The HRW Film Festival Closing reception will be held at the Bau-Xi Gallery. After the reception, ‘A Love During the War’ will be screened at the Jackman Hall, Art Gallery of Ontario. Speaker- Sgt. Debbie Bodkin has been a Sergeant with the Waterloo Regional Police Service for twenty years. In 2004, with the U.S. organization Coalition for International Justice, she travelled to refugee camps in Chad and interviewed victims who had fled from atrocities occurring in Sudan . The results of these interviews were used by the U.S. State Department to declare what was happening in Darfur as genocide. In 2004, with the United Nations Commission of Inquiry for Darfur in Sudan , she worked for three months as an investigator in Darfur , searching out and interviewing victims, witnesses and suspects of the occurring horrific crimes. Speaker- Dr Sumeet Sodhi is the Director of Research and Operations for Dignitas, a medical humanitarian organization working with the Malawian government to provide community-based care for people affected by HIV/AIDS. Dr Sodhi worked as a physician with Médecins Sans Frontières first HIV/AIDS program providing anti-retroviral treatment in a conflict zone in Bukavu, Congo. A LOVE DURING THE WAR manages a remarkable feat, telling an uplifting story of love that is utterly uncontrived, while situating it within the context of a bloody war and the horrifying phenomenon of systematic rape committed by militias and armies in the Congo . The two lovers in question are journalist Aziza and her husband Dedier, who are separated by the outbreak of the Congo-Kinshasa war in 1996, a conflict that eventually claimed the lives of three million people. Direct, rivetting interviews reveal the angst Aziza and Dedier endured throughout their six-year-long severance. Through the actions of Aziza, who takes an interest in the brutal experiences of a young girl who was gang-raped by several uniformed men, director Osvalde Lewat-Hallade seamlessly synthesizes a personal story with an examination of the use of rape as a tool of war. The result is stirring and ultimately galvanizing, as one cannot help but feel awed by the courage and resilience of women who have overcome stigma and trauma to speak out.

Bau-Xi Gallery
340 Dundas St West
Toronto, Ontario M5T1G5
Canada

Wednesday, March 5, 2008 at 6:00 PM (ET)

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Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch is an international organization dedicated to promoting the observance of internationally recognized human rights worldwide. Human Rights Watch in Toronto is composed of a dynamic Committee of more than 40 prominent members of the community, a Toronto Network group and a full-time staff, who host regular events to create awareness about the work of Human Rights Watch and educate Canadians about global human rights issues.