May 2024
justNEWS
YOU’RE INVITED!
CJFF Annual General Meeting
WHEN: June 11, 2024 at 7:00 p.m.
WHERE: River Park Church, 3818 14a St SW, Calgary, AB T2T 3Y2
WHY: To elaborate and tell you all about our 2023 CJFF accomplishments as well as to discuss the challenges we face. Here’s why we need your participation at our AGM:
Learn about what CJFF has been active in 2023
Hear about what we anticipate for 2024
Ratify incoming new board members
Get to know other people interested in the medium of film to inform about local and global social justice issues
And maybe, just maybe, you will want to get involved with CJFF
DO: To help us effectively plan for our AGM, please click here to indicate you will attend this meeting.
In preparation for our next CJFF Annual General Meeting, this justNEWS issue provides some of the reports and materials to be shared at that meeting.
Okotoks Film Festival
The Calgary Justice Film Festival and the Okotoks Film Festival are proud to be partnering this year to provide an evening of important film-making at each of our festivals. OFF will host its inaugural Justice Film Night on June 7, 2024. The screening theme of JFN for this year is Refugees. Members of CJFF will be available at an information table in the lobby. Additionally, to open the evening, our CJFF Director of Programming, Immigration Lawyer Rowan Fisher, will speak about refugees in Canada.
Rowan is honoured to have been asked to be on the jury for the OFF 2024 Best Documentary Film. As part of CJFF 2024, we will be presenting our very first Indigenous Reels event, an evening showcasing indigenous justice issues, and celebrating indigenous films and filmmaking. OFF has selected several films with an indigenous justice focus to be an integral part of this wonderful event and we look forward to hosting the OFF Board and members for this second incredible partnership event!
CJFF CHAIRPERSON BASSEM HAFEZ 2023 REFLECTIONS
Dear Friends of the Calgary Justice Film Festival:
As indicated in our last justNEWS issue, CJFF, now in its 18th year, is blessed with remarkable support from volunteers and the wider community. Despite the challenges imposed by the recent pandemic, our organization shows healthy growth through the ideas, collaborations, and artistic endeavours of the many people and partnerships invested in CJFF. Garnering financial and other support through grants as well as existing sponsorships and newly-formed partnerships indicates the trust others place in our fulfilling the mission of our organization.
We worked hard to reinstate justReel, a seasonal event to help prepare for the subsequent annual festival. In March 2023, the NFB film, Unarchived, screened at the Calgary Public Library to a small but interested audience.
Consistent with the preceding year, 13 films were screened at the November 2023 festival. Fourteen non-profit organizations participated in the Peace Fair, slightly less than the 18 agencies in 2022. All of these efforts exemplify how we continue to position ourselves as a connector for justice through the artistry of film and the mission of the many non-profit organizations in our city.
Our 2023 opening festival night, held at the Globe Cinema, drew a large, dynamic, and diverse audience for the screening of Love in the Time of Fentanyl, a heartbreaking yet heartwarming film so relevant to our times. Following the film, harm reduction advocate Danielle English, gave a spirited and valuable presentation on the use of Narcan, a medication that needs to be given, by medical and lay-people alike, in the event someone has overdosed on opioids. We were also pleased to learn that the 2022 festival opener, To Kill A Tiger, became a 2023 Oscar nominee for best documentary, a testimony to the tireless efforts of director Nisha Pahuja to tell the world of the wrenching story depicted in her film.
The quality and relevance of the films screened at CJFF events continues to increase, due in large part to the committed work of the Programming Committee members, now chaired by Rawd Almasoud. The inclusion of Q & A discussions with film-makers and experts following select screenings continues to add value for our justice-seeking audiences.
We are ever grateful for the many volunteers who contribute innumerable hours so that CJFF events can occur. With their financial input, our growing list of partners, sponsors, and supporters ensure that CJFF remains a viable organization in our city. In particular, we want to recognize the indefatigable support of River Park Church in providing us as a board with the space to hold our regular meetings as well as for the use of its facilities for an entire film festival weekend. Clearly, this level of consistent and dedicated support by so many people and agencies is integral to the success of our organization.
As of this writing, our current 9-member board of directors bring diverse skills and abilities to CJFF. For this reason, we anticipate 2024 to be another year of growth in every respect. As demonstrated by the solidity of the programming committee (thanks to director Rowan Fisher), efforts are well underway to enhance the communications and marketing of our organization (with director Mohit Arora’s leaadership) as well as to seek additional opportunities for funding, sponsorship, and grants (with the help of directors Tako Koning and Kendra Oglestone). Additionally, our goal to enhance the diversity, equity, and inclusion of our organization means making our events and activities as accessible as possible for as wide an audience as possible.
Looking ahead, we are thrilled with our evolving partnerships, one of which is with the Okotoks Film Festival. We will participate with them at their Justice Film Night to be held during this year's festival, June 5-9, 2024. At that event, on June 7, Director Rowan Fisher will be speaking to the audience from her expertise as an immigration lawyer. Furthermore, we are currently cooking up plans for a September justReel evening in partnership with Springboard Performance at the ContainR in Kensington.
We look forward to another exciting year in the life of CJFF where good films do good.
Bassem N. Hafez, M.A.
Chairperson, Calgary Justice Film Festival
CJFF 2023 COMMUNITY AND TEAM REPORTS
In 2023, the Board of Directors began with a somewhat choppy start, what with a small number of board members. However, through the concerted efforts of those few, we are pleased to now be working with a full complement of directors. As a team, we bring diversity of age, gender, culture and ethnicity, as well as numerous years of life and professional experience ranging from geology, the arts, academia, healthcare, law, graphic design, business, film, and finance.
To ensure the work of CJFF and its mission are accomplished, each board member has taken on different responsibilities. To learn about these committed individuals and what they bring to CJFF, visit our team page here.
CJFF 2023 COMMUNITY REPORT
The many 2023 activities and accomplishments of CJFF are summarized here!
The members of the PROGRAMMING COMMITTEE are working full steam ahead! With the deadline for filmmaker submission having passed on May 1, 2023, the team is now viewing the remaining submitted films this month. In June, the committee members will watch, rewatch, and battle it out with each other’s highest rated films. The deadline for having a draft list of final selections to the director of Programming (me) is July 1, 2024. Then the whole process will move to the Scheduling Committee, where the final program for the festival will be put together. Filmmakers will have formal notification of their being selected for CJFF 2024 by August 1, 2024. Stay tuned!
Rowan Fisher (she/her)
Director of Programming
As members of the COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE, we take seriously the responsibility to promote CJFF in meaningful ways. Thus, we learn from the past to improve our ongoing and future initiatives. These initiatives include the development of a marketing plan, which includes a keen focus on our website and social media platforms. Additionally, this newsletter, justNEWS, will be issued regularly to keep the CJFF audience abreast of organizational and justice matters that might be of interest to them. A blog is also in the works whereby certain justice issues and questions can be fleshed out more fully.
A well-formed team of three CJFF board directors makes up the Communications Committee. Dedicated to making this year one of the organization’s best, these committee members meet monthly, before each scheduled CJFF board meeting, to share ideas and approaches for implementation of the marketing plan. With the expertise of its committee members, promotion of CJFF as an organization and its events are well underway for this year.
The CJFF website has undergone a significant facelift with further tweaking being done to make our website as user-friendly and informative as can be. We have worked hard to make public the various aspects that make up our organization. As we move toward the summer, with another justREEL event in the fall, and in anticipation of our November film festival, we have every expectation that CJFF will be ever-more successful.
Mohit Arora
Director of Communications
With respect to PARTNERSHIPS AND FUNDRAISING, I am pleased that in the past year we have retained all of our business supporters. This list includes Ptarmigan Oil & Gas Accounting, My Favorite Ice Cream Shoppe, Citizens for Public Justice, Mennonite Central Committee, RE/MAX Realty – Simon Strydhorst, and Forage. We appreciate these businesses for their faithful support over many years. More recently, Glamorgan Bakery became a financial supporter in 2023. Needless to say, we wish to broaden this base of supporters. However, doing so takes time and a lot of work. If anyone would like to join me in this effort, you can contact me at tako.koning@gmail.com.
Tako Koning
Director of Partnerships and Fundraising
These and other reports will be available and discussed at the 2024 AGM.
WHAT SOME CJFF BOARD DIRECTORS ARE DOING/WATCHING/READING:
On May 23, 2023, Bassem Hafez, chairperson, demonstrated his performing arts skill at the Pumphouse Theatre. The event, Uprising Through Art, served to raise $6,700 with 90% contributed to five Gazan artists and their families, and 10% going to UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency).
Rowan Fisher, our director of Programming, has been busy reading publications and policy regarding the federal government's proposal to detain immigrants in Canadian penitentiaries. As the Managing Lawyer of the Immigration Division at Osuji & Smith Lawyers, staying on top of justice issues that impact newcomers is just a regular day for her. To familiarize yourself with this issues, she recommends clicking on these links for some informative reading:
Federal government plans on incarcerating migrants in its penitentiaries
Human-rights advocates pan budget plan to detain immigrants in federal prisons
Legal Analysis of Agreements Allowing Immigration Detention in Canadian Provincial Jails
Additionally, Rowan has been strengthening our partnership with Okotoks Film Festival. With this year’s Justice Night theme, Refugees, Rowan takes on a prominent role on June 7. More information about this event is available in the Mark Your Calendar section of this justNEWS issue.
Director Tako Koning recently watched Killers of the Flower Moon, a film based on documented events in Oklahoma. The atrocities inflicted on the Osage people by a few greedy and corrupt white men were horrible. Although it took place in the 1920s, this story raises moral questions as pressing today as they were then.
On Saturday, June 8, 2024, as part of the Alberta Wilderness Association’ssummer program, Tako leads a geological and environmental field trip to the Cochrane North area. AWA field trips are open to anyone who registers and this particular field trip includes viewing a huge, deep gravel mine being developed just 800 meters west of Big Hill Springs Provincial Park. Concerns surround the large, deep mine that may affect the subsurface “plumbing” and disrupt the water flow into the park. Should a gravel mine be allowed to potentially ruin the thermal springs, the primary natural feature of this park?
Jenny Radsma is reading, The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East, by Sandy Tolan. Against the backdrop of the 50thanniversary of the first Arab-Israeli war, the journalist-author travelled to the Middle East to research his assignment. This 2006 book highlights how two families on opposite sides of the conflict, the al-Khairis and the Eshkenazis, are connected on a level that transcends both faith and human fallibility.
IN CONVERSATION WITH…BASSEM N. HAFEZ, CJFF BOARD CHAIR
On 22 May, 2024, Bassem Hafez and Jenny Radsma met for lunch at Taste of Yemen. The food was tasty and filling and in the course of their conversation, here’s what Bassem shared about himself:
He grew up in Egypt and moved to Canada about 15 years ago;
He began university intending to become an engineer; after three years of study he shifted his interest to political science;
With a long-held interest in justice matters, he has been an activist for many years. Upon graduating from university, Bassem became involved with a human rights organization;
He caught the attention of the Canadian embassy in Cairo where he worked for a few years;
He taught general education courses at Mount Royal University and continues to teach online courses in immigration and refugee law with CDI College;
He exemplifies his passion for non-profit organizations through his many past and present volunteer and board involvements, both in his home country and in Canada;
When Calgary Outlink (https://www.calgaryoutlink.ca), a support centre for gender and sexual diversity, all but imploded several years ago, he joined its board. Bassem is proud of his role in helping to knit the pieces back together to make a strong organization relevant to the 2SLGBTQIA+ community it serves;
Currently, he serves on four boards, including CJFF and the Calgary Arab Arts and Culture Society
Six years ago, upon meeting a refugee (now a friend) with a background in theatre, Bassem widened his academic and entrepreneurial skillset to include acting, stage managing, and playwriting, specifically, with the production of The Opposite;
With the grant funding he obtained, Bassem staged his play, Interrogation, in October 2023 at Engineered Air Theatre in Calgary’s Arts Commons;
He also has a musical side, shifting from the heavy metal protest music of his youth to now singing and playing ukulele as well as adding to his percussion skills on the Cajon drum;
Bassem is intent on enhancing the diversity, equity, and inclusion of CJFF to address the justice needs for the community it serves
In addition to being intelligent and multi-talented, Bassem is kind, generous, and open. He readily shares his time and gifts in the support of others and he personifies a philosophy of acceptance irrespective of difference. By doing so, he says, he gains and regains the energy he needs to continue in the endeavours about which he is so passionate.
Mark Your Calendar
June 11, 2024 at 7:00 pm: CJFF AGM, RSVP Now!
June 5th to 10, 2024: Okotoks Film Festival
SUPPORT CJFF
Interested in volunteering with CJFF? Please contact board@justicefilmfestival.ca
Interested in supporting CJFF financially? Please contact admin@justicefilmfestival.ca
Good films. Do Good.