Just Film Festival screens Valentino's Ghost, The Troublemaker, and Uyghurs: Prisoners of the Absurd

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      Valentino’s Ghost

      A title card explains that Michael Singh’s acclaimed (and recently updated) 2012 film has screened in over 127 countries, “and will be shown on American soil when we procure a broadcaster”.

      The sarcasm is real. Valentino’s Ghost is a devastating overview of Hollywood’s politically driven portrayal of Arabs and Muslims, from the romantic icon of the title to the relentless demonization we see today.

      The film closes this year’s Just Film festival at the Vancity Theatre on Saturday (February 13).  

      Also...

      Those looking for a fix of social justice in an increasingly unequal world have other reasons to check out the Just Film Festival.

      Uyghurs: Prisoners of the Absurd is Patrico Henríquez's full-length doc about three of 22 Chinese Muslims jailed in the U.S. detention facility in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

      Remarkably, these members of the persecuted Uyghur minority weren't sent there from Afghanistan or even China. No, they were captured in the Middle East after fleeing the Middle Kingdom for freedom. Then they were sold to U.S. forces, hence becoming "prisoners of the absurd". 

      In case you're wondering, there are Uyghurs in Vancouver. In the past, they've rallied outside the Chinese consulate on Granville Street. Don't be surprised if some of them show up at the screening at the Vancity Theatre at 7 p.m. on Friday (February 12).

      The Troublemaker offers a glimpse into the inner workings of the United Nations through Nicaraguan priest Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann. A passionate advocate of liberation theology (a progressive Catholic movement vehemently opposed by Pope John Paul II), Brockmann secretly joined the Sandinistas after graduating from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

      The Los Angeles-born priest became Nicaragua's foreign minister in 1979 and six years later, was suspended from the priesthood. Brockmann was only reinstated  in 2014 by Pope Francis.

      The Troublemaker shows how a left-wing priest, Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann, tried to reform the United Nations.

      From 2008 to 2009, the left-wing diplomat served as president of the UN General Assembly, which is what director Roberto Salinas focuses on in The Troublemaker.  The director of photography, Bliss Holloway, will be available for questions from the audience after the film ends. The screening is at the Vancity Theatre at 8:50 p.m on Friday (February 12).

      Protest films are running all day Saturday (February 13) as part of the Just Film Festival at the Vancity Theatre. The first is a 22-minute short called "Knitting Nannas Against Gas"., which screens at noon. It features Australian women of all ages holding demonstrations against the coal-seam gas industry by sitting on lawn chairs, drinking tea, and knitting. Opponents of fracking natural gas in B.C. might find this form of protest educational.

      That's followed by Milk Men at 1 p.m. It's psychologist Jan Haaken's 76-minute film about the challenges facing family dairy farms in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. The director will be at the screening and will answer audience questions.

      The Milk Man probes the fate of family dairy farmers in Washington state.

      Up after that at 3:10 p.m. is "Facing Fear". It's Jason Cohen's Oscar-nominated 23-minute doc about a meeting between a former neo-Nazi and a gay man he targeted 25 years earlier. The second part of this double feature is "Nefertitti's Daughters", an acclaimed 39-minute Egyptian doc on how street art influenced the revolution that overthrew dictator Hosni Mubarak.

      Closing out the afternoon at 4:30 is The Wanted 18. It's a 75-minute doc about how the purchase of 18 cows in a West Bank town in 1987 prompted an intense reaction from the Israeli army. The previous day's doc about Uyghurs isn't the only Just Festival Film that includes a touch of absurdity along with a sizeable dose of repression.

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