Free Political Film Screenings Cinema Politica is a project organized by Montréal-based non-profit überculture, and comprises a network of several local film exhibition series across Canada, Europe and the USA.

Ghosts

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Concordia University (Montreal)
Monday March 22, 2010
Screening begins 19h30
Venue: Room H-110, 1455 de Maisonneuve O, Concordia University

Join us for this special double-bill screening of two documentaries that explore issues of identity, terrorism, immigration and imperialism.

First Film:Ghosts

Three Canadian men pay the cost of Canada’s “War on Terror”

Morvay Samare / Canada / 2009 / 53 min

Three Arab-Canadian men are detained and tortured for months and years in Syria and Egypt. Upon their release they return to Canada struggling to find some answers as to why they were detained and tortured. An internal inquiry into their cases, the Iacobucci Inquiry, reveals that the Canadian government was complicit in their detention and torture. The camera team follows the lives and cases of the men for a year and a half as the men fight to leave the horror of torture behind them. This is a powerful and intimate documentary about the fragile balance between democracy, human rights and national security fears. It is also a portrait of life after torture experiences.

Trailer

Credits

Director- Morvary Samare

Producers- Morvary Samare, Astrid Schau-Larsen, Børrea Schau-Larsen

Editor Astrid Schau-Larsen

Film site & Reviews

» official site

Second Film: Rethink Afghanistan

A brutally honest and graphic look at war and Imperialism in Afghanistan

Robert Greenwald / US / 2009 / 69 min

Rethink Afghanistan is a 2009 documentary about the ongoing war in Afghanistan. This full-length documentary campaign features experts from Afghanistan, the U.S., and Russia discussing critical issues like military escalation, how escalation will affect Pakistan and the surrounding region, the cost of war, civilian casualties, and the rights of Afghan women.

Creators Robert Greenwald and Brave New Foundation are releasing this film in real time, enabling them to stay atop an ever-changing news cycle. They have already released the first three segments of this five-part documentary: Afghanistan + More Troops = Catastrophe, Pakistan: "The Most Dangerous Country", and Cost of War online for free.

The film interviews experts like Andrew Bacevich, Stephen Kinzer, Anand Gopal, Steve Coll, Ann Jones, Linda Bilmes, Jo Comerford, Dr. Roshanak Warnak, and more.

As part of the filmmaking process, acclaimed Director Robert Greenwald (Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers, Outfoxed, Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price) traveled to Afghanistan to meet with and interview members of Afghanistan's parliament, bloggers, women's rights organizations, and groups committed to the peace movement.

The ultimate goal of this documentary campaign is to raise the level of public discourse, compel people to ask key questions about the war, and urge Congress to hold oversight hearings. Already, the campaign has successfully helped retired Corporal Rick Reyes and other veterans testify before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and meet with members of Congress. Reyes, who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, testified before Sen. John Kerry and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

He told the committee, "Sending more troops will not make the US safer; it will only build more opposition against us. I urge you on behalf of truth and patriotism to consider carefully and Rethink Afghanistan."