Thanks for a great semester, and great start!

Oslo — Sun, 12 May 2013 19:37:00 +0000

It’s been a successful start to our work with Cinema Politica. We had some good screenings, with a rather small turn out, and some more good screening, with a fantastic turn out. The last two screenings we have been collaborating with the Norwegian Organization Spire(spireorg.no). For our upcoming screenings, beginning in September, we will continue working with them. We will focus on movies about developmental issues and the environment. We look forward to some interesting screenings next semester. See you there!

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Cinema Politica St. John's - First Screening!!

stjohns — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 11:30:00 +0000

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Cinema Politica – St John's Announces First Screening

Cinema Politica St John's, in collaboration with Memorial University's Department of Sociology, are proud to present:
Film: Surviving Progress
Location: Arts building at MUN, Room 1046
Date and Time: Tuesday April 16th, 7pm

A short discussion about the film will follow the screening.

The newly formed Cinema Politica St. John's offers film screenings to the St. John’s, Newfoundland, community that address topics and spark discussion about important social issues. By giving all community members the opportunity to view provocative films about contentious social issues our aim is to have the community contemplate these issues in a critical and reflective way. Cinema Politica St. John's is committed to ensuring a safe and accepting forum where all people can express their views and exchange ideas. Donations are encouraged (to help cover the cost of public screening rights) but not mandatory; no one will be turned away!

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Cinema Politica Fredericton presents Winter 2013 Intern: Halley Phillips

fredericton — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 20:40:00 +0000

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Halley Phillips has been the Cinema Politica Fredericton intern for the Winter 2013 session. She has been a great help with CP Fredericton's social media presence, putting up posters and other odd jobs. Halley has been the face behind CP Fredericton's improved Facebook presence.

Halley studies at St. Thomas University (Fredericton) and her internship is being done through one of her courses in Human Rights. Halley is hoping to Honour in Psychology and Major in Human Rights. She volunteers with all sorts of organizations such as Amnesty International, Habitat for Humanity, and of course, Cinema Politica Fredericton. Halley plans to continue on to graduate school after she graduates from STU and, if all goes well, to become a Psychologist.

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CP @ The Bloor ROADMAP TO APARTHEID Intro with Randa Farah

bloor — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 19:50:00 +0000

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Last Tuesday Cinema Politica @ The Bloor held a screening in collaboration with Israeli Apartheid Week - Toronto of ROADMAP TO APARTHEID. The event took place on March 5th with over 300 in attendance, and some great local activist guest speakers in attendance. In particular, we'd like to include the video and the text below of professor Randa Farah's excellent introduction to the evening. Farah teaches as an Associate Professor at the University of Western Ontario.

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This March Back Our Taps!

network — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 08:13:00 +0000

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Cinema Politica Administrative Assistant Tina Gelsomini prepares all the Back the Tap literature to be mailed to our 20+ locals

Cinema Politica has teamed up with the Back the Tap Water Coaltiion to screen films and spread awareness, arguing for water as a public good & human right, and not as a private commodity. The Back the Tap campaign aims to ban bottled water on campuses and communities across Canada, and we are excited to be taking part in this important initiative.

We agree with the Coalition that bottled water is one of the biggest rip-offs invented and that it does much much more harm than good. Some stats from the campaign:

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Stop Killer Coke: Call to Action

network — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 02:33:00 +0000

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From our friends at Stop Killer Coke, who have co-presented many of our screenings of the amazing documentary THE COCA-COLA CASE.

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STATUS QUO screening at Toronto's Bloor Hot Docs Theatre packs the house

bloor — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 00:28:00 +0000

STATUS QUO director Karen Cho

Images from STATUS QUO screening at CP Bloor

On February 5th, 2013 Cinema Politica @ The Bloor screened the fabulous new documentary from the NFB and by Karen Cho (pictured in image second up from bottom of the strip) called STATUS QUO? THE UNFINISHED BUSINESS OF FEMINISM IN CANADA. The film documents the history of feminism and the (multiple) women's movements in Canada over the last several decades.

Cho spent years researching and filming and it pays off: SATUS QUO is a powerful education on a topic too often ignored or subjugated by mainstream and corporate media. Cho's incredible use of archives and her choice in compelling interview subjects, combined with a fantastic soundscape, excellent editing and top-notch cinematography make for a documentary not to be missed.

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Mon, 03/18/2013 - Fri, 04/19/2013

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Film Festival on Human Rights - February 23-24

Gothenburg — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 21:24:00 +0000

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Film Festival Poster

The Society of International Affairs (UF) in cooperation with Amnesty International and Cinema Politica presents:
A film festival on the theme of human rights!

The week-end of the 23rd and 24th of February we invite you to a free film festival where we will screen four documentaries dealing with the subject of human rights from widely different aspects and spanning four continents.
Guest speakers will further explore the issues raised in the films and interviews with directors will be held live during this two day-long expose into human rights issues around the globe.
The festival will take place at Lecture hall Sappören, Sprängkullsgatan 25, Gothenburg.

The schedule for the film festival will be as follows:

SATURDAY the 23rd of February

13:00 - Film festival opens

13:30 - The Suffering Grasses

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Alanis Obomsawin screens her new film at CP Concordia

concordia — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 07:35:00 +0000

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Alanis Obomsawin holds the gift given to her by organizers at CP ConU.

The new book of George Littlechild's amazing art.

Cinema Politica Concordia was honoured to have Alanis Obomsawin present during a screening of her powerful new documentary, THE PEOPLE OF THE KATTAWAPISKAK RIVER, last night (with about 550 in attendance!). To mark the occasion, which occurred in soldarity with Idle No More and on a day of action, organizers gave Obomsawin the new book celebrating George Littlechild's artwork, The Spirit Giggles Within.

Littlechild is a West Coast based artist, educator and activist, whose work explores issues of identity, history, colonialism, racism and family.

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APPEL AUX SOUMISSIONS : Recherche de documentaires qui explorent l’intersection entre spiritualité et justice sociale

network — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 21:10:00 +0000

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Cinema Politica est la personnification du zeitgeist temps cinématographique. Encore une fois, il est au cœur de l’actualité en présentant le pouvoir de lier l’esprit à l’action, grâce à leur nouveau projet « Interventions divines ».
~ Velcrow Ripper, réalisateur d’Occupy Love

Montréal, le 28 janvier 2013 - Cinema Politica est actuellement à la recherche de travaux canadiens indépendants pour un projet de projection spécial qui a pour titre Interventions divines : Documentaire, spiritualité et justice sociale. Les travaux devraient nous parvenir le 15 février 2013. Mené par Cinema Politica, ce projet naît du partenariat avec Documentaristes du Canada (DOC) et la fondation Inspirit.

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Call for Submissions Deadline Extended: Divine Interventions

network — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 20:35:00 +0000

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Pour francais, cliquez ici.

Cinema Politica is currently seeking submissions of independent Canadian works for a special screening project called Divine Interventions: Documentary, Spirituality and Social Justice. We have extended the deadline to March 31, 2013.Led by Cinema Politica, the project is a partnership with the Documentary Organization of Canada (DOC) and the Inspirit Foundation.

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CP Concordia Winter 2013 Program Notes

concordia — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 23:17:00 +0000

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IDLE NO MORE

A torrent has been rising within communities on the margins of mainstream society. Many have felt the injustice mounting, the oppression too unbearable, the lies and whitewashing too familiar. Enter Idle No More, launched in December 2012 by indigenous peoples. On the cusp of a groundswell, this season's lineup is curated in the spirit of solidarity with that movement.

We've gathered together 15 contentious, collective, capricious, cathartic, creative and combustible docs that might stop your heart while busting your joints - all the while fuelling fires built on the shorelines of our collective consciousness.

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New CP Promo Video

ezra — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 16:43:59 +0000

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Call for Submissions: Divine Interventions

network — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 20:42:00 +0000

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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: Seeking independent documentaries that explore the intersection of spirituality and social justice

Cinema Politica is on the cutting edge of the cinematic zeitgeist, and once again is tapping into the heart of the times, by showcasing the power of connecting spirit with action with their new project “Divine Interventions.” ~ Velcrow Ripper, Director of Occupy Love

Montreal, December 11, 2012 - Cinema Politica is currently seeking submissions of independent Canadian works for a special screening project called Divine Interventions: Documentary, Spirituality and Social Justice. The early submission deadline is January 15, 2013. Led by Cinema Politica, the project is a partnership with the Documentary Organization of Canada (DOC) and the Inspirit Foundation.

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Stateless

berlin — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 16:22:19 +0000

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On Friday, December 14th, Cinema Politica Berlin will host a special screening.

STATELESS

An inside look at the strife and hardship experienced by those living in the Shousha refugee camp on the border between Tunisia and Libya. At a time of social upheaval and instability, Stateless tells the stories of the men, women and children fleeing their home countries in search of a better life.

Join us after the screening for a Q&A with one of the directors of the film, Mauro Mondello.

_______

Date: Friday, 14. December 2012
Time: 18:00
Location: Kindl Stuben, Sonnenallee 92 (close to U Rathaus Neukölln and an M41 stop)

STATELESS
MAURO MONDELLO AND NUNZIO GRINGERI / ITA / 2012 / 34 MIN / ITALIAN, ENGLISH S.T.

Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMAaehkb7xY

More Info:
http://statelessdoc.wordpress.com/

Admission is free, seating is limited.
_______

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excited for our first screening!

uoft — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 19:58:49 +0000

december 3rd 'tales from the g20' poster

On December 3rd we will launch Cinema Politica at University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union! Come out to our very first screening and say whassup!

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Cinema Politica Fredericton: "Date for the starving artist" (Brunswickan Article)

fredericton — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 18:28:47 +0000

According to the Brunswickan, the University of New Brunswick's student publication, on Nov. 13, 2012 (page 12), Cinema Politica Fredericton screenings are a great "cheap" date. The article reads as follows: "Cinema Politica. Ideal for: Anyone who adheres to a vegan lifestyle or owns more than one activism bracelet. Cost: By donation. Cinema Politica screenings take place at the Conserver House at 180 St. John Street; about a ten minute walk from campus. This week’s screening is a Canadian documentary entitled, Caution Feminists! which profiles five feminists in Montreal who explore different ideologies and real-life applications of feminist theory. Cinema Politica is always intense and educational, and it is 100 per cent guaranteed* that your date will be wildly impressed by your insight, sensitivity, and worldliness. (*Note: not actually guaranteed.) The screening begins at 7 p.m. on Nov. 16.

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Cinema Politica Fredericton Fundraiser

fredericton — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 18:36:33 +0000

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Cinema Politica Fredericton has received by donation a number of "Cultures of Resistance" t-shirts. They are black with the logo written in four languages in white. For a minimum $20 donation, one of these great t-shirts can be yours. There are a few different sizes. Contact CP Fredericton for more details or to reserve a size. Thanks to STU's Cultural Studies program for the donation and join us on Dec. 7 for our screening of the film "Cultures of Resistance."

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CUTV's Spot on our Fall 2012 Program

concordia — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 20:45:04 +0000

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Be...Without Water - The Sequel: free screening Oct. 25 @ 7pm in Sussex, NB

fundy — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 12:19:49 +0000

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Cinema Politica Fundy is pleased to announce that we will be screening the documentary Be...Without Water - The Sequel by director Rob Turgeon on Thursday, October 25 at 7:00pm in the Department of Agriculture Building located at 701 Main Street (at the corner of Magnolia Avenue) in Sussex, New Brunswick. This film explores the delicate issue of hydrofracking and shale gas exploration in the province of New Brunswick. Everyone is welcome (and encouraged) to attend and admission is by donation. A discussion will follow the documentary and Rob Turgeon will be in attendance to discuss his film with us.

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Cinema Politica Screening Covered by Local NB Student Media

fredericton — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 19:54:38 +0000

Two local New Brunswick Student Newspapers covered the Sept. 28, 2012 screening of "Blood on the Mobile". Read their articles by clicking on the links below.

The Brunswickan Article (University of New Brunswick, Fredericton): "Cinema Politica Review: Blood in the Mobile" by Tamara Gravelle, Oct. 3, 2012.
Website: http://thebruns.ca/arts/cinema-politica-review-blood-in-the-mobile/

The New Brunswick Beacon Article (Saint Thomas University, Fredericton): "'Mine to Mobile': The Bloody Journey" by Kara Cousins, Oct. 2, 2012.
Website: http://www.newbrunswickbeacon.ca/22991/mine-mobile-bloody-journey/

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UPRISING: HIP HOP AND THE LA RIOTS

network — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 02:27:00 +0000

CINEMA POLITICA and POP MONTREAL present:

UPRISING: HIP HOP AND THE LA RIOTS
Mark Ford | É.-U. 2012 | 66 min.

22 SEPT, 18H30, FILM BOX
(Quartiers POP – 3450 St-Urbain, 3rd Flr)

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Cinema Politica Fredericton feature article in The Aquinian: Strawberry Fields Forever?

fredericton — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 20:49:45 +0000

Strawberry Fields Forever?
By: Dylan Hackett - The Aquinian, September 10, 2012, p. 9. (text has been made more compact for convenience)

The Sunset Berry U-Pick on the North side of Fredericton is in jeopardy and the folks at Cinema Politica Fredericton chose to raise awareness through film.

“It may not be a strawberry field forever but it is urban agriculture and that trend is growing immensely throughout Canada and North America. Losing it would be a tremendous loss,” said St. Thomas sociology professor Matthew Hayes. Hayes ran for mayor of the city last spring but didn’t defeat long time mayor Brad Woodside. Hayes’ platform consisted of working towards a stronger local economy and keeping the U-Pick was among his intentions.

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New season of screenings in Trondheim

trondheim — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 08:19:02 +0000

As September is upon us, summer is officially over. The leaves are turning yellow and the evenings are getting darker. But with colder weather and rainy days comes excellent opportunities to stay indoors and indulge in films about the outside world. As tradition therefore, Cinema Politica Trondheim kick-started the new season in August with a promise of excellent documentaries and free organic tea. Our selections this semester consist of seven films and vary from the documentary telling the story of the latest generation of Israeli soldiers to object to military operations undertaken by their country in "Raised to be heroes" to a documentary addressing the issue of Christian fundamentalism in “Jesus Camp”. We have already started handing out our programs, and most of the students seems to be interested by our selections.

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Cinema Politica Call for Submissions (2012-2013 Program)

network — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 21:58:00 +0000

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Cinema Politica is currently seeking submissions of independent documentary works for our Fall deadline of August 1, 2011.

Cinema Politica is a non-competitive continuous documentary screening series with locations throughout Canada and abroad. We are a non-profit media arts organization committed to connecting audiences on campuses and communities to independent political and social issue non-fiction cinema. Most of our screening activity occurs during the academic year with two annual submission deadlines: August 1, 2011 (for the Fall 2011 Program) and December 1, 2011 (for the Winter 2012 Program). With around 100 global locations Cinema Politica is the largest campus and community-based documentary screening network in the world.

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OPEN LETTER FROM ARTISTS TO QUEBEC STUDENTS

network — Mon, 07 May 2012 17:43:00 +0000

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(Version française ci-dessous)

For months now, you have not ceased to show courage, solidarity, resilience, combativeness and creativity through educational and political actions, opposing unjust tuition hikes imposed by the government with the longest student strike in the history of Quebec. You are doing it not only in resistance to the tuition increase, but to clearly oppose the logic of neoliberalism and austerity which has infiltrated all spheres of society.

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CP Fredericton Intern Chelsea Farrar

fredericton — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 21:57:35 +0000

STU Student Chelsea Farrar just completed her volunteer hours at the Fredericton Local of Cinema Politica, one of the CP network’s most active locals, established in 2007. Chelsea approached Cinema Politica Fredericton in January of 2012 about volunteering. She is a student in the course entitled “Human Rights and NGOs” in the Human Rights Programme at Saint Thomas University, in Fredericton. The Human Rights Programme encourages students to eliminate prejudice, fosters respect and compassion amongst people, and encourages a commitment to improve lives. These goals matched CP Fredericton’s objectives of informing and engaging audiences on important socio-political, cultural, environmental and economic issues.

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AUCKLAND! SEATTLE! MOOSE JAW!

network — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 17:34:35 +0000

Dozens of new locals have joined (or are joining) the CP Network.

In the last newsletter we announced our newest screening location, The Bloor / Hot Docs Cinema in Toronto, but there's much more. In recent weeks locals have started up all over the world. The list below includes new locals that have pages on the CP site, but doesn't include the many more that are in the process of joining.

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NEW ARTIST PAGES FEATURE OUR BEST

network — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 17:30:00 +0000

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Screen shot of CP Artists page

We love the artists who make the incredibly inspiring and inspired film and video that we screen all over Canada and the world. With the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, Cinema Politica has launched a new feature on cinemapolitica.org- artist profile pages. Artist pages have been made for over 40 Canadian filmmakers and include biographies, filmographies, photos, interviews, contact information and CP film picks.

Want to learn more about the director of UP THE YANGTZE? - check out Yung Chang's page. Want to read an interview with Amy Miller, the filmmaker behind MYTHS FOR PROFIT? - check out her page.

With this new feature we hope you enjoy exploring the people behind the amazing films and videos we screen all over the world. Be sure to keep checking the section as it grows each week! Visit cinemapolitica.org/artiststo discover more!

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The Experimental Eskimos

Gothenburg — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 21:00:10 +0000

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This Monday, the third screening of the spring season at Cinema Politica Gothenburg took place. The subject of this week's film club was the Canadian documentary The Experimental Eskimos. The film chronicles the lives of the three Inuit boys Peter Ittinuar, Zebedee Nungak and Eric Tagoona; who due to their above-avarage school-performances were singled out for an experiment conducted by the Canadian government in the early 1960s. The 12-year-old boys were sent to foster-parents in Ottawa so it could be seen whether they could adapt to a white middle-class upbringing, with some sort of ambiguous aim of them one day perhaps becoming educated leaders of the Inuit people in Canada.

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2011 Audience Choice Winner Announced

network — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 17:07:42 +0000

Each year at Cinema Politica we select ten outstanding films that have screened throughout the network during the last year and ask our audiences to vote on their favourite. This year we had another record number of voters and for the first time the race was intensely close between three films - GASLAND, END:CIV - RESIST OR DIE and SWEET CRUDE. But alas, one film edged its way to victory before the February 29th, midnight cut-off.

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Masqueriot! a fundraiser for Cinema Politica Saskatoon

saskatoon — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 01:50:07 +0000

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Join us for an evening of delicious deviance and sublime subversion...

Allow us to present MASQUERIOT, a fundraiser for Cinema Politica Saskatoon!

Featuring local musicians and DJs, tapas and desserts, cocktails, and marvelous masked mayhem!

When? March 16th, from 9 o'clock at night until the wee hours of the morning
Where? Positive Passions, 300 3rd Avenue South, Saskatoon

Music by...
ZENSHIN (Mc Entropy, MC Arbitrary, and the Village Villain)
Dreamaniac
Stimmy the Whale
Ace Souls
Gillian Snider
Peter Abonyi
...and more!

Lighting by The Isocellator Grid!

Suggested donation $5-10
19+ event

Masks and costumes highly encouraged... get creative ;)

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Cinema Politica at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema in Toronto

bloor — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 20:29:00 +0000

THIS JUST IN!! Cinema Politica has joined forces with The Bloor Cinema / Hot Docs and will be organizing a regular screening night at the famous theatre in Toronto.

The collaboration kicks off on April 3rd, 6:30 PM with a screening of Cultures of Resistance.

Admission is by donation and guest speakers will be in attendance.

For more information, check out cinemapolitica.org/bloor.

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Screening Black History Month

network — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 19:23:58 +0000

February is Black History Month, and while we strive to share the critical Black voices, stories and perspectives in our films all year-long, the list below is a sample of some of our Black History Month favourites.

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Cast your vote!!

network — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 19:33:17 +0000

Vote for the CP Audience Choice Award 2011 and win prizes

It's that time of year again... We have assembled a short list of ten of our most popular films from 2011 and there are only a few days left to vote. Cast your vote for your favourite film from 2011 and you'll have a chance to win some swanky prizes. Voting closes on February 29th at midnight. Show your love and click on this link!!!

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UF Film Club Spring Season Premiere - A Dream for Kabul

Gothenburg — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:22:08 +0000

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Dear Mr. Osama bin Laden:

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Dors pas, r'garde : l'art passe aux vues! #02

uqam — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:09:03 +0000

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DORS PAS, R'GARDE : L'ART PASSE AUX VUES!

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Introduction to VOL SPECIAL at CP Concordia

concordia — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 23:29:00 +0000

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CP Perth: 2012

perth — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:48:58 +0000

Welcome back to Cinema Politica: Perth !

After two successful screenings in 2011 - we're back again, and ready for an exciting new year during which we hope to see CP: Perth grow into a staple event for interested students both within and outside UWA.

We hope to publish a schedule of screenings in late March, so stay active, and keep posted!

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The Brunswickan Film Review on Consuming Kids

fredericton — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 17:58:46 +0000

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Consuming Kids: A Cinema Politica Review

Lee Thomas - The Brunswickan

Sinister music. A heartbeat. The faded image of a sleeping infant, peaceful and oblivious. Interspersed with these, a quote:

“The consumer embryo begins to develop during the first year of existence. Children begin their consumer journey in infancy, and they certainly deserve consideration as consumers at that time.” - James U. McNeal, pioneering youth marketer.

In the documentary Consuming Kids: The Commercialization of Childhood, directors Adriana Barbaro and Jeremy Earp present the underside of the child advertising world. It is both eye-opening and, at times, absolutely horrifying.

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CBC covers Cinema Politica's 2012 Kick Off

fredericton — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:09:00 +0000

CBC New Brunswick covers Consuming Kids, Cinema Politica's first screening of 2012.

Video (11:20): http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/Canada/NB/1305552294/ID=2184291613

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BAHRAIN: SHOUTING IN THE DARK (Al Jazeera English, 2011)

stockholm — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 11:17:06 +0000

On October 27, 2011, Cinema Politica Stockholm screened a documentary entitled Bahrain: Shouting in the dark (Al Jazeera English, 2011) at Stockholm University.

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Welcome to Hebron: Screening and discussion with Terje Carlsson

stockholm — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 11:19:50 +0000

On Dec 8, 2011 Cinema Politica student group at Stockholm University invited Terje Carlsson to screen his documentary “Welcome to Hebron”. The documentary deals with the daily life struggles of a group of teenage Palestinian girls from a school in Hebron and focuses on Leila, a Palestinian girl living under the shadows of illegal military and settler-colonial occupation of her city, Hebron. The documentary is mostly filmed in Hebron and shows the various hardships, such as military check-points, closure of market places and businesses and settler violence that the Palestinian residents in general and students in particular have to go through to conduct their daily business.

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Documentary Stocking Stuffers

network — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 18:42:44 +0000

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Live Broadcast: Public Lecture by Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Shelia Watt-Cloutier

Sackville — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 17:47:52 +0000

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Hello Cinema Politica Sites!

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Dors pas, r'garde : l'art passe aux vues!

uqam — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 20:41:46 +0000

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Vendredi 18 Novembre de 19h jusqu'à 3H du matin au Café des Arts de l'Uqàm aura lieu une nuit de projection dans le cadre de l'événement spécial :

Dors pas, r'garde : l'art passe aux vues! avec 4 films incontournables:

19h00: Waste Land
21h00: Godin
23h: Rechercher Victor Pellerin
01h: Art/crime

Plus d'informations sur les films sur http://www.cinemapolitica.org/uqam

Apportez un coussin et une tasse; nous offrons collations et boissons chaudes

À vendredi!

Véronique et L'équipe de Cinema Politica Uqàm ( Renaud, Naomie, Raymond, Adil, Adeline)

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Trick-or-treat, occupy & review our films!

network — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 18:11:26 +0000

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Inaugural screening an unqualified success

perth — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 08:27:05 +0000

The inaugural screening for the Perth branch of Cinema Politica was an unqualified success. In excess of 40 people attended the first screening, a very encouraging number given the grassroots nature of the Perth branch. The first film, "The Yes Men", with its themes of corporate excess and responsibility, civic enterprise and "guerilla conferencing" drew exhortations of glee and a positive response from the crowd. The film, in which two culture jammers represent themselves as employees from corporations guilty of societal ills, emphasises the need for the public to respond to the wrongs perpetrated by the body corporate.

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21 septembre 2011 : Bledi, mon pays est ici

chicoutimi — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 21:52:27 +0000

On vous réserve une belle soirée pour notre première projection automnale !

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February 15 - Louder Than a Bomb Special Screening 7pm

Victoria — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 18:42:38 +0000

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A co-presentation with Victoria Poetry Project (http://www.tonguesoffire.ca/)
Six hundred teenagers from sixty Chicago schools gather for the world’s largest youth poetry slam. Louder Than a Bomb chronicles the hopeful and heartbreaking stories of four teams preparing for the event. Victoria poets in attendance!
http://www.louderthanabombfilm.com/about-the-film.php

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PLAY AGAIN - Sept. 22 @ 7pm - presented by Fundy Model Forest & Cinema Politica Fundy

fundy — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 14:07:36 +0000

In honour of National Forest Week, the Fundy Model Forest Network will be showing a free movie this month and we will be helping out. Some please, c'mon out and check out this film, too.

The film we be screened in the Fundy Model Forest conference room in Sussex, NB, on Thursday, September 22 at 7:00pm and is called Play Again. It is a documentary that asks the question, what are the consequences of a childhood removed from nature? The film follows six teenagers who spend between five and fifteen hours a day behind screens as they unplug on a wilderness adventure --- no electricity, no cell phone coverage, no virtual reality.

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CP Welcomes our new Advisory Committee

network — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 00:21:31 +0000

The Cinema Politica family has grown by six new fantastic individuals! As CP expands in Canada and throughout the world, we thought that we could probably use some advice from some professionals from time to time. So it is with great excitement that we welcome the new members of our brand new Cinema Politica Advisory Committee. Filmmakers, educators, programmers, promoters, and provocateurs, the following six individuals are creative super-humans who live inspired, invigorated and community-oriented lives in the documentary and media arts. Below is a little bit of info on each of them. We hope that you are as excited as us in welcoming them to the Cinema Politica family!

TRACEY DEER, a Mohawk from the community of Kahnawake, obtained her bachelor's degree in Film Studies from the Ivy League Dartmouth College in 2000, graduating with two awards of excellence. Immediately afterward, she began working for CanWest Broadcasting's nightly news program in Montreal. Four months later she joined Rezolution Pictures, also out of Montreal, as a production assistant on a feature-length documentary they had just begun. Within three months she was promoted to co-director and co-DOP of One More River, a 96-minute process documentary that followed the emotional and political turmoil involved within the Cree Nation when they signed a new deal to allow more hydroelectric damning on their land. The film won the Best Documentary Award at the Rendez-vous des Cinema Quebecois in Feb. 2005 and was nominated for the Donald Brittain Best Social/Political Documentary at the Geminis. The film was broadcast on APTN in March 2005. Her second film, Mohawk Girls, a 63-minute process documentary, was a solo effort that she directed, filmed and wrote about the lives of three Mohawk teenagers growing up on the Kahnawake reserve, which was co-produced with Rezolution Pictures and the National Film Board. It won the Alanis Obomsawin Best Documentary Award at the Imaginenative Film Festival in 2005. Tracey also made Club Native in 2008.

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The University of Winnipeg Students' Association

uofw — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 17:15:49 +0000

We are the UWSA, and we can be found at www.theuwsa.caAlso, follow us on Twitter: @theuwsaLocal Sponsor:Gallery 1C03

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The historical first screening coming up for Cinema Politica Uppsala!

uppsala — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 20:59:13 +0000

Wow, I'm so excited about our first screening on April 28, almost can't believe we have come so far!

I got the idea on starting Cinema Politica Uppsala around Christmas - a year before that (or something like that) I saw The Coca-Cola Case on Cinema Politica Stockholm and fell in love with the idea of screening independent political films. But as with most big projects, it is hard to imagine that you can be one of the people actually doing something yourself, especially when you haven't organized anything like it before... it's almost like your creating a distance between yourself and the go-getters you see on stage performing/making movies/screening movies/writing or whatever. Like those persons aren't mortal or never have a bad breath when they wake up in the morning.

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CP Rips it up for 7 Year Anniversary Party + Site Launch

network — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 15:17:06 +0000

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It's been two weeks since we launched our new website, which, if you're reading this, you've likely checked out. We needed these last days to catch our breath after weeks of preparing for the launch party, which was also our 7 year anniversary party here in Montreal. On April 1 we had over 250 people pack the cozy little gallery space of Control Lab (on St. Laurent) for an evening of live music, DJs, dancing, chatting, and even door prizes. It was a fantastic party and achieved our goal of bringing together artists, activists and audiences to hang out, let loose and celebrate seven exciting years of Cinema Politica.

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Living Downstream in our backyards

CapeCod — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 16:12:52 +0000

Steve Seymour and Sue Phelan of GreenCAPE follow up Living Downstream with a post-film discussion. Gotta love screening in a venue lined with mirrors!

Friday’s screening of Living Downstream hit home in a number of ways.

Not only was Woods Hole (a village of Falmouth, where we’re located) prominently featured as a place of respite for Sandra Steingraber and her family, the doc focused on the nearby city of New Bedford as one of the most concentrated PCB and heavy metal dump sites in the US, if not the world.

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Why We're Screening END:CIV

london — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 20:05:11 +0000

2011 | The Big Green Race to Extinction

Published February 17th, 2011 by Political Context

Illustration courtesy of Stephanie McMillan | CODE GREEN

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New CP Award given to activist-filmmaker john greyson

network — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 05:00:00 +0000

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Last Monday, following a Concordia screening of a selection of Greyson's work called "Sex, Song and Segregation" Cinema Politica awarded the Toronto-based filmmaker a new award, named after one of Canada's most committed documentarians.

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Dreamland Wins 2010 CP Audience Choice Award

network — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 05:00:00 +0000

Cinema Politica is very proud and excited to announce that the 2010 Cinema Politica Audience Choice Award Winner is the beautiful and powerful Icelandic documentary Dreamland. Dreamlandwas one of our favourite films of 2010 and has screened widely throghout the CP network, where, judging by our audience response, it has been very well-received indeed. The film was reviewed at CP`s sister site - Art Threat - at the beginning of 2010. Here are a few excerpts:

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The Yes Men at Cinema Politica in Montreal

concordia — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 05:00:00 +0000

Above is the video of one of the largest CP events ever held - The Yes Men Fix the World at Concordia University (Montreal, Quebec) on Monday, December 6, 2010. Despite a massive snow storm—the first of the winter—people came out in droves and we filled H-110, an auditorium that holds just under 700 people. The video was shot and edited by the talented and generous Thomas Szacka-Marier, and has footage before the show as well as part of the Q&A with Mike and Andy.

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Manufactured Landscapes - January 27 at 7pm

fundy — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 05:00:00 +0000

Fundy Cinema Politica will be screening the 2006 documentary Manufactured Landscapes on January 27 at 7pm in the Fundy Model Forest conference room in the Department of Agriculture Building in Sussex, New Brunswick. This will be our first screening of the new year, so we hope to see lots of familiar as well as new faces as we begin another exciting year of engaging films and discussions. Admission is free, as always, however, donations are accepted (and appreciated)

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2010: What a Year!

network — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 23:01:26 +0000

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The following are our lists of new CP titles obtained in 2010, along with our most recently established locals.

Thanks to our Board of Directors, volunteers, everyone in the network and to all the filmmakers, distributors and audiences who continue to support Cinema Politica! Of course big thanks to the Canada Council for the Arts for their continued support as well as the Quebec Arts Council, who began supporting us this year.

We're looking forward to another amazing year - look out 2011!!

NEW FILM ACQUISITIONS FOR 2010

(to find the CP page for each title, just enter the film's title in the CP search bar)

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A snow storm, The Yes Men, and 700 happy audience members

concordia — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 23:59:51 +0000

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Last night we were a little worried about turnout at our end of the year screening of The Yes Men Fix the World. A massive snow storm hit Montreal and the city seemed to grind to an eery (but also pleasant) halt. Cafés were empty and so were the streets. But alas, our intrepid audience braved the weather and with mitts, toques and scarves showed up in droves for the screening. In total we had about 700 in attendance, including of course the two Yes Men themselves, Andy and Mike. It was a fantastic screening, complete with a standing ovation that may have gone on all night if we hadn't stopped it, and a great Q&A afterward that lasted an hour. Andy and Mike are pictureed above at the screening, and in the shot below is the whole Concordia crew of volunteers, employees, Svetla Turnin (Executive Director of Cinema Politica), the Yes Men and myself (Ezra Winton). We're ready for the holidays!! Photo Credit: Thanh Pham

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Mt. A students critical of Coke face censorship

fredericton — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 20:13:07 +0000

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On October 18, 2010, an employee from Coca-Cola was spotted by two students at Mount Alison University in Sackville tearing down posters advertising a screening of a documentary critical of Coca-Cola......The Coke Free Mount A group formed after a screening of The Coca-Cola Case by Cinema Politica Sackville earlier this year. Read the full story at NB Media Co-op.

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HERE NB: Cinema Politica's movies spur activism

fredericton — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 20:15:42 +0000

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"Shying away from tough issues isn't something Cinema Politica is known for-in fact, just the opposite. The non-profit film network that operates across New Brunswick presents the best in Canadian and international documentaries. The films not only deal with big issues facing our society today, but some are so radical they've caused huge uproars in the communities where they've been screened."Read the full story here.

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Svetla Turnin interviews Nicolas Wadimoff, director of Aisheen: Still Alive in Gaza

concordia — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 00:31:09 +0000

For more on Aisheen: Still Alive in Gaza, visit the CP page for this film.

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Water On the Table DVD and Other News

network — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 19:48:01 +0000

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From Press Release:

"Hello friends of WOTT

It has been a busy and successful fall release in Canada, and now the DVD is available ...

You can purchase the DVD for personal use, and for educational purposes.
We have designed an in-depth Teacher's Guide to accompany the Educational package, for high school and up. Released by KINOSMITH.

WATER ON THE TABLE is also available at Rogers and other independent retailers across the country. The best thing you can do is ask your local video store to order it! Or, make some noise and get Blockbuster to carry it!

And WOTT won for Best Canadian Feature Film at the 11th Annual International Planet in Focus Environmental Film Festival!

... Continue to check out details for upcoming theatrical and community screenings.

Thanks for the support!

Liz"

Liz Marshall
Director, Producer

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The Moon inside you wins Grand Prix at the XV Montenegro International Film Festival

network — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 19:19:02 +0000

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From Press Release:

"We are happy to share with you that The Moon Inside You has won the Grand Prix of the XV Montenegro International FF.

Moon keeps traveling around the World. Dubbed by russian volunteers, the documentary is now spreading its red revolution message also within the former Soviet Union.

Throughout Canada you can see the film in a number of theatrical presentations under the umbrella of Cinema Politica.

And we would like to invite you to attend the 2 days event in Prague, Czech Republic called "Moon Inside You - An Open Dialogue on Menstruation " where besides the film screening there will be workshops, lectures and forums, all about women's inner secrets. http://mesicvnas.cz/lang/en/

All the screenings details will be on the website - www.mooninsideyou.com

Facebook profile http://www.facebook.com/menstruacion?ref=ts

We wish you a warmhearted winter, hope to meet you again, your Moonteam."

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Interview with BANANAS!* Director Fredrik Gertten

carleton — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 04:57:50 +0000

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Carleton Cinema Politica screened BANANAS!* on November 3 with a lovely audience and plenty of questions unanswered. We were hoping to have Director Fredrik Gertten join us via Skype for a Q&A but his busy schedule (and time zone) would have required him to answer questions at 2:30 in the morning after a long flight. Instead we had a wide ranging and productive discussion but promised the audience that we would ask Fredrik some of the questions that came up via email. Below are some of the questions and Fredrik's responses. We also were able to get a video Q&A from a screening in Australia. We'll be posting it very soon so stay tuned! Special thanks to Fredrik Gertten, all the Cinema Politica volunteers and our audience!

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Updated Cinema Politica World Map

network — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 22:40:20 +0000

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View Cinema Politica Locals in a larger map

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Reel Injun wins five Geminis!

network — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 17:27:23 +0000

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A huge congratulations to Neil Diamond and crew for winning not one, but FIVE Gemini Awards for Reel Injun, a documentary that interrogates the representation of First Nations and American Natives in Western media since cinema was launched.

Here's the list of awards:

Donald Brittain Award for Best Social/Political Documentary Program
Reel Injun - p. Christina Fon, Catherine Bainbridge, Ravida Din, Linda Ludwick, Catherine Olsen, Adam Symansky, Ernest Webb (Rezolution Pictures, NFB, CBC News Network)

Best Direction in a Documentary Program
Neil Diamond, Catherine Bainbridge, Jeremiah Hayes (Reel Injun)

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An interview with water warrior Maude Barlow

concordia — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 04:01:34 +0000

On Monday, October 12th, Cinema Politica premiered Liz Marshall's documentary Water On the Table in Quebec, at Concordia University. We were estatic to have the subject of Liz's doc at the screening, Maude Barlow, who was fantastic in the Q&A that followed the screening. Before the event we had a chance to do a short interview with Maude about her work, documentary, and her feelings on CP! Big thanks to intrepid videographer Thomas Szacka-Marier for camerawork, sound and editing.

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Water on the Brain: Screening of water doc with Maude Barlow at Concordia

concordia — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 03:41:39 +0000

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On Tuesday, October 12th, we had about 500 people pack H-110 to see the Quebec Premier screening of Liz Marshall's Water on the Table, with both Liz and Maude Barlow in attendance. The documentary follows Maude for a year in her life, as she battles for water rights all over the world. The screening was great and the Q&A with Liz and Maude was incredible - we'll be posting that video soon. In the meantime, we have the picture above of CP Concordia organizers, volunteers, staff, Council of Canadians Montreal chapter member Abdul Pirani, Liz and Maude. Go water warriors!!

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Reflections on an American Radical

stockholm — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 08:23:37 +0000

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On September 27, 2010, Cinema Politica Stockholm screened a documentary entitled American Radical: The Trials of Norman Finkelstein at the Stockholm University.

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Projection - Débat, le 24 Octobre à 16h : ULYSSE CLANDESTIN (Documentaire de Thomas Lacoste)

paris — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 20:01:47 +0000

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A l’occasion du projet de Loi Besson, il nous semble impératif d’accentuer la mobilisation citoyenne. Le Mouvement Utopia et Cinema Politica Paris s’associent pour organiser la projection du dernier documentaire de Thomas Lacoste : ULYSSE CLANDESTIN – Pour la nécessaire suppression du Ministère de l’immigration et de l’identité nationale.*

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Q&A with Wendy Champagne, director of Bas! Beyond the Red Light

concordia — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 04:25:55 +0000

This is a nine minute edited version of the 40 minute Q&A that followed the Cinema Politica screening of Bas! Beyond the Red Light at Concordia University on Monday, September 20th, 2010. The conversation got pretty heated a few times, as some in the audience had some pretty tough questions around Western "rescue missions" to the third world, but Wendy did a fantastic job answering and defending her beautiful film. Thanks to Thomas Szacka-Marier for a great editing and filming job!

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Cinema Politica and Community Association Part Ways Over Censorship

CapeCod — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 20:47:07 +0000

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As of Thursday, the documentary film group Cinema Politica has learned that it will not be welcomed back to the Old Woods Hole Firehouse, a publicly-owned building administered by the Woods Hole Community Association.

After three months of mediation, negotiations for the film screenings to return to the Firehouse broke down when the WHCA refused to consider a non-discrimination policy for users of the building.

Cinema Politica had also offered to include a disclaimer on its advertising, absolving the WHCA of any responsibility for the content of the films screened at the Firehouse.

Although Cinema Politica entered into the mediation on good faith, the process failed to establish the group's right to show films without fear of censorship-or pressure to self-censor.

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Outdoor screening of Fresh kicks off many more CP screenings of this great doc!

concordia — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 00:07:14 +0000

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Fresh was screened by Cinema Politica as part of a sustainable food festival at Concordia University under the Montreal night sky on Monday night (Sept 14). More than 300 people crowded the terrace, snuggling in for the show (with popcorn and hot chocolate), despite the lack of chairs for everyone. It was a fabulous screening - so many people stayed after and talked in groups about the film, as well as sustainability, food security, organics, farming, and more. The film provided new information for some, compelling support for the organic and sustainability movement, while for others it reinforced a resolve to keep organizing, to keep building community, and to keep fighting corporate food and farming culture.

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Stockholm is gearing up for a powerful second season

stockholm — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 21:44:04 +0000

Volunteers at Cinema Politica Stockholm have been hard at work over the past couple weeks. The labor has consisted of handing out flyers, sitting at tables, talking to new students, and watching movies among other strenuous tasks. But the team is ready for the launch of its second season on Sept. 13 presenting the light-hearted look at Chinese children and democracy, Please Vote for Me.

After choosing the films and creating posters and flyers, the team has focused their efforts both online and face-to-face. In addition to Facebook, Cinema Politica Stockholm is now on Twitter in order to communicate last-minute changes and other interesting information from time to time.

In the real world, new students at Stockholm University got to meet the team behind the Stockholm local and received information and flyers about Cinema Politica, and a tasty confectionary treat as well.

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Trondheim's back with hard core documentary screenings

trondheim — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 21:25:19 +0000

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Posters of a flamboyant mohawk, a stack of flyers and free give-outs of small plastic cups of popcorn in the hallway outside the lectures halls of the university brought in attention for Cinema Politica Trondheim's opening screening this semester yesterday. A small crowd gathered in the chosen auditorium to watch the videodocumented story of the phenomenon Taqwacore, the birth of punk Islam. The mood was energetic, the music loud and the audience went berserk and everyone threw themselves at each other in a state of total benevolant chaos... or wait, maybe that was in the film.

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doCuMeNTaRY woRKSHoPS iN yeLLoWKNiFe

yellowknife — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 05:04:40 +0000

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Cinema Politica Yellowknife and aRTLeSS meDia presents:

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Lies, Lies, Lies: Cinema Politica defamed in Woods Hole

network — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:23:11 +0000

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Dennis, Massachusetts (40 minutes from Woods Hole) resident David MacGuire organizes screenings of Al-Qaeda training videos that help to rally the community against non-Muslims in a vicious orgy of pro-terrorism, hatred and violence.

MacGuire, whom I’m told by local organizers has never been seen in attendance at a Woods Hole Cinema Politica screening, writes:

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communication 101

CapeCod — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 17:44:30 +0000

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Dear CP Supporters,

We here at Cinema Politica would like to thank everyone who sent emails and nearly 100 people who signed our petition (** please DO NOT donate any money if you sign!!) over the course of the week.

While the situation is far from simple, we feel we owe you the right to hear the nature of the discussions we've been engaged with over the past year with the WHCA.

Yesterday, we invited Steve Junker, a co-president of the Association, to explain the WHCA's side of the story at tonight's screening of "Sharkwater," but he declined the offer. Instead, he offered to discuss the matter in private with the aid of a hired facilitator.

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Cinema Politica kicked out of screening venue

CapeCod — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 17:13:19 +0000

We're sorry to inform you that the Woods Hole Community Association sent a letter last week informing us that we are not invited to rent the Firehouse during July and August-- and only after a hearing in September will they consider renting to us again.

At issue is our decision to screen five films over the past year and a half regarding the human rights situation in Palestine-- most recently, our June 4 screening of "Occupation 101."

Since last year, we have been hearing that some members of the the WHCA Board of Directors take issue with these documentaries. But in our discussions with the Community Association co-presidents, we have not been able to find out what their concerns are or how our groups could work together to resolve our differences.

We have invited WHCA members to come to the films and take part in discussion-- which we feel would be a first step in relieving tensions, by getting the debate out into the open. As far as we know, nobody who has a problem with these films has attended any screenings; instead, the Board has seen fit to ban us from the Firehouse.

If this update concerns you, there are two things you can do: sign our petition and send emails to the WHCA co-presidents:
Catherine Bumpus at catherinebumpus@aol.com
Steve Junker at junker@thoughtballoon.org.

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New film acquisition: Bas! Beyond the Red Light

network — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 20:42:56 +0000

Cinema Politica is thrilled to announce our newest acquisition, Bas! Beyond the Red Light. Distributed by F3M, the non-profit folks who also distribute CP films A Tent on Mars and Art in Action, this beautiful documentary looks at former sex trafficked girls in Mumbai who participate in a dance program at a non-profit. From the film's site: "In BAS!

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Woods Hole defends freedom of speech!

CapeCod — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:04:54 +0000

For over a year, Cinema Politica-Woods Hole has been in discussions with the Woods Hole Community Association-- the group that rents us the Firehouse-- regarding the "concerns" the WHCA has with films regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Given the events surrounding the Free Gaza flotilla (and the local connection, due to the presence of a local woman on board one of the ships), we held a screening of "Occupation 101" on June 4. The following is a letter in response to the WHCA co-presidents' email, questioning why they were not warned of the screening in advance.

June 5, 2010

To the Woods Hole Community Association Board of Directors:

As you are aware, we held a screening of "Occupation 101" at the Firehouse on Friday, June 4. It was one of our most well-attended screenings, with people of all ages filling over 50 seats.

We made the decision to screen this film on Tuesday, given the spotlight on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict following the IDF raid on the Free Gaza flotilla on Monday. As is the case with any documentary screening, Cinema Politica tries to tie in its programming with events in the news. We felt that showing this film would provide critical context for why the boats were attempting to break the Gaza blockade in the first place.

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Suing to keep posters on poles

fredericton — Mon, 31 May 2010 16:57:25 +0000

Posters on public utility poles lead a short life in downtown Fredericton.

Members of community groups and promoters for music and art shows put up posters on these poles daily. Whenever they’re put up, an employee of Downtown Fredericton Inc. (DFI) removes them - with the exception of a handful of poles.

Dave Steele and three other Fredericton residents are fighting for the rights of the unseen poster. They have served a lawsuit against DFI and its General Manager, Bruce McCormack.

....

Cinema Politica puts up different posters regularly for their weekly film screenings. Glynn says the group is frustrated by the poster removal that they say is wasting their money, time and resources. Read more at NB Media Co-op.

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CP at the Anarchist Bookfair in Montreal

concordia — Wed, 26 May 2010 19:47:48 +0000

For those in the Montreal area, Cinema Politica will be tabling at the Montreal Anarchist Bookfair this weekend (May 29-30). Every year we support this excellent event as we believe in connecting the art of documentary with social justice and social movements. This year we'll actually have some wares to sell (on a sliding scal price of course). We'll have our new CP tshirts, plus many of DVDs of the films we show throughout our network. Come by and say hi and support anarchism! Info on the event below...

Montreal Anarchist Bookfair
MAY 29-30, 10am-5pm
at the CEDA, 2515 rue Delisle
(a short walk from Lionel-Groulx metro)

The Montreal Anarchist Bookfair — and month-long Festival of Anarchy — bring together anarchist ideas and practice, through words, images, music, theatre and day-to-day struggles for justice, dignity and collective liberation.

The Bookfair is for people who don’t necessarily consider themselves anarchists, but are curious about anarchism, as well as a space for anarchists to meet, network and share in a spirit of respect and solidarity. All are welcome.

The Bookfair is organized in a spirit of openness towards the different traditions, visions, and practices of anarchism. Together we share a commitment to promoting anarchism through the values of mutual aid, grassroots democracy, direct action, autonomy and solidarity, while opposing oppression in all its forms.

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Call for submissions: Fall 2010

network — Tue, 25 May 2010 17:12:20 +0000

Calling all political filmmakers!

Cinema Politica is seeking submissions! Cinema Politica is a Montreal-based non-profit network of community and campus locals that screen independent political films by donation throughout Canada and abroad. We believe in the power of art to not only entertain, but to engage, inform, inspire, and provoke social change.

We are currently seeking submissions from independent political filmmakers for our FALL 2010 Program. We accept all lengths and styles and we will leave it up to the artist to interpret and determine the qualifier "political." We look for films and videos that are tackling important political issues and telling underrepresented stories. We are particularly interested in Canadian works. We pay public screening fees for films and videos to screen throughout our network of 50+ locals in Canada and can negotiate further for our 20+ outposts abroad.

Ideally, we would like to work directly with artists, but we also work with distributors representing artist's works when necessary.

Deadline for submission for our Fall 2010 program is early this year: August 1st, 2010.

Please contact Director of Programming Ezra Winton if you have questions, or simply mail a DVD screener to the following address:

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Cinema Politica Indonesia

indonesia — Tue, 25 May 2010 05:03:13 +0000

Cinema Politica Indonesia is a movement of dissemination and
initiative shares with its public, to actively taking part as screening
and discussion organizer. The event itself aims to raising up awareness
about cinema as well as politic as an inseparable thing in everyone
lives.

Cinema Politica Indonesia adalah gerakan untuk menyebar dan membagi
inisiatif dengan publiknya untuk mengambil bagian sebagai penyelenggara
acara pemutaran dan peserta dalam berbagai diskusi yang mendampingi
pemutaran tersebut. Tujuan dari setiap acara adalah memompa kesadaran
dan kepedulian terhadap sinema dan politik sebagai bagian yang tidak
dapat dipisahkan dari kehidupan setiap orang.

Cinema Politica Indonesia generates by:
Kinoki, elida.tamalagi@kinoki.or.id
Contact us for your own Cinema Politica screening and visit Kinoki to give you the idea WHY we are gladly serving Cinema Politica in Indonesia!

Cinema Politica Indonesia dikordinasi oleh:
Kinoki, elida.tamalagi@kinoki.or.id

Hubungi kami untuk pemutaran Cinema Politica DI TEMPATMU dan kunjungi Kinoki jika ingin tahu MENGAPA kammi bangga membawa Cinema Politica ke Indonesia!

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New film acquisition: Bananas!

network — Thu, 20 May 2010 17:54:19 +0000

We are delighted to report that Cinema Politica has just secured network rights for the excellent documentary Bananas! The film made headlines when Dole threatened to sue the Swedish filmmakers behind the film (who are very nice people by the way) - a tactic that was quickly abandoned when Sweden's supermarket chains threated to pull all Dole products from their shelves if the lawsuit went ahead.

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Two films we like - Grass & The Weather Underground

network — Thu, 13 May 2010 23:09:25 +0000

Cinema Politica has just finished a deal with the good folks at filmswelike to secure screening rights for two of their best documentary titles. We're excited to report that we now have rights for the very excellent political docs Grass and The Weather Underground to screen throughout the CP Network.

About Grass: Consider this a documentary for those who inhaled. Ron Mann's playful portrait of marijuana in America is less a social history than an examination of the government's systematic seven-decade campaign to demonize the devil's weed: the conspiracy against cannabis! Through government documents, period newsreels, and clips from hysterical educational scare films and campy overheated features (like High on the Range and the cult classic Reefer Madness), Mann reveals a systematic policy of misinformation to (he argues) justify the billions spent on the losing war on drugs. Well researched if one-sided and occasionally questionable in its own assertions (aren't there any side effects to this wonder weed?), this witty history lesson is charged with raucous energy and a satirical slant. Mann and his easygoing narrator Woody Harrelson may be preaching to the converted,but it's a hilarious sermon. Pass the munchies! --Sean Axmaker

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Breaking down the wastewater

CapeCod — Wed, 12 May 2010 20:36:49 +0000

In the 1970s, a group of forward-thinking oceanographers and
engineers sequestered themselves on a few dozen acres on Hatchville Road-- just about 10 miles from Woods Hole. Their dream: to design a self-sustaining way of living, limiting their consumption to what they could grow or make themselves, and returning any waste to the natural cycle.

This was sustainability before the word turned into a marketing term.

In addition to growing their food in a bio-shelter and living in super-insulated buildings, one of the New Alchemy founders devised a way to turn what is traditionally called “wastewater” into a resource.

Dr. John Todd’s vision adapted nature’s principles to create the EcoMachine, shown in Earth Keepers at Dr. Todd's home in Falmouth. The surprisingly simple design effectively breaks down the harmful microbes and complex nutrients in wastewater, while providing nutrients for plants and fish.

Spreading the word

Inspired by Dr. Todd's vision, local documentary filmmaker Kristin Alexander produced a short documentary, called Green EcoMachine. After Earth Keepers, we showed her 11-minute film, which has shown audiences from Woods Hole to Los Angeles the possibilities of sustainable wastewater treatment.

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Power of Community Screening - a Success in Sussex

fundy — Mon, 10 May 2010 17:11:13 +0000

Last Thursday, CP Fundy screened "Power of Community" in Sussex, New Brunswick to an audience that spanned three generations. As we set up the projector and made popcorn for the show, familiar faces trickled in and were soon chatting and catching up with old and new friends alike. Despite being only the third film shown by CP Fundy, there's already a noticeable feeling of normalcy to the evenings - as if they've been happening longer than three months.

The film was a hit and it provided a great platform for discussion. After the films the 20 or so people in attendance eagerly discussed their initial image of Cuba and some reflected on trips to the island. Many of the older folks in the audience reflected on their childhood in New Brunswick. A time when communities grew their own food and goods were produced in small cottage industries. The discussion came back around to present time and people shared their feelings about how our own communities could change to become more resilient to peak oil. This lead to discussions of local food production and home vegetable gardening. One question hovered on everyone's mind - could our community (and North America in general) choose to be proactive about peak oil? And what type of leadership is needed.

It was a wonderful evening and we look forward to the next one,

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American Radical wins CP Audience Choice Award

network — Wed, 05 May 2010 15:31:10 +0000

We are pleased to announce that the winner of the 2009 Cinema Politica Audience Choice Award is American Radical: The Trials of Norman Finkelstein. This time around we had an overwhelming response from Cinema Politica voters, with thousands casting their ballots - thanks to all who participated. H2Oil came in at second place while Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai rounded out third place.

American Radical is one of our favourite films and we are delighted to see that our audiences agree! We will be giving out the award to the film's directors, Nicolas Rossier and David Ridgen this summer, and next month we will randomly choose our three lucky prize winners among those who voted.

Thanks again to all who participated, despite the process occuring a little late in the year this time, and if you haven't watched American Radical yet, find out where it's screening and go see it (and our two runners-up films are pretty damn good too).

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East Coast adventures

network — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 04:31:25 +0000

Svetla and I just returned from a much-needed mini-vacation on the East Coast. We took a week off from our studies (well I did) and a week off from running Cinema Politica and headed to Nova Scotia. We of course could not head to Canada's eastern-most shores without rendezvousing with some of the amazing people who run Cinema Politica locals out there.

We were delighted to meet Ray and Marge, pictured above- with us in the Monkey House, a progressive restaurant in Halifax that adheres to a strict organic and local code. The restaurant even recently hosted a bike lock competition for designers in Halifax to not only install a lock in front of the restaurant, but draw attention to the problem cyclists face in that city.

Ray and Marge run the Mahone Bay Cinema Politica, in the beautiful tiny coastal town (population 800) with much aplomb. They are the salt of the earth and keep a tight ship out there with regular screenings and even a new annual festival called "Earth Dreams." We were both inspired to meet two retirees who challenge the stereotype of the older folks who retreat to their armchairs and television sets. Nothing could be further from the truth and this country would be all that much better if we all grew up and aged as such compassionate, committed and political people.

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Food, Farms & Films festival a huge success!

CapeCod — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 19:09:33 +0000

Our first-ever Food, Farms & Films festival was a smashing success last weekend, as passers-by stopped into peruse the farmer's market, and stayed to learn more about local food production, hydroponics, composting... and three great docs from Cinema Politica!

We kicked off the afternoon with a smorgasboard of early-spring produce: Swiss chard, garlic, catnip, lime baum, and goat's milk soap from TomTen Farm (Hatchville); sorrel, chives, and other mysterious herbs from Eva's Garden (S. Dartmouth); salad greens, duck eggs, and seedlings from Coonamessett Farm (Hatchville); and just-plucked-from-the-coop hen eggs from DaSilva Farm (E. Falmouth)!

Laura and Lynne also had some amazing vegan cookies and muffins for those of us who needed a sugar boost!

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Cinema Politica Stockholm at Earth Week

stockholm — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 21:26:02 +0000

Cinema Politica Stockholm screened two great films this week in conjunction with Earth Week at Stockholm University, an entire week devoted to environmental awareness and action. We screened Burma VJ on Monday followed by The Real Dirt on Farmer John on Wednesday. Burma VJ was a big success; we filled up nearly half of the room with people with a full complement of panelists who were extremely aware of the hardships within Burma today. Our partners for the evening were Amnesty International and the Burma Committee of Sweden. We booked a smaller room for The Real Dirt on Farmer John, and managed to have quite a few people show up. We're trying out a 6 p.m., Wednesday, start instead of a 7 p.m., Monday, start and it worked out alright. Our partner for the evening was the Open World Foundation and they introduced the film with a small 10-minute short about their project in Brazil. Farmer John was full of fun and people were laughing themselves crazy at some points.
Our next screening will be a local swedish/brazilian-made film called "It Is Sweden That Is Too Small" on Monday, April 26, at 19:00.

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Food, Farms & Films festival!

CapeCod — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 15:35:29 +0000

**Saturday, April 24 @ 2-10 PM***
Woods Hole Firehouse

This Saturday, we're happy to bring our first-ever Food, Farms & Films festival to the Firehouse (72 Water Street). This full-day event will get going with a farmer's market at 2 PM (rain or shine) downstairs, to be followed up with a series of food-related films from 4-10 PM.

Local farmers will have salad greens, herbs, fresh cheese, eggs, and other early spring produce for sale. You'll also have the chance to check out a hydroponic system for growing plants year-round; handmade chicken coops (and real-live chickens!); and how to vermicompost (and a chance to win your own composter)--- demonstrated by local residents!

Information about the Falmouth Farmer's Market, the Falmouth microfarming initiative, Buy Fresh Buy Local, and other community resources will be available.

Musicians Ted Perry, Rusty Strange, and Mike Risch and friends will set the tone for a springtime hoe-down from 2-4 PM. Facepainting, yoga, and baked vegan delights are sure to please the whole family, so come on down!! The farmer's market is scheduled until 4, but may go as long as the peas are in the pod!

THE FILMS:

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Montreal director Magnus Isacsson goes North

yellowknife — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 07:20:40 +0000

A lucky bunch of Cinema Politica YK fans and friends got a special treat this evening at an impromptu screening of Magnus Isacsson's latest activist documentary L'arte en action. (See the trailer here - http://www.cinemapolitica.org/node/1292).

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Stockholm Loved Slingshot Hip Hop

stockholm — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 19:21:34 +0000

Our screening of Slingshot Hip Hop was a big success! We had upwards of 150 audience members laughing and crying at the film's emotionally gripping scenes. We were so fortunate to have with us a panel of four very engaging organisation leaders working toward peace in Palestine and Israel and social awareness in Sweden. The audience were at the edges of their seats listening to the words of those that have experienced the situation first hand. We're saving most of our donations to finance next year's membership fee, but we took a little out to serve cookies and drinks to our audience members as a way of giving back. Our next screening is Burma VJ followed by The Real Dirt on Farmer John which will all take place during Earth Week at Stockholm University, a week that Cinema Politica Stockholm is co-organizing with several other student organisations. April is an exciting month at our university! We look forward to more success stories. :)

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Vote for the 2009 Cinema Politica Audience Choice Award

network — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 00:07:42 +0000

For any of you who come to Cinema Politica screenings anywhere in our network and want to vote for a film you think kicked ass, please go to our Audience Choice Award 2009 page and cast your ballot! There is a cash prize for the winner and there are also prizes, given out randomly, to audience members who vote.

We usually do this in January, so we're a little late this year, but all the same - make sure you vote! The ten films are:

American Radical: The Trials of Norman Finkelstein
Blue Gold: World Water Wars
Burma VJ
H2Oil
Rip: A Remix Manifesto
Slingshot Hip Hop
Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai
The Experimental Eskimos
The Sari Soldiers
Under Rich Earth

Go here to vote!

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Cinema Politica Malaga starts!

Malaga — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 22:38:24 +0000

Cinema Politica Malaga (Malaga is in the picture on the left) local starts next Wednesday April 7th!

Screenings will take place on Wednesdays at 7pm in the Faculty of Audiovisual Communication in the University of Malaga (Spain). For this first phase April-June we count with 12 films: 7 from CP catalogue and 5 from Spanish filmmakers.

We will have 4 Spanish filmmakers in CP Malaga to discuss about their films' subjects. Filmmakers are:

Ángel Mora with Animal, about bullfighting
Francisco José Serrano with "Rachwa, periodista en Melilla" (Rachwa, journalist in Melilla) about the Spanish city located in Morocco
Ferrán Vidal Vicens with Endeudados, sobre la telaraña (In debt, on the spiderweb) about crisis in Spain
Luis Arellano and Joaquín Calderón with "Sahara no se vende" (Sahara is not for sale).

Hope to see you all there!!

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CP Concordia wins a narrow victory in election

concordia — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 21:48:21 +0000

Cinema Politica Concordia (the CP ConU Crew is pictured at right - Svetla, Davi, Ezra, Caroline, Elani), where the CP Network started, operates with its own budget that comes from fee levies. This means that when each student registers they pay a little bit to Cinema Politica in exchange for free weekly screenings on campus. Students can choose not to pay as well. The fee levy at Concordia for CP has been the smallest, at two cents per credit per undergraduate student (some are as high at two dollars).

This, combined with a fee levy from graduate students, has added up to a decent budget for the last few years, but as rights for films increase and as CP expands its services on campus to include a Resarch and Archives Viewing Library, among other things, more resources are needed. There is also the idea of hiring a part time Coordinator to run the project once Svetla Turnin graduates - she currently runs CP Concordia on a volunteer-basis, which other than being insane, isn't sustainable. As activists know, it's always difficult to find someone to dedicate so much of their life to a project that isn't "theirs" (CP is close to Svetla and she also is the Network Coordinator).

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Trondheim's screening of "God Sleeps in Rwanda"

trondheim — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 21:09:30 +0000

“They say my country is so beautiful that although God may wander the world during the day He returns at night to sleep in Rwanda.” - Rwandan proverb

This we are told in writing, just before the ending credits roll over the screen in the documentary God sleeps in Rwanda. Before seeing this film, and with little knowledge of Rwanda, and where this knowledge one possess concerns one of the most terrible incidents in the world ever, the Rwandan genocide in 1994, one might come to believe that the title is to be understood as something like: "in this country God is not looking, he's not paying attention to the wrongdoings that happens, as he's sleeping. But as the proverb inclines this documentary tells a different story: about how one can find something beautiful in life, even after the worst possible has happened.

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Stockholm screens Live Nude Girls Unite!

stockholm — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:36:30 +0000

Stockholm University apologized for their irresponsible acts that occurred on March 4, and our screening was back on for Monday. It was a another success attracting an audience of over 150 people, most of which were new faces! There was such a good atmosphere in the room that night: everyone was laughing out loud, cheering and applauding! When the film was over, there was more noise coming out of the 150+ crowd than there was from the 300+ crowd we had when we screened The Coca Cola Case. Our discussion period was equally as fantastic. We didn't have a panel for this screening, so we posed the questions to the audience, and they pushed the discussion on their own. At the end, we asked them if they enjoyed this system of having the discussion centralized around audience rather than between a panel and the audience, and they seemed receptive to the idea of focusing more on the audience. In the future, we will include panelists, experts and special guests into the audience to make the discussions much more fruitful and comfortable.

Our school newspaper, Gaudeamus, will be publishing an article on our screening and troubles with the University which will be out in a week or so.

- Vi hörs!

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Stockholm University attempts to censor feminist film

stockholm — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 10:03:37 +0000

FROM 07-03-2010 PRESS RELEASE

On the eve of the 100 anniversary of International Women's Day, the Stockholm University administration aims at censoring one of the day's celebration events.

STOCKHOLM, 07-03-2010 - On March 6 Stockholm University's administration destroyed our marketing materials and cancelled our room booking for the screening of Live Nude Girls Unite! Apparently, the action was taken in response to complaints from students, faculty and support staff. Cinema Politica Stockholm and the Stockholm University Student Union were not consulted prior to this action.

This screening, in celebration of the 2010 International Women's Day, is intended to foster debate around the issues of women's empowerment and sexworker’s rights. Our screening of the film—an important and entertaining documentary about the first exotic dancer's union in the United States—and following discussion, as clearly stated in Cinema Politica’s charter is to present alternative perspectives regarding pressing social, political and cultural issues. We feel strongly that Live Nude Girls Unite will help us continue this tradition.

We are disturbed and appalled by this action, as it represents an inexcusable abuse of power, censorship and flagrant disregard of free speech by Stockholm University’s administration. Cinema Politica refuses to take this action lightly. We are forced to take action to continue our efforts to foster free and open debate.

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Aristide Kicks Off Stockholm Haiti Week

stockholm — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:12:47 +0000

Once again public transportation was working against us, but our numbers were still strong. This week we showed Aristide and the Endless Revolution, a movie about the political situation in Haiti over the past two decades. This was the kick-off event for Stockholm Haiti Week, a week of awareness about Haiti and fundraising for Red Cross relief efforts of the January earthquake that further devastated the country. More than ten student organizations came together in only a couple weeks to put these events together.

If you think about how difficult the lives of the people of Haiti were a couple years ago, it's several times worse now, and they will be feeling the effects of this disaster for years to come. But there's hope from events like these and international aid organizations as Roger Annis, our featured Skype guest, so vividly explained to us. Roger is a member of the Canada Haiti Action Network and various other organizations and is on the forefront of what's going on in Haiti. Not only did he give us an update on the current situation, relating stories from the news and first-hand visits such as his last trip in August 2007, he also gave us some resources (homework assignments?) like Peter Hallward's book, Damming the Flood, to learn more about Haiti.

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Coca-cola, murder and injustice - by Ben Morgan

yellowknife — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 08:31:13 +0000

Yellowknife's Cinema Politica presented The Coca-Cola Case for a one night viewing at Northern United Place, 7:30 p.m., on Wednesday February 17th. Special guest speaker, activist Ray Rogers joined the audience via Skype to provide an update on the situation and take questions from the audience of some 130 people. Below is an article by Ben Morgan.

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Stockholm shows up for H2Oil despite the storm!

stockholm — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:01:10 +0000

What a city! The entire day was riddled with weather and public transport problems. A temperature like -20C may not be such a shock for somewhere lik Montreal, but here in Stockholm, we definitely felt it. Despite it all, around 120 people showed up for the screening of H2Oil. Once again, our superstar panel did not cease to please. We had H2Oil's filmmaker Shannon Walsh present on Skype, Greenpeace Sweden's energy and climate expert Martina Kruger, and GES-Investment's Flemming Heden. Our audience served up all kinds of questions for each of them, unfortunately our Skype connection with Shannon was sketchy and hiccuped a few times. The mood was still, and "I can't believe this is happening in Canada" is just one of the many memorable quotes of the night. Shannon Walsh did an incredible job at putting this film together, and our panelists made sure that everyone left with some knowledge of climate politics and corporate social responsibility. - Vi hörs!

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The Big Kick Off Night for Cinema Politica Fundy!

fundy — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 19:08:31 +0000

Excitement is building for the big kick off night of Cinema Politica Fundy this Thursday in Sussex, New Brunswick. We thought it would be appropriate, since this is a farming region, to start it all off with a film about farming. So we'll be screening "The Real Dirt on Farmer John" a hit at film festivals and in homes around the continent. With still a couple days to go before the first film, there's already a growing buzz in town about the documentary film series. I know this is something our local has looked forward to for a long time and I think we're not the only ones...

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Chris Spannos debunks Canadian Olympic mythology

CapeCod — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:20:27 +0000

One week into the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, we had been wowed by the various athletic stunts required to pull it off: making enough snow to ensure the skiiers and snowboarders could get down the mountain in an unseasonably warm winter; the police maneuvers necessary to keep tourists from noticing the thousands of Vancouverites in protest; and of course, who could forget that guy who lit his cigarette with the Olympic torch before being tackled by the police?

Carts of Darkness was an excellent film to portray the lives of less-than-privileged residents of North Vancouver, and the games they play to earn a living and amuse themselves. Afterward, CP Woods Hole co-organizer (and ZNet administrator) Chris Spannos warmed us up with some food-for thought questions he compiled through research and from Guillaume, Marla and Nat, authors of "Teaching 2010 Resistance: a project of the Olympic Resistance Network." Apparently, these discussion points were approved as part of the curriculum by the BC Teacher's Federation. Too cool for school!

Warm up
Questions:

How
many people have been excited about the Olympics?

Most hands raised

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Challenge for Change Book Tour - Co-sponsored by Cinema Politica

network — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 05:41:37 +0000

In February and March of 2010 Cinema Politica is co-sponsoring a book tour of Challenge for Change: Activist Documentary at the National Film Board of Canada, co-edited by Cinema Politica founder Ezra Winton. Above is the trailer for the book! Find out more about the tour here.

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Aristide Film Draws Great Crowd, Raises $500

carleton — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 22:11:07 +0000

While putting together our Winter 2010 Film Schedule we decided to screen a film as a Haiti benefit at the last minute; and we're happy we did!

One of our co-organizers knew of a passionate student, Matt Banninga, who volunteers with an education/development/aid NGO that operates in Haiti. Rayjon Share Care is a relatively small non-profit but has found its niche in Haiti after the earthquake, caring for temporarily and permanently orphaned children in a small UN recognized refugee camp. We decided to team up with Matt and Rayjon to screen this great film and facilitate a discussion afterwards.

It's interesting to see the amount of people that are automatically skeptical when they hear about 'another aid organization.' I think this is especially true in Haiti's case, since anyone with a vague awareness of the country's political history knows the long list of (often brutal) foreign intervention. Crucially, Rayjon works with Haitians rather than treating them as passive recipients of aid and has all of its programs are created, prioritized and implemented by Haitians. Matt told us of how friends of his asked him what he did in Haiti after his first visit. "Did you dig wells? Help build stuff?" "No," Matt responded, "they're not stupid, they can do that themselves." Well said.

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Massive Turnout in Stockholm for The Coca-Cola Case

stockholm — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 12:48:33 +0000

It was a sell-out crowd Monday night at Stockholm University, as almost 350 people showed up for the screening of The Coca-Cola Case. When the doors opened, we were flooded with inquiring minds and by 7:00 p.m., people were still cramming into our lecture hall. This is exactly the kind of crowd we were hoping to have for this screening.

The event began with a small speech from Kyle describing the events leading up to this controversial screening, followed by an introduction of the film and panelists from Sebastian and Adriana. We were thrilled to have Ray Rogers of the Killer Coke Campaign, former European Parliamentarian Jens Holm, and Stockholm University's Professor Henrik Berglund. Unfortunately, Coca-Cola Sweden's director of communications, Peter Bodor, backed out of the discussion.As soon as the film started, no one made a sound in the room; the air was filled with anticipation. Unfortunately, the speakers provided in the room were not very good so we will need to fix something up for our next screening.

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Ray Rogers Steals the Show!

CapeCod — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:11:17 +0000

Woods Hole was extemely lucky to have Ray Rogers, of the Stop Killer Coke campaign, and co-star of The Coca Cola Case come up from New York City to answer our questions about the film and Coke's role in the killing of Colombian union leaders.

Over 50 people packed the Firehouse (a big crowd for us!) to see the film and hear Ray speak. A former Bard College student had seen Ray and a Columbian worker speak about Coke's cynical labor relations on campus; others were inspired to start a campaign to boycott Coke products at their workplace.

Check out the Boston Herald's advance write-up of our "tiny cinema" screening!

Ray inspired us all with his rousing words before the film, indicting Coke for their "betrayal of consumer's trust." He said that he never agreed to confidentiality-- the alleged reasoning behind Coke's letter asking Cinema Politica not to screen the film-- and would continue to do what he could to "bring down" the corporate "sugar water" giant.

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london loved the coca-cola case

london — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:56:07 +0000

London, Ontario is generally known as a conservative city and progressive action tends to be marginal and isolated, however, the 130 people at Friday night's screening of The Coca-Cola Case were a clear sign that things are changing.

We screened the film in a room designed for 120 people at King's University College and based on previous screenings by CP London and other groups, the room was set up for about 60 people. Within a few minutes of opening the doors it was clear
that more seats would be needed. The people kept pouring in and we found as many chairs as we could but we couldn't find enough so some people ended up sitting on tables or the ground.

We got some good local media coverage, with an article in London's leading daily paper, the London Free Press. The article: Cinema Politica London puts Coca-Cola in hot seat, definitely played a significant role in the success.

Two students and leaders of the local Killer Coke campaign conducted the discussion following the film. The main point of discussion was the exclusive contract the University of Western Ontario has with Coca-Cola. Student's council representatives were present and articulated the nature of the contract and
explained that they do have the power to challenge it, as it is up for renewal this year.

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RiP! a success at Stockholm's Opening

stockholm — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:09:56 +0000

Cinema Politica Stockholm wants to give a big thank you to everyone who came out to support our first screening and made it a huge success. We showed RiP! A Remix Manifesto on our first night to a very eager audience of over one hundred people comprised of students, organization and political party members, local musicians, and concerned citizens. After the movie and a short pee break, we were very lucky to have the director of RiP!, Brett Gaylor, speak to us about his film and answer some of our questions via Skype. Immediately following, we jumped into our discussion mode in which several audience members raised very important issues. Everyone who attended was pleased and very enthusiastic for the screening and they see an important place for Cinema Politica in the Stockholm area.

Next week we will be screening the much-anticipated The Coca-Cola Case which has seen record attendence in Cinema Politica locals across the network including Concordia and recently Carleton. We'll have representatives attending and participating in our discussion from Coca-Cola Sverige, Colombianätverket and a former parliamentary member, and we hope to see every one of you there, too!

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Coca Cola Case a Hit at Carleton!

carleton — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 23:54:36 +0000

When Carleton Cinema Politica first heard about Concordia's overwhelmingly successful premiere of the Coca Cola Case we immediately had two thoughts. First, there was euphoria and excitement. The amount of media buzz and the fact that almost 1,000 people showed up was astonishing. This feeling was quickly followed by "wow, we've got big shoes to fill!" Although we weren't able to get any Ottawa media to touch the story - partly due to the national coverage that had already taken place - we received an extraordinary amount of interest in the film in the week leading up to the premiere. Cautiously optimistic, we expected to have about 150 people in an auditorium that seats about 240. By the time we were ready to start the auditorium was absolutely packed, not only shattering our expectations but setting a new record for Carleton Cinema Politica. We had people standing and sitting in the aisles and some decided upon arrival to forego navigating the congestion. We were also very proud to have Maude Barlow, National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians, and Peter Julian, MP for Burnaby - New Westminster, in attendance.

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Two great reviews of the very creepy CP documentary Silhouette City

network — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 17:21:47 +0000

Cinema Politica is a proud supporter of American independent documentary cinema, and so when a film like Silhouette City comes along, we are pretty damn happy. Silhouette City is not your standard documentary, eschewing as it does the off-the-shelf formulaic styles and trappings of the documentary form. Instead the filmmakers piece together a creepy and fascinating history of Christian cults held together by faith in God and in the end of the world, and connect these stories with current turbo-Capitalist Christian nationalist movements and ministries. The result is an amazing, dark, and entirely eery documentary about a powerful cultural and political force that is growing stronger by the day in the USA.

As Cinema Politica begins screening this amazing documentary throughout our network, we're delighted to share with you two excellent articles about the film. The first, The Christian Right wants America back for Jesus for their Salvation, is from Concordia University's student paper The Concordian, the second, Rightward Christian Crazies, from Montreal's culture and arts weekly, The Mirror.

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CKDU News in Halifax covers the arrival of The Coca-Cola Case

halifax — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:15:07 +0000

Cinema Politica-Halifax is eagerly anticipating it's screening of THE COCA COLA CASE. There will be two screenings taking place, on February 1st at University of King's College and on February 2nd at Saint Mary's University. Click here for more details.

CKDU's flagship news show, Operation Wake Up! recently wrote an article on the upcoming screenings of the controversial documentary

See you on Monday or Tuesday!

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Cinema Politica loves Iceland! A short (very lo-res) video clip from the CP ConU screening of Dreamland

concordia — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:59:00 +0000

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$100+ million for independent media in Canada up for grabs

network — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:30:35 +0000

From our friends at CACTUS (this affects independent documentary too):

Canadians have until Feb 1, 2010 to tell the CRTC what to do with the over $100 million collected every year for community television. This money should and could be going to support independent filmmakers, documentary and film distribution, local programming, local drama, volunteer training and access to equipment and studios. It could even be used to support a network of community media centers across the country like local libraries. Write the CRTC and tell them what to do with YOUR money! For more information, go to CACTUS or OpenMedia.ca. Or you can write to the CRTC directly through an online submission form.

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great turn-out for haiti fundraiser at camosun

Victoria — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 00:21:00 +0000

The fundraiser for the re-building of a school in Haiti at Camosun went very well, considering we didn't even set the date until only a few days before. Over 3/4 of the seats were full, however I do not have a number of exactly how many attended but it was a great turn-out. We raised $446.32 and had a guest speaker from the local Haitian community who answered/discussed questions afterwards, which was very informative. Don't forget for those in Victoria, next documentary screening at Camosun is Jan.27th at 7pm!

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The Coca-Cola Case is front page news in Stockholm

stockholm — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 19:17:10 +0000

STOCKHOLM - The Coca-Cola Case Is front-page news in two of Stockholm's most read leftist weeklys, Flamman and Fria Tidningen. The articles were balanced and well investigated. Representatives from Coca-Cola were contacted, but used their usual spins. We are certain that this film will be a hit here and that there will be a representative from Coca-Cola present at the film (fingers crossed). We have also made a partnership with the Columbianätverket (The Columbia Network) here in Stockholm who have advertised the screening on their Web site and will be present for discussions. We are launching a press release in Swedish on Monday to try and pump this up even more. Vi hörs!

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Nearly two thousand dollars raised for Haiti at CP Concordia screening

concordia — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 14:55:36 +0000

Last night we screened Aristide and the Endless Revolution at Concordia and had Nick from Haiti Action Montreal and Vox Smbou from Nomadic Massive introduce the night. The screening was a last minute addition to our regular weekly Monday night screening schedule, and despite it being a Friday (when people are busy and the campus is generally empty) we had over 300 people show up.

In total we raised $1,675 which will be donated to Zanmi Lasante/Partners in Health next week. More screenings of Artistide continue throughout the CP Network and all are being organized to raise money for relief efforts in Haiti.

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First screening in Norway: 'Sex Slaves'

trondheim — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 10:13:09 +0000

We had our first screening for CP Trondheim (Norway) yesterday, of the movie Sex Slaves. 15 people attended. Most of them we knew already, but there were some new faces. Not a bad start. Our auditorium seats 110, though, so we're considering moving to a more intimate venue; only 60 seats, and a flat floor.

Promotion was via our facebook group, the CP webpage, as well as waffle & flyer stands on both campuses. There were many requests for a printed program, so we're going to make that asap and distribute on screenings, stands and on our wall on campus.

When the credits faded out after the screening, our audience was pretty shellshocked, basically. We sensed the mood wasn't really conducive to a Q&A session, so we just had one of our members, who also heads up the local Amnesty student group, talk a bit about the work they do to combat trafficking, before letting them go. =)

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Fundraising screenings for Haiti: Aristide and the Endless Revolution

network — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 14:09:42 +0000

Cinema Politica has teamed up with Canada Haiti Action to organize a series of fundraising screenings throughout the CP network in January and February, 2010. Distributor First Run Features and director Nicolas Rossier (American Radical: The Trials of Norman Finkelstein) have worked with us to provide their film, Aristide and the Endless Revolution, at a discounted price. The film is playing at several locations throughout the network.

In Montreal, we will screen the film tomorrow night, Friday, January 22, at Concordia University. All proceeds from the screening will go to Zamni Lasante / Partners in Health and Haiti Emergency Relief Fund.

For more information on this screening, including film info and trailer, visit the CP film page. To view the promotional newsletter for the Montreal Haiti fundraising screening, plus a fundraising concert to be held on Feb 1, go here.

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Short video from the Concordia screening of The Coca Cola Case

concordia — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 05:26:58 +0000

The Coca Cola Case documentary screening at Cinema Politica from Ezra Winton on Vimeo.

Blog Feature

Media attention in Sweden on the Coca-Cola Case

stockholm — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:27:50 +0000

STOCKHOLM - Our local has been knocking on the local media's door all week so that they can catch on to the Coca-Cola buzz, and so far we have found some success. This is a well-balanced article by Fria Tidningen (The Free Newspaper) titled "Coca-Cola wants to stop critical film." Please check it out and don't be shy to use google translate ;). Vi hörs!

Blog Feature

CP film tour draws national media attention

network — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 15:40:47 +0000

Today's edition of the Globe and Mail has a story about Cinema Politica and the controversial tour of the critical documentary The Coca Cola Case. We have been overwhelmed by the media response actually, with excellent coverage from local and national media alike. Yesterday our tour story was featured at Yahoo News, and more interviews and stories should hopefully keep coming as the tour progresses.

Our friends at the NFB have told us that The Coca Cola's trailer is the number one viewed NFB film trailer on their site. This is all very good news for the film and for Cinema Politica. The media attention has encouraged people out there to contact us with comments as well, and while the vast majority are totally positive and encouraging, we always get the odd person who, well, seems to hate us. Here are two examples of the spectrum:

"It is because of stupid ignorant people like you that the world is the mess that it is. Kindly keep your b. s. out of Alberta and do dogooder work some where Haiti..."

And, "Great job, you're an inspiration to radicals everywhere!"

Ahhh, the many voices of a nation. Thanks for all the support we have been receiving and please spread the word about the tour, especially if the film will play near you!

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Coca Cola documentary sets a new record at Cinema Politica

concordia — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:11:47 +0000

Last night we screened The Coca Cola Case as part of a huge international tour of the film throughout the CP Network. The screening at Concordia University was the launch event and we had Ray Rogers of the Stop Killer Coke Campaign and filmmakers Carmen Garcia (pictured at left speaking to the full house last night) and German Gutierrez in attendance.

For the first time in our history we turned away over 200 people!! The venue holds about 700, so this means we had over 900 people show up to see this great documentary. We have only ever turned people away a few times in the past, including screenings of The Corporation, Dawrin's Nightmare and Roadsworth.

So the media attention around Coke's lawyers sending us an intimidating letter has helped get the word out, and we hope that the momentum builds right across the country and even abroad. This week Svetla is doing an interview with a Swedish newspaper (the film screens at our CP Stockholm local) and today or tomorrow the CBC in Yellowknife would like a radio interview with me.

So yes, an exciting beginning to what is promising to be a great tour of an excellent film! You can read more about The Coca Cola Case Film Tour here and you can become a fan of the film on Face Book here.

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The Coca Cola Case Film Tour Launches today (January 18)

concordia — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 16:31:04 +0000

Today Cinema Politica is launching the international tour of the critical and controversial documentary, THE COCA COLA CASE throughout the CP Network. Nearly two dozen screenings will take place across Canada and at our international locations in Sweden, Norway and New Zealand.

Our tour, in collaboration with the NFB, kicks off tonight with a screening at Concordia Unviversity at 7:30 PM in Room H-110. The filmmakers and Killer Coke activist Ray Rogers will be present for a discussion following the screening.

On January 11th Cinema Politica received a letter from Coke's lawyers, insinuating we were complicit in breaking contractual agreements between characters in the film and the US courts. The letter amounts to an intimidation tactic, in our opinion, and we will continue with our plans for the tour.

To read about THE COCA COLA CASE, the lawyer's letter, the media coverage, and the tour, visit the CP page for the tour.

Download the NFB press release here.

Blog Feature

The First Cinema Politica Blog!!

network — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 16:11:11 +0000

Cinema Politica now has a blog!! Visit this part of our site to get updates and news from throughout the CP Network. Expect A LOT of news here over the next few days folks...

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