The Klabona Keepers
First Peoples, First Screens 2
First Peoples, First Screens 2 is the second instalment of a special Cinema Politica program that showcases Indigenous socially-engaged filmmaking from across Turtle Island, with a focus on the country known as Canada. Launched in February 2019 as a follow up to the 2016 program, this dynamic offering of animation, experimental, fiction and documentary works is divided into […]
Migrant Dreams
Burma VJ
In BURMA VJ: REPORTING FROM A CLOSED COUNTRY, acclaimed filmmaker Anders Østergaard combines original footage recorded by undercover video journalists from the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) with controversial dramatic reconstruction of demonstrations, from the emergence of the protests in 2007 through the 2008 Saffron Revolution. In this riveting film, material shot in the streets […]
Status Quo? The Unfinished Business of Feminism in Canada
Feminism has shaped the society we live in. But just how far has it brought us, and how relevant is it today? Status Quo? asks these questions and uncovers provocative – at times shocking – answers about the evolution of women’s equality in Canada. Interweaving a wealth of dynamic archival material with startling contemporary stories, […]
Earth Keepers
The film could have been called: An Operation Manual for Planet Earth, EcoRevolution, The Great Hope or Problem Planet: Earthbound Solutions. It’s called Earth Keepers. We meet the young Québécois activist Mikael Rioux who founded Échofête, Quebec’s first environmental festival; the iconic Christian de Laet, Ashok Khosla, the charismatic president of Development Alternatives, the largest […]
Sira
Director Rolla Tahir’s debut short film SIRA is an experimental essay that traces the exodus of a Sudanese family from Kuwait as a result of the Iraqi invasion. Excavated footage disrupts constructed memories as a mother recounts the evacuation, marring the bliss of her new family. In this unique commission by Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto, […]
Cinema Politica Groningen announces the screening of Faire-Part
Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives
This feature documentary delves into the rich history of Canadian queer women’s experiences in the mid-20th century. Compelling, often hilarious and always rebellious, the women interviewed in this film recount stories about their search for the places where openly gay women gathered in urban centres. Contemporary interviews, archival footage, and a stylized fictional narrative based […]
Pride Denied: A Screening and Discussion at The Barron
The Infiltrators
THE INFILTRATORS is a docu-thriller that tells the true story of young immigrants who get arrested by Border Patrol, and put in a shadowy for-profit detention center – on purpose. Marco and Viri are members of the National Immigrant Youth Alliance, a group of radical Dreamers who are on a mission to stop deportations. And […]
Cinema Politica – Citizens for Peace Present: Naila and the Uprising
Defiant Lives
Featuring exclusive interviews with elders (some now deceased) who’ve led the movement over the past five decades, the film weaves together never-before-seen archival footage with the often-confronting personal stories of disabled men and women as they moved from being warehoused in institutions to fighting for independence and control over their lives. Once freed from their […]
Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam
Taqwacore chronicles the nascent Muslim punk rock movement in America. It was inspired by the work of Michael Knight, who converted to Islam in rebellion against his white-supremacist father. He went on to pen the novel The Taqwacores (a term combining the Muslim concept of God consciousness with hardcore punk), a manifesto for disillusioned Islamic […]
Water on the Table
Water On The Table is a character-driven, social-issue documentary by Liz Marshall that explores Canada’s relationship to its freshwater, arguably its most precious natural resource. The film asks the question: is water a commercial good like running shoes or Coca-Cola? Or, is water a human right like air? Water On The Table features Maude Barlow, […]
