COMMFFEST SCREENINGS September 22-27 September 22 2010
OPENING NIGHT and launch OF COMMFFEST DEDICATED TO LATE MIRON SEMEC WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2010 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. BEZPALA BROWN GALLERY 17 Church Street, Toronto, ON M5E 1M2The late Miron Semec (1959 – 2005) struggled with life but found solace in art. “{Disabilities} Enabling Abilities”showcases 51 art pieces from as early as 1973 through to his last painting. Semec captures Chagall-like stories, Modigliani-like females, and van Gogh-like skies in his own particular multi-coloured, fluid style. RECEPTION, SILENT AUCTION, AND DOCUMENTARY SHORT ON MIRON’S LIFE WILL BE SCREENED. OUR OPENING CONTINUES AT @ 9.30 C’est What - screening room 67 FRONT ST EAST TORONTO AT CHURCH 9:30PM No good reason (12min USA) Directed by: Michael Mierendorf Musicians and singers from around the country, people who have never met and who are currently or recently homeless, gather in Boston to record a song written by a 15-year girl who was homeless when she wrote it. Ms. Merchant completes the track, which winds up on a new CD Featuring artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Jewel, Bonnie Raitt and many others partnering with unknown artiwho are currently or recently homeless. The Mountain Music Project: A Musical Odyssey from Appalachia to Himalaya (57m, U SA), Directed by: Jacob Penchansky The Mountain Music Project: A Musical Odyssey from Appalachia to Himalaya follows two Virginia musicians, who travel to Nepal to explore the extraordinary connections between Appalachian and Himalayan folk music.
12
Thursday September 23 Rainbow Cinema 80 front St East TORONTO Gen adm. $10.00
12.45pm Africas Lost Eden (55min USA)James Byrne Producer; Director It was once known as ‘the place where Noah left his Ark’ - 4,000 square kilometers of lush floodplains in central Mozambique, packed with wild animals. But 15 years of civil war has taken a heavy toll- and many species have been almost completely wiped out.Diamond Directed (11m USA) by: Gerald Gutschmidt A socially inspired Psychodrama. 11 year old Diamond tries to connect with his father, who is in jail. His grandmother arrives to take care of him, but she thinks the father is nothing but poison for the child. Diamond grows more and more desperate to see his Dad. 2:15pm Rites of Passage 47m Canada Director Sandie de Freitas DOP/editor Bernard Dobrovolski (Cimema verite) A sociocultural bridging for Afro-Canadian Youth and elders. The film was neither scripted nor rehearsed. 3:45pm Meltdown In Tibet (40m Canada) Director Michael Buckley Using undercover footage and stills, Meltdown in Tibet blows the lid off China’s huge and potentially catastrophic dam-building projects in Tibet. The film raises disturbing questions about a looming eco-disaster-involving dwindling water resources of the Tibetan plateau. The major rivers of Tibet are at risk from rapidly receding glaciers--due to climate change--and from large-scale damming and diversion, due to Chinese engineering projects. Tibetan nomads are being shifted off their grassland habitat to make way for these projects. Why is China building so many large dams on the Tibetan plateau? What on earth are China’s engineers getting up to?
COMMFFEST SCREENINGS September 22-27 4.45pm DoBuy- The Fabric of Faith (52, U S A, United Arab Emirates) dir. by Soniya K documentary In the land of Multitude, where forty percent of the world’s labels find a podium there are no local labels. UAE’s Retail Explosion has been at the expense of its national brands. Local designers are refused retail space in Dubai’s mall a minute culture. Challenging this servitude, Emirati women dare to question why the very fabric that wraps inner faith is imported. 6:15 Series Gender related issues. Panel discussion follows Heterosexual Privilige (15m, U S A) dir. by ODessa Clay An examination of the privileges heterosexuals enjoy and the impact such privilege has on the life of a Black gay man and a White bisexual woman. No Asians...it’s just not my thing (16m, U S A) dir. by Scott Eriksson sub. by Scott Eriksson on The film explores the feelings of both joy and pain associated with the feeling of love at first sight done through limited dialog and using acting and music to tell the story. The subtext of the film is how Asian men are often viewed within American gay culture as something less-then or inferior to other races and therefore undesirable. Try Me (10m, Canada) dir. by Chantelle Kadyschuk After 5 years of marriage, Evan (31) and Amanda (28) are at a standstill. Evan wants children, particularly a son, while Amanda refuses to procreate with a chauvinist, or worst of all to give birth to one. Marriage councilor after marriage councilor, they bicker their way until they’re thrown out. 7.30 Series of environmentally related issues Urban Native 8m , Canada, director Thomas Norton a montage reflecting the balance of calm against the hustle and bustle of city life and how natives still find ways to contin-
ue traditional powwows Basin (8m, Canada) dir. by David Geiss Basin is a disturbingly picturesque, short visual poem depicting the industrial oil sands Developments in Northern Alberta as an omnipresent force that may be obscured from view, but cannot be ignored. Presocratetos (18m Brazil) Jorge Bodansky During a video workshop, Jorge Bodanzky showed the Ticuna tribe how to use a video camera. The result in this 18 minute documentary that registers the preservation of the culture of the indigene tribes of Alto dos Solimoes. Welcome to La Hesperia (29m, Canada) dir. by Martin Edralin A short documentary about a struggling rural community in Ecuador and a local philanthropist who has integrated environmental and social programs as a means of developing community infrastructure. The Way of Rivers (33m, Canada) sub. by Liisa Rissanen The Way of Rivers is a 30 minute documentary about civil disobedience and peaceful protest against uranium mining. In Canada Algonquins Indians of Eastern Ontario staged a peaceful occupation of a uranium exploration company’s mine site. 9.15pm City of the Dawn (80m, India, U S A) dir. by Christopher Buhrman City of the Dawn is a documentary film exploring Auroville, an experimental city created to be a living embodiment of human unity. This laboratory for the future wants to transcend all that separates human beings, religion, politics, money, race, social position, creed, etc., and find new ways to coexist that benefit all. Do You Fro? Director - Daniel Melvin Bakandika (5m,Canada) This question invokes such broad thinking as people apply their own meaning to it, but a repeated element is the reference to a hairstyle,the Afro. This popular hairdo of the late 1960’s and 1970’s had a cross-cultural appeal. It stood for natural living, non-conformism, self love and unity.
13
COMMFFEST SCREENINGS September 22-27 Friday September 24
12:45pm Series Paths of Hope: Livelihoods in Three Caribbean Communities of Costa Rica 39m Directed by: FrancoSacchi An educational film that provides insights into the challenges and opportunities faced by families in three contrasting communities in Costa Rica. Engaging personalities bring to life key community economic development issues, highlighting both sources of hope and of frustration. DVD includes Seven Special Features. Be Good to Eddie Lee (12m, U S A) Directed by: Kaileigh Brielle When forced to choose between what she knows and what she knows is right, Christi learns a valuable lesson in friendship and acceptance from a little boy with Down syndrome named Eddie Lee. Short Winter (15 min) CoDirectors, Thomas Bailey Brendan Kredell The city is heating up. The traditional Midwestern winter has vanished; it has not snowed in Chicago for nearly ten years. So when three inches of fresh powder appear one Saturday morning, two youth venture out into a desolate park on the city’s West side. Vonte, 17, and Samuel, 10, are long time neighbors, but forces beyond their control threaten to destroy their friendship and fracture their community. Gen adm $10.00 2.30PM Palayan: A Story of Exodus (32m, India, U S A) dir. by Jeanne Yu Directed by: Jeanne Yu Himalayan villagers in the Jaunpur district of India have been able to remain self-sufficient in their isolated mountain range for the past few centuries. They must now choose between staying home while facing increased obstacles, and moving to the cities thus losing their culture and departing from loved ones. 3.15 The Exchange: Six Faces of the Gambia (23m, Canada) dir. by Mathew Welsh On a journey to West Africa, award-
14
winning documentarian Mathew Welsh fashions portraits of six ‘middle class’ Gambians - taking us beyond stereotypes about Africa -- and teaching us that we in the Developed World have a lot to learn from West Africa about how we give, how we live. 4.45 Fire Burn Babylon (53m, United Kingdom) dir. by Sarita Siegel, documentary “Fire Burn Babylon” follows the fortunes of a crew of Caribbean Rastafarians who resettle in London after a volcanic eruption devastates their island home. Abandoning lives in spiritual retreat in the foothills of Montserrat, three Rasta men transform their beliefs and reinvent themselves as ‘rude-boy’ rappers and small time hustlers on the East End nightclub circuit. Gen adm $10.00 6.00pmWhere The Streets Have No Name (75m, Australia) dir. by Vijaykumar Mirchandani Providing the three basic necessities of life to survive - food, shelter and clothing can be quite a task. An emotional journey seen through the eyes of one man who has been working for the last 20 years trying to help alleviate homelessness in Cairns. Gen adm $10.00 7.30pm Series dealing with perplexities of racism.Aliens Among Us (25m, U S AMartina Radwan, documentaryThe war on terror has gone on for seven years now, yet all politics implemented have failed to produce significant results. John Ashcroft’s Justice Department designed a registration program for immigrants already in the U.S., based on their nationality, not on the targeted people’s actions. Te Whare (The House) (32m, New Zealand) dir. by Richard Green, drama A modern parable looking at the relationship between Maori, the indigenous peoples of New Zealand, and the British colonisers. Taught to Hate (27m, Ecuador, U S A) dir. by James Garcia Sotomayor, drama Taught to hate: The story of
COMMFFEST SCREENINGS September 22-27 an Hispanic immigrant trying to find a job in America and an American family who’s uncle’s racial intolerance has a strong effect on his Nephew. What if... (9m, Sweden) dir. by Faical Benhaida ,drama A Muslim enters a Jewish center looking very suspicious. While a young black girl is riding her new bike, he meets a skinhead. Gen adm $10.00 9.15 Feature drama I Am Somebody: No Chance in Hell (90m, U S A) dir. by AKI ALEONG Drama America the land of the free, the home of brave, a mecca for immigrants where the American Dream is an inalienable tradition. A young man is accused of murder. He’s on the run, an underdog, a man against the odds. He becomes a fugitive and is viciously hunted down, in a time when stealing a horse got you hung but killing a China-man was no crime. Followed by Tycoon contest film 10m Gen adm $10.00
Saturday September 25 10.30am -12pm Workshop for emerging filmmakers Instructor Vladimir Bondarenko. Gen adm $15.00 see www.commffest.com for details 12.15pmQuantum Quest (50m, U S A)directed by Harry kloor Animation quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey is CGI, 3D, science fiction, action-adventure film which interweaves animated sequences with actual space imagery captured from seven ongoing NASA/ESA missions. Its family-friendly tale focuses on a photon named Dave and his heroic efforts to save his people, who are caught in a galactic battle between the forces of good and evil. Gen adm $10.00 1.20 Animation short series totaling Insurgency of Ambition (8m, U S A) dir. by Anya Belkina animation The illusion of success lures a man to the very threshold of glory only to unsheathe its true,
frightening nature as he gets within reach. Conceived in the wake of short lived military successes in Iraq, the film questions the relevance of “victory” memes at the time of globalization.The Marked Man (6m, U S A) dir. by Hyunjung Rhee The Marked Man is 3D animated short film. The story is about an ex-convict being suffered from people’s prejudice. Many elements in the movie contain metaphors. The movie starts with a moth flying in a jar. The moth symbolizes all the ‘marked’ men. Flora’s Fancy Free (8m, U S A) dir. by Gregory Gutenko An homage to Norman McLaren, this is a paint-onfilm work that combines permanent marker animation with a live action dancer in silhouette. Made in 1975 as an undergraduate student project. The theme is ‘external play becoming internal consciousness.Transparent Movement (1m, South Korea) dir. by Soyeon Kim1 minute Experimental Animation using Pixillation, Photo Montage, Cut-out and 2D Computer animation techniques.Father and Sister (5m, South Korea, U S A) dir. by Soyeon Kim A series of coincidental happenings at the church results in an unspeakable act of sin… Or not!Envirometer (5m, U S A) dir. by Danny Robashkin When the forces of conservation and industrialization within a common society compete head to head, the only entity that can regulate the fight is the fantastic measuring contraption known as the Envirometer. 2.00pm Words Aloud (53m, Canada) dir. by Elizabeth Zetlin Words Aloud - the spoken word festival that brings a small town to its feet. Canada’s best poets and storytellers, including the 2010 Olympic poet, Shane Koyczan, electrify audiences, revealing spoken word’s power to delight, inspire and transform. A poetry reading performance following the film. Gen adm $10.00 3.30 POP(guys): Protecting the Disability Community (14m, U S A) dir. by Scott Robinson POP
15
COMMFFEST SCREENINGS September 22-27 (guys) is an HIV/AIDS prevention film for people with spinal cord and brain injury. It was created to help educate members of the disability community about Putting On Protection and safe sex. We collaborated with an award-winning production team to develop a project that is professional and authentic to our population. No Pity (19m, U S A) dir. by Drew Goldsmith For centuries, individuals with disabilities were viewed through the denigrating lens of pity. It is even believed that the term “handicapped” derives from the idiom, “hand-incap,” connoting begging for money in a way that manifests shame. Nothing Like Her, (7m Canada) dir. by: Seana Kozar 3D animation, stop motion and digital paint-on-glass techniques combine in this short filmwithin-a-film about how a disabled animator’s understanding of her life and work change after she suffers a miscarriage. 4.30 Cat City (54m Canada) dir. by Justine Pimlott documentary On any given night in Toronto it is estimated that over 100,000 lost, abandoned and feral cats roam the city streets. Cat City takes the viewer into the heart of the issue of cat overpopulation by going to the front lines of the crisis in Canada. Act Ac AC Act (10m, Canada) dir. by Ivo Cimmino In Air Canada retiree, finds some old super 8 reels from the time he was working at the company. He start to watch the with his daughter while talking about the company history and about the exodus of specialized jobs toward countries in the developing world. Gen adm $10.00 6:00 pm A FAR-OFF CRY (38m, Pakistan, U S A) dir. by Claudia Adams (II) documentary A FAR (opens with a special musical duo performance by Anwar Khurshid and Amir Amiri, playing the Sitar and Santur) OFF-CRY is a story of parallels, of opposites - two planets forced off course by the filmmakers. The parallel Pakistan worlds of the untouchables (street children
16
addicted to solvents) and the intellectuals. Amnesty International Canada Business & Human Rights Promo (3m, Canada) dir. by Michelle Paymar Amnesty International Canada’s Business & Human Rights Campaign promo is a call to action in the fight for corporate responsibility and accountability.. Gen adm $10.00 7.00pm Two shorts addressing a sense of displacement Home out of Nothing (45m, Canada) dir. by Marina Shepeta The film demonstrates the experiences of newcomers in the process of adjustment and settlement in Nova Scotia. These experiences, which are coming from a diverse background of cultures, inform the Canadian community about the impact of moving from a familiar culture to an unfamiliar environment, and help the public gain an understanding of multiculturalism and ethnic characteristics of new Canadians. Salt in the salad: sonata in seven parts טלסב חלמ: העבשב הטנוס ( םיקרפ47m Israel), Directed by: Michael Kovensky The stories of seven persons, Jews of the Persian origin, immigrated from Iran to Israel in the last 30 years. The circumstances of their life are different, however they share the painful feeling of nostalgia and loss of the land they once lived and loved. Gen adm $10.00 8:45pm The Desperate (33m, U S A) dir. by Ben Hur Sepehr On a rainy night near a concentration camp being bombed during the waning years of WWII the son of a top ranking and fearsome Nazi General is mortally wounded. With the camp’s doctor having been transferred to the Eastern front, the only doctor who is available to perform the life saving surgery is a condemned, elderly Jewish inmate at the camp. Um Médico Rural (21m, Brazil) dir. by Claudio G. Fernandes Adapted from Franz Kafka’s short story, the film shows the psychological tension of a night gone awry for a lonely bourgeois Jewish doctor suddenly called to attend an urgent medical
COMMFFEST SCREENINGS September 22-27 matter in a poor farmer’s Catholic family in the Brazilian Northeast. En la memoria (12m, Spain) dir. by Jose L. Arjona This is the personal journey of Damian, a guy who is losing his grandmother for the Alzheimer while he receives the job offer he has been waiting his entire life. He will have to choose between his family and himself. Gen adm $10.00 Lets kick back and enjoy A little brtish humor followed by two Canadian short. 10:00pm Opens with a special performance ffrom the music video BUMP BUMP, dir. Jennifer “The Parking Place” (30m, United Kingdom) dir. by Simon Griggs The film is an English Situation comedy Drama about a parking place that two men fight over to enable one of them to park their car, in the only remaining parking place left. Both men come from complete opposite ends of the social ladder but end up at the same social position in an endeavour to park their cars. What ever it takes, both want that parking place. Honest Men (11m, United Kingdom) dir. by Kaspar Synnevaag Honest Men is the story of Paul Holden, an elderly and experienced estate agent. As the film starts, he is joining a new company, Magnum Properties in London. Paul is finding it hard to cope with his greedy and dishonest coworkers. He soon realizes that the times have changed, and he needs to make a difficult decision: Mama’s Will (11m, Canada) dir. by David George Menard In keeping up with the Joneses, a much too ambitious son improperly schedules a meeting with a loan officer, and surreptitiously creates an unwinding helter-skelter that spooks his mother and hastens her death. Supermarket, 20m,dir: Ed Gal. Canada Gen adm $10.00
Sunday September 26
Canada) Have schools inadvertently put relationships at the back of the class, and made test scores and discipline the focus of education? Has our approach to education created an environment where teachers struggle to keep up with the curriculum paradigm, while losing sight of the individual? Our place (10m Canada) director Ed Gal The “Our Place Community of Hope” drop in centre in downtown Toronto has helped hundreds of people suffering from mental illness or addiction. This moving film examines the lives and tragic stories of a few of their members, and takes you on a thoughtful and heart wrenching journey to perseverance, hope, and recovery.Beautiful (9m, U S A) dir. by Colin O’Rourke ‘Beautiful’ is the story of Jasmin, a teenage girl who after a failed suicide attempt finds herself in a mental health rehab facility. While inside Jasmin befriends Kathleen, a schizophrenic, who helps Jasmin to once again see the beauty in life. SMILES: A Short Story of Roy Scheider (7m, U S A) dir. by Brenda Siemer Scheider‘ Smiles: A Short Story of Roy Scheider’ is a seven minute short that combines Roy Scheider’s expectant actor’s youth with his courageous dance with a deadly blood cancer, Multiple Myeloma, at the age of 75. Using scenes from the actor’s first movie, a 1964 silent short of the same name, Roy’s wife, director Brenda Siemer Scheider, takes us on a powerful journey that weaves together the timeless, unsayable moments of life and death. Gen adm $10.00 1.50 Remix to Rio (62m, Canada) dir. by Ravi Steve REMIX TO RIO is a one-hour Documentary that follows Canada’s most innovative youth outreach organization, REMIX Project, to the toughest favelas in Rio De Janeiro as they test their revolutionary hip-hop outreach model on some of today’s most ‘unreachable’ youth. Gen adm $10.00
12 :30; Dare to Care (30m,
17
COMMFFEST SCREENINGS September 22-27 3.15 Rites of Passage (47m Canada) Director Sandie de Freitas DOP/editor Bernard Dobrovolski. (Cimema verite) Rites of Passage: Socio-Cultural Bridging for AfroCanadian Youth and Elders.The film explores the importance of social and cultural transmission between Black youth and elders in a group setting over a period of 4 days at a community centre in Scarborough, Ontario. It is based on the premise that one of the greatest threats facing innercity Black youth today is systemic disconnection from their ancestral and cultural roots. Elders, who have a wealth of experience and advice to offer, often face disconnection and devaluation by youth who are spurred by an economically driven society that confronts them with the same kinds of poverty, disenfranchisement, socioeconomic slavery and false hopes as the Elders experienced in their own youth.The film powerfully demonstrates the capacity of the Rites of Passage model as a tool for exploration, discovery, support and ultimately healing. . Dream Camp wyoming(35m, USA) dir By Zack Karper. Ten young women with complex emotional and behavioural challenges go on a “Dream Camp”trip of lifetime. Gen adm $10.00 4:45pm Our School (54m, Canada) dir. by Aaron Weiss Labeled segregation by opponents and equal opportunity by supporters, OUR SCHOOL is the story of the establishment of Canada’s first Africentric School in Toronto that divided a city and unleashed aury of emotions. At the center of the story is the struggle of two women, Donna Harrow and Angela Wilson, to make the school a reality. Gen adm $10.00 6.15pm Mountains That Take Wing-Angela Davis & Yuri Kochiyama: A Conversation on Life, Struggles & Liberation (97m, U S A) MOUNTAINS THAT TAKE WING features conversations that span
18
13 years between two formidable women whose lives and political work remain at the epicenter of the most important civil rights struggles in the US. Through the intimacy and depth of conversations, we learn about Davis, an internationally renowned scholar-activist and 88-year-old Kochiyama, a revered grassroots community activist and 2005 Nobel Peace Prize nominee’s shared experiences as political prisoners and their profound passion for justice. Gen adm $10.00 8:00 a series of films addressing various degrees of Human trafficking Amexica (22m, Mexico, U S A) dir. by Ron krauss AMEXICA is the story of a young boy from Mexico that is taken from his family and sold by an underground human trafficking organization against his will. My Dangerous Loverboy (20m, United Kingdom) Directed by: Virginia Heath Jade (14) dreams of escaping her troubled home life by becoming a teen pop star and falling in love. Her dreams appear to be answered with the arrival of handsome Raz (27). Seduced by his ‘loverboy’ charm, Jade soon finds herself drugged, kidnapped and fighting to escape a world of human trafficking and sexual slavery.Intersection (24m, South Korea) dir. by Jae Woe Kim Intersection is a stark, stylish, and high quality Anime that provides a hard-hitting look at human trafficking and sexual exploitation in Asia. It is a riveting story told from the perspectives of five individuals who all play a part in the trafficking chain. HOMEKEEPER (7m, U S A) dir. by Rasa Aliukonyte Russian immigrant girl comes to clean the apartment of the older immigrant from Greece, but becomes the man’s companion instead. Despite that, the girl gradually begins to understand that the older man wants something more than just her company. Gen adm $10.00 9.30 The Recruit (4m, U S A) dir. by Michael K. Bergstrom Charlie is deep into enemy territory and has stolen something precious.Breaking
COMMFFEST SCREENINGS September 22-27 News Breaking Down (36m, U S A) dir. by Mike Walter Journalists who have covered the most important stories of our time are featured in this film. They’ve covered everything from Columbine, to 9-11, from Katrina to the War in Iraq and the Oklahoma City Bombing. They’ve told us the most important stories of our time, but they’ve never told us their personal stories, until now. Gen adm $10.00
Other venues
University of Toronto
Presented by: Dr. Thomas Kwasi Tieku, Room M-131 45 Willcocks Street Toronto.Telephone: 416946-0283, Email: tom.tieku@ utoronto.ca The African Studies Program is housed in New College on the University of Toronto, St. George campus. It was created in 1978. The program draws on the faculty in the three campuses of the University of Toronto to offer a wide range of courses dealing with politics, philosophy, culture, history, society, inventions, ideas, institutions, and language of the diverse peoples of Africa. It is supported by the outstanding collections on Africa at Robarts Library. Thursday September 23 6:00pm Destination Darfur: The Untold Story of Peace and Hope (46m, U S A) dir. by Sierra Scott Sensationalism tends to sway Television News from the real facts in abroad, mostly Third World, problems. Africa in general has many problems, but many of those problems are magnified beyond the real truths. In an effort to expose the real truths such as: alleged genocide, religious wars, greed, and women suffering in a depressed culture.Friday September 24 6.00pm Hope, Ghana (85m, U S A) dir. by Zheng Wang In 2008, a group of friends based in Seattle took part in an ongoing fundraising effort for water and education solutions in Ghana, West Africa. That fall, five of them visited Ghana to see the impact of their fundraising.
Commffest Malvern Community film festival
Malvern Branch Public Library30 Sewells Rd., Toronto, ON, M1B3G5 Saturday September 25 presented by Malvern Community coaliton 1.00pm Without A Net (14m, U S A) dir. by Marissa Aroy, Niall McKa ‘Without a Net’ follows the plight of Sofia, a young African mother who struggles to save her baby from the deadly disease, malaria. Beautifully filmed, this intimate portrait takes us from the remote tribal villages to coastal medical clinics, where Tanzanian scientists are developing revolutionary new malaria treatments. Knock Off, (11m, United Kingdom) dir. by: Rosanne Flynn Teenager Jude is happy and confident about her pregnancy until she overhears her father Michael telling her teacher it’s a terrible mistake. A Mongolian Couch (12m, Australia, Mongolia) dir. by George Clipp, Eva Arnold In a city of tower blocks and tents comes a unique story of energy and enterprise; Begzsuren lives with his wife and four children in Ulaanbaatar, 2.00 The Oak Park Story (22m, U S A) sub. by Valerie Soe The Oak Park Story recounts the experience of a broad, multiethnic coalition at the Oak Park apartments in Oakland, CA who in 2000 won an historic settlement of almost one million dollars against their exploitative landlord. 3.00PM The film Opens up with a Special perfomance; Sohbat, the mystical conversation between two kindred spirits, is an evocative and innovative duo that uses the boundaries of tradition as a point of reference and through the conversation resolves them. By Anwar
19
COMMFFEST SCREENINGS September 22-27 Khurshid (Pakistan) and Amir Amiri (Iran) playing the Santur and the Sitar Disrupted Divas; Conflicting Pathways (46m, U S A) dir. by Amie Maciszewski This ethnographic point-of-view documentary looks at the lives of courtesans in three communities in North India. These women of the courtesan/red light districts are part of a tradition of divas, by virtue of their identity and historical contributions as entertainers. and 2005 Nobel Peace Prize nominee’s shared experiences as political prisoners and their profound passion for justice. Ends with another special performace by Director Amie Maciszewski on sitar and tabla. COMMFFEST CLOSING NIGHT AWARDS CEREMONY AND SCREENING dedicated to Marfan syndrome Monday September 27th, 6.30 – 9.30St. Lawrence Market Historic Hall 157 King St. East, Toronto 7.00 PM The Canadian Marfan Association and COMMFFEST Global Community Film Festival are proud to present the first screening in Canada of: IN MY HANDS - A Story of Marfan Syndrome (56m, U S A) by Brenda Siemer Scheider This inspiring film brings together individuals and families affected by Marfan Syndrome to bring hope and build self-esteem to individuals that are “different” because of their physical attributes resulting from this genetic disorder. In My Hands is a demonstration of human resilience and can help us all in our own lives. FILMMAKER by Brenda Siemer Scheider , wife of the late Roy Scheider of Jaws 1 and 2 Panel Discussion Members Dr. Timothy Bradley, Cardiologist, Hospital for Sick ChildrenDr.
20
Tirone David, Cardiovascular Surgeon, Toronto General HospitalDr. David Chitayat, Geneticist, Hopital for Sick Children & University of Toronto (TBC)Denis Bonin or Michelle Reid, Canadian Marfan Association Board of DirectorBrenda Scheider, Director and Producer, In My Hands (Ann Reinking, Producer and Choreographer, In My Hands (TBC) Followed by:COMMFFEST MADA AWARDS FOR FILMMAKERS and reception. COMMFFEST Global Community Film Festival Canadian Marfan Association’Tickets available on line www.commffest.com or onday of performance. Price $15.00 per person