Film Festival event: A Conversation About Darfur

So, my other film turned out not to be a film. It was a panel discussion with various people involved with Darfur Now. It was a good panel discussion, and I enjoyed it a lot. One question that really resonated with me was this. A woman asked if the wide release of Darfur Now was going to make it dangerous for some of the Darfurians depicted in the film. Ted Braun, the director responded, describing that this was a concern for him. He outlined the efforts that he'd gone through to help ensure safety of the group, and how he still keeps tabs on them. And then he said that when he met with them, they told him that they were prepared to die to ensure that their stories got told. As he said, "That wasn't a message I was ready to hear."

He said, his voice audibly affected, that all of his life he'd worked with stories, but none of those stories had the same life-or-death quality. I couldn't help but be reminded of the people I'd met in Haiti. They're not living in the brush, learning to use AK47s, but they know that they're targets. And they do what they do anyway.

Questions for John Tory

Q1: Do you think that the people of Walkerton should vote for the Conservative party?

Q2: How much responsibility do you think Mike Harris and the Conservative party bear with respect to Walkerton and Ipperwash? Would you support criminal charges against Mike Harris?

Q3: Do you plan to roll back Dalton McGuinty's $40,000 pay raise to the job of Premier? Or do you support the massive pay raises? If so, why don't you think that a $10 minimum wage is important?

Q4: Do you intend to reverse the funding changes brought in the Harris and Eves governments that have severely affected Toronto's finances. If not, would you support a Province of Toronto?

Film Festival film #7: Mange, Ceci Est Mon Corps

Tonight's film was Eat, For This is My Body (Mange, Ceci Est Mon Corps en français). I had to get a ticket, 'cause it's a France/Haiti film, and a lot of it was shot in Haiti, but I didn't have high hopes. The description triggered a lot of alarm bells for me; it sounded like something that wanted to be shocking. Fortunately, my fears did not materialize. But I still wasn't crazy about the film; it was too avant-garde for my tastes.

There was some beautiful footage, and wonderful sound. The first five minutes or so are tremendously beautiful. But overall I found it too long, and I thought it tried a bit too hard to be Deep and Meaningful. I enjoyed the Q & A afterward; the director had a very interesting way of describing his process, but I can't say that I really enjoyed the film, I'm afraid.