The Individual and Society (I)

In Black and White

Michael McGarry
10 min. 1979

This work asks the viewer to re-examine the right of the police to harass adults because of their sexual preferences. A careful, precise film which raises the question in a reserved and understated style.

In the Company of Fear

Velcrow Ripper/ Produced by Jill Sharpe
Reel-Myth Productions
52:00 min. 2007
Available on DVD and VHS

Colombia is notorious for its politics of fear. In the Company of Fear explores the power of non-violent resistance to oppose state terror, through the work of “Protective Accompaniment”. This is a strategy whereby foreign volunteers offer human rights activists the un-armed protection of an international presence. The theory is that countries that kill their own people don’t want the world to know about it. In quest for the roots of violence the film examines the international community’s role in generating and deterring terror.

From the film: “San Pablo is a town controlled by the guerrillas, but the paramilitaries are moving in. Just before we arrived, four activists were abducted in a paramilitary roadblock. They turned up the next day, arms, legs and heads cut off by chainsaws. Marco Tulio is the lone, local human rights activist. Marco is under serious threat now, and Peace Brigades volunteers stay with him several times a week–to show the “paras” the outside world is watching.”

Subject(s): Community dynamics, Ethics, Fear, Globalization, Human rights, International relations, Latin America, Politics

Infinity Child

Lori Reid
Common Weal Community Arts
5:30 min. 2003

Infinity Child, a segment of the I Can See Queerly Now project from Regina's Common Weal Community Arts, maps the moments of fear and excitement as a young Métis woman re-unites with her mother after a 26-year separation. The two women discover they've harboured the same questions about each other during their many years apart and shared more than a few personality traits. Their meeting becomes particularly poignant when the daughter reveals a fear of rejection due to her sexuality and non-traditional family situation.

Subject(s): Adoption, Family, Gay, Identity

Inside Boystown

Louise Walker
Poignant Productions
49 min. 2002
Also available on DVD

Inside Boystown is an intimate portrait of the lives of six male prostitutes who work the streets in Vancouver's chic Yaletown district. It blends interviews with the boys with commentary from three support workers who explain the dynamics of male street prostitution: Paul Harris, a street nurse who specializes in working with high risk youth, Sandy Cooke, the executive director of Covenant House Vancouver and Christopher Graham, the director of the Ministry of Children and Families Safe House and Detox programs. The film provides an honest and forthright look at a commonly hidden aspect of contemporary society.

Subject(s): Addiction, Health - AIDS, Sex trade workers, Sexual abuse, Sexuality, Youth

It's a Party!

Peg Campbell/Cineworks
12 min. 1986

It's a Party follows the disintegration of a social event in an unusual fashion. The film was shot with a stationary camera facing the hallway and living room of a small apartment. Actors continually move in and out of frame, while three sound units capture every word of deadly dialogue on those perennial party topics: art, politics, and sex. Chaos begins when the first guest arrives just as the hostess finishes washing her hair; subsequent guests crowd into any room but the living room, and a riotous conga line attempts to integrate an irate neighbour. "Reminiscent in conception and style of the late great Jacques Tati (with a dash of Robert Altman)." (Russell Wodell)

Award: Winner, Northwest Film Festival

Subject(s): Humour

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