[xtypo_dropcap]N[/xtypo_dropcap]ovember is the month Ottawa’s Free Thinking Film Society chose to host the first Free Thinking Film Festival. For three days at the Library and Archives building, there were films, galas, and debates for those who want to be informed and sometimes challenged.
The Free Thinking Society, established in 2007, aims to provide non-fiction films as an antidote to movies that entertain but don’t necessarily provoke thinking or discussion. The group’s website says it is dedicated to bringing exciting and challenging documentaries to Canada’s capital.
One film, Outside the Great Wall, The Fight for Freedom & Democracy in China, profiled 12 artists, writers, and activists exiled from their homeland and living in the U.S. and Europe because they dared to proclaim a desire for democracy and human rights in China during the Beijing Spring era of the 1970s.
The conversations centered around events in China that led to their decision to leave their homeland and how these brave people have continued to care about and fight for freedom in China to this day.
In their bid for a society free from the fetters of communism, many of these intellectuals spent years in prison before finding a way to flee and live outside China.
During this series of interviews the theme of what it feels like to be an exile was examined. Some stated how much they missed their homeland and that they feel lonely and lost. However, no matter how much each longs for China, the impossibility of returning to their homeland without being arrested was also painfully clear.
Other conversations explored why the 12 were compelled to push for free expression and other basic human rights when they knew that change would not occur. For some, life would not be worth living if they couldn’t express their ideals.
For others, there was the belief that the system could be changed and a disbelief that their government could act with such heartless cruelty during the Tiananmen killing of unarmed students in 1989. The Tiananmen massacre was the turning point after which most of the interviewees said they decided they had to leave China.
In all of the exiles a great courage to stand up for their ideals was evident. Each wanted to help their beloved China become a better country where they would be welcomed and free to speak their minds without fear of reprisal or censure for standing up to the huge wall of authority.
Writer Zheng Yi said he realized that only after being away from the influence of the communist regime for a long time did he recover some of his innate humanity and feel compassion for others.
The Free Thinking Society, established in 2007, aims to provide non-fiction films as an antidote to movies that entertain but don’t necessarily provoke thinking or discussion. The group’s website says it is dedicated to bringing exciting and challenging documentaries to Canada’s capital.
One film, Outside the Great Wall, The Fight for Freedom & Democracy in China, profiled 12 artists, writers, and activists exiled from their homeland and living in the U.S. and Europe because they dared to proclaim a desire for democracy and human rights in China during the Beijing Spring era of the 1970s.
The conversations centered around events in China that led to their decision to leave their homeland and how these brave people have continued to care about and fight for freedom in China to this day.
In their bid for a society free from the fetters of communism, many of these intellectuals spent years in prison before finding a way to flee and live outside China.
During this series of interviews the theme of what it feels like to be an exile was examined. Some stated how much they missed their homeland and that they feel lonely and lost. However, no matter how much each longs for China, the impossibility of returning to their homeland without being arrested was also painfully clear.
Other conversations explored why the 12 were compelled to push for free expression and other basic human rights when they knew that change would not occur. For some, life would not be worth living if they couldn’t express their ideals.
For others, there was the belief that the system could be changed and a disbelief that their government could act with such heartless cruelty during the Tiananmen killing of unarmed students in 1989. The Tiananmen massacre was the turning point after which most of the interviewees said they decided they had to leave China.
In all of the exiles a great courage to stand up for their ideals was evident. Each wanted to help their beloved China become a better country where they would be welcomed and free to speak their minds without fear of reprisal or censure for standing up to the huge wall of authority.
Writer Zheng Yi said he realized that only after being away from the influence of the communist regime for a long time did he recover some of his innate humanity and feel compassion for others.
