James Becket


James Becket is a writer and filmmaker who currently uses documentary film to address issues of social justice and the environment.  Previously he wrote, directed, and produced  independent feature films and, as a journalist and human-rights  lawyer, he reported on and engaged with important political events and social problems in Europe and Latin America.

Education

B.A. Williams College ; J.D. Harvard Law School; Instituto de Economia, University of Chile, Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva, Switzerland.

Biography

Journalist

In the 1960’s Becket began writing as a foreign correspondent from Europe, Latin America and Africa. His reports and articles appeared amongst others in The New Republic, The Nation, the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, Journal de Geneve etc.  He also contributed to scholarly journals on issues of land reform, economic development, and international human rights law.

Human Rights Lawyer and the Greek Dictatorship

In April 1967 a junta of Greek Colonels seized power in Greece. Becket and his Greek wife, became active in the resistance and the international movement to restore democracy in Greece. Amnesty International sent Becket and barrister Anthony Marreco  to Athens to investigate alleged human rights violations. Their Report which emphasized the regime’s use of torture based on first hand testimony was widely reported in global media. Three Scandinavian countries brought a case against the Greek regime before The European Commission of Human Rights Becket wrote Barbarism in Greece documenting torture and continued writing articles, appearing on television such as the National Broadcasting Company and British Broadcasting Company in the conflict with the regime over public opinion. When the European Commission was to hold hearings in Strasbourg, the Beckets organized the escapes of torture victims from Greece who gave first hand testimony to the Commission. Becket also appeared as a witness. The violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights prohibiting torture proved to be a key issue in the Commission’s decision to condemn the dictatorship leading to its exit from the Council of Europe. Becket was declared persona non grata by the Greek regime.

[United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees]

From 1974 to 1981 Becket served as UNHCR’s Director of Public Information during a period “characterized by a considerable increase in the scale and scope of the work of UNHCR.” He acted as the spokesperson for the organization and produced news stories and documentaries on the major refugee stories of the day including the Vietnamese boat people, Cambodian refugees fleeing genocide, African refugees fleeing wars and apartheid.

Filmmaking

In 1981 Becket moved to Los Angeles to pursue a film career. His first film was in 1971 in Chile producing the political film Que Hacer with a group of radical Chileans and Americans during the Salvador Allende election. The film put its actors in real life election situations including speaking with Allende in character. The film received mixed reviews and was in numerous film festivals including the Cannes Film Festival. The 1973 coup overthrowing Allende sent the Chileans who worked on the film into exile or to their death. Working with UNHCR, he made a number of documentaries on refugees, including one on Chilean refugees. His writing of screenplays enabled him to expand into directing and producing and his international experience led him to direct movies with progressive political content in Chile, Thailand, Nicaragua, Sudan, and Jordan.
In television, he directed two After School Specials dealing with such themes as child sexual abuse. He also wrote episodes for Miami Vice and Crime Story. In 1999 he created Becket Films and began producing documentary films on health and ecology. In the health field Becket produced films on childhood epilepsy and stroke recovery. He produced a series of eight films on ship-borne symposia that brought together religious leaders and scientists, long estranged, to find common ground on the issue of the environment.Each symposium, under the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, ‘The Green Patriarch’, traveled seven bodies of water in ecological jeopardy ranging from the Amazon to the Arctic to the Adriatic. Becket’s most recent efforts include Sons of Africa where the sons of two bitter enemies scale Kilimanjaro on a Peace Climb and The Seeds of Vandana Shiva recounting the life story of the Indian eco-activist, Dr. Vandana Shiva.

Feature Films

Becket has written thirty screenplays of which ten have been produced.

Documentaries

"Report from a Troubled Colony” The New Republic
"Autogestion: Algeria’s Socialist Experiment" The Economic Weekly,
“Algeria’s War Orphans” Christian Science Monitor
“Suez, dix ans apres, Les consequences de la nationalisation" Journal de Geneve
“Chile’s Mini-Revolution” Commonweal
“Torture in Democracy’s Homeland” Christianity and Crisis
“The Real Latin America ” Renewal
“How I Became National Champion: Letter from Bolivia” Skiing
“Greek Junta on Trial” The Nation
April 1970 pp 44–49) “Inquisition Greek style” Ramparts Magazine
"Torture as an Institution" New York Times
"The Subjective Camera as Leading Character" American Cinematographer