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| The Supreme Price |
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| Gabrielle |
The festival also includes one of my favourite films of last year, Louise Archambault’s Gabrielle, which received my pick for the best Canadian film of 2013. (It also repped Canada at the Oscars and won two
Canadian Screen Awards including Best Film, if you want some second opinions!) Seeing Gabrielle in the context of a human rights film festival invites
audiences to engage with the core of the film—the rights of the developmentally
challenged—as Gabrielle (Gabrielle Marion-Rivard) experiences love on her own
terms and defies her caregivers by exploring a fruitful relationship with
fellow choir member, Antoine (Alexandre Landry in one of the breakout
performances of Canadian film last year). It’s hard to imagine a more
infectiously likable film than Gabrielle
at the festival, so Ottawa filmgoers best not miss their last chance to see it
on the big screen.
Screening this year at the University of Ottawa Human Rights
Film Festival are:
The Supreme Price
2 Oct 2014, 7:00 pm
Dir. Joanna Lipper | USA, Nigeria | 2013 | 75 min | English
Synopsis: Following
the annulment of her father's victory in Nigeria's Presidential Election and
her mother's assassination by agents of the military dictatorship, Hafsat
Abiola faces the challenge of transforming a corrupt culture of governance into
a democracy capable of serving Nigeria's most marginalized population: women.
-Professor Pius Adesanmi of Carleton Univeristy will lead a post-screening discussion.
-Professor Pius Adesanmi of Carleton Univeristy will lead a post-screening discussion.
Gabrielle
3 Oct. 2014, 4:00 pm
Dir. Louise Archambault | Canada | 2013 | 108 min | French,
with English sub-titles
Synopsis: Gabrielle
is a young woman with Williams Syndrome who has a contagious joie de vivre
and an exceptional gift for music. Since she met her boyfriend Martin at
the community center where they are both choir members, the two have
been inseparable. However, because they are “different” their loved ones
are fearful of the relationship. As the choir is preparing for an
important music festival, Gabrielle does everything she can do earn her
independence. But despite her determination, Gabrielle must still confront
the prejudices of others as well as her own limitations in the hope of
experiencing real, even extraordinary, love with Martin.
-Review:
“an irresistibly heartwarming
and soul-stirring story.”
-Canadian Screen Award winner: Best Film and Best Actress
(Gabrielle Marion-Rivard)
-Sonya Nigam, Director of the uOttawa Human Rights Office, will lead a post-sceening discussion.
-Sonya Nigam, Director of the uOttawa Human Rights Office, will lead a post-sceening discussion.
El Huaso
4 Oct 2014, 4:00 pm
Dir. Carlo Guillermo Proto | Canada, Chile | 2012 | 78 min |
Spanish and English, with English and French subtitles
Synopsis: Struggling
with short-term memory loss, Gustavo has retired from his business and finds
some solace in his homeland of Chile by pursuing a childhood dream - competing
as a "huaso" in rodeos. Awaiting the results of tests to determine
whether he has Alzheimer's, and having long professed he would end his life if
it became unbearable, he begins making preparations for his death, while his
family struggles to accept his decision to end his life. El Huaso explores the
pivotal point in one man's life where he takes it upon himself to shape his own
mortality.
-Director Carlo Guillermo Proto and Dr. Simon Hatcher of uOttawa will lead a post-screening discussion.
-Director Carlo Guillermo Proto and Dr. Simon Hatcher of uOttawa will lead a post-screening discussion.
Portraits in a Sea of Lies (Retratos en un Mar de Mentiras)
4 Oct. 2014, 7:00 pm
Dir. Carlos Gaviria | Colombia | 2010 | 91 min | Spanish,
with English sub-titles
Synopsis: Nomadic
photographer Jairo (Julian Roman) and his mute cousin Marina (Paola Baldoin)
are abducted by paramilitaries during a road trip to the Columbian coast to
reclaim their late grandfather's land
-Winner of over 20 international festival prizes, including
the City of Venice Award at the prestigious Venice Film Festival.
-Associate Professor Alberto G. Flórez-Malagón will lead a post-screening discussion.
-Associate Professor Alberto G. Flórez-Malagón will lead a post-screening discussion.
For Those Who Can Tell No Tales (Za one koji ne mogu da govore)
4 Oct 2014, 9:15 pm
Dir. Jasmila Žbanić | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 2013 | 75 min
| English and Bosnian, with English and French sub-titles
Synopsis: An
Australian tourist discovers the silent legacy of wartime atrocities when she
arrives in a seemingly idyllic little town on the border of Bosnia and Serbia.
-Official Selection 2013 Toronto International Film Festival
-Associate Professor Jamie Liew will lead a post-screening discussion
-Associate Professor Jamie Liew will lead a post-screening discussion
I Am a Girl
5 Oct 2014, 4:00 pm
Dir. Rebecca Barry | Australia | 2013 | 98 min | Khmer,
French, Ewondo, Farsi, Tok Pisin, and English, with English and French
sub-titles
Synopsis: In I am a Girl, we meet 14-year-old Kimsey
from Cambodia, forced to sell her virginity at 12; Aziza from Afghanistan, who
will be shot if she goes to school; Breani, a teen living in a ghetto of NYC
and dreaming of stardom; Katie from Australia, who is recovering from a suicide
attempt; Habiba from Cameroon, betrothed to a man 20 years her senior; and Manu
from Papua New Guinea, about to become a mother at 14 following her first
sexual encounter. As they come of age in the way their culture dictates, we see
remarkable heart-warming stories of resilience, bravery and humor.
-Special guest TBA.
-Special guest TBA.
Admission for all film screenings is $10 for the general
public and $5 for Full time students and CFI members. Festival passes are also
available for $40 (general) and $20 (students/CFI members).
All film screenings take place at the Alumni Auditorium in
the Jock Turcot University Centre, 85 University St. at uOttawa.
Seminar
“Bearing Witness to Injustices: Filmmaking in Advocacy and
Research Method”
October 4th, 2:00pm to 3:30pm | Admission is
free.
Fauteux Hall (Room 413), 57 Louis Pasteur Building at the
University of Ottawa.
To register, contact workshops@sawvideo.com.
Please visit www.cdp-hrc.uottawa.ca
or www.cfi-icf.ca for more information.
Contest!
Do you want to win
tickets to the uOHRFF opening night film The
Supreme Price? If so, you are in luck! Thanks to the Canadian Film Institute, we have two (2) pairs of tickets to give away to The Supreme Price. All you have to do to
enter is answer the following question:
What classic film opened the inaugural edition of the University of Ottawa Human Rights Film Festival last year?a) All the President’s Menb) Rome, Open Cityc) Missingd) The Killing Fields
Send your answer and full mailing address to contests@cinemablographer.com
with the subject “Human Rights.”
(One email entry per
person, please.)
Contest closes
Sunday, Sept. 28 at 5:00 pm.
The University of
Ottawa Human Rights Film Festival runs Oct. 2-5.
