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Pontecorvo In The Park For Peace
Where can you find popcorn lovers and peaceniks together? At a politically conscious film fest—in a park, no less!
Tomorrow is the final night of Peace Reel: an anti-war focused outdoor film festival co-presented by the Toronto-based collective, Artists Against War (AAW) and by CitizenShift, an initiative of the National Film Board. Over the past month, Peace Reel has organized a free Sunday-night series of short films and documentaries at Christie Pits Park.
This week, Peter Raymont (the award-winning Canadian filmmaker of Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Romeo Dallaire) will be introducing Gillo Pontecorvo’s 1965 film The Battle of Algiers. If you haven’t seen it yet, this recently remastered classic portrays the Algerian struggle for national independence from its occupying colonial French masters. The film won the Venice Film Festival Grand Prize and was nominated for three Academy Awards including Best Screenplay, Best Director and Best Foreign Language Film. The film was so controversial it was banned in France for five years upon its release. The Battle of Algiers is a must-see for anyone interested in Italian cinema, docudramas, or contemporary armed struggle—like the ongoing war in Iraq. The main feature will be preceded by two shorts: Juggling in Mosul and Career Opportunity.
So bring your blankets, popcorn, and patchouli and be there for 8 p.m.!
Photo by Arieh Singer from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.