Friday, November 13, 2009

CANADIAN LABOUR INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Nov. 28 & 29

From all the endorsers of this festival we would like to invite you, your family and friends in joining us in our upcoming Film Festival. Please extend our invitation and information to other people you may think would be interested in coming to such and event. We hope to see you there.

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 28

1:00pm Camas Books 2590 Quadra
24 Days in Brooks
Producer: Dana Inkster (2009 - 42:03 min.)
In a decade, tiny Brooks, Alberta has been transformed from a socially conservative, primarily Caucasian town to one of the most diverse places in Canada. Hijabs have become commonplace, downtown bars feature calypso and residents speak 90 different languages.
Immigrants and refugees have flocked here to work at Lakeside Packers - one of the world's largest slaughterhouses.
Centering on the 24 days of the first-ever strike at Lakeside, this film is a nuanced portrait of people working together and adapting to change. They are people like Peter Jany Khwai, who escaped war in Sudan, wears an African shirt and a cowboy hat, and affirms his Canadian identity as well as his determination to fight for his rights. Or Edil Hassan, a devout Muslim born in Somalia, who counts her hours of organizing and picketing among her proudest moments.
As 24 Days in Brooks shows, people from widely different backgrounds can work together for respect, dignity, and change - even though getting there is not easy.

2:00pm BCGEU Main Hall
SIX WEEKS OF SOLIDARITY
Director: Victor Dobchuk (199 - 9:21 min. Canada) English and French
A look at the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike, 75 years later.

2:15pm BCGEU Main Hall
WORKERS IN PERIL, UNION IN ACTION
Director: Michael Connolly (2009 - 44 min. Canada) English and French dub.
Covers the recent recession's effect on workers, and auto workers specifically. Also touches on pension and severance issues. Great footage and editing. Narrated by Jian Gomeshi.

3:10pm BCGEU Main Hall
TANAKA-SAN WILL NOT DO CALLISTHENICS
Director: Maree Delofski (2008 - 75 min. Australia) English
Filmed in Japan, this film follows Tanaka-san who was let go from his job at Oki Electric Manufacturing Company 25 years ago when he refused to conform to militaristic working expectations. Back then workers thought they had jobs for life, so Tanaka-san sings in front of his old office each day and will do so until he receives an apology and re-instatement.

4:35 pm BCGEU Main Hall
THE INVISIBLE FORCE: WOMEN WORKERS IN PAKISTAN
Director: by Aisha Gazdar (2007 - 28 min. Pakistan) English
There are millions of women workers in Pakistan who remain unaccounted for in official figures. Even those who are in the formal workforce face problems like lower wages for the same work as men and sexual harassment. This film touches on these struggles and more. A real eye-opener.
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2:00pm BCGEU Smaller Room
WAL-MART NATION
Director: Andrew Munger (2007 - 61 minutes, Canada) English
What do you get when you mix union activists with price conscious shoppers; anarchist protestors with political organizers; Jessica Simpson and Miss America? You have an entertaining and occasionally hilarious documentary about the international anti-Wal-Mart movement.

3:10pm BCGEU Small Room
IF A BODY MEET A BODY
Director: Brain Davis (2008 - 20 min. U.S.) English
Award winning student filming that takes a quick look at three workers in the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office. Warning - graphic content and a few graphic scenes

3:35pm BCGEU Small Room
WHO KILLED CHEA VICHEA?
Director: Bradley Cox (2009 - 56 min. U.S.) English
Chea Vichea served as president of Cambodia's garment workers' union until he was gunned down on the street in 2004. Filmed over four years, the movie explores the motives for Vichea's assassination and unravels a police plot that framed two men, who were sentenced to 20 years in prison.

4:40pm BCGEU Small Room
VINEGAR IN THE VALLEY
Directors: Robin Hartwig, Zac Minor and Zac Petrillo (2009 - 21:27 min. U.S.) English
Charts the rise of the United Farm Workers movement, the rise to power of Cesar Chavez and its impact on the Salinas Valley during the 60's, 70's and 80's. Looks at the conflict from all sides by interviewing growers, union members and others. A strong student finished production.
3:30pm Small Room
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7:00pm BCGEU Main Hall
LIVE MUSICAL PERFORMANCE with the great 25 piece Vancouver Solidarity Labour Notes Choir and local musicians Art Farquharson & Randy Caravaggio

8:10pm BCGEU Main Hall
SEEDS OF PEACE
Director: Andre Kloer & Maaike Broos (2009 - 50 minutes, Israel) English
Jawdat Talousy worked in a Jewish Settlement located on the West Bank. He was fired because he established a labour committee in order to get equal labour rights as Israeli co-workers. In the settlements labour laws for Palestinians are ambiguous and law enforcement is weak. Follow Jawdat's struggle to fight for his rights as well as learn about how this ambiguity affects other Palestinians in the settlements.

9:10pm BCGEU Main Hall
THE PHILOSOPHER KINGS
Director: Patrick Sheen (2009 - 70 minutes, U.S.) English & Spanish
A great non-fiction tale that is moving and will really make your audience think about the value they place on all workers. The movie goes deep into the most well-respected and prestigious universities to seek wisdom from the people who see it all and have been through it all: the janitors.
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SUNDAY NOVEMBER 29 BCGEU HALL 2994 DOUGLAS

2:00pm BCGEU Main Hall
HOLD THE LINE
Director: Min Sook Lee (2009 - 15:47 min. Canada) English
A restrained story-telling of the 2009 CUPE strike in Windsor, ON. Excellent shots of Windsor backed by a moody soundtrack, this film tells the story of a strike from the workers' poin of view. The economy is being used as a tool to claw back workers' rights. When workers go on strike, it becomes clear that it is a sign of the times. The message is "Hold the Line."

2:20pm BCGEU Main Hall
POOR NO MORE
Director: Bert Deveaux (2009 - 45 minutes, Canada) English
In the present economic crisis with industries collapsing and commodity prices falling many Canadians a destitute and many others are on the brink. Against this climate, a couple of Canadians go on a road trip to Ireland and Sweden, with comedian Mary Walsh as their guide, and get a chance to see how other countries have helped people like themselves. This movie will break your heart, split your side and open your mind to new possibilities. Not the least of which is: If other countries can do it, why can't we?

3:15pm BCGEU Main Hall
HERSTORY - JERITAN
Director: Cecilia Ho Wing Yin (2009 - 74 min. China) English
A story on the Indonesian female migrant workers who left their homes to work as domestic helpers in Macao, China, a community consisting mainly of Chinese as well as a city of casinos and entertainment parlours. This films shows the lives of these migrant workers who find emotional solace in songs and dances they share with their female compatriots on Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro (San Ma Lo).

4:40pm BCGEU Main Hall
WITNESS TO THE HARVEST PILGRIMS
Director: Vincenzo Pietropaolo (2009 - 10:30 min. Canada) English
Vincenzo Pietropoalo has documented the story of the Mexican migrant workers over a number of years. This is just a brief look into that story.

4:55pm BCGEU Main Hall
PAINTING RED SQUARE
Director: Max Fraser (2009 - 5 min. Canada) English
7000 kilometres from Moscow, there's another Red Square. Witness the struggle of the labour-left in Whitehorse, Yukon to find a friendly watering hole where they can share a glass with their comrades and debate which shade of red is best. Beer, popcorn and a little paint get spilled along the way.
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2:20pm BCGEU Small Room
BUS DRIVER
Director: Dominique Basi (2009 - 11:20 min. Canada) English
Follows Karnel Basi, a public transit bus driver in South Vancouver, along his regular route through the downtown east side to the heart of the city and back again. Along the way he picks up a variety of passengers, struggles to stay on schedule and keep his bus safe. A good student film.

2:35pm BCGEU Small Room
SECOND CHANCE - UNION MADE
Director: Kelly Candaele (2008 - 55 min. U.S.) English
Follow the lives and work of six ex-gang/prison members who turn their lives around by entering the Pipefitters, Ironworkers and Electric Workers Unions. Inspirational.

3:40pm BCGEU Small Room
JUSTICE FOR ALL?
Director: Kyle Russell (2009 - 8:49 min. Canada)
Legal Aid failing low-income workers in BC

3:50pm BCGEU Small Room
NORTHLAND: LONG JOURNEY
Director: Edie Steiner (2007 - 16 min. Canada) English
Taking a quick look back at the director's father, Albert Steiner, and his life as a miner. Detailing his death, which was caused by working in the mine, and the reality of getting compensation from mining companies at that time. A touching story.

4:10pm BCGEU Small Room
SCHOOL ZONE
Director: Jamie Way (2008 - 6:30 min. Canada) English
Humourous video that explores the benefits and protection OSSTF/FEESO has gained for members through advocacy and collective bargaining. Highlights a number of different issues.
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7:00pm BCGEU Main Hall
LOS MEXICANOS: THE STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE OF PATRICIA PEREZ
Director: Charles Latour (2007 - 60 min. Canada) English subtitles, French and Spanish
Every year, some 4000 migrant foreign workers coming mostly from Mexico labour in Quebec farms to plant and pick our vegetables. In the summer of 2006, Patricia Perez, a pro-union militant speaking for the UFCW, launches a major drive to organize the workers in several farms South of Montreal. She struggles to protect them by bringing them under a union that would give them the same rights as Canadian agricultural workers. This film is about the injustices of globalisation not in the Third World, but here at home in Canada.

8:10 pm BCGEU Main Hall
FROM THE EDGE OF THE BLADE
Director: Johan Genberg (2007 - 65 min. U.S.) English
On June 14, 2006, when police forces attacked thousands of teachers in Oaxaca, Mexco, the annual strike turned into a widespread popular rebellion. A broad social movement of teachers, social organisations, unions, students, activists, and indigeneous communities took over the city in an effort to change the devastating conditions imposed on them by international trade agreements and corrupt politicians.
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Sponsored by:
Island Solidarity Centre Society, Goods for Cuba Campaign, Victoria Labour Council - CUPE Solidarity Committee, Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid - Camas Books, Vancouver Island Public Interest Research Group, Central America Support Committee, Farabundo Martí National Liberation (FMLN)

We thank all our volunteers and the BC Government Employees Union for contributing the hall

Support Our Work

Since we would like as many people as possible coming to the festival there is no admission fee. However if there are anyone who can contribute towards the cost of putting the festival on that would be greatly appreciated. If there are any funds leftover after expenses are paid they will go towards establishing the Solidarity Centre that our Island Solidarity Centre Society is working towards. For more info. on the centre please visit our website at: http://www.islandsolidarity.ca

Cheques can be made out to “Island Solidarity Centre Society” and can be mailed at: 39 - 250 Russell St., Victoria, BC V9A 3X2

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