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JAYU presents 4 truly emotional documentaries, including 3 Toronto premieres, as part of its 12th annual Human Rights Film Festival+, at the HOT DOCS cinema. The full-length documentaries were the opening film, “A Bullet Pulling Thread,” followed by “Coming Around.” “The Space Race,” and “Hong Kong Mixtape,” on the following nights. At the HOT DOCS cinema, a moving gallery installation of We Grow Together, in partnership with the The White Owl Native Ancestry and Wisahkotewinowak, featured the art of 6 indigenous youth artists. On closing night at the architectural boutique Ace Hotel, the 4th annual Poetry Slam, with award-winning poet-extraordinaire Eddie Lartey, along with a very animated group of local poets, ended the festival in a rousing evening of amazing poem performances.

A Bullet Pulling Thread-opening film
The sad tragic story of an advocate for the homeless who was shot dead by the RCMP. While suffering a mental health crisis, due to PTSD from prior imprisonment in US jails for drug-related crimes, Barry Shantz was inexplicably shot down by police because he had a firearm in his possession and had shot up into his home’s eavestrough. His sister tells his story through her protest quilts while demanding answers from the police watchdog agency, whose report had cleared any wrongdoing by law enforcement officers in British Columbia. A subsequent government inquiry recommended that mental health professionals be present at all mental health crises, which may have saved Barry Shantz’s life, and much anguish to his family.

Coming Around
The sad story of the struggles of a homosexual muslim woman who has to hide her sexuality from her devoutly religious psychiatrist mother. With her tight emotional bond to her mother, she has extreme difficulty in disclosing her sexuality to her mother, even resorting to marrying her current boyfriend. After a few months of turmoil living with her “husband,” she realizes that she will finally need to come out to her mother, in an highly emotional encounter.

The Space Race
A National Geographic Documentary film about the struggles of the pioneering black American astronauts, displaying their remarkable breakthroughs. Despite many roadblocks on the road to their success with the space program, including a lack of political will by President JFK, black American astronauts were finally seen to be a regular part of the US NASA program, putting men and women, no matter what skin colour, into space.

Hong Kong Mixtape
A very emotional film of Hong Kong’s creative class’ protest against the authoritarianism of mainland China. With the National Security Act, anyone speaking out against the Chinese government can be extradited to mainland China to jail and the Communist judiciary. This is despite the Sino-Anglo agreement after the return of Hong Kong in 1997 to China, that China will allow Hong Kong to have full political autonomy for 50 years as a Special Autonomous Region. During the so-called grassroots Umbrella movement democratic protests, with the fair election of democratic government representatives, the Chinese government continued its crackdown on democracy, first by brutal riot control and then the annulment of the election of the democratic representatives. Film maker San San F Young curates her mixtape of the Hong Kong creatives to showcase their artful protests against totalitarianism.

Film photos courtesy of the films. 

I would like to thank Ashley Belmer (she/her), Founder/President, B-REBEL COMMUNICATIONS, for her dedication to the arts, and the opportunity to experience the HRFF+ 2023.