Finally, the media gets it (almost) right

Posted by in Cinema Politica

occupation101.jpgThe Montreal Mirror printed a story today about a recent screening of a Cinema Politica film at Concordia that I helped organize. While the piece does make me sound like some raving, volatile activist freak, hats off to Patrick Ljtenyi, for printing my quote on the ILLEGAL OCCUPATION of Palestinian land by the Israeli government. It’s the first time any media has had the chutzpah to include the descriptor “illegal” in my quote. Shalom!

From the Mirror (it’s short, so instead of linking, I’m reprinting…hopefully they don’t sue me):

ConU Film Paranoia by Patrick Ljtenyi

Cinema Politica, the weekly political movie night spinning its spools at Concordia’s main theatre downtown, is drawing a beefed up security presence, especially when films on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are screened. And that’s freaking organizer Ezra Winton right out.

Last week, Winton received a letter from the administration stating that he’d have to pay some $400 to cover the costs of additional security guards for last Tuesday’s screening of Occupation 101, a documentary about ongoing unpleasantness in the not-so-Holy Land. He also couldn’t sell DVDs of the film outside the theatre, in pursuance of Concordia policy (Winton says they give the DVD out in return for donations, which his organization depends on). Outraged, he kicked up a fuss and the university eventually relented, footing the bills themselves. But even the presence of four additional guards unnerves him.

“We’ve shown over 100 movies since we started” almost five years ago, he says. “But the only movies that ever run into administrative roadblocks, in terms of security, are ones that are critical of the illegal occupation of Palestine by the Israeli government.”

Winton says other Cinema Politica groups at Dalhousie and Ottawa universities are feeling a squeeze as well. “There’s a trend to cleanse students of any political activity,” he says.