Unpacking from Rural Ontario

Living in Cobourg, a small rural community east of Toronto, over the past year I have found out that the occurrence of development events is much less frequent then when I was living in the city. Looking into what is going on in Northumberland County and the Kawartha’s, I came across ReFrame the Peterborough International Film Festival. The festival which is in its fifth year, runs from January 23rd to the 25th in Peterborough, Ontario just an hour and a half drive east of Toronto. The Festival, formerly known as the Travelling World Community Film Festival shows “independently made films [that] don’t just cover international issues; they re-frame them. They tell stories that often get little or no media coverage but need to be seen and heard by all members of our community. They provoke thought and offer insight”.

The films highlight countries from all around the world and showcase a diverse range of humanitarian issues from child labour, war, mining and rape to stories of hope and accomplishment. My top choices (with descriptions from the ReFrame website) to see were:

 The Dancing Forest/ La forêt danse

Released:  2008 UK
Film Length: 76 minutes
Directors: Brice Lainé

It seems rare these days to hear good news from Africa, but this documentary about a grassroots community project celebrates one bright beacon of hope. Until recently the village of Baga in northern Togo was anything but that. Plagued with infertile soil, the declining peasant population was barely scratching out a living. CIDAP–the Centre International pour le Development Agro-Pastoral–was created by Seda, a local man schooled in new agricultural techniques. Initially reaching out to widows and divorced women–the most deprived in Nawdba society–he showed them how to increase crop yields, an education that has empowered subsequent generations of “Bakote” women, and which has proved so successful that more than a thousand locals come every year to learn more.This lyrical, beautifully photographed film mirrors CIDAP’s philosophy by listening first and last to the women and men who have participated in the program. It takes its name from a Nawdba harvest ritual that recognizes the forest as the home of their ancestors, a place of life to be preserved and respected.

Today the Hawk takes the Chick

Released:  2008 USA
Film Length: 72 minutes
Directors: Jane Gillooly

In the Lubombo region of Swaziland, where forty percent of the population is HIV positive and life expectancy has dropped to thirty-two years, elderly women called “gogos” (grandmothers) care for groups of young children on homesteads, most of them orphans, all of them poor. Recent migrations and deadly epidemics have broken down traditional family and social structures. One entire generation is missing. The gogos provide a social welfare system that works, though barely. Some people don’t eat every day, many are sick. This profoundly sad story, unfolding slowly and steadily through the sensitive direction of Jane Gillooly, forces us to ask: what will happen in the near future when the gogo is gone?

Road to Baleya

Released:  2008 Canada/Mali
Film Length: 50 minutes
Directors: Bay Weyman

This one-hour documentary by award-winning filmmaker Bay Weyman follows a group of Canadian musicians who journey to Mali, West Africa, to record local musicians. Equipped with a portable sound recording facility to make quality recordings available to the African musicians, they embark on a remarkable journey that takes them from the dusty streets of Bamako, the capital, to the remote villages of the rugged south-west hill country. In the process, the documentary examines issues of basic education, private sector development, communication and music as a catalyst for human rights, democracy and good governance.

So if you’re looking to take a trip outside of Toronto this month check out the Peterborough ReFrame festival, I know I will.