Call it consciousness raising or entertainment with a message, this weekend’s film festival at Selkirk College is designed to inspire.

The eighth annual Nelson Amnesty International Film Festival in Selkirk’s Studio 80 opens Friday and headlines with eight films focusing on human rights challenges and accomplishments around the world.

Film festival organizer George Chandler said the festival’s philosophy centres around the power of film to tell important stories about one of the most pressing issues of our time: human rights.

“These films are about real people in real life,” he said. “They are a testament to the courage and resilience of the human spirit.”

The festival opens Friday (7 p.m.) with two films about the fight of indigenous peoples to protect their environment, health and culture from resource extraction.

A Canadian film, Our Land My People, tells the story of the Lubicon people in northern Alberta and their struggle to protect their environment and way of life from oil and gas development.

From Ecuador comes, Justicia Now!, a film extolling Chevron Texaco’s legacy in the northern Ecuadorian region of the Amazon rainforest, introducing viewers to the Los Afectados, the affected ones.

Rounding out the night is Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country, an insight into high-risk journalism and dissidence in a police state. The film follows young citizens insistent on keeping up the flow of information from their closed country.

Saturday begins at 1 p.m. with a matinee screening of Seeking Refuge, a Canadian film on five asylum seekers and their lengthy journey to be accepted in our country.

Two more films in the afternoon are The Devil’s Bargain: A Journey into the Small Arms Trade (2:15 p.m.) and Un poquito de tanta verdad (A Little Bit of So Much Truth) at 4 p.m.

The film follows the 2006 non-violent uprising in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca when tens of thousands of people used radio and TV stations to organize and defend their struggle for justice.

The festival closes Saturday night with hope. The Italian Doctor (7 p.m.) follows the work of Dr. Alberto Cairo, head of the Red Cross Orthopaedic Centre in Kabul, in his mission to restore the dignity of every victim of landmines in Afghanistan.

And finally, In Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai, one woman’s simple efforts in planting trees reclaimed land from 100 years of deforestation, provided new sources of food and income to rural communities, gave powerless women a vital political role, and helped bring down Kenya’s long dictatorship — and led to her winning the Nobel Peace Prize.

Full festival program available online at www.amnestyfilmfest.ca. Tickets are just $5 for each afternoon or evening, available at Otter books in Nelson and some at the door.

tim@nelsondailynews.com

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