Changing the world with film

By Dan Hilborn
Published Oct. 30, 2004


Don Wright has always wanted to change the world. He just never imagined that one day, he'd be doing it as the director of one of the fastest growing film festivals in the province.

Wright, a native of New Westminster and former SFU student, is busy these days preparing for the eighth annual Amnesty International Film Festival, running Nov. 3 to 7 in Vancouver.

"Before I came to Amnesty, I worked in a variety of non-profit and arts associations where I saw the value of holding festivals to bring people together," Wright said recently. "I asked myself, what is the greater community doing to make us think of human rights? And film was a natural answer to that question."

The festival features 30 different documentaries, many of them being shown for the first time in Canada, plus the world premieres of two short Canadian films.

Wright said the festival is an important part of making the world a safer and more respectful place.

"We want people in the Lower Mainland to be aware of the human rights issues that people around the world are facing," he said. "But we don't only look at the challenges, we also look at the champions of human rights.

"These are high-quality documentaries that are also important stories of the struggle, and the passionate ways in which people are joining the struggle.

"But it's not enough to just show what's wrong with the world. There's also a message of hope that you can be of help if you want to get involved."

While the festival does not have a formal theme, many of the films tackle the issue of violence against women.

The festival opens on Nov. 3 with the Canadian premiere of Until The Violence Stops, a 60-minute film that looks at the grassroots movement that grew out of playwright Eve Ensler's production of The Vagina Monologues.

Also featured on opening night is the Vancouver premier of local director Linda Conway's film When Hockey Came To Belfast, the story of two Irish teenagers who learn to overcome their religious differences while playing Canada's national game. Produced for the National Film Board of Canada, this 50-minute documentary looks at the realities of life in 'post-conflict' Ireland that still has 40- foot fences dividing Catholic and Protestant neighbourhoods.

Among those world premieres at the AIFF is Passing the Torch, a 25-minute film by Vancouver producer Eric Chan that chronicles the annual march and vigil at the Chinese Consulate on Granville Street to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. The film follows a group of friends who originally joined the vigils as young children in the company of their parents, and their growing commitment to seek justice for people who are killed or imprisoned for peacefully expressing their desire for democracy.

Another world premier is for The Dance of the Valkyrie, a five-minute short by Canadian producer Alexis Fosse Mackintosh that mixes infrared images of an Apache helicopter attack in Iraq with similarly lit scenes of improvisational dance and city life.

Wright said a small group of local Amnesty International members helped to select the films for this year's festival after reviewing the offerings at similar festivals across the United States and Europe over the past year.

And his personal favourites are two films that look at the state of human rights in this hemisphere.

"I really appreciate Hide in Plain Sight, which looks at U.S. involvement in Latin America through the School of the Americas," Wright said. "Another film I think is really interesting is Death Squadrons: The French School, which looks at the French role in bringing death squad tactics to North America, based on their experiences in Algeria in the 1960s."

And after the Amnesty International Film Festival wraps up in Vancouver on Nov. 7, Wright will then be responsible for taking a small package of the films on tour to other cities across B.C.

Advance tickets to the festival start at $8 for one movie ($6 for matinees, students, seniors or the unemployed), $30 for a five-show pass, and $50 for a 10-show pass. For more information, visit Amnesty International's website at www.amnesty.bc.ca/filmfest.