Third Element Productions presents

The M Word

Canada’s Multiculturalism: A Work In Progress 

Produced by Ben Viccari and Lalita Krishna

Directed by Lalita Krishna 

Canada is the first country in the world to have an official multiculturalism policy,which is now over three decades old. One would think that multiculturalism is a well-entrenched valued principle in this country. Yet, at the first sign of disquiet in any part of the world, Canada’s Multiculturalism policy is called into question. This hot-button issue is confronted head-on in this riveting documentary.  
 

Lalita Krishna is a Toronto based filmmaker whose work has been broadcast nationally on all major networks, and featured at film festivals around the world. She specializes in documentaries about children and teens making a difference in the world. Lalita's films span a broad spectrum of subjects, from the "extraordinary" (like Ryan Hreljac, a 6 year-old boy determined to raise money to build a well in Uganda in "Ryan's Well") to the "extreme" (a portrait of pro-wrestler Tiger Jeet Singh who is a cult figure in Japan).  Lalita's films have won many awards and are used extensively in schools. She has been awarded the DreamCatcher Award for using her craft to better humanity and her film “Jambo Kenya” is the first selection for the John Van Duzer Children’s Film Collection. Lalita is the Co-chair of DOC Toronto and mentors emerging film producers.  

Gray Matter Films Presents

THREADBARE

A Film about Canada's War on Terror

Thursday, 19th of June 2008
7.-9.00p.m

Arshad Khan :Writer, Director, Producer  
Oliver Millar: Film Editor 

Using his own narrative, Khan takes us back to the summer of 2003, when 23 Pakistani and one Indian man were arrested by Canadian Police and Immigration under “Project Thread”-a purported anti-terror investigation. The charges crumbled under scrutiny and the men were quietly deported. “Threadbare” examines the idea of "security" and "citizenship" in a first world democracy in the Post-9/11 World order. The film goes beyond arbitrary detentions of innocents. It dares to offer insights into reasons for such hysteria and fear mongering. 

Arshad Khan

In the summer of 2003, the Canadian police (RCMP) caught a suspected terror cell in Toronto. The RCMP's terror sweep was labeled “Project Thread”. Arshad , who was a student at Ryerson Architectural school, joined an activist group in Toronto called Project Threadbare that came together in response to the arrests, once it was clear that those arrests were made under wrong implications. They set out to help get the victims of Project Thread out of jail. Arshad taught himself film editing and tried to capture the struggle of the Project Thread victims on tape. Threadbare is the result of his dedication of four years of struggle where he followed the victims all the way to Pakistan.

“Threadbare” is the winner of an NFB film maker's assistance program grant for post-production assistance and premiered at the Mumbai International Film Festival in February 2008.

Threadbare is Arshad Khan”s first documentary film. 

AIR INDIA 182

Friday, 20th of June ,2008, 7-9 p.m

Sturla Gunnarsson , writer, director, producer
David York, producer
Nick Hector, film editor

On June 22, 1985, Air India 182 left Montreal, bound for Delhi via London

Heathrow. It never made it. 200 miles off the Irish coast, a bomb ripped through the baggage compartment and the plane disintegrated at 30,000 feet, killing all 329 people on board. 

The bombing was the result of a Vancouver-based conspiracy whose members were under investigation by CSIS in the months leading up to the explosion.

Air India 182 is a first-person account of that conspiracy as told by those who were directly involved, including families who lost loved ones, key CSIS and RCMP investigators and the conspirators themselves.

Intimate, direct-to-camera testimony is interwoven with reconstructions of key moments in the conspiracy based entirely on court documents, de-classified CSIS reports and wiretaps. The film counts down the final weeks and hours before Air India 182 disappeared off Irish radar screens and Canada sleepwalked into the era of international terrorism. 

Sturla Gunnarsson

Born in Iceland and raised in Vancouver, Sturla Gunnarsson is one of Canada´s best-known and most prolific film-makers, equally at home directing feature films, documentaries and television drama. His films have been recognized with a multitude of awards, including Emmy, Genie and Gemini Awards, a Prix Italia, many Best of Festival Awards and an Oscar nomination. Gunnarsson´s approach to documentary filmmaking is to “find the truth and tell the story.” The films are infused with a sense of history and personal narrative.