Toronto Human Rights Watch Film Festival

Powerful Photography by the late Tim Hetherington – “Sleeping Soldiers”

staff — Thu, 03 May 2012 15:04:00 +0000

Tim Hetherington, Kelso, 2007 - 2008, © Tim Hetherington / Magnum Photos

The powerful photographic work of Tim Hetherington is featured this month as part of CONTACT’s public installation programme. “Sleeping Soldiers” will appear on a billboard on the NE corner of Landsdowne, at the intersection of College and Dundas in Toronto. Other billboards of his work are appearing across Canada from April 30 – June 3. The images were shot during the filming of the Oscar-nominated documentary, Restrepo (2010), the film Hetherington co-directed with Sebastian Junger about the soldiers of a U.S. Airborne Infantry platoon based in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan

For those of you unfamiliar with his work, Hetherington was a photojournalist and filmmaker covering and documenting wars mostly in West Africa and the Middle East. Tim was killed a year ago with his friend and photographer Chris Hondros while covering the conflict in Libya.

Tim Hetherington was a great friend of Human Rights Watch working to help document the conflicts in places like Chad, Darfur and Sri Lanka.

To learn more about the work of Tim Hetherington and his collaboration with Human Rights Watch please go to: http://www.hrw.org/features/tim-hetherington
The link to “Sleeping Soldiers”:http://scotiabankcontactphoto.com/public-installations/979
To find out more about CONTACT (the world’s largest photography festival): http://scotiabankcontactphoto.com/
The trailer to Restrepo a film Tim made with Sebastian Junger that won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 2010: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-DjqR6OucBc#!

The Tim Hetherington Foundation is currently being established to provide assistance to struggling students, artists and those in need around the world. For more information and details on where to send donations, please go to: www.timhetherington.org

Cross-Canada Billboard Locations

Vancouver
Howe St at Drake St & Nelson St
3 horizontal billboards, 10 x 20 ft

Calgary
9 Ave SE at 13 St SE
5 horizontal billboards, 10 x 20 ft

Saskatoon
Pacific Ave at 22nd & 23rd St
4 horizontal billboards, 10 x 20 ft

Winnipeg
Isabel St at William Ave
4 horizontal billboards, 10 x 20 ft
2 vertical billboards, 16 x 12 ft

Montreal
Van Horne Ave at St. Laurent & St Urbain
3 horizontal billboards, 10 x 20 ft

Dartmouth
North St at Alderney Dr
2 horizontal billboards, 10 x 20 ft

Supported by Pattison Outdoor Advertising and Nikon Canada.

Curated by Persilia Caton and Bonnie Rubenstein

Thank You Students!

staff — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 16:29:21 +0000

A big “thank you” to the Ryerson students in Prof. Robert Teigrob’s Global Studies class who participated in the Service Learning program and organized the “Special Flight” screening on campus. Several students produced excellent power point presentations on the Human Rights Watch Film Festival and highlighted the various films they saw at the 2012 Festival.

Inaugural Human Rights Watch Book Series – April 18th 2012

staff — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 20:08:30 +0000

Please join the Human Rights Watch Canada Committee and Authors at Harbourfront Centre for the inaugural Human Rights Watch Book Series celebrating the launch of the new book:

The Unfinished Revolution: Voices From the Global Fight for Women’s Rights:

The Unfinished Revolution tells the story of the ongoing global struggle to secure basic rights for women and girls, including in the Middle East where the Arab Spring has raised high hopes. More than 30 writers, Nobel Prize laureates, leading activists, top policymakers, and former victims have contributed to this anthology. Drawing from their personal experiences, they tackle some of the toughest questions involving the rights of women and girls, and suggest fresh solutions to complete this still unfinished revolution.
Learn more here: http://www.hrw.org/unfinished-revolution

Featuring a conversation about women’s rights in the world today with:

Minky Worden – Minky Worden is Director of Global Initiatives at Human Rights Watch and editor of The Unfinished Revolution: Voices From the Global Fight for Women’s Rights. She is also the editor of China’s Great Leap and Torture. She previously served as Human Rights Watch’s Media Director, working with the world’s journalists to help them cover crises, wars, human rights abuses and political developments in some 90 countries worldwide

Erna Paris – Erna Paris is the author of seven acclaimed works of literary non-fiction and the winner of ten national and international writing awards for her books, feature writing, and radio documentaries. Her works have been published in fourteen countries and translated into eight languages. Long Shadows: Truth, Lies, and History was chosen as one of “The Hundred Most Important Books Ever Written in Canada” by the Literary Review of Canada.

Michele Landsberg – Michele Landsberg is a journalist, activist and author. An Officer of the Order of Canada, she is also the recipient of the Governor-General’s Persons’ Medal for her tireless advocacy on behalf of women. Michele was a columnist for the Toronto Star for twenty-five years and won two National Newspaper Awards during that time. She is the author of: Women and Children First, Michele Landsberg’s Guide to Children’s Books, This is New York, Honey! and the recently published Writing the Revolution.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18th, 2012

6:15 pm – Cocktail Reception & Celebration of the Canada Committee’s 10th Anniversary

7:30 pm – Human Rights Watch Book Series (Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queen’s Quay West, Toronto)

To purchase tickets, please call the Harbourfront Centre Box Office at < ?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = SKYPE ?> 416.973.4000 or visit www.readings.org. The Box Office is open Tuesday – Saturday, 1pm to 6pm.

Special: $50 (Book Series, Reception, and signed copy of the book)

*$40 patrons, AUTHORS members, students, youth 25 & under

Regular: $10 (Book Series only)

*FREE for AUTHORS members, students, youth 25 & under

Human Rights Watch Film Festival Co-Presentation of “Call Me Kuchu”

staff — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 16:18:19 +0000

As part of the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival running from April 26 – May 6, 2012, Human Rights Watch will be co-presenting the film “Call Me Kuchu”. The film centers around the rights of gay and transgendered individuals (called “kuchus”) in Uganda where over 40 per cent of the population is Roman Catholic. The film follows the bold efforts of activist David Kato in uncovering the new anti-homosexuality bill, which proposes a death sentence for HIV-positive gay men, and highlights Kato’s attempts to denounce the homophobic laws in his country.

Screenings are on the following dates:

Wednesday, May 2nd @ 9:45 pm – Isabel Bader Theatre

Thursday, May 3 @ 7:00 pm – TIFF Bell Lightbox 1

Saturday, May 5 @ 9:00 pm – Isabel Bader Theatre

Tickets are $14.50 and can be purchased through the Hot Docs website at www.hotdocs.ca, by phone at (416)-637-5150, or by email at boxoffice@hotdocs.ca.

Student Involvement at this year’s Festival!

staff — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 15:46:29 +0000

This year’s Festival could not have been pulled off so seamlessly without the unwavering support and involvement of conscious and engaged students from various campuses. Whether they were promoting the Festival at their own campus, volunteering at a screening or simply attending, Human Rights Watch acknowledges and appreciates the support that students bring to the Festival and to our overarching goal of spreading awareness of human rights abuses worldwide.

Here are some photos of our amazing students!