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Human Rights Film Festival To Launch In Montreal

jhr [1]Journalists for Human Rights [1] has partnered with the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) to bring DocFest [2] to Montreal. DocFest is an annual film festival coordinated by JHR that showcases documentary films on rights media – compelling stories that foreground human rights issues across the globe. It will run from March 2nd– 3rdshowcasing short and feature length documentaries at the CinĂ©ma du Parc theatre on 3575 Park Avenue.

This year jhr and CMHR are proud to screen six documentaries over two days. The line-up includes such critically acclaimed films as The Team, Beyond Gay: The Politics of Pride and Tin City Voices.

The Team has been screened at HotDocs [3], the Human Rights Watch Film Festival, the Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival, the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival and the AFI / Discovery Channel Silverdocs Festival. It’s a politically charged documentary about a Kenyan soap opera called The Team, which follows the struggles of a co-ed multi-ethnic soccer squad to overcome their differences, both on and off the pitch.

Beyond Gay: The Politics of Pride has won awards from numerous film festivals, showcasing the fight for true human equality through Pride parades around the world. It has been screened at over 60 festivals and Pride events around the world.

Director of Tin City Voices Elijah Marchand was awarded Top Emerging Filmmaker at the Toronto Urban Film Festival for his film, which is about the struggles of living in the slums of Georgetown, Guyana.

In previous years, DocFest has screened films to sold-out audiences at the National Films Board of Canada’s Mediatheque in Toronto, and included such films as Seeking Refuge by Karen Cho, which aired on CBC Newsworld.

Film Festivals such as Rights Media DocFest are paramount in exploring the world we face today,” said 2010 Festival Director Sophie Langlois. “The submissions are groundbreaking and stimulate interesting discussions for all audiences.

“We are proud to partner with JHR for DocFest,” said Canadian Museum for Human Rights President and CEO Stuart Murray. “This provides us with a great opportunity to promote our mandate of raising awareness and fostering dialogue on human rights issues in Canada and abroad.”

Rights Media DocFest gives documentary film makers the platform and audience members the arena to be made aware of their human rights.