Civil Liberties Update

Wednesday, November 18
Empire Granville Seven Cinemas
855 Granville Street
Vancouver

TICKETS

BCCLA members: $10 for three films (or one film)
Non-members: $15 for three films (or one film)
Non-members may purchase tickets and become members for $20
Tickets available at the door or securely online >>

Mademoiselle and the Doctor (89 minutes)
7:00 pm (Speakers from Exit International)
Last Tango in Paris (128 minutes)
7:00 pm
Little Sister's vs. Big Brother (71 minutes)
9:15 pm (Director present)
Rip! A Remix Manifesto (86 minutes)
9:00 pm
Operation Gamescan (57 minutes)
10:30 pm

Mademoiselle and the Doctor

Mademoiselle and the Doctor is a documentary from Australian Academy award-nominated filmmaker, Janine Hosking.

While the film started off as a cinematic exploration of the workshops of Dr Philip Nitschke it soon changed focus to incorporate the intriguing and deeply moving story of Lisettte Nigot.

Ms Nigot is a French academic from Perth. She is 79 years old, healthy but does not want to turn 80.

Mademoiselle and the Doctor examines Lisette’s decision to take her own life “I’ve had enough, that really is the only thing” as well as her relationship with Dr Nitschke who says “I encouraged her to suicide no more than I encouraged her not to take her own life. It was her decision.”

This provocative documentary asks us if elderly, rational adults have a right to determine the time and place of their own passing.

Lisette Nigot said she had lived enough life. Dr Nitschke asks "who was I to tell her otherwise? She was not depressed. To the contrary, she was an intriguing, enchanting woman and while it saddened me greatly when she decided to leave, her suicide was her decision and her right.”

Last Tango in Paris

Nova Scotia
The Amusement Regulation Board of Nova Scotia banned the film Last Tango in Paris. The film censorship laws of the province of Nova Scotia were challenged on the basis that they constituted criminal law, something which could only be legislated by the federal government. The Court held that though the censorship laws had a moral dimension to it, the Nova Scotia laws did not have any prohibition or penalty required in a criminal law.

Laskin, in a dissenting opinion, noted how the province had already unsuccessfully attempted to prosecute the distributor of the film under the obscenity laws of the Criminal Code, and saw this as another attempt at the same goal.

Manitoba
In R. v. Odeon Morton Theatres Ltd., the majority of the Manitoba Court of Appeal held that the film Last Tango in Paris was not obscene within the meaning of the Code. To determine whether a dominant characteristic of the film is the undue exploitation of sex, Freedman C.J.M. noted that the courts must have regard to various things - the author's artistic purpose, the manner in which he or she has portrayed and developed the story, the depiction and interplay of character and the creation of visual effect through skilful camera techniques.

Freedman C.J.M. stated that the issue of whether the film is obscene must be determined according to contemporary community standards in Canada. Relevant to that determination were several factors: the testimony of experts, the classification of "Restricted" which made the film unavailable to persons under 18 years of age and the fact that the film had passed the scrutiny of the censor boards of several provinces.

Rip! A REMIX MANIFESTO

In Rip! A REMIX MANIFESTO, Web activist and filmmaker Brett Gaylor explores issues of copyright in the information age, mashing up the media landscape of the 20th century and shattering the wall between users and producers.

The films central protagonist is Girl Talk, a mash-up musician topping the charts with his sample-based songs. But is Girl Talk a paragon of people power or the Pied Piper of piracy? Creative Commons founder, Lawrence Lessig, Brazil's Minister of Culture Gilberto Gil and pop culture critic Cory Doctorow are also along for the ride.

A participatory media experiment, from day one, Brett shares his raw footage at opensourcecinema.org, for anyone to remix. This movie-as-mash-up method allows these remixes to become an integral part of the film. With RiP: A remix manifesto, Gaylor and Girl Talk sound an urgent alarm and draw the lines of battle.

Which side of the ideas war are you on?

Little Sisters vs. Big Brother

Since it opened its doors in 1983, Little Sister's Book & Art Emporium, a pioneering gay and lesbian bookstore in Vancouver, has resisted bigotry, bombings, and books seized at the border. Named after a pushy little kitten, Little Sister's immediately became more than a bookstore--it became one of the rallying points for gay rights and free speech.

Little Sister's vs. Big Brother is about how this single bookstore took on the government's Customs office that had seized thousands of gay-themed books and magazines at the border, claiming the material was pornographic.

A fascinating case study in the history of gay rights and the fight for the freedom of speech we all take for granted, this documentary records the legal decisions, book seizures, moments of personal courage, and the shocking violence against the local gay community in what would wind up being a 15-year struggle of passion and principles.

Sparked by Little Sister's resistance, this dramatic story also features an extraordinary cast of international writers, including Pierre Berton, Jane Rule, Sarah Schulman and Nino Ricci, who speak out in defense of our rights to view what we choose.

Operation Gamescan 76

This film describes the largest peacetime operation of the Canadian Forces. Sixteen thousand troops were involved in the organizational, logistic and security support program especially created for the XXI Olympiad held in 1976 in Montréal. They provided protection for 7500 athletes, countless VIPs and the general public on 138 sites located in Montréal, Bromont and Kingston, Ontario.