The No Boundaries Film Club presented the 2013 Traveling Community Film Festival this past weekend with 14 documentaries over three days.
Here are some reviews.
My Neighbourhood
My Neighbourhood by Rebekah Wingert-Jabi and Julia Bacha, is a faintly optimistic film about the efforts of a minority of Israeli Jews to protest against the eviction of Palestinians in East Jerusalem.
The film focuses on Sheikh Jarrah, a section of East Jerusalem inhabited by Muslim Palestinians for decades, and the neighbourhood of 12-year-old Mohammed El Kurd.
It is being taken over by ultra-conservative Jewish settlers who believe that their right to the land is of biblical origin.
The level of religious fanaticism depicted in the film by the settlers is equal in ferocity to that displayed by the Muslim extremists more frequently seen in mainstream media.
The film shows the systematic takeover of the neighbourhood, supported by the government and the army. Because the story is told through young Mohammed’s eyes, the viewer wonders how all the violence toward his family will affect him.
However, the filmmakers choose to leave the viewer sharing the optimism expressed by Mohammed after he witnesses the participation of several thousand Jews protesting side-by-side with the Palestinians.
He decides that he would like to pursue a legal career to fight for Palestinian rights.
After watching the tactics of the belligerent and callous Jewish settlers and listening to the self-serving and simplistic religious justification for their actions, the viewer had been afraid he might decide to seek a more violent course of action. – Jim Holtz
Paraiso for Sale
Paraiso for Sale, highlighted the loss of property rights of the indigenous people of the Boca del Toro islands in Panama.
The story, which has repeated itself many times in many other places in the world, demonstrated the difficulties that the poor, native peoples in underdeveloped countries face when the land on which they live turns out to be desired by the wealthy.
Though supposedly guaranteed property rights by the Panamanian constitution, the local inhabitants of Boca del Toro are nevertheless removed from property on which they have lived for many years by foreigner developers who have used money, the legal system and political influence to dispossess them.
The impact of the film was enhanced by filmmaker Anayansi Prado’s decision to focus on three quite different individuals affected by the foreign takeover:
- Feliciano, an activist who takes the fight for the rights of his Ngobe Bugle people all the way to the UN.
- Dario, who tries, but fails, to rally the support of the poor to win the local mayoral race.
- A retired couple from Florida, who must give up their retirement home when they can no longer afford to fight a developer’s claims that all their legal documentation is invalid.
Only Feliciano vows to keep fighting the developers.
His perseverance is especially admirable because he has no illusion about the difficulties he faces battling powerful interests, weak and corrupt officials, and pervasive indifference toward his people. – Jim Holtz
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth
Go big or go home you say? Not according to director Dave Gardner in his doc GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth. With his campaign for Colorado Springs’ council as a side story, Gardner discusses his staunch anti-growth stance.
The director examines situations in Atlanta, Mexico and even the White House.
Despite, water shortages and some species being endangered, many people – whether it be politicians, economists or developers – are banging on the “we must have growth” drum, much to Gardner’s disdain.
“Our growth-centric system is broken. It’s not providing the happiness or the prosperity we seek. But that’s good news; it means a shift to a sustainable model will be good for us. We’ll be happier and more prosperous,” he says.
An interesting topic given all the talk of population growth, sustainability, the rising price of real estate and increase in development in many areas of British Columbia but a little too preachy for my liking. Gardner seems a little too self-righteous despite his valid concerns. – Karl Yu