MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY!
May 1, 8:30 PM
Blinding Light Cinema

Flick Harrison and Unofficial Opposition.com present a May Day evening of provincial opposition films featuring "OCAP STRIKES BACK!" The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty's jam-packed video distills over a decade of anti-poverty, anti-Harris activism into 22 minutes of interviews, anecdotes and previously unseen footage. Delve behind OCAP's high-profile public actions and hear about the tactics and principles that inspired them, and the case work that backs them up. You'll also see videos by local incognito kaka disturbers Guerrilla Media; the BC Rhino Party Propaganda Video; 77BC, Flick Harrison's mini-doc about Accountability Day and the unbalanced BC Legislature; video by the Toronto Video Activist Collective; and up-to-the-minute coverage of BC's Liberal disaster. Other entertaining and wacky provincial rebel shenanigans TBA. Proceeds to OCAP and People's Opposition. Check out OCAP at http://www.ocap.ca. Discussion to follow film.

12,000 Men
May 2, 7:30 PM
Blinding Light Cinema

This powerful documentary brings alive the brave story of Cape Breton's union struggles in the coal and steel industries from the 1890s through the labour wars of the 1920s. The fight for decent wages and improved working conditions took on an urgency when the British Empire Steel Corporation, or BESCO, bought every single steel and coal company in Nova Scotia. When the Montreal-based company cut wages by a third, a long and bitter dispute began. The lockouts, picket lines and strikes were finally ended by brute force when provincial police and federal troops were sent in. The mine owners, however, were ultimately forced to recognize the union. (1978, 34 min)

PLUS: "ON STRIKE," the dramatic story of the Winnipeg General Strike in 1919 told through the recollections of the men and women who were there. This presentation traces the events leading up to the strike; the issues, the personalities and the divisions among the people of Winnipeg. It culminates with the riot of June 21, 1919 in which death and serious injury resulted.
(1991, 20 minutes, Dir: Joe Macdonald and Clare Johnstone Gilsig)

H-2 Worker
May 2, 9 PM
Blinding Light Cinema

"H-2 Worker" is a controversial expose of the travesty of justice that takes place around the shores of Florida's Lake Okeechobee: a situation which, until the film's release, has been one of America's best-kept secrets. There, for six months a year, over 10,000 men from Jamaica and other Caribbean islands perform the brutal task of cutting sugar cane by hand - a job so dangerous and low-paying that Americans refuse to do it.
(70 minutes, 16mm, Dir: Stephanie Black)

	SABOT: A Mini-Festival of Shorts and Shocks May 3, doors @ 7:00 PM, show @ 7:30 PM The Blinding Light!! Cinema admission is $5 with membership Black Cat Video, in association with Mayworks and The Blinding Light Cinema, presents SABOT: The Second Annual Radical Political Video Festival. This year's festival is an action-packed three and a half hours; ten videos are presented which cover political protest and dissent on a multitude of social justice and environmental issues, the reality of living as a political activist and dissident in the "free" world, and how the government and "forces of evil" respond. The Independent Media Center's satellite TV series "NewsReal" (March 2002 edition) opens the evening with stories from the frontlines of protest, from the city-wide student walkout in Philadelphia to battling the WEF in New York to protesting the US Air Force on airport runways in Ireland. Second on the agenda is "Released," a half-hour documentary about women and prisons which weaves Angela Davis speaking through five short pieces, in a production that explores the personal and political of the prison industrial complex. The next six videos are a series of shorts and television productions which address issues of our auto-dependant society to genetic technology, the environment and animal rights, and the activists fighting back, particularly the grassroots and the underground movements. Following a short 10 minute break, the evening resumes with "Capitalist Walls," one of the best, and most humorous, documentaries on the Quebec City FTAA protests that Black Cat Video has come across. Nothing is more effective than on-the-street video combined with a healthy dose of satire to tell a story… starring Darth Vader! Closing the evening is "Fuck The System," an excellent video and music montage from anonymous green anarchists in Eugene, Oregon. This skillfully compiled document of anarchist rebellion in Eugene and around the world will have you laughing, crying and raging at the scenes depicted, and your feet won't stop moving to the excellent soundtrack! Video Schedule: 7:30 - 8:00, "NewsReal" 8:00 - 8:30, "Released" 8:30 - 9:30, "Car Bomb," "Gene Wars," "Eye On America: Eco-Terrorists," "Dateline: Green with a Vengeance," "This Means War," "L.A.R.F. Searches for Volunteers" 9:30 - 9:40, break 9:40 - 10:00, "Capitalist Walls" 10:00 - 11:00, "Fuck The System" Indymedia NewsReal Independent Media Center, 30 minutes March 2002 (USA) 2002 IMC's March 2002 edition of their satellite news project, a grassroots news program, covering political organizing and actions from a local perspective. Segments included in this episode: "PPP Privatization," "Shannon Runway Rumble," "Little Kabul, California," "Philadelphia City-Wide Student Walkout", "WEF Protests, NYC," "WEF and Argentina," and "Victims of 9/11 Meets Afghan War Victims." Released: 5 Short Videos about Women and Prison Alexander Juhasz, 28 min. (USA) 2001 Filmmakers, activists, and inmates come together to make this documentary about women and prison. Statements from Angela Davis are interspersed throughout the video which artfully merges five short pieces creating a powerful, and empowering, forum to consider the personal and political meanings of what is truly a contemporary crisis. Segments include: "Unyielding Conditioning," "Sheltered," "A Gram 'O Pussy," "Breathe," and "Making the Invisible Invincible". Car Bomb 1:45 minutes (Canada) 2001 A music video glorifying the destruction of the automobile. Gene Wars Agent Humble, 4:45 minutes (Canada) 2001 A montage of video clips of protests and direct actions taken against genetic engineering and GMOs, set to "Committed to Life" by Asian Dub Foundation. Eye On America: Eco-Terrorists CBS Evening News, 3 minutes (USA) 2001 A corporate media report on the Animal and Earth Liberation Fronts. Dateline: Green with a Vengeance SBS Television, 37 minutes (Australia) 2001 Australia's public broadcaster interviews Jeff "Free" Luers from prison, his parents, Craig Rosebraugh, the FBI and various police, politicians and theorists in this well-made documentary on the ELF and illegal direct action taken to save the environment. This Means War Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty/Appropriate Response Media, 8 minutes (USA) 2001 A video detailing the ongoing campaign against one of the world's most notorious animal testing labs, featuring both undercover and protest footage. The Left Autonomous Radical Front Searches for Volunteers for Administrative Work VPRO-TV, 2 minutes (Netherlands) This short segment from the Dutch television program Waskracht! tells the humorous tale of how to deal with Ronald McDonald. Capitalist Walls Chad Strohmayer, Michael Green, 23 minutes (USA) 2001 A documentary on the protests against the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City. Using Star Wars action figures and a good dose of satire, this video tells the difficulties of trying to cross international borders, ten-foot-high chain link fences, and phalanxes of riot gear clad police officers. Using interviews, graphics and street footage, Capitalist Walls paints a picture of the diversity of the anti-globalization struggle, and the battle of good vs. evil. Fuck The System Anonymous, 60 minutes (USA) 2001 This video and musical montage documents the past two years of anarchist uprisings in Eugene, OR and around the world, featuring the controversial "Bush Killa" video which brought Eugene's cable access show "Cascadia Alive!" to the attention of the Secret Service, and "Police State" which looks at the fascist forces we are up against, with music by Dead Prez and much more! This is an excellent D-I-Y video combined with a Green Anarchist perspective.

The Wobblies
May 3rd, 7 PM
SFU Harbour Centre
admission by donation

The government of the U.S. says that anyone who doesn't support their war effort unconditionally is supporting the enemy. The press is being used to villify "dissenters" and "agitators", as enemies of and threats to "our way of life". War hysteria reigns supreme as "enemy aliens" are rounded up to be interrogated and jailed, or deported. The year is 1917, not 2001, but some things never change. All this and more, as IWW Vancouver presents a screening of the 1979 film "The Wobblies", narrated by Roger Baldwin, founder of the American Civil Liberties Union.
(Approximately 85 minutes)

Open Projector: A D.I.Y. Video Cafe
May 4th, doors @ 7:30 PM, show @ 8:00 PM, admission by donation
The Alley Gallery

Black Cat Video, in association with Mayworks and The Alley Gallery, presents "Open Projector: A D.I.Y. Video Café." Black Cat Video hosts an evening of participatory, do-it-yourself video screening, open-mike style, giving the audience an opportunity to bring their own works to screen. In an attempt to break through the barriers that the passive viewing of images encourages, the Video Cafe invites and requests submissions during the evening of May 4th. Videos on VHS or 8mm cassettes will be screened on a first-come basis, but may be limited in duration if they're too long. All styles are welcome but political content and artistic merit are both strongly encouraged! While viewing any number of monitors and screens placed in different rooms throughout the gallery, the audience and participants will also be able to view the Mayworks underground art show being presented simultaneously, and which continues throughout the duration of the festival. For more information contact David Barbarash at (250) 334-0319.

Innovation in Animation
May 5th, 8 PM
Blinding Light Cinema

Blinding Light Cinema and Asian Heritage Month Society present "Innovation in Animation," curated by Imtiaz Popat & Winston Xin.

DJ QBert brings his vision to the big screen in the film "Wave Twisters," an eye-popping, hip-hopping animated sci-fi/kung-fu epic synched scratch for scratch with his turntable masterpiece of the same name. "Wave Twisters" follows the adventures of the Inner Space Dental Commander whose destiny it is to revive the four pillars of the hip-hop culture: breaking and MCing, rapping, graffiti, and most importantly scratching. "Wave Twisters" defines a unique visual style analogous to the supercharged cutting and scratching of a turntable DJ.
(Michael Garon and Eric Henry, 2001, USA 46 minutes)

PLUS: "Sijjil" by Yasmin P. Karim

Journey for Lotus
May 5th, 9 PM
Blinding Light Cinema

This insightful debut from Korean-Canadian documentarian Eunhee Cha seeks to unravel the tension that exists between the Japanese and the Koreans. The Japanese occupation of Korea from 1910 to 1945 is a rarely discussed event of the 20th century, but it contains many of the disturbing hallmarks of colonization-control of the government and schools, forced cultural assimilation, violent suppression of dissent. Journey for Lotus just as importantly explores the beacons of light from the period: the extraordinary people on both sides of the conflict who struggled to inspire, encourage and protect the powerless. Narrated by Sandra Oh the film mixes interviews, archival footage and journals from the time of the occupation to create a moving and illuminating portrait of a history that demands to be understood if the wounds it caused are to be healed.
(Eunhee Cha, 2001, Vancouver, 58 minutes)

Poverty Outlaws: A Look at Baltimore - Poor Bashing Campaigns
May 8th, 7:30 p.m.
Carnegie Centre Theatre (Main & Hastings)
free Admission

Peoples' Opposition in their UNBLINDING ENLIGHTENMENT film presentation: "Poverty Outlaws: A look at Baltimore - Poor Bashing Campaigns." To be followed by a discussion.

Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the WTO!, with the UK's KOHOUTEK
May 8th, 8:30 PM
Blinding Light Cinema

Based out of various bedrooms and outhouses throughout the UK, KOHOUTEK is a media collective that has been around since the late '90s. Varying in number (between 3 and seven), and in medium, KOHOUTEK continue to search for that elusive big sponsor (!). We are pleased to have a member of the collective here in person to present two of their recent political works.

WTO: This film presents some of the reasons for the collapse of the WTO's 1999 meeting in Seattle, including peaceful street protest, civil society pressure and protest and non-cooperation from country representatives themselves. Shot inside the conference centre itself, this short is intended to provide a starting point for discussion.

REMOTE CONTROL: A film about the impact of the IMF and World Bank in the global South and the lack of attention these issues receive in the North. Shot in Prague in 2000, this piece focuses on the alternative summit and networks like People's Global Action. A discussion will follow the show with other WTO protest video included to contrast strategies and positions (photo credit to Oakes).

Film Night Fundraiser for the Anti-Poverty Committee
May 9th, 7 - 11 PM
Alley Gallery
sliding scale, $3 - $10

Two documentaries of labour and anti-poverty struggles; discussions to follow. Quiet music. Good times. The Anti-Poverty Committee fight for the rights and decent living conditions of all poor and working people in BC. They are grassroots, democratic, and provide direct action and solidarity to their constituency. Their first campaign attacks culpable businesses to end the $6 minimum wage.

Between the Devil and the Deep River / Born at Home
May 9th, 7 PM
Pacific Cinematheque

Human-made floods have devastated North Bihar. "Between the Devil and the Deep River" takes a look at the embankments on the Kosi River, a development model that devastates the lives of millions, and yet it is a failed model that no one is willing to abandon. (Arvind Sinha, 1999, 65 min, Bihar, India)

"Born at Home" observes indigenous birth practices in parts of India. Poised between social reality and the eternal mystery of childbearing, the film presents an intricate delineation of the figure of the dai (midwife) who is almost always a low-caste, poor woman.
(Sameera Jain, 2000, 60 min, North India)

Colours Black / Jari Mari: Of Cloth and Other Stories
May 9th, 9:30 PM
Pacific Cinematheque

Structured around the narratives of four children, "Colours Black" seeks to break the silence around the sexual abuse of children -- in this case among Bombay's well to do.
(Mamta Murthy, 2001, 30 min, Bombay, India)

The narrow lanes of the Jari Mari slum in Bombay house hundreds of sweatshops where people have no right to organize. "Jari Mari: Of Cloth and Other Stories" records the changes in the nature and organization of Bombay's workforce over the past two decades. Winner of Third Best Film Award at FSA.
(Surabhi Sharma, 2001, 74 min, Bombay, India)

King for a Day / My Migrant Soul / Our Boys
May 10, 7.00 PM
Pacific Cinematheque

When Bill Clinton agreed to visit Bangladesh in March 2000, the Bangladesh government began the biggest clean-up operation of Dhaka since 1971. "King for a Day" is a diary of a cynical journalist assigned to discover what the man-on-the-street thinks of the hoopla.
(Alex Gabbay, 2001, 33 min, Bangladesh)

"If I live, I'll write the history of my travels in Malaysia...I'll write a poem about it," said Shahjahan Babu, before leaving Bangladesh as a migrant worker. In "My Migrant Soul," Shahjahan's posthumous accounts, in the form of audiotapes, are a record of one man's hopes, disillusions and fears.
(Yasmine Kabir, 2000, 35 min, Bangladesh)

In these "Our Boys ", boys from a pop group and a young artist from the newly emerging upper middle class of Dhaka open up about duties and obligations, women and desire, confusion and contradictions.
(Manzare Hassin, 2000, 42 min, Bangladesh)

The Killing Terraces
May 10th, 1:00 PM
Pacific Cinematheque

With footage shot in the Nepali Maoist stronghold districts of Rukum, R$ Killing Terraces" attempts to understand the causes underlying the rise$ the state, and the devastating impact on the lives of the hill people.<$ (Dhruba Basnet, 2001, 40 min, Nepal)

King of Dreams / The Loom / Ramlila
May 10th, 9.30 pm

How many fantasies does a man have in his lifetime about sexual union? How often do his dreams substitute the act itself? And where exactly does love fit into the scheme? "King of Dreams" tries to answer these questions and show manhood in a new light.
(2001, 30 min, India)

"The Loom" is the story of a poet, a painter and a city. The poet is Narayan Surve, the painter Sudhir Patwardhan and the city Bombay -- both of them part of a left cultural movement in the city.
(Anjali Monteiro and K.P. Jayasankar, 2001, 49 min, Bombay, India)

Ramlila the spectacle is one thing for the audience and quite another for the performers, the filmmakers discover in "Ramlila" as they turn their camera on streetside Delhi. The documentary captures the fascinating behind-the-scenes discussions of those who would play Ram and Ravan.
(Ananth Sridhar, Sanjay Pande, Subash Kapoor, 2000, 28 min, Delhi, India)

A Sense of Place
May 9th, 7:30 PM & 9 PM
Blinding Light Cinema

7:30, "Rush For Spoils"
1857-1914. With the discovery of gold the face of the province is changed: population explosion due to the influx of miners and later Asian and European immigrants; exploitation of labour as the miners build the Cariboo Road and the Chinese build the railway; British Columbia joins the Confederation in 1871; the native communities are decimated by smallpox and the Indian Act is made into law; discrimination against Sikhs, Chinese and the Japanese explodes in the riots of 1907 and the Komagata Maru incident of 1914. (1996, 24 minutes)

A MIGRANT'S HEART Jatinder Verma was born in East Africa and went to England at the age of 14. His father left India sixty years ago and spent most of his working life on the railways, first in East Africa and then in the U.K. Verma explains through a trip back to India how he is caught between two worlds, struggling to preserve his cultural heritage while being acculturated into the lifeways of his adopted country. His story demonstrates how migrants think about their sense of place in relation to where they have come from, generating their own specific cultures as well as contributing to the process of cultural hybridization. (1996, 30 minutes)

9 PM, "Los Canadienses"
Between 1936 and 1939, over forty thousand volunteers from around the world fought to save Spain's constitutionally elected government. "Los Canadienses" is about the 1200 Canadians in the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion who joined that struggle. More than half of them never returned. Emotional, the film never lapses into sentimentality. Respectful, it is committed to the memory of those who truly believed in the cause of the Republic. (Eight awards, including Mannheim; New York and London.) (57 min, 1975)

Live Nude Girls UNITE!
May 10th, 6 PM
SFU Harbour Centre
admission by donation

This first person documentary follows Julia Query, lesbian/stand-up comedian/peepshow-stripper, and daughter of a feminist activist, on her raucous journey to help organize the only union of strippers in the United States. Shot on a variety of formats, "Live Nude Girls Unite!" weaves backstage and dancing footage with labor organizing, street protests, stand-up comedy and comic-book style "animation" making an intelligent and dramatic cutting-edge film. Needing a job to support her comedy habit, Julia finds that the most lucrative work available to her is as an exotic dancer at San Francisco's notorious Lusty Lady Theater. Never shy about her body, she decides to give it a go. She finds a world full of tough, iconoclastic, independent and joyful women whom she quickly comes to love. But Julia learns that these powerful women are tired of being exploited by club owners. The women complain of newly instituted stage fees which make dancers pay to work; of being asked to "date" the owners' friends, and of work that is becoming less like performing and more like prostitution every year. When dancers discover that they are being covertly videotaped for amateur porn, they decide that enough is enough. Julia and her colleagues head for the Service Employees International Union. Management responds by hiring a notorious anti-union law firm. So begins a battle that rocks the sex industry with street protests, lock-outs, and confrontations. Then Julia gets a call from the producers of the First International Conference on Prostitution inviting her to both present about the union and perform her comedy routine.

After accepting the invitation, Julia discovers that her mother, Dr. Joyce Wallace, well-known for her pioneering work with prostitutes and AIDS, is also scheduled to present at the conference. In an amazing and painful "coming out" sequence, Julia reveals to her mother that she is a sex-worker fighting to help sex workers, similar to her mother's efforts to save street-working prostitutes. But Julia's mother sees them as on the opposite sides of the sex war debates that have rocked the feminist movement for decades. While Dr. Wallace ardently speaks about the victimization of the women she helps, an equally impassioned Julia jokes that as a professional dominatrix she is working for social justice. But Julia's joking around barely covers up the cracks occurring in the world around her. The union drive is far more difficult and complicated than imagined, spirits are low, and her mother, furious at Julia not only for being a stripper, but also for tainting her professional reputation with the stigma of a sex-worker daughter, is not speaking to her.

Live Nude Girls UNITE! brings the parallel stories of unionizing and Julia's relationship with her mother through to their poignant resolution. Featuring guest speaker Carol Leigh (workshop to follow, see description in workshop section of this guide).

Serving the People: Journalism On Film
May 10th, 8:30 PM
Blinding Light Cinema

This evening's screening will feature "Live From Palestine," the latest feature documentary by Rashid Masharawi, a prominent Palestinian filmmaker. His new film deals with the daily struggle of Palestinian radio broadcasters as they attempt to cover the intifada in the occupied Palestinian territories. Rashid was born in Shati refugee camp in Gaza and now heads the Cinema Production Centre in Ramallah, Palestine. His work includes feature films, shorts and documentaries, and his film "Curfew" was previously shown at the Vancouver Film Festival. Panel discussion follows: "Canadian Reporting: An Obstacle to International Solidarity," hosted by RedEye, Voice of Palestine, and CANPALNET.

A Tribe of His Own: The Journalism of P. Sainath
May 11th, 8:30 PM
Blinding Light Cinema

When government propaganda and corporate spin are increasingly presented as fact, as fewer and fewer corporations control the news, "A tribe of His Own: The Journalism of P. Sainath" reminds us what the news media can be. With a groundbreaking series of newspaper articles and a critically acclaimed book, Sainath has staked a claim as one of the world's most important journalists. "A Tribe of His Own" follows Sainath to the Indian villages he writes about, and explores his contention, that "Journalism is for people, not shareholders." Director Joe Moulins' work has been seen and heard in Canada on CBC TV, CBC Newsworld and CBC Radio. Panel discussion follows: "Anti-poverty organizing and journalism in B.C." Hosted by Redeye and SANSAD.

A Sun Sets In
May 11th, 7:00 PM
Pacific Cinematheque

Documented through interviews, audiotapes and visuals, religious intolerance in Pakistan comes alive in this film. This is a life sketch of Bishop John Joseph, who laid down his life in 1999 to dramatically tell the world of the plight of religious minorities in his country. (Shahid Nadeem, 1999, 45 min, Pakistan)

We Homes Chap / The Bee, the Bear and the Kuruba
May 11th, 9:30 PM
Pacific Cinematheque

The centennial celebration of Dr. Graham's Homes in Kalimpong offers some old girls and boys a chance to revisit the site of their childhood and adolescence. Even as "We Homes Chap" courses through layers of sentiment, there is a gradual unfolding of real childhood, a testimony to powerful early experiences. (Kesang Tseten, 2001, 65 min, North Bengal, India)

"The Bee, the Bear and the Kuruba" looks at the forcible eviction of the Kurubas of the forests of Nagarahole and Kakanakote in the Western Ghats, which started in the early 70s. Today these forest dwellers have nowhere to go, and they find it hard to adapt to the new recommended way of life. They have become trespassers on their own lands. (Vinod Raja, 2000, 63 min, Karnataka, India)

Mothers Day Tribute to the Mothers of Iraq
May 12th, 1 PM
Baghdad Cafe
free admission

A slide Show on the affects of economics santions on mothers and their children. Presented by the Campaign to End Sanctions Against the People of Iraq (CESAPI).

Mother's Day Behind Bars
May 12th, 8:30 PM
Blinding Light Cinema

Joint effort presents: Mother's Day behind Bars. In Canada, 60% of women in prison are mothers and the majority of these women are the sole care-givers of their children. When a mother is sent to prison, her incarceration affects not only her life but the life of her children. In the award winning documentary "Locked In -Locked Out", the myriad of issues faced by imprisoned mothers and their children is examined. (Dir: Donna Davey Preece, 26 min)

In "Twice Condemned", against a backdrop of glaring lights, rattling keys and echoing hallways, women in prison reveal how their lives went wrong. With a borrowed video camera, the women give us an insider's view of life behind bars. "Twice Condemned" will provoke discussion on fundamental notions of right and wrong, free will, and the social responsibility for women in crisis. (Dir: Marie Cadieux, 54 minutes)

JOINT EFFORT is a group of women who work from an abolitionist perspective to support women in prison. For more information: http://www.vcn.bc.ca/august10/jointeffort.html

Kat Kosiancic's: Be My Junkie Shadow
May 14th, 8:30 PM
Blinding Light Cinema

"Kat Kosiancic's: Be My Junkie Shadow" is a frank, straightforward and honest conversation with women living in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. These women are addicted to heroin or cocaine and some are sex trade workers, but these labels have often hidden their remarkable charm, strength, and intelligence from us. Vancouver Sun film critic Katherine Monk raved, "The film is bound to pull you in as one moves from ignorance to enlightenment through (Kat's) eyes. Together, we hear the first-hand stories that lead to a life on the street, addiction and often, prostitution. We also get a chance to see how strong these women are as we hear about their dreams and desires, which seem to grow stronger as their bodies grow weaker. In the end, we don't see nameless victims at all - but beautifully warm people hoping for redemption." Kosiancic will be present to introduce the film and for discussion. (photo: by Leah Wiebe)

Spotlight on Oka
May 15 7 PM & 9:30 PM
Blinding Light Cinema

7 PM, "Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance"

On a hot July day in 1990, an historic confrontation propelled Native issues in Kanehsatake and the village of Oka, Québec, into the international spotlight and into the Canadian conscience. Director Alanis Obomsawin endured 78 nerve-wracking days and nights filming the armed stand-off between the Mohawks, the Québec police and the Canadian army. A powerful feature-documentary emerges that takes you right into the action of an age-old aboriginal struggle. The result is a portrait of the people behind the barricades, providing insight into the Mohawks' unyelding determination to protect their land. (1993, 119 min)

9:30 PM, "My Name Is Kahentiiosta"

Arrested after the 78-day armed standoff during the1990 Oka crisis, Kahentiiosta, a young Kahnawake Mohawk woman proud of her centuries-old heritage, is detained four days longer than the other women. Her crime? The prosecutor representing the Quebec government will not accept her aboriginal name. From the perspective of Kahentiiosta, we witness the arrest and detention of those who withdrew to the Treatment Centre after the Canadian Army advanced, and we learn why Kahentiiosta was prepared to die to protect the land and trees sacred to the Mohawk people of Kanehsatake. (1995, 29 minutes).

10 PM, Spudwrench: Kahnawake Man

Meet Randy Horne, high steel worker from the Mohawk community of Kahnawake, near Montreal. As a defender of his people's culture and traditions, he was known as "Spudwrench" during the 1990 Oka crisis. Horne was behind the barricades, resisting the efforts of the municipality of Oka to expand a golf course onto sacred Mohawk land. Horne is one of many Mohawk high steel workers who have travelled the continent, working on some of the world's tallest buildings--but have never lost touch with their roots. Spudwrench - Kahnawake Man is both a portrait of Horne and the generations of daring Mohawk construction workers that have preceded him, and a unique look behind the barricades at one man's impassioned defence of sacred territory. The third film in Alanis Obomsawin's series on the events of 1990. (1997, 57 min)

OCAP Strikes Back
May 15th, 7:30 PM
Carnegie Centre Theater
free Admission

Peoples Opposition in their UNBLINDING ENLIGHTENMENT Film Presentation: "OCAP Strikes Back". Look at the "common sense revolution" and how it generated action against union-busting, sweatshops, homelessness, and poor bashing. To be followed by discussion.

A Night of Indigenous Film
May 17th, 7:30 PM & 9 PM
Blinding Light Cinema

7:30 PM, "Incident At Restigouche"

On June 11 and 20, 1981, the Québec Provincial Police (QPP) raided Restigouche Reserve, Québec. At issue were the salmon-fishing rights of the Micmac people. Because salmon has traditionally been a source of food and income for the Micmacs, the Québec government's decision to restrict fishing aroused consternation and anger among the Indians. This film provides a historical perspective on the issue, and documents, with newsclips, photographs and interviews, the two police raids. An interview with former Québec Minister of Fisheries Lucien Lessard explaining the motives of his decision complements the Micmacs' account of the event. This investigation into the history-making raids is a powerful film that puts justice on trial. (1984, 46 min)

"Blockade: Algonquins Defend the Forest"

This film follows the Barriere Lake Algonquins as they take on the government and the logging industry in a struggle to save their traditional hunting grounds and way of life. In September, 1989, this small Native community blockaded six new logging roads, calling for a moratorium on logging and insisting that the government address their concerns. Filmed on location during the period of the blockade, this film raises important questions about our attitudes toward the environment, the exploitation of our natural resources and the rights and treatment of Native people. (1990, 26 min)

9 PM, "Village Of Widows"

On August 6, 1945, the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Three days later, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. In the remote Great Bear region of Canada's Northwest Territories, many of the Sahtu Dene people were not even aware that the Second World War was in progress, or that they had been directly involved in the production of the two bombs. Today, the Sahtu Dene live in the village of Deline. All but four of the village elders who worked as "coolies" during the war years, transporting uranium ore south in gunnysack bags, have since died from radiation-related cancer. Village of Widows explores the practical and spiritual response of the Deline villager's struggle with this terrible legacy. (52 min, Dir: Peter Blow)