Speaking of Artists Against War

I wrote this article about the Peace Reel Film Festival that Artists Against War organized last year for the website of the Canadian Labour International Film Festival. CLIFF is launching in 2009 but has begun planning now. Check it out.

When we launched Artists Against War in February, 2003 we had no money, no infrastructure and no staff (much like today, actually). But with a looming war, we knew we had to do something.
And so in the space of two months we organized the One Big No festival in Nathan Philips Square, which culminated in a concert with some of Canada’s biggest name acts, including Sarah Harmer, Jian Ghomeshi and the Lowest of the Low. We estimate that 20,000 people came out over the course of the event, which included 96 acts and dozens of arts displays and community tables, with several thousand at the final concert alone.
We’re now five years distant from the high point of the anti-war movement and the One Big No festival but we’ve continued to organize because the wars continue. And if the neo-cons and Harper’s Tories have their way, we’ll be in Iran next.
The need to sustain a culture that stands against the war agenda still exists.
It was with this in mind that we decided to organize the Peace Reel Film Festival last year.
None of us had ever organized a film festival before. As with One Big No, we had no funding sources save our own pockets – we’ve raised thousands of dollars over the years but we’ve given it all back to the movement, for buses to protests, for War Resisters, etc.
But we felt there was a need and that we had a good idea: an outdoor film festival dedicated to anti-war and anti-imperialist films.
We decided on Christie Pits Park, which has a natural slope that makes it perfect for theatre-style outdoor seating. And we decided on one feature length film each Sunday for four weeks over July and August.
If we were to have any success we knew that we would have to have films that were a draw. Classics became fifty percent of our program with The Battle of Algiers as our closing night screening and Kahnesetake: 270 Years of Resistance, about the Oka Standoff in 1990, on another night.
As luck would have it, the Omeish brothers released their incredibly powerful documentary on Palestine, Occupation 101, in the United States but not in Canada. We contacted them and they agreed to have Occupation 101 premiere at Peace Reel – and one of the brothers, Sufyan, would come up and introduce the film.
Then we contacted the producer/director of The Prisoner: or how I planned to kill Tony Blair. It screened the year before at TIFF to good reviews but hadn’t gotten a wide release.
There was now a full program of features and we put out a call for shorts, as well as soliciting others. It was way to get a wider exposure for local artists than they might otherwise have the opportunity to achieve.
The opening day of the festival it poured rain and we bit our nails. Sufyan arrived safe and sound with a suitcase filled with DVDs to sell to help cover their debts from the film. We were worried that nobody would be there to buy them.
We located the screen near a covered picnic area, which meant that if it continued raining we could set up under shelter. But still: would anyone come?
Then half an hour before sunset, the rain stopped and as showtime approached the people began arriving, first by trickles and then in groups. Soon it was standing room only underneath the picnic area. Over 200 people showed up.
There was a great discussion and Sufyan received a standing ovation for his film. He sold all his DVDs.
The premiere was a high point for the Festival, to be sure. But the remaining events were also successes: over 100 people came every other night. The final night, filmmaker Peter Raymont (Shake Hands with the Devil) introduced The Battle of Algiers to a crowd of 135 people. Close to 600 people came out over the course of the Festival.
There’s something wonderful about sitting on a hillside in a park and watching great films about some of the most important struggles of our times
It’s an opportunity to build a community of resistance that shares the time-outs, as well as the hard work; about infusing the air we breathe in our little corner of the world with the dream that a better world is possible. Isn’t that part of what winning change is all about?

Artists Against The War

The Society of Illustrators in New York city has an exhibit of anti-war illustrations on display from January 3 until January 28. It's being held in conjunction with The Nation magazine. There's some beautiful and disturbing work there by some of America's leading illustrators. If you're in New York you can see it in person. Definitely check it out. And while we're on the subject of artists against the war - Artists Against War in Toronto, Canada has set up a Facebook group that is growing fast. We've been around since 2003, organizing events and fundraisers for the anti-war movement. Last summer we held an outdoor film festival called Peace Reel, that is planned again for this summer. And our annual conference - Art Changes Everything - is coming up April 12. So, get on over to Facebook and hook up with us.

Films For Peace

So, tonight was the third installment in the Peace Reel Film Festival, organized by Artists Against War in Christie Pits Park, here in Toronto. It's been a great event, nothing quite like watching movies under the stars (or the barely visible spots in the sky that pass for stars in the city). There's no doubt that the event was a great success by all accounts (except that most elusive of accounts - money. We're not allowed to charge, only ask for donations).
The first screening in the series was the Canadian premiere of an incredible film about the Israeli Occupation of Palestine, Occupation 101. Things looked dreary on the day, to be honest, with a major downpour and looming black clouds into the evening. Not the kind of thing which brings people out to an outdoor event. But still the people came - nearly 200 of of them, which is a sure sign of how important this issue is to people, and to the buzz around the film. AAW flew one of the filmmakers up from LA - Sufyan Omeish - to introduce the film and take questions. He was extremely articulate on the issues (not surprising since he and his brother spent 6 years making the film).
The next week the crowd wasn't as large but still respectable at 80 people for Kanehsatake: 270 years of resistance. This film is now more than 10 years old so the fact that it can still draw people speaks to its power and to the issue. It's about the Indigenous occupation of a planned construction site on indigenous land at Oka in Quebec. With the recent national day of action for land rights, this film still has lots of relevance. It was preceded by a short film called Mohawk Smokes - about how the Mohawk community at Tyendinaga, in Ontario, have been selling tobacco to raise money for a traditional longhouse and for community services. One of the directors, Audrey Huntley, along with Doreen Silversmith, an indigenous representative from Six Nations, spoke to the films and the issues within them.
Back to tonight... It was bigger than last week with over 100 showing up to see the screening of The Prisoner: or How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair - a film about a journalist in Iraq who was arrested by US troops and held for 9 months, including in the notorious Abu Ghraib. He was told that he was involved in a plot to kill British Prime Minister Tony Blair. If it weren't for the very real horror that Yunus, the subject of the film, and his brothers suffered it would be a comedy.
Anyway, there's just one more week to go in the Film Festival - which I believe to be Canada's only outdoor film festival. Next week will be the classic anti-colonial film, The Battle of Algiers. If you're in Toronto, you don't want to miss it. It's an incredible movie, so sharp on the issues and reality of foreign occupation that the Pentagon screened it for some of its officers as a lesson in what not to do. Apparently they weren't paying attention.