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Tonight’s Film: ‘Back Home, Tomorrow’ With Special Guest Shelley Saywell

March 4 | 2010 Film Festival, Back Home Tomorrow, HRWFF Special Guests | julie

Human Rights Watch Film Festival | Shelley Saywell

Tonight’s film, Back Home, Tomorrow, focuses on two children who confront changed lives in very different circumstances after becoming victims of war-torn environments. Yagoub has fled Darfur to the Mayo refugee camp in Khartoum, Sudan, where he waits for a heart operation to save his life. Seven-year-old Murtaza has lost his left hand to a land mine in Afghanistan. In heart-rending detail, directors Fabrizio Lazzaretti and Paolo Santolini follow Murtaza and Yagoub from their initial admission into hospitals in Kabul and Khartoum, respectively, to their release months later.
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Tagged afghanistan, darfur, fabrizio lazzaretti, paolo santolini, shelley saywell

Back Home, Tomorrow: Program Notes

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January 12 | 2010 Film Festival, Back Home Tomorrow | julie

Back Home Tomorrow | Toronto Human Rights Watch Film Festival

Children often become casualties of wars they inherit and can’t escape.

Back Home Tomorrow focuses on two children who confront changed lives in very different circumstances after becoming victims of war-torn environments. Yagoub has fled Darfur to the Mayo refugee camp in Khartoum, Sudan, with his family.

The teen is in dire need of a heart operation to save his life, and his family and tribe are faced with the seemingly insurmountable challenge of raising the money needed for his surgery. His life hinges on medical access that is beyond the means of his community.

Hope arrives through Emergency, an independent Italian NGO that provides free surgical treatment to civilian victims of war, land mines, and poverty.

In Kabul, Emergency helps Murtaza, a seven-year old boy who has lost his left hand to a land mine. We see the hospital and rehabilitation centre through this innocent child’s point of view, while watching the victims of war struggle to regain their independence. Both stories are interwoven to provide a rich experience of hope provided to the most vulnerable.

Directors Fabrizio Lazzaretti and Paolo Santolini share the silent aftermath of war and, through the recovery of these victims, a plea for peace.

Program Notes by Alex Rogalski

Tagged afghanistan, darfur, fabrizio lazzaretti, paolo santolini, sudan

Toronto Closing Night Reception

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February 24 | A Love During The War, HRWFF Closing Reception | julie

a love during the war closing night

A co-presentation between Cinematheque Ontario and the Human Rights Watch Toronto Committee featuring a screening of A Love During The War.

A Love During The War manages a remarkable feat, telling an uplifting story of love that is utterly uncontrived, while situating it within the context of
a bloody war and the horrifying phenomenon of systematic rape committed by militias and armies in the Congo.

Special Guest Sgt. Debbie Bodkin will share stories of her experience in Sudan and the continuing plight of the people of Darfur. In 2004, Sgt. Bodkin worked as an investigator with the United Nations Commission of Inquiry for Darfur in Sudan, searching out and interviewing victims, witnesses and suspects of the occurring horrific crimes.

Dr. Sumeet Sodhi, Director of Research and Operations for Dignitas International will introduce the film.

6:00 pm Reception
Bau-Xi Gallery, 340 Dundas Street West

7:30 pm Film Screening
Art Gallery of Ontario’s Jackman Hall, 317 Dundas St. West
(McCaul Street entrance)

$30 Ticket includes reception and film screening
or film tickets only: $5.90 for Cinematheque or AGO members and $10.14 for non-members (GST and fees not included).

To order tickets for the closing reception, please visit Eventbrite, the online event registration service.

To purchase tickets for the film only, and other Toronto Human Rights Watch Film Festival screenings, call 416-968-FILM, visit or the TIFFG Box Office, located at Manulife Centre, 55 Bloor Street West, Main Floor (North Entrance).

Human Rights Watch is grateful for the generous support of Closson Chase Vineyard, Hero Ventures Ltd. and Kim Samuel Johnson.

Closing Night Reception is in support of Human Rights Watch.