BURMESE DAYS: Around 175 people walked in the rain from McGill to Concordia on Saturday to protest the crackdown on anti-government demonstrators in Myanmar (Burma). A sense of uneasy normalcy—meaning continued repression—has settled on the Southeast Asian nation following the protests, and an unknown number of Buddhist monks, who led the demonstrations, have been killed or imprisoned. PHOTO BY RACHEL GRANOFSKY

Quote of the week

“I was shocked, infuriated and flabbergasted.” —Outremont mayor Stéphane Harbour, denying he knew anything about the thousands of dollars allegedly wasted on entertainment and salary bonuses by two of his top administrators. Montreal mayor Gérald Tremblay expelled Harbour from the party on Tuesday.

Con U film paranoia

Cinema Politica, the weekly political movie night spinning its spools at Concordia’s main theatre downtown, is drawing a beefed up security presence, especially when films on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are screened. And that’s freaking organizer Ezra Winton right out.

Last week, Winton received a letter from the administration stating that he’d have to pay some $400 to cover the costs of additional security guards for last Tuesday’s screening of Occupation 101, a documentary about ongoing unpleasantness in the not-so-Holy Land. He also couldn’t sell DVDs of the film outside the theatre, in pursuance of Concordia policy (Winton says they give the DVD out in return for donations, which his organization depends on). Outraged, he kicked up a fuss and the university eventually relented, footing the bills themselves. But even the presence of four additional guards unnerves him.

“We’ve shown over 100 movies since we started” almost five years ago, he says. “But the only movies that ever run into administrative roadblocks, in terms of security, are ones that are critical of the illegal occupation of Palestine by the Israeli government.”

Winton says other Cinema Politica groups at Dalhousie and Ottawa universities are feeling a squeeze as well. “There’s a trend to cleanse students of any political activity,” he says.

by Patrick Lejtenyi

Making war movies

Documenting armed conflict has always been a dangerous proposition, but these days it’s becoming riskier than ever. More journalists and filmmakers have been killed covering the war in Iraq—at least 43 this year alone—than any other conflict since WWII.

With that in mind, the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma holds a roundtable discussion, “Filmmaking in Wartime,” this Tuesday, Oct. 16, at 5 p.m. at the Society for Arts and Technology (1195 St-Laurent). “It’s just as dangerous being a filmmaker as it is being a soldier,” says Gabrielle Tougas-Fréchette, special events coordinator for the FNC. “You can’t just be a journalist, you’re also a target.”

Hosted by Reporters Without Borders Canada president François Bugingo, the discussion will feature former longtime Radio-Canada journalist Pierre Mignault, Afghan al-Jazeera cameraman Hashmatullah Sheerzai and French documentary filmmaker Florent Marcie.

Marcie’s Chechnya doc, Itchkéri Kenti, which was shot over a 10-year period, will be screened the next day, Wednesday, Oct. 17, at 12:15 p.m. at Ex-Centris (3536 St-Laurent). The roundtable is free, the film is $10 for adults, $8 for students. Tickets are two for one if bought before 5 p.m. with a valid STM CAM pass. For info, call (514) 844-2172.

by Christopher Hazou

Rock ’n’ Roma

This weekend brings us the second edition of the Romani Yag Gypsy Festival, probably the best opportunity you’ll ever have to explore the profoundly rich culture of these enigmatic and often misunderstood people.

“We want Montrealers to discover not only their art and music but the evolution of the Gypsy people,” says festival spokesperson Caroline Gosselin. “There are 100,000 Gypsies in Canada, but they keep a low profile. They won’t introduce themselves by saying, ‘Hi, I’m a Gypsy,’ but they still want people to know they’re here, and this is why the festival was born.”

So, between Thursday, Oct. 11, and Sunday, Oct. 14, over 50 artists and speakers, arriving from all over the world, will be in town to participate in a variety of activities over the course of the Festival’s four days. Most of the action, be that concerts, film screenings, art and dance exhibits, master classes, or roundtable conferences on all-things-Gypsy, will be taking place at the Ukrainian Federation (5213 Hutchison), but the new Café Sarajevo (6548 St-Laurent) and the Parc des Princes Bistro (5293 Parc) will be hosting several events as well.

For a detailed schedule, go to www.romaniyag.com.

by Chris Barry

Arts and trash

Have you ever looked into your recycling box and thought, “I coulda reincarnated those empty Kraft Dinner boxes and Habitant soup cans into an awesome art project?” Perhaps you need some inspiration; after all, an empty soup can is not just an empty soup can during Semaine québécoise de réduction des déchets (SQRD)—it’s art waiting to happen.

From Oct. 14–21, you too can learn the ins and outs of transforming your recycling box into a goldmine as the SQRD rolls out its R3 Expo project aimed at reducing, reusing and recycling waste in creative ways. All week long, schools and municipalities across the province will host activities and workshops, as well as take on challenges like organizing a zero-waste lunch in Quebec schools.

The whole affair will culminate with famous sculptor and local leftie Armand Vaillancourt producing a piece of art made entirely of recuperated materials in collaboration with Matériaux pour les Arts Montréal (MAM), which salvages materials from local businesses and industries.

Vaillancourt will be sculpting away at TOHU (2345 Jarry E.) on Oct. 21.

Visit www.sqrd.org for a schedule and activity locations (Web site en français seulement).

by Tracey Lindeman

Rear-view mirror

19 YEARS AGO - OCT. 7–20, 1988

On the cover :Midnight Oil’s Peter Garrett, whose Diesel to Dust to Big Mountain tour focuses on Aboriginal rights. “Until Aboriginal people in Australia get some claim over the land which was rightfully theirs, before it was nicked off them by British soldiers with guns, then they will always be suffering in poverty,” he says.
• Gay rights groups, and the Mirror, are boycotting the Peel Pub over alleged discrimination. Peel owner Frank Weshler refutes the charges. “I personally get offended when I see two men or two women going at each other, but I’d tell a straight couple to take it home too,” he says.
• David Cronenberg says Dead Ringers “is a film against the trend of Rambo-style films where strength comes from inarticulate rage.”
• The Mirror runs a travel piece from Vietnam by cycling advocate “Bob Xe Dap Silverman,” aka “Bicycle Bob.” (“Xe dap” is Vietnamese for “bicycle.”)
• The Mirror also has a four-page National Enquirer-spoof advertising supplement for sci-fi flick Alien Nation.

Angel >> RadioheadWhether you like or dislike Thom Yorke and co.’s brooding, dramatic music is immaterial; what the British band is doing with the release of their new album, In Rainbows, is a novel way of delivering music to their fans by cutting out the record label middleman. By making the album available for download from their Web site this week—where fans can pay anything between nothing and £100, and without copy protection—they’ve added a new twist to music distribution, one where artists can actually recoup the money fans decide to spend on them directly. And the scheme will probably work; the BBC is reporting that music fans that don’t even like the band are buying it (for not much) just because they admire what they’re doing.

Insect >> Ethnic lists Just a few short years ago, Americans were getting mad at us because Canada was so close to decriminalizing pot, you could smell the skunk in the air. But this week, Stephen Harper’s (still) New Government has announced plans to overhaul and toughen drug laws, bringing us ever-closer to the destructive, counter-productive and often idiotic American model. Drug offenders can expect stiffer penalties, anti-drug campaigns will be ramped up and border guards will get more money. But no cash is set aside for treatment or harm-reduction measures like safe injection sites. The plan’s many critics—ranging from the federal Liberals to physicians to academics—say this is another example of pandering to people’s fears, and of ideology trumping science.