STONE BY STONE: Special Mention Winner

 

39e Festival international de cinéma Vues d’Afrique

STONE BY STONE

Special Mention - Human Rights Category

April 30, 2023

The documentary film Stone by Stone was awarded the Special Human Rights Mention Prize at the festival's closing ceremony, held at the Cinémathèque québécoise in Montreal on April 30, 2023. Although the Award document for this exceptional film (see the photo at the top of this article) mentions only one name, it was in fact produced by three Co-Directors: Elisabeth Gimber, Robert Newton and Mark Morgenston. The film is a result of a truly equal team effort. 

The film highlights two middle-class families, one in Burkina Faso, the other in North America, who envisioned and then embarked on a seemingly impossible project to build an orphanage and a school in Africa without any government support, corporate sponsorship, or grants. And they succeeded, relying solely on their own efforts, the help of their extended families, their fiends, and communities. You can read more about this extraordinary story and the remarkable film here.

The Makofskys, the North American family featured in the documentary, were present at the second screening of the film on April 29, 2023. Their presence, when announced, was greeted by a vigorous and prolonged clapping. An equally long clapping followed when the film ended.

2 Co-Directors Robert Newton and Elisabeth Gimber presenting the film to the audience.

The Makofskys on the left next to the production team: 3 Co-Directors Elisabeth Gimber, Robert Newton & Mark Morgenstone.

Q&A with the 3-member film production crew in the middle and Howard Makofsky on the right.

After the screening, the Makofskys and the film’s production crew were approached by the audience with many comments and complements, and with a number of questions about the film's true story and the specifics of the film production. A formal Q&A session followed in the area set for it outside the projection theatre. The types of questions asked revealed people's keen interest in the film's subject matter and the issues it raised.

The Makofskys interacting with the audience:

Click on images to enlarge them.

For this article's dedicated internet address, click on the title above the very first photo.

Vues d'Afrique 2023: Stone by Stone

 

39e Festival international de cinéma Vues d’Afrique

STONE BY STONE

Montreal’s Premiere

Documentary

Stone by Stone is an incredible story of two visionary families, one in Africa, the other in North America. Without any government or business support or grants, they were able to build, stone by stone, an orphanage and an elementary school in Kaya, Burkina Faso, West Africa. Presently, they are opening a secondary school. Even more amazingly, not stopping at their incredible achievements, they have further plans to build a university, for which they have already acquired the land. All of these institution have been build with private donations. The two families do not posses any substantial personal funds or connections to any wealth creating circles. In fact, they are just regular middle class people whose only wealth is their sincere desire to help the orphaned children in Africa, enabling them to get a proper education, and providing them a possibility of a higher education and professional life so they can give back to their community and country.

What makes this true story so compelling is that it tells how those two families, with the support of their communities and friends, armed with perseverance and determination, without meeting in person for years, and without any kind of additional help, took a leap of faith together and made the decision to start building the orphanage - Paradise Orphanage and Elementary School - to house 120 children.

Though separated by the Atlantic ocean, the two families’ shared journey transcends borders and religions. They had envisioned and then successfully implemented, brought into reality, their dream project that enriched and likely saved lives of many Burkina Faso orphaned children. They are the Sawadogo family in Burkina Faso, West Africa and the Makofskys family in North America.

Mr. Sawadogo of Burkina Faso, Africa

The Makofskys of North America being interviewed for the film

This is an inspiring film that demonstrates that all is possible, that even the toughest projects could be realized if one has a vision, a believe, and perseverance. If there were more people like those portrayed in the documentary, many world’s problems could start to be solved from the grassroots level up, rather than relying totally on the governments' support and initiatives.

This is the website of the Kaya's Kids none profit organization.

Film's PRODUCTION TEAM:

Elisabeth-Ann Gimber, Mark Morgenstone, Robert E. Newton

Clique on images to enlarge them.

Film Information:

COUNTRY: CANADA / YEAR: 2022 / DURATION: 78 MIN / LanguagE: FrencH / Subtitles: English

Film Projection Details

Friday, April 21, 17:45 – Salle Fernand Seguin

Saturday, April 29, 12:00 – Salle Principale

For more information, visit Vue d’Afrique Film Festival website.

For this article's dedicated internet address, click on the title above the very first photo.

South Asian Film Festival 2023: All That Breathes

South Asian Film Festival of Montréal

All That Breathes

Documentary

Director: Shaunak Sen

The Opening Film

28 April, 2023

Auditorium de la Grande Bibliothèque, 7p.m.

This film is available for free on the opening night at the Grande Bibliothèque, 475 Boul. De Maisonneuve East, Montreal. It is an award-winner both at Cannes and Sundance film festivals, and it is also an Oscar nominee.

It is a remarkable film, featuring the total dedication of two Muslim brothers from Delhi, India to saving birds known as Black Kites. The filmography is quite remarkable. There are many sensitive special touches that reveal the humanity of the brothers’ spirit, and their total commitment and dedication to recognizing this bird as a form of life that merits an equal respect as all the creatures and people on the Earth that breath to live. There is a meditative aspect that enhances the comprehension of the general social surrounding where the brothers live, their meagre living conditions, especially in comparison to western countries. Also, the political turmoil that accompanies the film provides a more profound perspective and the understanding of the brothers' chosen path, and their total dedication to saving the birds.

The film also presents a wider panorama on other wild animals that struggle to survive in the overclouded multi-million city neighborhoods, and their need to adapt to people, noises and pollution.

All That Breathes raises many questions, not the last of them being the purpose of one’s life, and making a personal choice as what is more important: the life’s comforts or the dedication to the chosen path of saving one of the living species from all those that breath.

FEATURING:

NADEEM SHEHZAD AND MOHAMMAD SAUD

Former bodybuilders from the Chawri Bazar area of New Delhi, Nadeem Shehzad and his younger brother Mohammad Saud started treating black kites in 2003. Since then, they have together treated more than 20,000 injured birds. Nadeem was recently appointed as an Honorary Wildlife Warden of Delhi, and in 2021 spent three months in the U.S. for training with bird rescue organizations. Today, Nadeem and Saud continue to work tirelessly to treat black kites and other birds of prey through the organization they set up in 2010: Wildlife Rescue.

SALIK REHMAN

Salik Rehman joined Wildlife Rescue in January 2017. He has been an active volunteer at Wildlife Rescue since 2010 and has become an integral part of the organization in its many rescue and rehabilitation activities.

DIRECTOR: Shaunak Sen

For films' description and programing check the Festival's website.

For this article's dedicated internet address, click on the title above the very first photo.

South Asian Film Festival 2023

 

South Asian Film Festival of Montréal

12th edition

In cinemas April 28 – May 7, 2023

Online May 1-10, 2023

Kabir Cultural Centre, along with festival Director and Head of Programming, Syeda Nayab Bukhari, has announce the 12th edition of the South Asian Film Festival of Montréal (SAFFMontréal) in collaboration with Cinémathèque Québécoise and Ville de Saguenay. This year’s festival will be both in cinemas and online, along with live Q&As from around the world.

Many films are available for free, including opening night All That Breathes at the Grande Bibliothèque, an award-winner both at Cannes and Sundance and an Oscar- nominee. This is the only film festival of its kind in Quebec.

A platform for filmmakers of South Asian origin worldwide, the festival presents a wide choice of inspiring and thought-provoking films with a focus on the South Asian region and its diaspora. Every screening is subtitled in English and French. It present 58 award-winning films from 12 countries. Short, long, documentary and feature selections are all up for juried awards.

The jury of distinguished professionals from South Asia and Canada are: Vijaya Rao (New Delhi), Tom Waugh and Philippe Spurrell (Montreal) Ali Kazmi (Toronto) and Rana Faizan Ali (Lahore). Eight prizes will be awarded during the closing evening, going to four winners and four finalists in each of the 4 categories- short and feature films, both fiction and documentary.

In addition to entries from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Mauritius, Norway, Czech Republic, UK, Canada and the USA, every year the festival showcases films from neighbouring South Asian countries. This year there are also films from Iran and Turkey. The presented films are in languages as varied as Urdu, Hindi, Gujarati, Tamil, Bengali, Telugu, Kashmiri, Bodo, Marathi, Assamese, Nepali, Malayalam, Punjabi, Persian, Turkish, Kannada, Czech, Chinese, Norwegian, English and French.

Bukhari states:

“We are proud to bring such a diverse lineup of stimulating films that challenge stereotypes and shed light on the complex social and political issues facing South Asia today, as well as its rich and varied cultures. One example is films that highlight gender-based oppression and its consequences for women in certain countries... We believe that film has the power to spark social change; we hope our festival inspires audiences to take action and create a more just and equitable world.”

One of the key films being presented in the festival is Jhini Bini Chadariya (The Brittle Thread), winner of Film Critics Circle of India Award at New York Indian Film Festival 2022. The lead actor, Ms. Sivan Spector, will be present in Montreal to present the film on April 30.

Festival projection venues: Cinémathèque Québécoise, La Grande Bibliothèque, DeSève Cinema, and online

Online films run May 1-10 without geo-blocking, so films can be seen by audiences around the world, including the countries with films featured at the festival.

Tickets and program: https://www.saffm.centrekabir.com/en/

Information: info@centrekabir.com

Follow on Facebook: www.facebook.com/saffmtl