Amnesty International’s annual human rights film festival turns 15 this year with a gala opening, high school screenings, more than 20 award-winning films from around the world, and an exhibition of protest art to keep people in the mood while waiting for the next film to start. Film highlights include War Don Don, which tells the story of the sensational trial of former Sierra Leone rebel commander Issa Sesay; Breaking the Silence: Burma’s Resistance, which focuses on the fate of populations displaced by the military regime; and Nero’s Guests, about the alarming rate of suicide among rural farmers in India. Other titles include The Devil Operation, Kamenge – Northern Quarters, and Ana 27, a short film on violence against women. In honour of the festival’s 15th anniversary, a film from the first festival that focused on the proposal to dam the Yangtze River, The Dammed, will be screened and followed by a panel discussion on the impact of the now finished Three Gorges Dam. The festival runs November 18-21 at Vancity Theatre. Detailed program information, festival passes, and individual tickets will be available after October 1.
Amnesty International Film Festival
The Amnesty International Film Festival believes in the power of film to tell important stories about one of the most pressing issues of our time - human rights. For that reason we present film events every year in more than 40 communities across Canada, from Victoria, BC, to St. John's, Newfoundland, and north to Whitehorse and Haines Junction, Yukon. Many of the films are made by independent filmmakers who continue to work against long odds, short finances, and threatening politics to bring us compelling and powerful stories of human struggle, sacrifice, and triumph. AI film events usually include guest speakers or panel discussions, and action opportunities linked to film topics are always available. This blog will track the film festival as it moves back and forth across Canada. It will also celebrate the significant contribution made by filmmakers to the understanding of human rights. Show your support for cinema with a social conscience - organize or attend an Amnesty International Film Festival in your community or at your school.
Vancouver preparing for 15th anniversary
1 September 2010 2:22 pm
Posted by: Don Wright
Film Screening: The Yes Men Fix the World
1 May 2010 3:42 pm
Posted by: Don Wright
Film Screening: Enemies of the People
1 May 2010 3:40 pm
Posted by: Don Wright
Join Amnesty International for this special DOXA Film Festival screening of “Enemies of the People”, Sunday, May 9 at 6:30 pm at Pacific Cinematheque, 1131 Howe Street. Film description: On September 19, 2007, Nuon Chea (known as Brother Number Two, second in command to Pol Pot in the Khmer Rouge) was arrested and charged with war crimes. For more than five years prior to Chea’s arrest, a journalist named Thet Sambath had been visiting the old man, trying to understand how the Khmer Rouge had decided to kill more than two million Cambodians, the so-called “Enemies of the People.” Among the millions lost to the killing fields were most of the members of Thet Sambath’s own family. Sambath and Rob Lemkin’s film bears remarkable witness to one of the greatest atrocities of the 20th century by going straight to the people who ordered the killing done and to those who actually carried out the unspeakable level of atrocity. Against the powerful beauty of the Cambodian countryside, Thet interviews the men who were charged with murdering countless men, women and children. Mostly illiterate farmers and ordinary foot-soldiers, they helped turn their own country into a virtual Golgotha, filled with unmarked mass graves. Special Jury Prize for Documentary, Sundance World Cinema. http://doxafestival.ca/festival/films/enemies_of_the_people.html
Victoria AI Film Festival opens tonight
20 November 2009 1:17 pm
Posted by: Don Wright
The Victoria edition of the Amnesty International Film Festival opens tonight (November 20) with two films and guest speakers, and continues with films and guest speakers Saturday and Sunday nights at the David Lam Auditoriun on the UVic campus. A special hightlight is Saturday night's guest speaker: Alex Neve, Secretary General of AI Canada.
For a complete program go to www.amnestyfilmfest.ca
Vancouver audience award winners announced
20 November 2009 1:12 pm
Posted by: Don Wright
The Vancouver audience has voted, the ballots have been counted, and the winners of this year's Audience Choice Awards can be annou nced!
Gold Audience Award: The Yes Men Fix the World
Silver Audience Award: A Little Bit of So Much Truth
Bronze Audience Award: Burma VJ
We notice Burma VJ has also just made the short list of nominees for Oscar for Best Documentary.
Congratulations to these films, and all the others that were highly rated by our audience!
Less than a week to AIFF 2009 in Vancouver and Toronto
6 November 2009 4:36 pm
Posted by: Don Wright
We're less than a week away from Amnesty International film festivals in Vancouver and Toronto. Mark your calendar and plan now to attend - these are award-winning films that span the globe and stir the conscience. For the full program and dates and locations for future film nights and fetsivals across the Canada, visit www.amnestyfilmfest.ca
Vancouver 2009 program to feature gala opening
10 October 2009 8:37 pm
Posted by: Don Wright
Protecting human rights rarely involves humour, and our annual film festival has never presented anything even remotely funny. But along comes The Yes Men Fix the World and we couldn’t resist. So not only are we opening with this zany true story, but we’re turning it into a gala opening – complete with live music, art exhibition, and reception – what better way to celebrate two gonzo political activists who are serious about revealing corporate irresponsibility!
Think mistaken identities, profit per death calculators, DOW Chemical, Exxon, and Haliburton, and you begin to get the picture. Tickets for the Opening Night Gala are just $45 and we expect it will sell out well before the start of the festival, so do purchase your tickets early to avoid disappointment!
The remainder of the program brings us back to the harsh realities facing untold millions of people around the world and the ongoing and widespread abuse of human rights and loss of dignity. Frequently the abuse is at the hands of the authorities, well described in films such as The Stolen Child, A Massacre Foretold, The Judge and the General, and The Reckoning. Increasingly however, violations are the result of corporate greed and irresponsibility, as aptly detailed in The Blood of the Kouan Kouan, Justicia Now, and Stolen Childhoods. As always, we try to balance films highlighting the abuse of human rights with films that celebrate the courage of brave individuals resisting repression. This category includes films such as Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai, War Child, Remnants of a War, and A Little Bit of So Much Truth. They serve to remind us that it is possible for individuals and groups who speak out to make a difference.
This is our 14th annual Amnesty International Film Festival in Vancouver, and we are proud to be able to present a diverse collection of award-winning films that we believe will inform, inspire, and move you to act. See the full program at www.amnestyfilmfest.ca.
Save these dates for start of 09/10 film festival season!
7 September 2009 7:17 pm
Posted by: Don Wright
The Amnesty International Film Festival season gets underway every November with opening festivals in Vancouver, Toronto, and Victoria. More than a dozen festivals and film nights follow throughout the season, which stretches into May each year.
The Vancouver and Toronto festivals take place on the same weekend this year, November 12-15. Programs are now being finalized - watch this space for program announcements in October. The same goes for the Victoria AI Film Festival, set for November 20-22.
The films under consideration come from all over the world and tell important stories about human rights violations and the individuals and groups that are working to stop abuses and seek justice for victims and their communities.
If your Amnesty group would like to host a film night or a full-fledged human rights film festival, contact Don Wright at dwright@amnesty.ca.
DOXA film festival to present Devil's Bargain
22 May 2009 5:56 pm
Posted by: Don Wright
Amnesty International is pleased to announce that we are the community partner for the Canadian premiere of Devil’s Bargain: A Journey into the Small Arms Trade, screening May 28 at 6:30 pm at Vancity Theatre,1181 Seymour Street, Vancouver.
When 200,000 AK47s go missing from Bosnia stockpiles and are flown on illegal flights to “who-knows-where”, activists push initiatives to curb the trade at the UN. But the call for a treaty similar to the Land Mines Treaty is blocked. Through interviews, archival footage, and material she shot herself around the world, Director Shelley Saywell makes a passionate plea against the weapons trade.
Film details and tickets at:
http://www.doxafestival.ca/festival/films/devils_bargain.html
Amnesty International Film Fesival - Nelson, BC
1 February 2009 2:54 pm
Posted by: Don Wright
The Seventh Annual Nelson
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
February 6 and 7, 2009
Studio 80 - Selkirk College
10th Street Campus, Nelson
Admission: $5 at the door
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6
7 pm -- Opening Reception
7:30 pm (all seats $5.00)
A World Without Water
Brian Woods / UK / 2006 / 78 m
This film investigates the future of water, and paints a disturbing picture of a world running out of the most basic of life’s essentials. The struggle for water and battle for its ownership is explored through compelling stories of families in Bolivia, Detroit, Dar Es Salaam and Rajestan. The film explores conflicts concerning the future of water and shows how even those living in the relatively water-rich UK hold the survival of the planet in their hands.
The Iron Wall
Mohammed Alatar / Palestine / 2006 / 50 m
The Iron Wall describes the aims, timeline, size, and population of the settlement movement, and its impact on the peace process. This film also touches on the latest project to make the settlements a permanent fact on the ground - the wall that Israel is building in the West Bank and its impact on the Palestinian’s peoples.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 7
Matinees (up to 3 films only $5.00)
A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Jouney of Ariel Dorfman
Peter Raymont / Canada / 2007 / 91 m
Acclaimed documentarian Peter Raymont follows celebrated writer Ariel Dorfman during an emotionally-charged return visit to Chile. Personal and political, the film boasts startling archival footage and heartbreaking contemporary sequences as Dorfman deals with the past. The writer still garners enormous respect in Chile. But, as he and the film crew visit familiar but eerie sites, no amount of local support can erase painful recollections from the past. Pinochet escaped without ever having to face his accusers in court. Dorfman and other survivors of Chile’s dictatorship struggle with their memories and grieve for lost relatives, friends and neighbours.
2:45 pm
The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo
Lisa F. Jackson / USA / 2007 / 76 m
This extraordinary film, shot in war zones of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), shows how sexual violence is used as a weapon of war. Tens of thousands of women and girls have been systematically kidnapped, raped, mutilated and tortured by soldiers from foreign militias and the Congolese army.
4:30 pm
Fire Under the Snow
Makoto Sasa / Japan-USA / 2008 / 75 m
Palden Gyatso, a Buddhist monk since childhood, was arrested by the Chinese Communist Army in 1959. He spent 33 years in prison for the “crime” of demonstrating peacefully. He was starved and tortured, and watched as friends and family were displaced, jailed or killed under Chinese occupation. Despite this, Gyatso’s spirit remained intact and, in a life that speaks to us all, he still actively campaigns for human rights. This film explores an extraordinary life and at the same time raises critical questions about human security, civil liberties, and cultural expression.
7 pm (double bill - all seats $5.00)
Justice Without Borders
Amnesty International / USA / 2007 / 36m
A film about the global movement seeking justice and accountability for prepetrators of the most grave human rights abuses.
Triage: Dr. James Orbinski’s Humanitarian Dilemma
Patrick Reed / Canada / 2007 / 88 m
Triage is the ultimate humanitarian nightmare. Racing against time with limited resources, relief workers are forced to make split-second decisions. Who gets treatment, food, a place to live? Who is left to die? This film follows Dr. James Orbinski on journeys to lands and people whose life-and-death struggles marked him forever. As Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) President, Orbinski accepted the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize on their behalf. The film crew accompanied the doctor to Somalia and Rwanda, visits genocide sites and and highlights dilemmas confronted by humanitarian organizations and workers.
