Join us for a free public screening of THE CROSSING (2015, 55 minutes)

https://www.cinemapolitica.org/film/crossing

Halifax Central Library, Paul O’Regan Hall

THE CROSSING tells the difficult story of individuals forced into displacement and takes us along on one of the most dangerous journeys of our time with a group of Syrians fleeing war and persecution, crossing a sea, two continents and five countries, searching for a home to rekindle the greatest thing they have lost – Hope.

Following the screening we will be joined by Dr. Afua Cooper, Fazeela Jiwa, and members of the Halifax Refugee Clinic for a panel discussion and facilitated discussion.

Dr. Afua Cooper is the James Robinson Johnston Chair in Black Canadian Studies at Dalhousie University. She is also is an award-winning poet, author, historian, curator, performer, cultural worker, and recording artist. Her research interests are African Canadian studies, with specific regard to the period of enslavement and emancipation in 18th and 19th century Canada and the Black Atlantic; African-Nova Scotian history; political consciousness; community building and culture; slavery’s aftermath; Black youth studies. See more about Dr. Cooper’s work at: https://www.dal.ca/faculty/arts/sociology-social-anthropology/faculty-staff/our-faculty/afua-cooper.html

Fazeela Jiwa is a writer, editor, and facilitator who has worked in public and alternative education, co-operative housing, and sexual assault crisis work. Her published poetry, fiction, and nonfiction considers complicity with, and resistance to, representations of race and gender in cultural productions. Reach her at www.fazeelajiwa.com

The Halifax Refugee Clinic commenced operations on June 1, 2000 to ensure that some of the world’s most vulnerable and persecuted people receive support and representation while they seek a safe haven in Nova Scotia. Many of the Clinic’s clients have survived torture, physical violence, sexual abuse, discrimination and marginalization and are thus in need of comprehensive and caring services as they settle in our communities. The Clinic is a not-for-profit, non-governmental, community based organization that provides no-cost legal and settlement services to refugee claimants in Nova Scotia who are unable to afford the services of private legal counsel. Learn more about the Clinic at: http://halifaxrefugeeclinic.org/

Admission is always free and films are all open to the public. Followed by moderated discussion.

The Radical Imagination Project, in partnership with the Cinema Politica Network and the Halifax Public Libraries is pleased to bring you this series of documentary films to stir the soul and evoke the struggle for a better society. Please see our other events for more information, or visit http://radicalimagination.org/