State of Exception
As Rio de Janeiro prepares to host the 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2016 Olympics, a community of self-described “urban Indians” are threatened with forced eviction to make way for a stadium named after the original indigenous inhabitants of the territory. As the mega-events begin threatening a number of other communities with displacement, residents unite […]
With This Ring
Filmed over the course of six years, WITH THIS RING follows the meteoric rise of three Indian women who sidestep traditional roles to become world champion boxers. Worried that boxing will disfigure their faces and hurt their chances of getting married, their parents are reluctant to embrace their chosen careers. Facing pressure to conform, the women […]
*POSTPONED* Land and Hope, Palestine Trilogy
Pride Denied: Homonationalism & the Future of Queer Politics
Set to the backdrop of World Pride in Toronto in June 2014, Pride Denied explores the concepts of pride and homonationalism through interviews with activists, community organizers, artists, and academics. As same sex marriage becomes established as law across the Canada and the US, some LGBT leaders and organizations have declared the battle against LGBT […]
Tautuktavuk (What We See)
After experiencing a traumatic event in Igloolik (an Inuit hamlet in Foxe Basin, Qikiqtaaluk Regionin Nunavut), Uyarak leaves her community and family in Nunavut to live in Montréal. When Covid-19 lockdowns close off the Canadian Arctic from the rest of the world, Uyarak is further separated from her closest friend, eldest sister, Saqpinak. This extreme […]
Call me Kuchu
In an unmarked office at the end of a dirt track, veteran activist David Kato labors to repeal Uganda’s homophobic laws and liberate his fellow lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender men and women, or “kuchus.” But David’s formidable task just became much more difficult. A new “Anti-Homosexuality Bill” proposes death for HIV-positive gay men, and […]
NÎPAWISTAMÂSOWIN: WE WILL STAND UP – with Tasha Hubbard
Bonum
There’s No Place Like This Place, Anyplace
THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE THIS PLACE, ANYPLACE looks at the transformation of a much-loved Toronto landmark, the Honest Ed’s block, through the stories of its community members who are forced to relocate when it is sold to a developer. Honest Ed’s, a discount store that opened in 1948 and served the neighbourhood’s working class families, […]
Wrought
“In a world obsessed with growth, we deny ourselves the tender possibilities of decay.” Wrought begins with that universal moment of disappointment: despite all best efforts, our food has gone bad! But instead of turning away in disgust, Wrought zooms in, approaching the usually hidden world of decay with curiosity and stunning time lapse photography. […]
Ambulance
While many young people dream of leaving Gaza, Mohamed wants to help. When he hears the news of a new Israeli offensive on Gaza in July 2014 he decides he cannot merely ‘wait for death’ but must do something and joins an ambulance crew to document the war. AMBULANCE is a raw, first-person account of […]
The Garden
The fourteen-acre community garden at 41st and Alameda in South Central Los Angeles is the largest of its kind in the United States. Started as a form of healing after the devastating L.A. riots in 1992, the South Central Farmers have since created a miracle in one of the country’s most blighted neighborhoods. Growing their […]
Encirclement: Neo-Liberalism Ensnares Democracy
Drawing upon the thinking and analyses of internationally renowned intellectuals, ENCIRCLEMENT: NEO-LIBERALISM ENSNARES DEMOCRACY sketches a portrait of neoliberal ideology and examines the various mechanisms used to impose its dictates throughout the world. The one-size-fits-all dogmas of neoliberalism are well known: deregulation, reducing the role of the State, privatization, limiting inflation rather than unemployment. In […]
Uncle Bernard: A Counter-Lesson in Economics
Economist Bernard Maris, a.k.a. “Uncle Bernard”, was killed during the Charlie Hebdo shooting, on January 7, 2015. This fascinating interview with him was filmed in March 2000 as part of the documentary ENCIRCLEMENT – NEO-LIBERALISM ENSNARES DEMOCRACY. Frank and unvarnished, this is a true “counter lesson in economics” in which the director gives centre stage to […]
Huicholes: The Last Peyote Guardians
The film presents the emblematic case of the defense of Wirikuta, sacred territory to the Huichol people, against the threat of mining exploitation. This native people to this land, launches a spiritual crusade to protect life, evidencing the internal contradictions in our materialistic world. The Ramirez family takes us into their ritual pilgrimage that takes […]
The Magnus Isaacson Collection
From labour to natural resources, from Indigenous communities grappling with hydro dams to art activists provoking with “socially acceptable acts of terrorism,” from the Raging Grannies to a choir formed by homeless men – Cinema Politica’s Magnus Isacsson Collection will engage and rouse audiences with tales of struggle, resistance, justice, art and activism. This collection […]
