Presented in partnership with Dalhousie University, the Atlantic Filmmakers’ Cooperative,
Halifax Public Libraries and the Service Employees International Union Local 2

Our movie screens are colonized by Hollywood and its big business interests. Reel Justice responds with a collection of short films you won’t see at the multiplex. Local filmmakers celebrate our many and varied heroes and wrangle with the issues of social justice that affect our community.

Our 2016 lineup:

	They Didn’t Starve Us Out: Industrial Cape Breton in the 1920s (excerpt: 7.5 mins) Pat Kipping, 1991 In 1920, things were looking up for coal miners in Cape Breton: they were unionized and paid decent wages. Then, the British Empire Steel Corporation bought every steel and coal company in Nova Scotia. The selected excerpt documents Cape Breton’s first May Day parade and the part in played in shaping Nova Scotia’s labour movement.
	Dyke and Trans March for Queer & Trans Liberation (2 mins) Ian Burns, 2013 Every year, Halifax hosts its Dyke and Trans March. The march is a non-corporate and political alternative to the Pride Parade, organized and supported by a group of queer- and trans-identified people and their allies. This short film documents the 2013 march.
	$100 Barrel (4 mins) Jody Hickey, 2015 A return home after the downturn of the oil industry inspired singer-songwriter Jody Hickey of Dominion, Nova Scotia to write a new folks song for today’s Nova Scotian migratory workforce.
	Stone (10 mins) Ben Proudfoot, 2015 A segment of the Life’s Work: Six Conversations with Makers series where viewers are invited inside the creative routines and personal stories of a collection of master craftspeople living on Canada’s Eastern Seaboard. Stone presents the routines and stories of Heather Lawson, Canada’s one and only female stone carver.
	Citadel Hill & the Maroon Gate (4.5 mins) Valerie Mason-John, Afua Cooper & Sobaz Benjamin, 2015 Citadel Hill is one of the most visited historic sites in Canada. One of the entrances to the fortress is a gate called Maroon gate. The third version of the fortress was built by Maroons from Jamaica, some of whom went to Sierra Leone; others remained in Halifax. In this segment of the Black Halifax series, Nathan Simmonds uncovers the story as Captain Leonard Parkinson.
	Halifax Market Women (A Letter to My Mother) (4.5 mins) Valerie Mason-John, Afua Cooper & Sobaz Benjamin, 2015 Black Refugee women who came to Nova Scotia after the War of 1812 worked to make a living for their families by taking goods to the Halifax Market, now called the Halifax Farmer’s market. Vegetables, fruit and flowers, cultivated through great labour, from rocky soil, overflowed their carts, and their hand woven maple baskets, a craft still present in Nova Scotia. Poet and filmmaker Sylvia Hamilton delivers the story in this segment of the Black Halifax series.
	It’s Not Your Fault (4 mins) Raven Davis, 2015 A short movie about the violence of online comments made towards Indigenous people, and specifically about Indigenous Women of Canada, and the negligence of online/social media outlets allowing hate speech. It’s Not Your Fault is a personal response recorded, edited and performed by Raven Davis.
	Fighter (4 mins) Daniel Ledwell & Erin Costello, 2016 First single from Erin Costelo’s March 2016 release “Down Below, The Status Quo”. Starring Bernadette Hamilton-Reid.
	I Don’t Owe You Campaign – Helped (1 min) Krista Davis, 2015 The I Don’t Owe You campaign is a 6-part poster and 4-part video series created by Avalon Sexual Assault Centre. The campaign was developed by local artist Krista Davis. The campaign is meant for educational purposes to spark conversations on entitlement, consent, and bodily autonomy.
	Tug of War (5 mins) Tamar Dina & Andrea Dorfman, 2015 The second music video from the pilot program Girls Dance Music Video offered by the Music Liberatory in Halifax, Nova Scotia .
	Righteous (11 mins) Cory Bowles, 2013 A young man’s psychological blow to another becomes much more after he discovers that his target is closer than he could ever expect.
	William Hall (6 mins) Valerie Mason-John, Afua Cooper & Sobaz Benjamin, 2015 William Hall was the son of War of 1812 Refugees born and raised in Hansport, NS. He was the first Black man, the first Nova Scotian, and the third Canadian to win the Victoria Cross, the highest honour for military bravery valor awarded in the British Empire. His Victoria Cross is now on permanent display at the Maritime Museum in Halifax. This segment of the Black Halifax series was written and performed by Jacob Sampson.
	War Poet (7 mins) Paul McNeill, 2005 Set during WWI, War Poet is a gripping story about the inhumanity of war as seen through the eyes of a shell-shocked sniper and a Mi’kmaq scout as they lie in a crater in the heart of no man’s land.
	Alia (5 mins) Raghed Charabaty, 2015 Ali pours himself a cup of coffee and takes a sip. He begins to recount the story of Alia, a woman with whom he shared a bus ride to the village of Tannourine thirty nine years ago. It is such an important moment; such a clear memory. It was the ride that marked the beginning of the Lebanese Civil War and the end of Alia’s life. Winner for Best Short Film at the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma and runner up for Best Student Short Film at TIFF.
	Mother Earth (9 mins) Ben Proudfoot, 2015 A segment of the Life’s Work: Six Conversations with Makers series where viewers are invited inside the creative routines and personal stories of a collection of master craftspeople living on Canada’s Eastern Seaboard. Mother Earth presents the routines and stories of potter and feminist Louise Pentz.