Into the Weeds
INTO THE WEEDS follows groundskeeper Dewayne “Lee” Johnson and his fight for justice against Monsanto (now Bayer). Johnson’s case was the first to go to trial in a series of lawsuits involving tens of thousands of plaintiffs claiming Monsanto’s weed killer Roundup, or its industrial counterpart Ranger Pro, contributed to their cancer. The film follows […]
We Are Guardians
We Are Guardians is a rich, intimate journey meeting the many people who are living an intricate daily balance in the Amazon basin, one of the world’s most disrupted and threatened regions. We follow Indigenous leader and activist Puyr Tembé and forest guardian Marçal Guajajara as they fight to protect their territories from deforestation, as […]
Riots Reframed
Riots Reframed is a feature-length documentary which reframes England’s 2011 riots through voices of resistance – threading these perspectives together using moody instrumentals, dramatic monologue and raw spoken word. This hard-hitting film is unique both in its scope and the journey that produced it. The idea was conceived soon after the producer, Fahim Alam, was […]
Indigenous Futures: Celebrating Indigenous History Month
To celebrate Indigenous History Month, Cinema Politica curated a program of movies combatting colonial narratives and embracing Indigenous knowledge.
THE HOLE STORY
“Don’t know much about mines? Not many people do. Mines don’t talk. Especially about their history.” Richard Desjardins and Robert Monderie relate this history in their latest documentary, THE HOLE STORY, a documentary which continues in the same provocative vein as their earlier FOREST ALERT. The history of mining in Canada is the story of […]
COVER/AGE
COVER/AGE examines the lack of healthcare access for undocumented immigrants in California, and how two undocumented individuals are advocating to fight this exclusion. One protagonist is Emma, an elderly Pilipina caregiver, who has spent over a decade providing care for others. Over the course of the film, we see Emma get ready early in the […]
Memories of a Penitent Heart
Combining a wealth of recently discovered home movies, video, and written documents with artfully shot contemporary interviews and vérité footage, MEMORIES OF A PENITENT HEART is a documentary that cracks open a Pandora’s box of unresolved family drama. Originating from filmmaker Cecilia Aldarondo’s suspicion that there was something ugly in her family’s past, the film […]
Peace Out: Energy Costs
In Canada’s vast Peace River region the mega-projects include a major new dam, tens of thousands of hydro-fracked shale gas wells, a nuclear power plant, and the Tar Sands. On the positive side of the ledger, countless jobs are being created, resource revenues are pouring in, schools and hospitals are staying open. Alternatively, there are […]
The Good Neighbour
THE GOOD NEIGHBOUR takes a closer look at the environmental and social effects of living near the Canadian oil sands in Alberta, an epic journey filmed from Montreal to Fort McMurray in a truck that runs on used vegetable oil. Statoil, a major oil company primarily owned by the Norwegian government (and thus the Norwegian […]
Have You Seen The Arana?
In a world that has grown more dynamic and uncertain, where diversity and differences make way for standardization and uniformity, the film explores the effects of a rapidly changing landscape on lives and livelihoods. Set in Wayanad, in South India, HAVE YOU SEEN THE ARANA? is a journey through a rich and bio-diverse region that […]
Between Midnight & The Rooster’s Crow
In the aggressive search for the ‘black gold’ that drives Western economies, multinational corporations are working to extract billions of dollars of oil reserves from beneath Ecuador’s rainforest. BETWEEN MIDNIGHT AND THE ROOSTER’S CROW investigates the operations of the EnCana Corporation, a firm that, despite proud public declarations of its social responsibility, is shown to […]
Discussion on Gentrification with Lulu Wei
Cinema Politica Concordia hosted a discussion on gentrification and displacement, urban redevelopment, and affordable housing with Lulu Wei, the director of THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE THIS PLACE, ANYPLACE.
CP OPIRG Kingston screening of Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam
Sex Slaves
An estimated half million women are trafficked annually for the purpose of sexual slavery. They are “exported” to over 50 countries including Britain, Italy, Japan, Germany, Israel, Turkey, China, Kosovo, Canada and the United States. Misunderstood and widely tolerated, sex trafficking has become a multi- billion dollar underground industry. According to the International Herald Tribune, […]
Recording: Ashley O’Shay (UNAPOLOGETIC) + Guests
A conversation with UNAPOLOGETIC director Ashley O’Shay and guests, inspired by movements against police brutality and demands to defund the police.
