Thursday February 8th to Sunday February 11th, 2007
William Doo Auditorium, University of Toronto
45 Wilcocks Street, New College
www.pjac.org
All screenings are Pay-What-You-Can
Event is Wheelchair Accessible and Childcare is available

prisonersjusticefilmfest@yahoo.ca

Come and join what has quickly become a central space in Toronto to discuss and learn more about issues relevant to prisons and their effects on all of us.

As always the festival will include discussion panels made up of people affected by the prison industry and opportunities to meet other people working for real justice and prison abolition.

This year, featuring performance and a prisoners' rights art workshop with CLIMBING POETREE www.climbingpoetree.com.

Opening Night

SURVIVAL, RESISTANCE AND GLORY: PRISONS AND BLACK COMMUNITIES

Introduction with Memorial to late Cree Artist Randy Charboneau and all those who have died in state custody, with music by prisoner Pete Collins.

The Eyes of the Rainbow: Assata Shakur and Oya, Dir. Gloria Rolando (1997) 47 minutes
A film about Assata Shakur, the Black Panther and Black Liberation Army leader who escaped from prison and was given political asylum in Cuba, where she has lived for close to 15 years. In it we visit with Assata in Havana and she tells us about her history and her life in Cuba. The US government has issued a $1 million bounty to capture Assata from Cuba.

I Won't Drown On That Levee and You Ain't Gonna Break My Back, Dir. The Corrections Documentary Project, (2006) 30 minutes
An investigation into Hurricane Katrina, centered on the city’s refusal to evacuate its local prison and the criminalization of storm survivors. The film looks at not only at the New Orleans Parish Prison, but a broader climate of racist brutality in the local and federal response to the disaster.

The Black Panther Party, the Six Nations Struggle, and the fight to Free all Political Prisoners
Dir. Tom Keefer (2006) 17 minutes
Robert Seth Hayes is a former member of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army who has been imprisoned for the past 33 years. In this video message he speaks about the Panthers, the struggle of the Six Nations people and sends a message of solidarity to Trevor Miller, a Six Nations political prisoner.

Speakers include Dara from the Hands Off Assata Campaign, Rai Reece from the Prisoners Justice Action Committee, Chris Harris from the Black Action Defence Committee, Colin Brown from the African Canadian Legal Clinic and Mayaba Liebenthal from Critical Resistance in New Orleans

Friday February 9th, 7-10pm
TORONTO WOMENS BOOKSTORE FILM FEST PARTY
Featuring performance by Climbing Poetree, Rosina Kasi, Tara-Michelle Ziniuk and others
Information about prison related campaigns
TWB at 73 Harbord Street, near Spadina

Saturday February 10th

1:00-3:00pm
WOMEN POLITICAL PRISONERS OF IRAN: MEMOIRS, MEMORIES AND ART

From Scream to Scream, Dir. Dr. PanteA Bahrami (2005)
The story of a young woman who spent eight years in jail for her political activism in Iran. In spite of her confinement, she produced more than 200 paintings and drawings and smuggled them out.

Event features an art exhibit. Speakers: Soudabeh Ardavan and Dr. PanteA Bahrami

4:00-6:30pm
BEYOND THESE WALLS: A JOURNEY INTO THE LIVES AND STRUGGLES OF WOMEN BEHIND BARS

Life Inside Out, Dir. Sarah Zammit (2005) 72 minutes
This verite-style documentary takes us inside the walls of Grand Valley Institution, one of five federal prisons for women in Canada. Here, most residents live in small houses they share with ten or more roommates, in an environment that is supposed to be more female-friendly than the notorious Kingston Prison for Women, now shuttered. The first documentary to go behind the walls of this new breed of prison, Life Inside Out features three unforgettable women over age 50, doing time in a system that can seem designed to frustrate and baffle. It's a world where arbitrary decisions, bureaucratic ineptitude and a Kafkaesque parallel justice system control every last detail of inmates' lives.

Charisse Shumate: Fighting for our Lives, Dir. Eve Goldberg & Claude
Marks (2005) 37 minutes
Made in collaboration with the California Coalition for Women Prisoners, the film focuses on the life of Charisse Shumate and other women prisoners in California. Charisse was a life term prisoner incarcerated for 16 years at the Central California Women's Facility. She died of complications from sickle cell anemia, cancer, and hepatitis C. Charisse stepped forward to defend the rights of women prisoners for health care and improved conditions inside the jails.

Speaker: Julia Sudbury, director Sarah Zammit and Helena Dobson

7:00-10:00pm
RESISTANCE & CREATION: STORIES OF FIRST NATIONS PRISONERS

Patrick Ross, Dir. Ervin Chartrand (2005) 6 minutes
A portrait of ex-prisoner Patrick Ross. At Manitoba's Stoney Mountain Penitentiary, Ross met artist Terry Southwind, and started to paint. We watch Patrick create one of his paintings while he shares his thoughts on his art, his time in jail and his hopes for the future.

504938C, Dir. Ervin Chartrand, 6 minutes
A short drama of a young man Ryan Black coming to grips with the harsh challenges of his release from prison.

Fire on the Horizon, Dir. Blonde Indian Productions (2002), 9 minutes
This is the story of Neal "Patches" Freeland and his journey after many years of being away and the impact on his friends and family.

Free Trevor Miller: Six Nations Political Prisoner, Dir. Community Friends
Productions. / Tom Keefer (2007) 17 minutes
A short film covering the December 9, 2006 protest outside the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre to free Six Nations Political Prisoner Trevor Miller.

Speakers: Families of Trevor Miller and Christopher Hill, Neal "Patches" Freeland, representative from Spirit of the People, Wanda Whitebird and closing performance by Wabowe Whitebird. Audio piece with Tanya Neill and Patricia Monture.

IN MEMORY OF LATE CREE ARTIST RANDY CHARBONEAU

Sunday February 11th

CREATING THE REVOLUTION: A PRISONERS' RIGHTS ART WORKSHOP WITH CLIMBING POETREE
S.T.I.T.C.H.E.D. project by Alixa and Naima, two Brooklyn-based artists, who use art to confront the Prison Industrial Complex.

"Both tragic and uplifting, thoughtful and rousing, Climbing PoeTree's performance lifts listeners up off their chairs into an uncharted terrain of power and possibility. Equipped with ink and soul, Alixa and Naima use their art to expose injustice, heal from violence, and generate vision to help us all imagine a more just and compassionate world." www.climbingpoetree.com

4:00-6:30pm
WITHOUT TRIAL OR CHARGES: PSYCHIATRIC INCARCERATION

Inquiring Minds, Dir. Jeff Myers (2005) 45 minutes
From the halls of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education to the Council Chambers of Toronto City Hall, this documentary follows the Coalition Against Psychiatric Assault along their journey of organizing public hearings about people's experiences with psychiatric drugs and electroshock. As person after person testifies to damage and abuse, a clear indictment of psychiatry emerges.

Learning Memory, Dir. Liisa Schofield (2006) 24 minutes
This personal film tells the experiences of the director's mom, Paivi, as she received Electro-Convulsive Therapy (ECT) in 1983-84. It gives background and history to the controversial treatment and challenges the current use of ECT as a so-called psychatric 'therapy'.

Speakers: Don Weitz of the Coalition Against Psychiatric Assault, Dorothy Proctor and Kim Pate from the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies

7:00-10:00pm
OUR BODIES, THEIR PRISONS: TRANS PEOPLE IN PRISONS

Cruel and Unusual, Dir. Janet Baus, Dan Hunt and Reid Williams (2006)
66 minutes
Women, transgender women such as Ashley, Linda, Anna, Yolanda and Ophelia, are incarcerated in men's prisons across the U.S. from Wyoming to New Jersey and Florida. Denied medical and psychological treatment, victims of rape and violence, the documentary asks if the punishment for their crime is indeed cruel and unusual?

Panel Discussion to Follow with Yasmeen Persad and more.

9:00-10:00pm Closing Ceremonies - Featuring Climbing PoeTree

10:00pm - After Party at Ciao Edie's
489 College Street w/DJ Nikki Red

Join us for another year of art, film, video and discussion designed to bring the walls down here and around the globe!

SPONSORS:
Women & Gender Studies Institute, U of T
OPIRG Toronto
PASAN - Prisoners HIV / AIDS Support Action Network
John Howard Society Toronto
Social Justice Cluster, U of T
Centre of Criminology, U of T
Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies, U of T
CUPE 3903
Equity Studies, U of T
New College, U of T
Shahrvand
CKLN 88.1fm
CIUT 89.5fm
Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies
Buried Alive Illustrations
Xtra Magazine

(Donations of dictionaries for prisoners are welcome, paperback only, please)