ANTIGONISH, N.S. — The annual Antigonish International Film Festival (AIFF) kicks off this year with a Friday (Oct. 25) evening screening of nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up, at the new Mulroney Hall auditorium, on the campus of St. F.X.
Admission is free.
The following day (Saturday, Oct. 26), the festival venue is the People’s Place Library where films will be screened from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Admission to the films on Saturday is by donation.
Opening night
nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up has been generating a lot of excitement and engagement across the country, as it tackles the highly relevant and thorny issue of racism in the Canadian judiciary system.
The film is jointly sponsored by AIFF, the Brian Mulroney Institute of Government, St. F.X. Office of Indigenous Affairs, St. F.X. Indigenous Student Society, the Coady International Institute, the Frank McKenna Centre for Leadership, and the Antigonish Women’s Resource Centre.
There will be a panel discussion before the film and a reception after the screening.
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AIFF is making some other changes this year. The Saturday films will be shown at one venue; the People’s Place Library on Main Street. Therefore, it will be possible to see all the selections; an issue that has often showed up on the AIFF’s feedback forms.
Antigonish Breaking the Silence (BTS) will be offering coffee, tea, sandwiches and snacks on Saturday in the community room at the library. This is a fundraiser for the New Hope Foundation School in Guatemala and BTS’ ongoing advocacy work.
AIFF began in 2007 and since has shown more than 400 documentaries and had more than 20,000 people attend.
Many of the past films shown at the festival are available to sign out at the People’s Place Library.
“The films this year reflect current concerns; from the racism Indigenous people face to the impact of artificial intelligence, to the dynamism of aging to the friendship between people of different cultures, to the endangered beauty of whales to the hope and activism by youth concerned with environmental issues, and a [feature on] 90-year old judge on the U.S. Supreme Court,” AIFF founding president Carole Roy said.
“The films highlight situations that need to be addressed, but also offer examples of people who actively engage in creative or courageous ways.”
For more on the 13th annual AIFF, including a complete program, visit the event’s website at antigonishfilmfest.org.
Interested folks can also checkout the event’s Facebook page.
