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TIFF This Week: Special Conversation on Policing Black Lives & Juneteenth Screening

Why are police so quick to pull the trigger when it’s a black man at the end of their barrel? How do they get away with snuffing out black lives with impunity? And why have these blatant acts of murder been allowed to continue for generations?

The resentment towards these flagrant acts of terror has finally boiled over, and now activists and allies are taking to the streets to demand change. If you’re mad as hell and don’t know what to do about it, the first step towards reform is to stop and listen.

It’s great that you want to show your outrage, but first, make sure you’re channelling those feelings into the right places. It starts with listening to the voices of the unheard and then engaging in uncomfortable conversations.

Having uncomfortable conversations means acknowledging your blind spots. After all, police brutality existed long before the invention of the camera phone. So why did people only start to give a damn once iPhone footage of police shootings began showing up on the news?

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The folks at TIFF are doing their part to give this necessary dialogue a platform on the national stage. Tonight, TIFF’s Artistic Director and Co-Head Cameron Bailey will host a panel on police portrayals in film and TV and the policing of black lives. This conversation will broadcast at 7pm EDT on TIFF.net, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

The evening’s special guests are visual culture scholar Nataleah Hunter-Young, University of California professor Courtney Baker, and award-winning filmmaker Clement Virgo.

This Friday, TIFF marks Juneteenth with another TIFF + Crave Stay-at-Home Cinema experience. The night’s on-brand film is Steve McQueen’s under-appreciated crime-thriller, Widows.

Widows will be preceded by a Q&A (featuring a special guest) at 7pm EDT via livestream at TIFF.net, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. And then at 7:30pm, log in to Crave and watch an all-star cast including Viola Davis, Cynthia Erivo, and Daniel Kaluuya in Widows.

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Widows trailer:

Widows synopsis:

Set in contemporary Chicago, amid a time of turmoil, four women with nothing in common except a debt left behind by their dead husbands’ criminal activities, take fate into their own hands, and conspire to forge a future on their own terms.

During the film, join the discussion on Twitter with #TIFFAtHome.



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