Hammered by Big Brother to obey. Hammered by Little Brother to defy. With all this hammering it’s easy to start feeling nailed to the floor.
Find a new vantage point on Dec. 5 when Velcrow Ripper’s film Occupy Love makes its Victoria debut. Hosted by Open Cinema and voted “Best Canadian Feature” at the Planet in Focus Environmental Film Festival, Occupy Love takes a journey through the global occupy movement, asking one question: how do we turn the heartbreaking story of environmental destruction, economic collapse, corporate greed, political impotence and the uprising against these forces into — wait for it — a love story?
Victoria is no stranger to the occupy movement with the Peoples Assembly of Victoria raising its voice alongside other world cities.
But there’s more.
Occupy Love depicts the evolution of protest, one in which a monolithic evildoer is deconstructed, leaving behind one humanity. Open Cinema panellist Layth Matthews, director of the Victoria Shambala Centre, explores the shifting conception of wealth in his upcoming book The Four Noble Truths of Wealth: a Buddhist view of economic life.
“This is one of the most sophisticated movements that I’ve seen because it’s so inclusive,” says Matthews.
“It’s brilliant that way. But, for it to be more than just another form of unrest, ultimately it’s an individual process that the whole world has to go through.”
Heavy stuff! And in true Open Cinema fashion, we get to witness and then discuss, guided by a panel of specialists. Join Matthews along with producer Ian Mackenzie, trans-media producer Nicole Sorochan, People’s Assembly of Victoria member, activist and writer Michelle Cuchanan, and moderator Rachelle Lamb in person or via live streaming at opencinema.ca/live and on twitter at #opencinema. Virtual guest and Occupy Love director Velcrow Ripper will also be joining the conversation. M