Here are some photos of our amazing students!

Come join us tonight at the TIFF Bell Lightbox for our screening of Director Susan Youssef’s “Habibi”! Co-presented with the Toronto Palestine Film Festival, Habibi follows the tragic romance of Layla (Maisa Abd Elhadi) and Qays (Kais Nashef), university students whose blossoming passion is interrupted when they are forced to return home to their families, their student visas having been revoked during the latest wave of restrictions. As Qays is too poor to convince Layla’s middle-class family that he can provide for her, the young lovers are trapped between two fires: the physical barriers of political oppression and the restrictive, patriarchal ideology of the oppressed themselves. Habibi portrays the reality of the Palestinian occupation with acute intelligence, and boldly proposes that emancipation begins with the individual.

The screening will be introduced by Human Rights Watch Researcher for the Middle East and North Africa Division, Bill Van Esveld, followed by a brief introduction from actress Maisa Abd Elhadi who plays “Layla” in the film.

Buy your tickets online at tiff.net, over the phone at 416-599-TIFF (8433) or in person at the TIFF Bell Lightbox! The film starts at 8 so don’t miss it!

Each of the amazing films to be screened at this year’s Festival will be accompanied by equally outstanding guest speakers who will provide our audiences with unique insight into the critical issues represented in each of the films.

Special Flight

Executive Producer Elise Shubs.

Habibi

Actress Maisa Abd Elhadi via Skype and Bill Van Esveld, Researcher, Middle East & North Africa Division, HRW.

The Bully Project

Dr. Claire Crooks, Assoc. Dir. CAMH Centre for Prevention Science.

Color of the Ocean

Director Maggie Peren via Skype.

Burma Soldier

Director Nic Dunlop via Skype and Elaine Pearson, Deputy Director, Asia Division, HRW.

This is my Land Hebron

Director Stephen Natanson via Skype.

The Price of Sex

Director Mimi Chakarova and Liesl Gerntholtz, Director, Women’s Rights, HRW.

Granito: How to Nail a Dictator

Director Pamela Yates via Skype.

The Island President

Director Jon Shenk via Skype.

SOLD OUT!

Barbara Jackman, a Canadian lawyer specializing in immigration and refugee law, introduces tonight’s film, Illégal, a psychological thriller with a social commentary background.

The film revolves around Tania, a fictitious 39 year-old Russian woman who has been living illegally in Belgium for some ten years with her 14 year-old son. Although the authorities refused her application for asylum, she manages to find a job and send her son to school. One day, a police check leads to her arrest.  She is placed in a detention center while her young son manages to escape and takes refuge at a friend’s home.

Ms. received her undergraduate degree from the University of Windsor in 1972, her LL.B. from the University of Toronto in 1976, and was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1978. She has been described as being one of Canada’s most effective advocates for immigration and refugee rights.

Alexis MacDonald, Director of External Relations for the Stephen Lewis Foundation introduces tonight’s film, Life, Above All, the stunning adaptation of Allan Stratton’s best-selling 2004 novel Chanda’s Secrets.

Shortlisted for this year’s Academy Awards® as South Africa’s official entry, Life Above All tells the story of an African family torn apart by the AIDS pandemic.

Khomotso Manyaka plays ‘Chanda’, a young girl in a small, AIDS-ravaged South African township who struggles to maintain a façade of normal life amidst utter instability: her stepfather is an alcoholic, her newborn sister has recently died, and her mother has become afflicted with the AIDS virus. When Chanda’s mother’s illness becomes openly apparent, the community turns against the family, interpreting it as a form of retribution for their sins.

To purchase tickets for tonight’s screening of Life, Above All phone 416-599-TIFF (8433) or 1-888-599-8433. Tickets can also be purchased, in person, at TIFF Bell Lightbox Box Office, Reitman Square, 350 King Street West, Toronto.