Community Stories: Youth Media Program

Join us for Regent Park’s 7th annual film festival opening night, featuring films on hope, identity, and immigration.  Our young film-makers come from various parts of Canada & the United States, including Regent Park. Their films reveal the challenges they confront as young film-makers, and challenge viewers as well to experience these exciting new filmmakers’ diverse urban stories.  Our opening night program underscores the ever-present issue of belonging. 

New this year will be a ‘talk back’ panel discussion, moderated by Pathways to Education and RPFF youth programming committee member Fathima Fahmy.

THE RIGHT PATH (Filmmaker in Attendance)

Dir: Richard Fung & Nicholas Angione
Documentary I 10 min I Canada I 2007

“The Right Path” looks at the Pathways to Education program, supporting students to pursue post-secondary schooling in a neighbourhood with a high school drop-out rate of 55-75%. Since Pathways to Education was created in Regent Park, the drop-out rate has gone down by more than half. Mitchell is a student enrolled in the Pathways to Education program, where he looks for guidance for his future.

Bio: Richard Fung
Toronto filmmaker Richard Fung grew up in Regent Park and while involved in the Pathways to Education program during high-school realised he wanted a career in film and television. He graduated from Humber College with honours in 2008. His many filmmaking awards include 2nd Place, 2008 24-hour Film Challenge, Toronto; Best Broadcast, Cannes 2008 Real Ideas Studio program; and Grand Jury Prize, 2009 Slamdance Film Festival. Richard is the Festival Manager for the Regent Park Film Festival.

SUPERHERO TRAINING CENTER

Dir: Yun-Ling Lee
Animation/Documentary I 6 min I USA I 2008

Superhero Training Center: Cultural Awareness Day is an animated documentary exploring the experiences of participants in a cross-cultural student collaboration. The film seeks to reveal the differences in the mindsets of Asian and American students in the US, in order to enhance the understanding of both groups. Five students produced the animated film over fourteen weeks, addressing serious issues of ethnocentrism and cross-cultural communication through the light-hearted medium of animation.

BIO
Yun-Ling Lee grew up in Taiwan. While majoring in Journalism she worked as a reporter for a national education project. She came to the US in 2006 to learn digital storytelling at the Entertainment Technology Center. Her experiences there opened her horizons technically, and in terms of cross-cultural relations, and resulted in her first animated film, Superhero Training Center: Cultural Awareness Day.

HOME IS WHERE THE PARK IS (Filmmaker in Attendance)

Dir: Seema Jethalal
Documentary I 30min I Canada I 2008

Regent Park, Canada’s largest social housing project, was built in the 1940s. Today it is criticized for poor design, dilapidated buildings and 'rampant crime.’  In 2005, Toronto’s Housing Corporation began a fifteen-year project to demolish and rebuild Regent Park. Market-value condominiums will be built alongside public housing.  Home Is Where The Park Is explores the effects of the project on the community, and the motivations behind it. Two Regent Park teens share their thoughts about the project as they prepare for a neighbourhood art exhibit.

BIO
Seema Jethalal is Managing Director of Manifesto Community Projects – a non-profit organization that strives to unite, energize, support and celebrate Toronto’s vibrant and diverse music and arts community through its annual Festival of Community and Culture, as well as through other initiatives.  She holds a B.A. in Cultural Studies from McGill University and a M.A. in Media Production from Ryerson University.  Home Is Where The Park Is is her first documentary.

HIGH EXPECTATIONS (Filmmaker in Attendance)

Dir: Regent Park Youth Media Summer Program Collaboration
Fiction I 10 min I Canada I 2009

A new family has moved from China to start their new lives in Canada. Through the emails of a homesick youth, we learn about the family’s trials and tribulations.

Bio: Fahtima Nizar
Fahtima Nizar (Production Manager for “High Expectations”), born in Colombo, Sri Lanka, moved to Regent Park 10 years ago with her family. A 2008 Central Technical School graduate, Fahtima was involved in the Empowered Student Partnership (ESP), Kiwanis Education for Youth, Spirit Committee, Afro Heritage and the LAWS Program. Her art interests include painting, drawing, sculpting, photography, film, printing and graphic design. She just started the Graphic Design Program at OCAD.

RESIDENTIAL TRUTH, UNIFIED FUTURE
(Filmmakers in Attendance)

Dir: Ian Bee, Amber-Lynn Flamand, Courtenay Agecoutay, Bacilia Ramirez, Kim Webber
Documentary I 12 min I Canada I 2008

First Nations youth share their families’ experiences with Residential Schools and how these continue to affect them today.

Bio: Cia Ramirez
Twenty-one-year-old Cia was born and raised in Vancouver.M ember of the Saskatchewan Cowessess Nation, proud mother to daughter Tikiya, 5, Cia is part of the Vancouver Foundation Youth Leadership Council, which produces the youth-perspective ‘report card’ on Vancouver called Youth Vital Signs. An award recipient for her youth leadership, Cia worked with Reel Youth documenting the impact of residential schools on First Nations youth today. Cia will graduate in June 2010.

Bio: Kim Webber
Born and raised in Vancouver BC, Kim works full-time and is also a member of the Vancouver Foundation Leadership Council, helping produce Youth Vital Signs. She has completed two films with Reel Youth: Get Right on the rights of youth in care, and Residential Truth: Unified Future. Kim states: “The process of working with a diverse group of youth in an empowering setting was an incredible experience.”

Roland Papatie of Kitcisakik drowned in the turbulent waters of the Dozois dam in Abitibi. A tribute to a brother and friend.

Bio: Bio: Délia Brazeau, Sonia Brazeau, Frank Penosway, Bradley Brazeau and Gracy Brazeau
The filmmakers are natives from the Algonquian nation. They live in the Quebec First Nations community of Kitcisakik.

MISSING MELODIE (Filmmaker in Attendance)

Dir: Monique Campbell
Documentary I 7 min I USA I 2008

A young woman emigrates from Jamaica to the USA looking forward to the reunion with her mother - but is sadly disappointed by the bitter reality.

Reel Works Description
We believe that filmmaking holds within it essential disciplines of literacy, communication, creative and critical thinking, storytelling and teamwork that young people need to eectively express their unique visions. In the process of making films they gain self-esteem, master state-of-the-art technology and are transformed from passive consumers to active creators of media.

THEIR PAST, OUR FUTURE (Filmmaker in Attendance)

Dir: Phinnphana Vongphachanh
Documentary I 10 min I USA I 2008

Torn between two cultures, Phinnphana examines the difficult position of first generation South-East Asian youths growing up in America, and the pressures placed upon them by their parents. Through narration and interviews with peers, Phinnphana attempts to address what it feels like when “two worlds collide.”

Bio: Phinnphana Vongphachanh
Phinnphana made “Their Past, Our Future” as a student in the Real to Reel program at RAW Art Works, a youth arts organization based out of Lynn, Massachusetts. Phinnphana graduated from Lynn English High School in spring 2007 and is now a college student.

A MILLION LIGHT YEARS FROM HOME

Dir: Sergio Montiel
Documentary I 6 min I USA I 2008

ALWYN (Special Guest in Attendance)

Dir: Alwyn Barry
Documentary I 13 min I Canada I 2008

A resident of Toronto’s notorious Jane-Finch neighbourhoods, Alwyn Barry’s life changed dramatically when he was diagnosed with terminal colon cancer at 17. After receiving training through an inner-city filmmaking program, Alwyn takes a camera to doctor’s appointments, medical tests, and on a final trip back to Guyana to revisit his heritage. The result is a raw, unyielding, and intensely personal portrayal of a young man struggling to accept his own mortality.

Bio: Alwyn Barry
Alwyn Barry was born in Guyana on January 31, 1989, son of Forbes and Michelle Barry and younger sibling to Onika Barry- Medina and Quacy Barry. Alwyn’s father immigrated to Canada in 1995, while the rest of the family remained in Guyana. During the last months of his life, Alwyn’s experiences as a patient
and outpatient in various hospitals around Toronto inspired a passion for promoting health awareness and changing people’s perception of his Jane Finch neighbourhood. This is not a film about Alwyn, it is Alwyn’s film.

The most powerful portraits are those that intimately engage the viewer. Such intimacy is never simply about watching: a compelling portrait resonates through all senses, evoking a range of sound, taste, and texture well beyond the visual. Through such portraits we come to know not only their subjects, but to better understand ourselves: in their quirks and gestures we see our own misperceptions and assumptions. Like a mirror, a portrait shows us who we are, and helps us to envision who we might become.

Daniel’s lost custody of his kids. But he paints hard and with passion, so his daughter can say, “My dad’s an artist.”

Bio: Tracy Mclaren
Tracy Mclaren is a native of the Algonquian First Nation. She lives in the community of Winneway. “Something Right” is her first film.

BIRDLADY

Dir: Greg Denny & Zachary Derhodge Filmmaker in Attendance
Documentary I 4 min I Canada I 2008

A window into the life of the late Anne Ross, a long-time resident of Parkdale (Toronto, Canada) and an avid feeder of the lowly street pigeon. “Birdlady” is a tale of loneliness and aging, and an account of one of the city’s beloved and unique characters.

Bio: Greg Denny
Greg Denny recently completed two documentary shorts, “Birdlady” and “Shoemaker”, which screened at numerous festivals this year. Denny made his directing debut with the film Raymond Radcliffe, which first opened at the Montreal Film Festival in 2004. In addition to directing, Denny has worked on a number of features, including Atom Egoyan’s Chloe.

Bio: Zachary Derhodge
Zachary Derhodge is the writer and director of two short narratives, “Moss” (starring Sean McCann and Jayne Eastwood) and “Snow” on the Skeleton Key (starring Gordon Pinsent). The critically acclaimed Moss (2004) received the Norman Jewison Film Award. Derhodge is currently a director and producer at MTV Canada.

ANTOINE

Dir: Laura Bari
Documentary I 52 min I Canada I 2008

A portrait of the real and imaginary life of Antoine, a boy detective, runner, driver and radio show host who adores conference calls. Over the course of two years Antoine uses a mini-boom microphone to capture the sounds surrounding him, thus co-creating the film’s soundtrack. Antoine is a successful student in the regular school system in Montreal. He was also born one hundred days premature, is five years old at the outset of the film, and he is blind.

Bio: Laura Bari
Originally from Argentina, Laura Bari has been a Montrealer for the past 20 years. Her career path has united her passions for the arts and education. She worked as co-creator of the children’s television show Toc-toctoc from 2006-09. Between 1999 and 2002, Bari directed over 300 documentary vignettes for the television program Cornemuse. The series has aired twice daily for the past six years. “Antoine” is her first feature film.

THE EXPERIMENTAL ESKIMOS (Filmmaker in Attendance)

(Special Guest in Attendance)

Dir: Barry Greenwald
Documentary I 70 min I Canada I 2009

In the early 1960s in an experiment in social engineering the Canadian government separated three 12-year-old Inuit boys from their families in the Arctic and sent to them to Ottawa to live with white families and attend school. The possible consequences for the boys, their families, their identity and culture were brushed aside. Peter Ittinuar, Zebedee Nungak and Eric Tagoona recount their stories, challenges and achievements in this remarkable film about assimilation, empowerment and the triumph of the human spirit.

Bio: Barry Greenwald
Barry Greenwald’s documentaries have been critically acclaimed for their extraordinary access and their passion for people and the issues that most affect them. His directing credits include Taxi! Who Gets In?, Between Two Worlds and High Risk Offender. His films have screened widely in Canada and internationally and have received over 35 awards, including honours at Cannes, Chicago, Leipzig, Melbourne, New York and Nyon. Barry is a founder and past chair of the Documentary Organization of Canada.

Bio: Peter Ittinuar
Peter Ittinuar was born and raised in the NWT, now Nunavut. At 12 he was sent by the government, with 2 other Inuit children, to Ottawa to live in a foster home and attend public school. He is currently a negotiator for Aboriginal Affairs, Negotiations and Reconciliation Division. He has been an associate professor, pilot, hunter, trapper, fisherman, journalist, filmmaker, author, activist and MP. His life has been infused by the goal of an Inuit homeland where his people would enjoy a degree of autonomy, something Peter has worked toward throughout his life.

Co-Presented by Council Fire

The four films in this programme tell haunting and poignant stories of Aboriginal life in Canada and Australia from a women’s POV. Singer/songwriter & puppeteer Jani Lauzon’s debut film, “eu-tha-na-sia” follows the footsteps of a young girl as she leaves her community to attend the dreaded residential school. “Wanja” is a gritty documentary from Australia that weaves a painful story of a community demoralized through mismanagement and government neglect. In “A Mother’s Dream” a young mother spends precious and heartwrenching moments with her children, who are in the custody of child services. “Pelq’ilc” (Coming Home), a remarkable work, revisits a dark chapter in Canada’s history with a beautiful exploration of how the children and grandchildren of Kamloops Indian Residential School survivors are regenerating the richness of the Secwepemc culture and language.

EU-THA-NA-SIA

Dir: Jani Lauzon
Experimental I 6 min I Canada I 2008

“eu·tha·na·sia” follows the footsteps of a young Aboriginal girl as she leaves the beauty of her natural surroundings to attend Residential school.

Only upon her return to nature is she able to shed the shoes that lead to a path of self-destruction.

Bio: Jani Lauzon
Jani Lauzon, Dora Mavor Moore nominated actress, Juno and CAMA nominated singer/songwriter and Gemini Award-winning puppeteer, has countless theatre, film and radio acting credits. For the past 10 years she was Co-Managing Artistic Director
of Turtle Gals Performance Ensemble, a Native women’s theatre company producing and touring collectively-created theatre. “eu·tha·na·sia” marks Jani’s filmmaking debut, supported through the imagiNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival/LIFT (Liaison of Independent Film Makers of Toronto) mentorship program.

A MOTHER’S DREAM

Dir: Cherilyn Papatie
Documentary I 6 min I Canada I 2007

A mother goes to Val d’Or with her kokom (grandmother), to pick up her children at the foster family and take them to the fair.

Bio: Cherilyn Papatie
Cherilyn Papatie is a native of the Algonquian nation. She was born in 1980. She lives in the community of Kitcisakik. She has been working with Wapikoni Mobile Productions for the last two years, as a director, editor and translator. One of the short films she directed, “Soirée de filles”, won Best Short Film at the International Ethnographic Film Festival of Quebec.

PELQ’LIC (COMING HOME) (Filmmaker in Attendance)

Dir: Celia Haig-Brown & Helen Haig-Brown
Documentary I 33 min I Canada I 2008

“Pelq’ilc” (Coming Home) examines the renewal of indigenous culture and tradition through ‘regenerative education.’ The film is part of a larger, SSHRC-funded academic study and revolves around interviews with children and grandchildren of residential school survivors involved in initiatives to renew their culture through art, language immersion schools, traditional wilderness camps and filmmaking. The research explores both formal schooling and other approaches to ask what role education might play in regenerating Aboriginal/First Nations cultures and languages.

Bio: Celia Haig-Brown
Her book Resistance and Renewal: Surviving the Indian Residential School is widely read in universities and communities across the country. She has worked with Maori scholars and is looking at Maori models of student success as possible models for aboriginal students in Ontario. Her current project “Education as Regeneration: Processes of Decolonization,” including “Pelq’ilc”, relies on collaborations with community members to investigate the role of indigenous knowledge in education.

Bio: Helen Haig-Brown
(Tsilhqot’in) grew up on the Stone Reserve and in Vancouver, B.C. She participated in the 2008 “Native Women in Documentary Film,” colloquium in Washington, DC. Her film Su Naa (My Big Brother) won Best Experimental at Toronto’s imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival (2005). She is a board-member for the Native youth magazine Redwire, does media training for Cree youth, and taught media production at Gulf Islands Film and Television School, British Columbia. In 2000 she co-led the Fraser River Journey for Justice, rafting 500 miles to nine Native communities on the river, speaking out about violence against Aboriginal women. She graduated from the Aboriginal Film and Television Production Program, Capilano College, Vancouver. She is Celia’s niece and a daughter of a residential school survivor.

WANJA

Dir: Angie Abdilla
Documentary I 25 min I Australia I 2008

As Auntie Barb and her neighbours reminisce about her recently deceased blue-heeler Wanja, the issues affecting an indigenous community in Sydney come to life. Aboriginal elder Auntie Barb and her family lived on ‘the Block’ for twenty years. Through neighbourhood tales of her loyal dog Wanja, a portrait of ‘the Block’ emerges, from the early days when families and a strong community shared a sense of well-being, to the eventual escalation of tensions with police and the deterioration of the community. Though Auntie Barb was one of the last elders forced off the Block, she still calls it home.

Bio: Angie Abdilla
Writer/director Angie Abdilla is of Tasmanian Aboriginal descent. She studied at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School, and University of Technology, Sydney. “Wanja” premiered at the 2008 Sydney Film Festival and was nominated for the Silver Club Award at the 2008 Amsterdam Documentary Film Festival. Angie has a feature-length documentary in development and
has exhibited her video installation “Wanja#1”. She worked on the documentary series The “First Australians”, is the founder of Short Black Films, and has curated film festivals and taught film workshops in and around Sydney.

CITY OF BORDERS

Dir: Yun Suh
Documentary I 66 min I USA I 2009

CITY OF BORDERS follows Israelis and Palestinians at Jerusalem’s only gay bar, where the regulars share a common need for belonging and acceptance, and face extraordinary risks for challenging one of their society’s greatest taboos.

Bio: Yun Suh’s
Yun Suh’s love of visual storytelling sparked at age 8 when she emigrated from South Korea to Connecticut and immersed herself in movies and television to learn the American language and culture. Without media role models to look to, she suppressed her passion for film, studying medicine in deference to her mother. Her mother’s death during Suh’s last year of college changed everything. Believing her death stemmed from her mother’s inability to fully express herself, Suh has devoted her life to communication and self-expression.

WHEN I GROW UP I WANT TO BE WHITE

Dir: Agatha Yim & Ian Dixon
Fiction I 13 min I Australia I 2008

“When I Grow Up I Want to be White” is an ode to the trials and tribulations of being a second generation Chinese-Australian, and the identity predicament of being a so-called ‘banana’ – yellow on the outside, white on the inside.

Bio: Agatha Yim
Agatha Yim is an Australian filmmakers, writer, musician, and founder of Edible Complex Films. She completed a Bachelor of Creative Arts/Music at Melbourne University in 2007. She has directed numerous short films, and most recently won the ‘2008 Short and Sharp Pitching Competition’ with her film “When I Grow Up I Want to be White”.

Bio: Ian Dixon
Ian Dixon has been a professional actor in Australia for over twenty years. Since graduating from VCA School of Film and Television in 1998, he has also directed numerous episodes for the TV shows Neighbours and Blue Heelers. Most recently Ian produced, directed, wrote and edited his first feature film, “Crushed”.

CALVIN CARRINGTON (Filmmaker in Attendance)

Dir: Raj Nandy
Mockumentary I 13min I Canada I 2008

An upper-class white couple strangely gives birth to a brown- skinned baby boy. The awkward and ignorant pair does their best to make him ‘a good white boy’ resulting in a hilarious struggle that makes light of nature vs. nurture and cultural acceptance.

Bio: Raj Nandy
Born and raised in Toronto, Raj Nandy is a filmmaker and photography enthusiast. A recent graduate of the Humber College Film and TV production Program, Raj has worked on numerous short films in a variety of roles from scriptwriting, to cinematography and everything in between. His last film at Humber, “Calvin Carrington” a comedy about racial diversity and cultural acceptance, was selected for the 2008 Montreal World Film Festival.

WHO ARE YOU WEARING? (Filmmaker in Attendance)

Dir: Powys Dewhurst
Fiction I 8 min I Canada I 2008

Who Are You Wearin’? or WAYW is a timely thought-provoking serio-comic satire that playfully pokes fun at the controversial fad of Third World adoption by celebrities. What happens when babies are yanked from mud huts and thrust into the spotlight? As a group of Black-Caribbean, African, South Asian and Chinese filmmakers, we had fun with this timely short film that speaks to the world’s current puzzlement with the acquisition craze of ‘third world’ babies by celebrities.

Bio: Powys Dewhurst
Toronto-based Powys Dewhurst explores social issues through satire and science fiction., Dewhurst won the 2006 Eastern Caribbean Central Bank ‘Best in Country’ photography award and his shorts have won several awards in the United States, Africa, Brazil, Europe and Canada.

LOST TRIBES OF NYC

Dir: Andy and Carolyn London
Animation I 2 min I USA I 2008

Urban anthropologists Andy & Carolyn London interview some of New York City’s more overlooked citizens.

Bio: Andy and Carolyn London
Andy and Carolyn London are a writer/director team. Carolyn works as a creative director for Nickelodeon and Andy is a professor of Animation at Pratt Institute. The Londons live and work in Harlem, New York City where they’re currently working on a TV project entitled “Eager to Please.”

A glimpse of a secret place within the busy Toronto neighbourhood of Queen West.

Bio: Renata Mohamed
Indo-Guyanese-Canadian filmmaker Renata Mohamed immigrated to Toronto in the 1980s and graduated from the Integrated Media Program at Ontario College of Art & Design (OCAD). Since 2003 she has been the Membership and Volunteer Coordinator for the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto (LIFT), an artist-run centre supporting independent celluloid filmmaking. Renata is active in the Toronto arts community, volunteering for numerous organizations. She is currently working on her fourth short, “Jumbees”.

BLOND AMBITION

Dir: Miki Nitadori
Experimental I 4 min I Japan I 2008

A Japanese artist portrays the complicated quest for her identity, asking what being Japanese means. “My national identity was formed amongst non-Japanese people, who told me that I was Japanese. Laughter is what I identify as being Japanese. We laugh not because it is funny, but as a physical outlet, a process of mentally accepting what has happened and what is happening now.”

Bio: Miki Nitadori
Japanese artist Miki Nitadori (born 1971) moved during childhood from Japan to Thailand, Hawaii and Europe. She now lives in Paris. “Blond Ambition” (2008) marks her debut as a filmmaker. “Blond Ambition” screened at the 2009 International Film Festival, Rotterdam, Oslo Screen Festival 2008, and the International Film Festival Innsbruck 2009, among other festivals.

POCKETS

Dir: James Lee
Experimental I 3 min I UK I 2008

What’s in your pockets? Filmmaker James Lees asks Londoners to share what they’re carrying in their pockets and what it means to them. Every object tells a story, revealing more than expected about its owner. From tiny treasures to the downright bizarre, the contents of “Pockets” provide quick and charming social insight.

Bio: James Lee
James Lee has recently established himself as one of the UK’s brightest new filmmaking talents, picking up a string of prestigious international awards and being nominated for a European Film Academy Award. His films have been selected for the world’s biggest independent film festival, the Sundance Film Festival and have screened at festivals in all over Europe, the US, and in Mexico and Australia.

ALI SHAN

Dir: Yung Chang
Documentary I 6 min I Canada I 2008

In a lyrical cinematic ode to memory, acclaimed “Up the Yangtze” director Yung Chang takes us on a dreamlike voyage to recreate a childhood experience as he remembers it. Spanning oceans and continents, Chang’s film exquisitely captures the breathtaking sunrise that materializes from behind the peaks of “Ali Shan”, a mountain in Taiwan steeped in history. The film is a sensitive piece of visual poetry and a tribute to all who dare to dream.

Bio: Yung Chang
Montreal-based filmmaker Yung Chang graduated from Concordia University in 1999 and from the Neighbourhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York City. His multi- award-winning film “Up the Yangtze”, one of the most successful documentary theatrical releases of 2008, featured at Sundance. He is currently working on “The Fruit Hunters”, a feature documentary about the fruit underworld, and on a feature film about a photographer in China, tentatively titled “Eggplant”.

MY GRANDMOTHER BEIJING

Dir: Mats Ground
Animation I 9 min I Norway I 2008

SHORTS PROGRAM FRIDAY,
NOVEMBER 6, 2009 @ 8:45PM

The modernisation of Beijing told through the eyes of a young boy, playing with his old wrinkly grandmother.

Bio:Mats Ground
Mats Ground, animation director, was educated at Volda Animation College in Norway. Mats made this film while studying at the China University of Communication in Beijing, as a comment on the physical reconstruction of the city. He has worked with several other animation directors, including Kaja Wright Polmar and Pjotr Sapegin. He is running his little animation company, Nubbsjangs Productions, in Oslo.

Back by popular demand, this year’s Family Program features films co-produced by Regent Park Film Festival and Upper Canada College through the Horizons Summer School Program for academically talented, inner-city students grades 7-9. The one-month program at Upper Canada College includes drama, debating, mathematics, media, language and science. Students are recommended by their grade 6 teachers and come from downtown communities including Regent Park, Parkdale and St. Jamestown. We are presenting films made this past summer by youth from Regent Park as well as films made for kids from around the world. A pancake breakfast and childcare are included in the price of admission – Free!! Please come and join us.

REGENT PARK FILM WORKSHOP PRODUCTIONS

This year, forty-three 7th graders spent two weeks making films on “Things That Matter:” child labour, class, sexism, war, the environment, racism and animal rights. The students learned basic film techniques including storyboarding, editing and shooting for ‘greenscreen’, taught by Jason J. Brown and Elizabeth Shaeffer.

Coordinators:

Elizabeth Schaeffer has been developing curriculum and teaching in the Horizons Program since its inception. She is the Lead Teacher of the Model School, Nelson Mandela Park Public School.

Jason J. Brown is a multi-media artist originally from Jamaica, now based in Toronto. He has been giving video storytelling workshops, using ‘greenscreen’ techniques, since 2000. In these workshops, students create their own short, animated films integrating real actors with digital backgrounds.

BRONX PRINCESS

Dir: Yoni Brook & Musa Syeed
Documentary I 38 min I USA I 2008

“Bronx Princess” follows headstrong 17-year-old Rocky’s journey as she leaves her mother in New York City to reunite with her father, a chief in Ghana, West Africa. Filmed during the tumultuous summer between high-school and college, Bronx Princess tells Rocky’s coming-of-age story. By confronting her parents’ ideas of adulthood, Rocky reconciles her African heritage with her dream of independence.

Bio: Yoni Brook
Yoni Brook’s film A Son’s Sacrifice, broadcast nationally in 2008 on PBS, has won many awards, including Tribeca Film Festival’s and the International Documentary Association’s ‘Best Documentary Short.’ He is currently co-directing “The Calling”, about young religious leaders, and “Bronx Princess” with Musa Syeed for national ITVS/PBS broadcast.

Bio: Musa Syeed
Filmmaker and writer Musa Syeed produced A Son’s Sacrifice and is currently co-directing two films with Yoni Brook. As a Fulbright Fellow in Cairo, his focus was experimental filmmaking. He has written plays for the Children’s Museum of Manhattan and is film editor for Islamica Magazine. Syeed has taught in schools, community centres and prisons. An alumnus of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies Department, Syeed is currently a professor of documentary production at Williams College.

10TH AVATAR

Dir: Charuvi Agrawal
Animation I 2 min I Canada I 2008

Television is mesmerizing; TV and television celebrities seem to be the new focus of worship. This story is about the challenge divine worship faces in the era of mass media.
Peoples’ faith in the divine has always been challenged. According to Hindu mythology, the appearance of avatars at various epochs have relieved man’s distress and re-established faith in God. Nine avatars, or incarnations of God, have appeared; now a 10th avatar has emerged with the fusion of mass media and formal worship.

Bio: Charuvi Agrawal
Charuvi Agrawal, a 24-year-old Indian artist, has established herself as a painter and clay caricature miniature expert in India over the past ten years. Charuvi has been experimenting with a multitude of tools to explore new forms of creative expression. Having graduated from Sheridan College with computer animation as her new medium, she wants to democratize art and use her creativity to spread the nectar and vividness of Indian culture and history.

KEY TUMI

Dir: Kunal Sen
Animation I 7 min I Canada I 2008

Caramel custard, ping pong and potty all play an important role in this charming animation about a young Indian boy exploring where he came from as he prepares for the performance of a lifetime. “Key Tumi” is a modern idiom for the contemporary Indian family. Based on true events (for the most part), the film traverses
40 years and 2 generations, and playfully points to the next!

Bio: Kunal Sen
Kunal Sen is a young animator from Calcutta, a city known for Art, Culture and afternoon siestas. He did his first Undergraduate degree from the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology (Bangalore) For reasons known to a select few, he packed his bags and transferred to the Animation Program at the Emily Carr Institute, Vancouver BC.

AMMA

Dir: Aparna Kapur
Co-Presented by Worldwide Short Film Festival
Animation I 5 min I Canada I 2008

This richly animated story of a girl’s bond with her grandmother becomes a poetic meditation on the cycle of life, and the deep imprints our loved ones leave upon us.

Bio: Aparna Kapur
Aparna Kapur, originally from New Delhi, India, has completed her undergraduate studies in 3 different countries over the last four years. After completing her foundation year in Bangalore, India, she studied sculpture in Atlanta, Georgia. Her love for storytelling led her to pursue film and animation in Vancouver, Canada.

DELROY KINCAID (Filmmaker in Attendance)

Dir: Powys Dewhurst
Fiction/Animation I 8 min I Canada I 2008

An artistic black boy is raised by his grandmother in a vibrant seaside Caribbean village. When they travel to the First World to live with his parents and his grandmother subsequently dies, a lonely Delroy must journey alone to understand his life in this new world as an ‘‘immigrant.’’

Bio: Powys Dewhurst
Toronto-based Powys Dewhurst explores social issues through satire and science fiction. Dewhurst won the 2006 Eastern Caribbean Central Bank ‘Best in Country’ photography award and his shorts have won several awards in the United States, Africa, Brazil, Europe and Canada.

Baiana that tells the story of a young woman who becomes possessed by spirits and, through this experience, discovers her history, ‘her self’ and her power. Powerfully exploring the transformative passion and energy of dance, the film uses an outstanding combination of movement, animation and music, and is delightful to watch.

Bio: Mariya Prokopenko
Mariya Prokopenko is a Russian-born director/cinematographer now living in Toronto. After graduating from Sheridan College, she began creating experimental media projects. She is currently developing more non-narrative videos that explore spirituality through visuals and music.

KENSHO

Dir: Danny Kang
Animation I 4 min I USA I 2008

Kensho is a visual poem of what begins as a normal day in the life of a young woman but ends in spiritual catharsis. Literally translating to ‘true self’ or ‘true mind,’ the Japanese term Kensho is used in Zen Buddhism to describe sudden or brief enlightenment experiences.

Bio: Danny Kang
Danny Kang was born and raised in Long Island, New York, where he spent his childhood immersed in way too much anime, and too many videogames and comic books. A believer in following your passion, he went on to receive a B.F.A in Film/Animation/Video
at the Rhode Island School of Design.

This program is an opportunity for residents living in Regent Park and Torontonians to discuss the impact of redevelopment. This year, discussions will focus on displacement in Canada and China and what displacement means, when it’s in your own land. Building 173 by Charlotte Mikkelborg and Pelq’lic (Coming Home) by Celia Haig‐Brown & Helen Haig‐Brown will be shown followed by a presentation by the Toronto Council Fire Native Cultural Centre.  Panel discussion to follow with guest filmmaker, Celia Haig Brown, Andrea Chrisjohn and Regent Park residents.

BUILDING 173

Dir: Charlotte Mikkelborg
Documentary I 52 min I China I 2009

This film takes viewers behind closed doors and into the rooms of an apartment building in downtown Shanghai, to watch the stories of 7 families unfold over 3 generations. Buiding 173 cleverly weaves together the stories of key characters to throw a uniquely personal light on the major events that have shaped China over the past 75 years: from the Japanese invasion, to communism and the Cultural Revolution, through to the materialism of contemporary capitalism.

Bio: Charlotte Mikkelborg
Charlotte Mikkelborg left her job as BBC China business correspondent in 2006 to pursue her doc-making dreams. Her first foray was a series of shorts for the UN from the Democratic Republic of Congo, called The Forgotten War, about the use of rape in the region as a tool of ethnic cleansing. The move from investigative reporter to documentary maker was relatively smooth, since many of her BBC reports were produced, reported, filmed, written and edited by her.

PELQ’LIC (COMING HOME) (Filmmaker in Attendance)

Dir: Celia Haig-Brown & Helen Haig-Brown
Documentary I 33 min I Canada I 2008

“Pelq’ilc” (Coming Home) examines the renewal of indigenous culture and tradition through ‘regenerative education.’ The film is part of a larger, SSHRC-funded academic study and revolves around interviews with children and grandchildren of residential school survivors involved in initiatives to renew their culture through art, language immersion schools, traditional wilderness camps and filmmaking. The research explores both formal schooling and other approaches to ask what role education might play in regenerating Aboriginal/First Nations cultures and languages.

Bio: Celia Haig-Brown
Her book Resistance and Renewal: Surviving the Indian Residential School is widely read in universities and communities across the country. She has worked with Maori scholars and is looking at Maori models of student success as possible models for aboriginal students in Ontario. Her current project “Education as Regeneration: Processes of Decolonization,” including “Pelq’ilc”, relies on collaborations with community members to investigate the role of indigenous knowledge in education.

Bio: Helen Haig-Brown
(Tsilhqot’in) grew up on the Stone Reserve and in Vancouver, B.C. She participated in the 2008 “Native Women in Documentary Film,” colloquium in Washington, DC. Her film Su Naa (My Big Brother) won Best Experimental at Toronto’s imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival (2005). She is a board-member for the Native youth magazine Redwire, does media training for Cree youth, and taught media production at Gulf Islands Film and Television School, British Columbia. In 2000 she co-led the Fraser River Journey for Justice, rafting 500 miles to nine Native communities on the river, speaking out about violence against Aboriginal women. She graduated from the Aboriginal Film and Television Production Program, Capilano College, Vancouver. She is Celia’s niece and a daughter of a residential school survivor.

This year’s program looks at immigration and racism in Alberta’s recent labour history; racism and homophobia in 20th century Vancouver, and at Ethiopia’s unique reckoning of the timeline of history.
Narrated by Clifton Joseph, Dana Inkster’s film “24 Days in Brooks” documents the struggle of immigrant workers in Brooks, Alberta, a conservative small town where hundreds of African immigrants work at the meatpacking plant. The film captures the tensions of changing small-town demographics, and the consequences of disrespect and exploitation. In “Rex vs. Singh”, filmmakers John Greyson, Richard Fung and Ali Kazimi explore the intersection of racism and homophobia in Vancouver circa 1900. “Generation to Generation” looks at Ethiopia’s celebrations of the new millennium a full seven years after the rest of the Christian world. Come to the screening to find out why!

24 DAYS IN BROOKS (Filmmaker in Attendance)

Dir: Dana Inkster
Co-Presented byMayworks
Documentary I 42 min I Canada I 2007

At Lakeside Packers, one of the world’s largest slaughterhouses, former Congolese diplomat Sa-Eva Katusevanako spends his work- day picking bits of bone and fat from meat. He is one of hundreds of foreigners in tiny Brooks, Alberta, a once homogenous white town, now one of the most diverse places in Canada.
The film documents a 24-day strike at the plant, and we meet Peter Jany Khwai, a Sudanese refugee who wears African shirts and a cowboy hat, and Edil Hassan, a devout Somali Muslim immensely proud of her role in the strike.

Bio: Dana Inkster
Filmmaker and artist Dana Inkster’s work spans documentary, autobiography, experimental video and public service announcements and has been seen in festivals and galleries around the world. Her first film, the documentary “Welcome to Africville” (1999), earned critical acclaim and awards in Canada and internationally. Whatever genre she works in, Dana is passionate about film as a tool for community development. She currently teaches in the faculty of Fine Art at the University of Lethbridge.

GENERATION TO GENERATION

Dir: Ross Laing & Alex Baron
Documentary I 20 min I Ethiopia I 2007

Ethiopians from different walks of life—shoe-shiners, shepherds, television personalities, politicians and musicians—describe the mood in Addis Ababa as the city prepares for its celebrations, share stories from their own lives, reflect on the success of
a nationwide reforestation project, and share their hopes for themselves and their country.

Bio: Ross Laing
Ross Laing had a misspent youth and now edits commercials for ad agencies in Seattle, WA.

Bio: Alex Baron
Alex Baron grew up in Seattle. He has worked as a hydrological researcher in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Las Vegas, Nevada, and now edits a scientific journal based in Nanjing, China.

REX VS. SINGH

Dir: John Greyson, Richard Fung & Ali Kazimi
Co-Presented by Inside Out Filmmaker in attendance
Experimental I 29 min I Canada I 2008

UNKNOWN HISTORIES PROGRAM
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2009 @ 5PM

This experimental video stages scenes from the 1915 trial of two Sikh mill-workers arrested by Vancouver police for sodomy. Told four ways - as period drama, as a documentary investigation, as an agit-prop musical and as a deconstruction of the actual court transcript, “Rex vs. Singh” is an exploration of the interplay between homophobia and racism in this little-known chapter of Canadian history.

Bio: John Greyson
John Greyson’s films and videos include “Fig Trees” (2009), Best Documentary/Essay Teddy Award at the Berlin Film Festival, “Proteus” (2003), Best Actor at the Sithenghi Film Festival, “Lilies” (1996), Best Film Genie. He is a professor at York University and won the Bell Canada Video Art Award, 2007.

Bio: Richard Fung
Richard Fung is an award winning video artist and writer. His videos include “My Mother’s Place” (1990), “Sea in the Blood” (2000), which have been screened widely across Canada, the United States, and around the world. He was awarded the Bell Canada Video Art Award in 2000. He teaches at the Ontario College of Art and Design.

Bio: Ali Kazimi
Ali Kazimi’s films have received over thirty national and international awards including a Gemini and two Genie nominations. His work has been screened in dozens of festivals and broadcast on many networks. His films include “Runaway Grooms” (2005), “Continuous Journey” (2004), “Shooting Indians” (1998) and “Narmada: A Valley Rises” (1994). He teaches at York University.

ALWYN (Special Guest in Attendance)

Dir: Alwyn Barry
Documentary I 13 min I Canada I 2008

A resident of Toronto’s notorious Jane-Finch neighbourhoods, Alwyn Barry’s life changed dramatically when he was diagnosed with terminal colon cancer at 17. After receiving training through an inner-city filmmaking program, Alwyn takes a camera to doctor’s appointments, medical tests, and on a final trip back to Guyana to revisit his heritage. The result is a raw, unyielding, and intensely personal portrayal of a young man struggling to accept his own mortality.

Bio: Alwyn Barry
Alwyn Barry was born in Guyana on January 31, 1989, son of Forbes and Michelle Barry and younger sibling to Onika Barry- Medina and Quacy Barry. Alwyn’s father immigrated to Canada in 1995, while the rest of the family remained in Guyana. During the last months of his life, Alwyn’s experiences as a patient
and outpatient in various hospitals around Toronto inspired a passion for promoting health awareness and changing people’s perception of his Jane Finch neighbourhood. This is not a film about Alwyn, it is Alwyn’s film.

INVISIBLE CITY (Special Guest in Attendance)

Dir: Hubert Davis
HDocumentary I 75 min I Canada I 2008

Invisible City is a moving story of two boys from Regent Park crossing into adulthood – their mothers and mentors rooting for them to succeed; their environment and social pressures tempting them to make poor choices. Turning his camera on the often ignored inner city, Academy-award nominated director Hubert Davis sensitively depicts the disconnection of urban poverty and race from the mainstream.

Bio: Hubert Davis
Hubert Davis made his directorial debut with the documentary “Hardwood”, which was nominated for an Academy Award in 2005 and an Emmy in 2006. “Hardwood” garnered numerous awards at film festivals throughout Canada and the U.S. and aired on PBS P.O.V. Hubert’s first fictional short, “Aruba”, had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2006, was an official selection of the Toronto International Film Festival 2006 and won the Grand Jury Award at the Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films 2006.

SPOKEN WORD PERFORMANCE

BY MUSTAFA AHMED

CLOSING NIGHT PERFORMANCE

BY MAHLIKAH AWE:RI

GRADES 1-3 PROGRAM

Monkey musicians, an African princess, and a girl with a bird’s heart are just a few of the imaginative characters in the grades 1-3 program. Cinderella and Hansel and Gretel are re-imagined in African and Caribbean cultural landscapes in “Tessa” and “Mind Me Good Now”. “Tessa” encourages kids to ‘be their own star’, as does the catchy tune of “No Monkey”. “Tragic Story With A Happy Ending” teaches us to accept and embrace our dierences. Jaime Lo, “Jaime Lo, Small and Shy” illustrates the difficulty of staying connected to family abroad, and the personal growth and creativity that can result from this challenge.

JAMIE LO SMALL AND SHY

Dir: Lillian Chan
Co-Presented by NFB
Animation I 8 min I Canada I 2006

Jaime Lo, a shy Chinese-Canadian girl, makes sense of the world around her through her drawings. When Jaime’s father is sent to Hong Kong for a year-long work assignment, Jaime must use her creativity to cope with his absence. This story oers us a light- hearted glimpse into a common dilemma that many immigrant families face, where one parent must work overseas in order to provide for the rest of the family back home.

MIND ME GOOD NOW

Dir: Chris Cormier & Derek Cummings
Co-Presented by NFB
Animation I 9 min I Canada I 2005

MONTROSE AVENUE

Dir: Pat Shewchuk & Marek Colek
Animation I 5 min I Canada I 2006

This 5-minute animated documentary portrays a typical day in the life of an inner-city neighbourhood in Toronto, Canada. Narrated from the perspective of a 6-year-old girl, we travel with her up and down the street on a summer day, observing residents, pedestrians and merchants, as peoples’ daily routines take them to the local park, to shops or simply to chat in anticipation of the annual Portuguese Senhor Da Pedra festival and parade.

CHINESE VIOLIN

Dir: Joe Chang Co-Presented by NFB
Animation I 8 min I Canada I 2002

SCHOOL PROGRAM GRADES 1-3 PROGRAM
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2009 @ 10AM &
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2009 @ 1PM

LIGHTS FOR GITA

Dir: Michel Vo Co-Presented by NFB
Animation I 5 min I Canada I 2009

Eight-year-old Gita can’t wait to celebrate Divali, the Hindu festival of lights in her new home. But Canada is nothing like New Delhi, where she comes from. The weather is cold and grey and a terrible ice storm cuts off the power, ruining her party plans. Obviously, a Divali celebration now is impossible. Or is it? As Gita experiences the glittering beauty of the icy streets outside, the traditional festival of lights comes alive in a sparkling new way.

NO MONKEY

Dir: Harry Flosser
Animation I 7 min I Canada I 2001

A bleak, workaholic, grey-monkey civilization becomes increasingly annoyed by the intrusion of an up-beat song – the NoMonkey song. Nothing can help the grey monkeys stop the invasion of fresh sounds and colours – which continues until the grey monkeys are all relaxed and cheerful.

TRAGIC STORY WITH HAPPY ENDING

Dir: Regina Pessoa
Co-Presented by NFB
Animation I 8 min I Canada I 2005

SAMAK

Dir: Allan Mwaniki
Animation I 3 min I Kenya I 2006

DOG WHO WAS A CAT INSIDE

Dir: Siri Melchior
Animation I 4 min I UK I 2002

THE GIRL WHO HATED BOOKS

Dir: Jo Meuris
Co-Presented by NFB
Animation I 9 min I Canada I 2006

JUST ANOTHER FLOOR KIDS BATTLE

(Filmmaker in Attendance)

Dir: Jonathan Ng
Filmmaker in Attendance
Animation I 4min I Canada I 2008

TESSA

Dir: Tessa Camrie
Animation I 2 min I Kenya I 2005

GRADES 4-6 PROGRAMS

Reconnection and reconciliation are themes in the grades 4-6 program – the modern with the traditional, current homes with distant homelands, inner feelings with outward appearances. “Aboriginality” sees a young boy moving from rap to a traditional First Nations hoop dance and back again as he becomes acquainted with his cultural heritage. In “State of Yo”, yo-yo champion Harvey Lowe journeys to China, his parent’s homeland, to explore his roots. “The Dog Who Was A Cat Inside” beautifully represents the everyday struggle to harmonize the various identities we embody.

TRAGIC STORY WITH HAPPY ENDING

Dir: Regina Pessoa
Co-Presented by NFB
Animation I 8 min I Canada I 2005

SAMAK

Dir: Allan Mwaniki
Animation I 3 min I Kenya I 2006

DOG WHO WAS A CAT INSIDE

Dir: Siri Melchior
Animation I 4 min I UK I 2002

THE GIRL WHO HATED BOOKS

Dir: Jo Meuris
Co-Presented by NFB
Animation I 9 min I Canada I 2006

JUST ANOTHER FLOOR KIDS BATTLE

Dir: Jonathan Ng
Filmmaker in Attendance
Animation I 4min I Canada I 2008

TESSA

Dir: Tessa Camrie
Animation I 2 min I Kenya I 2005

ABORIGINALITY

Dir: Dominique Keller
Co-Presented by NFB
Animation I 5 min I Canada I 2008

LADOO

Dir: Rajita Shan
Fiction I 15 min I India I 2008

SCHOOL PROGRAM GRADES 4-6 PROGRAM
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2009 @ 1PM &
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2009 @ 10AM

In India, a young, deaf boy named Suni delivers sweets (ladoos) for the shop where his father works. He is crazy about cricket and dreams of buying an official team shirt. One day he engineers a brilliant plan to steal money from the sweetshop. Will Suni’s plan work? Will he survive his own guilt? This film takes us into the world of cricket, fairy tales and first love, and gives us a glimpse into the workings of class, money and greed in Suni’s world.

STATE OF YO

Dir: Jason Karman
Documentary I 8 min I Canada 2007

LOST TRIBES OF NYC

Dir: Andy and Carolyn London
Animation I 2 min I USA I 2008

Urban anthropologists Andy & Carolyn London interview some of New York City’s more overlooked citizens.

DAYS LIKE THESE

Dir: Martin Leroy Adams
Fiction I 6 min I Australia I 2008

Trying to find a job, Dan has to overcome social stereotypes.

DIS’ORDER

Dir: Rose McAleese
Fiction I 4 min I USA I 2008

Using a variety of animation techniques, this youth-produced film takes you inside the mind of a girl who struggles to learn and communicate in a world where her way of thinking is deemed abnormal. As her thoughts shift back and forth between fantasy and reality, she questions both herself and the environment that surrounds her.

KUNJO

Dir: Terrie Samundra
Drama I 25 min I USA/India I 2009

Kunjo, a 12-year-old Rajasthani refugee, spends her days begging in the streets of a rural Punjab village in North India. When an unlikely friendship blossoms between Kunjo and Preeta, an educated schoolgirl from a higher caste, Kunjo reveals her secret passion for storytelling. Eventually betrayed by her new friend, and caught in the complexity of their unconventional friendship, Kunjo faces a crossroads between standing up for herself or submitting to the place of silence society has assigned her.

GRADES 7 & 8 PROGRAM

The thought-provoking films comprising the grades 7-8 program exhibit the creativity and strength of characters facing challenging situations. Domestic conflict, discrimination and alienation are met with empowering moments of courage, ingenuity and determination in “Aruba”, “Days Like These” and “Pride”. Marginalized voices are showcased in “The Lost Tribes of New York City” and “In The Same Boat”, where impressive animations inspire us to really notice the people around us. “Fried Rice” and “Kunjo” feature inspiring characters who take a stand against the cultural and class-based exploitation to which they are subject, and remind us of our basic human equality.

Slip of the Tongue

Dir: Karen Lum
Fiction I 4 min I USA I 2008

Slip of the Tongue is a fast, furious condemnation of the “white washing” of Asian-American identity that Karen Lum witnesses in the teen community.

STATE OF YO

Dir: Jason Karman
Documentary I 8 min I Canada 2007

LOST TRIBES OF NYC

Dir: Andy and Carolyn London
Animation I 2 min I USA I 2008

Urban anthropologists Andy & Carolyn London interview some of New York City’s more overlooked citizens.

DIS’ORDER

Dir: Rose McAleese
Fiction I 4 min I USA I 2008

Using a variety of animation techniques, this youth-produced film takes you inside the mind of a girl who struggles to learn and communicate in a world where her way of thinking is deemed abnormal. As her thoughts shift back and forth between fantasy and reality, she questions both herself and the environment that surrounds her.

KUNJO

Dir: Terrie Samundra
Drama I 25 min I USA/India I 2009

Kunjo, a 12-year-old Rajasthani refugee, spends her days begging in the streets of a rural Punjab village in North India. When an unlikely friendship blossoms between Kunjo and Preeta, an educated schoolgirl from a higher caste, Kunjo reveals her secret passion for storytelling. Eventually betrayed by her new friend, and caught in the complexity of their unconventional friendship, Kunjo faces a crossroads between standing up for herself or submitting to the place of silence society has assigned her.

PRIDE

Dir: Anjuli Hammond
Narrative I 2 min I USA I 2008

Pride is a first-person narrative by Anjuli, who was adopted and raised by a lesbian couple.

FRIED RICE

Dir: Nils Mooij
Fiction I 9 min I Netherlands I 2004

How Dutch do you need to be, to be really Dutch? A girl adopted from China encounters the prejudices of Dutch local residents and her own adoptive father. He is a butcher and looks upon her origins as a handy opportunity for selling his nasi (fried rice). To put it mildly, she is not happy with that. She feels hurt and
disowned but makes an effort and takes revenge... The next day the butcher’s shop has been transformed into a proper Chinese shop. Because, if her dad insists on having a Chinese daughter, he will have one! She shuffles across the shop floor in traditional Chinese dress, accompanied by the shrill tones of the Peking Opera. That way she doesn’t just embarrass the customers but especially her father…

ARUBA

Dir: Hubert Davis
Fiction I 12 min I Canada I 2005

The city holds a million unheard stories. Aruba is the story of a boy, witness to violence and drug use at home, bullied at school. He escapes through his imagination; a postcard of a faraway place becomes the embodiment of his promised land. Aruba is a reflection on the children of a new Canada - children of parents from different worlds, different cultures. The film provides a new perspective into Canadian culture and underscores how issues of urban poverty and race are disconnected from the mainstream.

IN THE SAME BOAT

Dir: Emily Bissland
Animation I 7 min I Australia I2008

SCHOOL PROGRAM GRADES 7-8 PROGRAM
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2009 @ 10AM &
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 6, 2009 @ 1PM

In a climate of global fear, two unlikely men prove ordinary people can do what governments cannot; overcome fear and prejudice through friendship. This remarkable film documents the story of an Australian Vietnam War Veteran with PTSD and a hatred of foreigners, whose life is changed when he meets a young Iraqi refugee in an Australian hospital. This inspirational, hopeful film pushes the boundaries of documentary storytelling, combining interview material with animation.

DAYS LIKE THESE

Dir: Martin Leroy Adams
Fiction I 6 min I Australia I 2008

Trying to find a job, Dan has to overcome social stereotypes.