an evening of short films about community safety built through love, care and imagination

Friday, February 13, 7p - Ottawa Art Gallery
Free Admission

No tickets needed at the door, but you can register for reminders.

Films

Standing Above the Clouds (2021)

the backs of three women who embrace on a mountain top

standingabove.my.canva.site
Mauna Kea Education and Awareness

Jalena Keane-Lee + Amber Espinoa-Jones

When a massive thirty metre telescope is proposed to be built on Mauna Kea, an uprising of Kia'i (protectors) on Hawai'i and around the world dedicate their lives to protecting the sacred mountain from further destruction.
(15mins)

Afterwards (2023)

a set of pale hands plastering a poster about violence aganst women on a brick wall

www.nfb.ca/film/afterwards

Romane Garant Chatrand

Inside a shelter, participants in a talking circle share their experiences of intimate partner violence as a way to regain their dignity and strength to act.

French with English subtitles
(24mins)

Somebody Lives Here (2023)

a carpenter sitting inside of a tiny woodern home he is constructing

www.someoneliveshere.com

Zack Russell

Khaleel Seivwright builds small, life-saving shelters for unhoused people living outside in Toronto during the winter of the pandemic. His actions attract international attention but also staunch opposition from city officials.
(12min clip)

Inside, the Valley Sings (2026)

a black and white cartoon showing the layout of a solitary confinrment cell including a small bed in one corner, a conbined toilet and sink in another and no widows. a women in orange sitting on the bed

www.insidethevalleysings.com

Nathan Fagan

Trapped in the never-ending horror of prolonged solitary confinement, three imprisoned people seek comfort and escape in the boundless vistas of their own imagination.

Over time, they begin to construct elaborate fantasy worlds to escape their daily reality.
(15mins)

Window Visits (2020)

paper cut model of a parent and child outside a window with a grandparent on the otherside and a cherry blossom tree in the background

katerinacizek.com

Katerina Cizek

Documents a family's weekly visits to a long-term care facility from a child's perspective.
(2mins)

King's Court (2025)

Kids watching the game - Photo, O'Shane Howard

www.nfb.ca/film/kings-court

Serville Poblete

Two friends and basketball lovers talk family, community and brotherhood in this beautiful coming-of-age documentary short in Toronto's downtown neighbourhood of Bleecker Street.
(20mins)

Location

Ottawa Art Gallery
Alma Duncan Salon, 7p

oaggao.ca/visit

50 Mackenzie King Bridge
Ottawa, ON, K1N 0C5, CANADA

Enter the Gallery at 10 Daly or 50 Mackenzie King Bridge.

Event opens 6:30p
Gallery open until 9p

Accessibility

Films will be shown with open captions.
All entrances to the Gallery are accessible.
The theatre is tiered, with room for seating in front.
It's still flu season and COVID is still in the air, vaccines are available for everyone, and masking is encouraged.

Content of the films include colonial, gun, gender-based and policing violence, and the experience of solitary confinement.
Get in touch with additional accessibility questions:
planningforabolition[at]carleton[dot]ca

Donations

Admission is free and all are welcome.
We are encouraging everyone who can to make donations to a local initiative.
Instead of just acknowledging that Ottawa occupies Anishinābe Algonquin akiig this is a small way to try and be in betterish relations.

Tewegan Housing for Aboriginal Youth

www.teweganhousing.ca

An Ottawa-based transitional home for First Nations, Inuit and Métis women, ages 16 to 29. We provide a safe, culture-oriented environment where women can celebrate their traditions and acquire skills that will help them in life.

Thanks

This screening is part of the Pathways to Community Safety research event bringing together urban and regional planners, and restorative and transformative justice practitioners to share skills, stories and ideas for community safety, without banishment, punishment, surveillance or violence.
We understand that safety flourishes in fully resourced communities built through ecosystems of care.
The project has been funded and supported by:
And includes films from:
- National Film Board of Canada (Host your own screening!)

If you would like to hear more about our work or other events like this, follow along on Are.na or sign up for our Infrequent Updates.

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