about the War Measures Act and the 1970 “October Crisis”
TUESDAY, JANUARY 11, 2011
Film screening begins at 7:30pm.
Preceded by a short presentation at 7pm.
1455 de Maisonneuve West, Auditorium H-110
(Guy-Concordia Metro)
FREE – Wheelchair accessible
– National Film Board (NFB) classic by Michel Brault, 1974, 107 minutes. Original French version with English subtitles.
– A short background presentation to the 1970 October Crisis, as well as the more recent mass arrests during the G20 in Toronto in June 2010, will precede the film at 7pm. Film screening begins at 7:30pm.
ABOUT THE FILM:
October 1970: Under the pretext of attacking the Front de liberation du Quebec (FLQ) the Canadian Parliament votes in favour of the War’s Measures Act. The police and army are used to break up grassroots groups in Quebec. More than 450 people are arrested due to their social and political profile. No charges were ever made against them. This film is their story.
“Les Ordres” has been called “one of the greatest films ever made in Canada”. Filmed in a near-documentary style, the film focuses on five of the more than 450 people arrested and held without warrant or charge. The characters are composites, but the specific details of each story are taken from interviews with real people arrested under the War Measures Act.
With the recent 40-year anniversary of the imposition of the War Measures Act, as well recent comparisons to the mass arrests of protesters at the G20 in Toronto, QPIRG Concordia has acquired this classic and historical film to better understand the October Crisis from the point of view of the people who were targeted for political repression.
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Co-presented by the People’s Commission Network, in the lead up to the Popular Forum “Whose Security? Our Security! Countering the National Security Agenda”, to take place in Montreal between February 4-6, 2011. Info: www.peoplescommission.org/en/forum
Part of QPIRG Concordia’s ongoing KEEPING IT REEL Subversive Cinema Series.
INFO: info@qpirgconcordia.org – 514-848-7585 – www.qpirgconcordia.org