Reel Awareness

Amnesty International presents:
Reel Awareness - Toronto's Human Rights Film Festival, 22nd to 25th November 2007

7:30 - 10:00 pm RADIO OKAPI, THE PEACE WEAPON
Pierre Guyot / France/ 2006 / 52min
Toronto premiere

In 1994 “the thousand hills radio” in Rwanda followed minute by minute the last genocide of the 20th century when over a million people died. The Democratic Republic of Congo also experienced a devastating civil war that produced millions of victims. With the help of journalists, Radio Okapi was born from a will to do things differently: to bring people fair and balanced information and to make radio an instrument of peace.

“Autrement Vu” Award, Festival International du Grand Reportage et du Documentaire de Societe (France)
Special Jury Prize, Festival International du Film des Droits de l’Homme de Bangui (Central African Republic)
GUEST SPEAKERS: Olivia Ward, Foreign Affairs writer, Toronto Star; Daniel Baird, Arts Literature Editor,
WALRUS Magazine; Beth Berton-Hunter, Media Officer, Amnesty International

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 25

2:30 - 4:30 pm CHILD SLAVERY
Richard Alwyn/BBC/UK /2007/ 90min


It's almost 200 years since the abolition of slavery in most countries. But across the world, the slave trade is booming like never before - a business worth billions of dollars a year. As many as 14 million children are enslaved today worldwide - more than at any time in history. Children are bought and sold like bags of sugar. They break stones in quarries, clean and cook for their owners, work the plantations and service Western sex tourists. They are beaten, abused, denied any contact with their family and often worked to death. Many of their captors do not see the practice as wrong. This film tells five extraordinary stories of children around the world, who share their experiences of slavery in their own words.

Q&A session after the film with Renee Saviour, Amnesty International