult Dialogues Initiative Grant and UAB Digital Community Studies.
For more information about the film, visit the Web site at www.anatomyofhate.com.
About UAB
Known for its innovative and interdisciplinary approach to education at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is an internationally renowned research university and academic medical center and the state of Alabama's largest employer.