Film Categories: political activism

  • Eighth Day, The

    The film systematically shows man destroying man. It is about war and inhumanity. Largely assembled from newsclips and elaborate montage of still photographs. While working on the film, I came to realize that the strongest thing about violence and the most abstract thing about violence is its sequential nature, that war has never stopped, and that it is just the leading of one conflict into another conflict. I could keep this film going forever…. Available on DVD on “Charles Gagnon: 4 Films.”

  • Eye of the Mask

    “Eye of the Mask” reveals for Canadian audiences another view of life in Nicaragua. Set against the backdrop of the 1979 Sandinista revolution and the continuing contra attacks, many Nicaraguans were involved in the resurgence of popular theatre. It’s theatre based on both folkloric and experimental techniques. Judith Doyle and her crew focus on one of the most exciting and important of these theatre groups – Nixtayolero (Dawn Star) and its director, Alan Bolt. The film follows Nixtayolero as they travel to perform in remote, rural areas. Their work, and the response of their audiences, is juxtaposed with film of…

  • Final News Report

    In this film, one evening’s TV news broadcast from an American channel is juxtaposed with the soundtrack of daily game shows, commercial messages and other found sounds from television viewing. How and what events get capsulated into the 30-second clip? What are the messages of such reductions? Certain themes of militarism, arms use, and the deployment of new weapons recur as symbols of American manhood and popular culture. The film suggests that the choice of news events and the way they are reported reveals more than mere facts. This reductive process necessarily contains the hidden ideology of our times, how…

  • For a Woman in El Salvador, Speaking

    Claudina Calderon, pregnant, with a small son, disappeared in San Salvador, abducted by government security forces. Her plight generates this filmic meditation, creating the voice of her mother through poetry, music, and murals to dramatize the story of one woman who stands for many. This film was made for the Women’s Association of El Salvador (AMES). With Susan Freundlich, sign artist, and the voices of Carolyn Forche and Yanira Chacon.

  • Harris Project, The

    In 1996, four young filmmakers graduate from post-secondary studies to find a provincial government that has implemented a “Common Sense Revolution.” This film follows the filmmakers’ personal struggles as they try to complete a low-budget, short documentary about a right wing governmental plan that will forever change the economic landscape of Ontario.

  • Moffie Called Simon, A

    “A Moffie Called Simon” is a collage of photographs, letters, TV footage and dramatic sequences presenting the case of Simon Nkodi, a black gay activist and student leader in South Africa, who has been in jail for nearly two years. Based on letters from Nkodi and his lover, Ray, a Canadian gay journalist, “A Moffie Called Simon” also explores connections between anti-apartheid struggles and gay liberation.

  • Now That We Are Persons

    Until 1929, Canadian women were told that they couldn’t be senators. Our Constitution, the British North American Act, (BNA) said that only qualified “persons” could be appointed. The government of the day understood that to mean men only. So, in 1927, five Albertan women challenged this definition of “persons” in court. On October 18, 1929, the British Privy Council, then the highest court of appeal in Canada, ruled that the word “persons” could include both men and women. With this new historical interpretation, women won the right to be eligible for the Canadian senate.

  • October 25th + 26th, 1996

    During the Metro Days of Action, a 150’ long building was inflated using the air vents in front of Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square. The October Group action references both public institution and temporary home to protest the erosion of our city. Music by Dirty Three.

  • Blissfully Ignorant

    An incredibly angry and political film about the state of the world.

  • Solidarity

    A film on the Dare strike of the early 1970s. Hundreds of feet and legs, milling, marching and picketing with the word “solidarity” superimposed on the screen. The soundtrack is an organizer’s speech on the labour situation. Like her films “Rat Life and Diet in North America,” “Pierre Vallieres” and “Reason Over Passion,” “Solidarity” combines a political awareness, an aesthetic viewpoint and a sense of humour unique in Wieland’s work. Image description: Plain black laced shoes and bare or white-stockinged ankles of a person standing on green grass, a metal-tipped umbrella at their side. White text superimposed over the middle…