Program for 2009
- Thursday, February 5, 2009 -
6 pm: Welcome
6:10 pm: Opening Screening “War/Dance” (Uganda/USA, 2007, Feature/Documentary, 105 min.)
Directed by: Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine
Film synopsis:
For the past 20 years, northern Uganda has been at war with a rebel force, the Lord’s Resistance Army (L.R.A.), and the country’s children have been the greatest victims of the conflict. Villages and refugee camps are raided by the L.R.A. and children abducted and indoctrinated as new soldiers.
One school in a refugee camp, Patongo Primary School is getting ready for the biggest event of the year—the National Music Competition. Over 20,000 schools compete, but only one will go home the champion and no one expects it to be Patongo. Schools in refugee camps don’t win awards.
The documentary follows three students of Patongo as they compete against wealthier schools from the south in the nation’s capital, Kampala. Patongo’s students—most of whom have never left the camp—need everything, from school uniforms to musical instruments. Despite the odds, they endlessly practice their performances, driven by heart, talent, and the need to rebuild their lives.
Academy Award Nominee for 2008 Best Documentary Feature
Winner of the Directing Award Documentary at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival
Winner of the Audience Award at the 2007 HotDOCS International Film Festival
8-9pm: Panel Discussion and Q&A
Professor Thomas Tieku, Head, African Studies Program, University of Toronto
Salima Pirani, Communications Executive, African Medical Research Foundation
Judy Kopelow, Director, Strategic Initiatives,
Centre for International Health, Dalla Lana School of Public Health
Robert Mukasa, Journalist
Refreshments will be served. Festival opening is supported by The Centre for International Health , Dalla Lana School of Public Health
- Friday, February 6, 2009 -
6pm: Evening Screening: “Persepolis” (France, 2007, Animation, 95 min.)
Directed by: Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi
Film Synopsis:
Persepolis is the poignant, true story of a young girl in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. Viewed through the eyes of outspoken nine-year-old Marjane, we see the changes that occur as fundamentalists take power—forcing the veil on women and imprisoning thousands. As bombs fall around Tehran in the Iran/Iraq war, the daily fear that permeates life in Iran is palpable.
After several close encounters with the country’s “social guardians”, Marjane’s parents make the difficult decision to send her to school in Austria at age 14. Vulnerable and alone in a strange land, she eventually finds herself horribly homesick. After high school, she returns to Iran and continues to speak out against the hypocrisy she witnesses.
At age 24, she realizes that while she is deeply Iranian, she cannot live in Iran. She makes the heartbreaking decision to leave her homeland, optimistic about her future, shaped indelibly by her past
Academy Award Nominee for 2008 Best Animated Feature
Winner of the Best Foreign Language Film at the 2008 Golden Globes
Winner of the Jury Prize at the 2007 Festival de Cannes
7:30pm-8:30pm: Panel Discussion and Q&A
Panelists: Professor Kass Banning, Cinema Studies Institute, University of Toronto
Professor Corinn Columpar, Cinema Studies Institute, University of Toronto
- Saturday, February 7, 2009 --
1pm: Day Screening: “The Lugones Family: A Trip to the History of Argentina in the Twentieth Century” (Argentina, 2007, Documentary, subtitled, 90min)
Directed by: Paula Hernandez
Film Synopsis:
Familia Lugones reviews four generations of the Lugones family living through the poignant and complex history of Argentina in the twentieth century. The family saga begins with the poet, Leopold, during the intellectual Uriburu coup, continues with his son, Polo, the inventor of the baton, followed by his granddaughter, Pirie, disappeared, and ends with her son Alexander. The film examines emotions and the philosophy of many life experiences including success, happiness, and torture.
2:30pm-3:30pm: Panel Discussion and Q&A
Panelists: Professor Rosa Sarabia, Department of Spanish and Portuguese,
Acting Director, Latin American Studies, University of Toronto
Professor David Schugurensky, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto
6pm: Evening Screening: “Losers and Winners” (Germany, 2006, Documentary, 96min, subtitled)
Directed by: Ulrike Franke and Michael Loeken
Film Synopsis:
In the centre of the Germany’s Ruhr Valley, the famous “heartbeat of steel” has gone silent. After only eight years in operation, this ultramodern coke (processed coal) plant has been shut down and is slowly being dismantled. Piece by piece, the factory is being broken down and moved to China. The documentary follows the collision that occurs between cultures, as 400 Chinese workers are supervised by the last 30 German workers in the Shutdown Department to move the gigantic industrial plant overseas.
A question emerges in the process: Who is ultimately the winner and who is the loser when jobs move from one part of the world to another?
Winner of the Best International Feature Award at the 2007 HotDOCS International Film Festival
7:30pm-8:30pm: Panel Discussion and Q&A
Discussion title: "Made in Germany: Some (Dis)Assembly May Be Required”
Panelists: Professor Angelica Fenner, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures & Cinema Studies Institute, University of Toronto
Professor Patricia Petersen, Professor Emerita, former Director, Urban Studies Program, University of Toronto
Interested in viewing our previous year's 2007-2008 Program? Click here for more...