AzerNews, Azerbaijan
April 1 2004

New chairman of Russian Duma visits Baku

The newly appointed chairman of the Russian Duma (parliament), Boris
Gryzlov paid a two-day official visit to Azerbaijan on March 29.
During the visit, the Russian Speaker held meetings with President
Ilham Aliyev, Prime Minister Artur Rasizada and Speaker of the Milli
Majlis (parliament) Murtuz Alasgarov. Russian-Azerbaijani

relations and development of inter-parliamentary relations were
discussed during the meetings.

Meetings
On Monday, President Ilham Aliyev received a Russian Speaker Boris
Gryzlov. Aliyev noted that bilateral relations were developing
dynamically and all the problems between the two countries had been
solved.

Underlining that Azerbaijan and Russia have also expanded bilateral
economic relations, President Aliyev said that the turnover of goods
between the two countries was increasing yearly, stating that the
Russian-Azerbaijani business forum will be held in Baku shortly.
Stating that the inter-parliamentary working group established within
the Russian Duma will direct its activities towards seeking common
ground, Gryzlov said that prior to the business forum, the working
group was scheduled to meet in Moscow early April. Updating the
Azerbaijani President on the Russian parliament’s activity, Gryzlov
said that today, for the first time, 306 MPs representing the ruling
Yedinaya Rossiya Party are in the Duma. The Russian Speaker said the
Duma had 29 committees which were headed by the MPs from the Yedinaya
Rossiya fraction. “Moreover, the Duma is working democratically. We
adopt a sufficient number of decisions based on the proposals put
forward by other fractions including the left-wing Communist Party of
the Russian Federation,” Gryzlov noted. He also said that the Duma
was carrying out mutual activity and exchanged inter-parliamentary
experience with the Azerbaijani parliament. Regarding Vladimir
Putin’s re-election as President of Russia as the ‘great victory of
the Russian people’, President Aliyev stressed that Putin had made a
great contribution to the democratic and economic development of
Russia. He also underscored that bilateral relations would give
impetus to the development of the two countries in the future. The
expansion of bilateral parliamentary relations was high on the agenda
during the meeting of Boris Gryzlov with his Azeri counterpart,
Murtuz Alasgarov on Monday. Elaborating on Russia’s parliamentary
elections held this February, Gryzlov said that the new composition
of the Russian Duma was comprised of all the democratic political
forces of the country. Underlining that the Russian parliament will
give priority to multi-sided relations with neighboring countries in
the future, Gryzlov said, “We are also very interested in developing
economic relations with Azerbaijan. Therefore, we plan to hold a
meeting of the Azerbaijani-Russian economic commission after the
gathering of the commission’s working group.” Touching upon the Upper
Garabagh conflict, Speaker Alasgarov regarded the occupation of
Azerbaijani lands by Armenia as a serious threat to Russia as well.
Stressing that there is a need for Russia’s support in the resolution
of the conflict, Alasgarov said, “Russia, as a co-chair of the OSCE
Minsk Group, should approach the matter sensitively. We are expecting
Russia to do much work in this respect.”

Kavkaz Center, Turkey
April 1 2004

Georgia overrun by Jews and Armenians?

Georgian Labor Party claims that the days of ‘black tyranny’ have
come to Georgia. In this connection Georgian Labourists are starting
the fight against ‘tyranny of Saakovism’. This is the statement that
leader of the Labor Party of Georgia Shalva Natelashvili made during
a press conference in Georgian capital Tbilisi, which was broadcast
live by a number of TV channels. While speaking about ‘Saakovism’,
Natelashvili was apparently hinting at Saakashvili’s Armenian ethnic
background.

«Laborists are launching the fight against the tyranny of Saakovism»,
Natelashvili said. He claims that «a dark antinational tyranny is
being established in the country, whose goal is to ruin the Georgian
state. Gloomy period is starting in Georgia, when everything that is
left will be sold out», News-Georgia information agency quotes
Natelashvili as saying.

«The period is starting when education will be destroyed, and when
the culture, the faith and Orthodoxy will be defiled. The epoch is
starting when they will try to make a new mass out of us, – an easily
manageable stratum, which will be representing a planned and exported
product of ideology and culture», the Labor leader claims.

News-Georgia reported that Natelashvili claims that «these processes
are run by Jewish and Armenian lobbies from across the ocean». At the
same time the Labor leader mentioned that he does not mean the people
of these ethnic backgrounds, ‘our brothers’ living in Georgia.

But «these plans are not going to come true», Natelashvili promised,
because «national movement of great resistance is starting today».
«Once the Labor Party has raised this banner, it will succeed in
liberating Georgia from these extraneous bodies», the party’s leader
mentioned in his speech.

«The day is drawing near when Georgia will get rid of the
Shevardnadze heritage and of bacilli and parasites bred by Soros, who
wish to rule over the Georgian people by terror, fear and by rigging
the elections», Natelashvili said.

«You are not going to make it. You are doomed. Yesterday and today
are the first days of your political death», – these are the words
which the Labor leader said at the press conference.

News-Georgia points out that at the same time Natelashvili also
claimed that during the March 28 parliamentary elections in Georgia
«voting results were grossly falsified» and «all efforts were made
not to let the Labourists into the country’s supreme legislative
body».

«Mikhail Saakashvili has virtually fulfilled the promise that he gave
that the Labor Party would not be admitted into the Parliament»,
Natelashvili claims.

As he put it, «the system of falsifications has been prepared ever
since the day of the so-called velvet revolution by Soros». At the
same time the leader of Labourists said that the current
parliamentary elections are «illegitimate, and so was the dismissal
of the half of the parliament, elected on November 2, 2003».

«Today Georgia has virtually been privatized by two billionaires:
Soros from across the ocean and Patarkatsishvili locally. This is the
entire political spectrum of Georgia. These two want to turn the
entire Georgia into an area of their business interests»,
Natelashvili said.

He added, «the Labor Party is not the force to yield to anyone or to
sell itself to anyone».

It must only be added that the leader of Georgia’s Labor Party made
this statement virtually at the same time when Washington was
welcoming ‘free elections in Georgia’ and announced it was pleased
with the level of openness and democracy.

Department of Strategic Information,

Kavkaz-Center

New York Times
April 1 2004

Life’s Astringent Taste Can Go Down Smooth
By ELVIS MITCHELL

“Vodka Lemon” just might be the world’s iciest postcard film: you
will never be so happy to sit inside a cozy, theater as when you
watch the actors exhaling clouds of warm breath over the blindingly
white expanse.

But the thicket of relationships that the director, Hiner Saleem, has
created and weaves his cast and camera through is so invitingly
hotblooded and crowded with hilariously melodramatic incident that
the snowbanks are not nearly as forbidding as they initially seem.
Eventually the chilly air becomes a character; it has the astringent
sharpness of the title drink that everyone in the movie downs, and
complains about.

The picture, which will be shown tonight, tomorrow and Saturday as
part of the New Directors/New Films series, starts with an old man
being pulled across the snowy wastes on his bed, an image right out
of a dream. But Mr. Saleem’s gifts come from giving these outlandish
visual statements a grounding in the everyday reality that the
characters experience. He is headed to a funeral, and “Vodka Lemon”
charts the intermingling – marriages, death and sexual complications
– in an Armenian village. Like most of the other New Directors/New
Films offerings “Vodka Lemon” is set in a place that almost makes us
want to applaud for the sheer industry required to get a camera crew
there.

Chief among the citizens is the wily Hamo, played by Romik Avinian.
With a grizzled jaw line one could scratch to start a fire, Mr.
Avinian dominates the picture as if he has finally grown into his
surly, direct charisma. This fine guarded actor anchors the
goings-on. After attending so many funerals, Hamo has begun a
flirtation with a much younger woman, the 50-ish widow Nina (Lala
Sarkissian). She feels a void in her life, and he simply recognizes
now as the time for both of them to move into a new adventure.

The ravaged and impoverished village also must cope with its own
deficits. The support system in place during Soviet rule is long
gone, with several residents fondly griping about the comforts, such
as they were, that the Soviets provided. There hasn’t been much
change; life in this flash-frozen community has gone from minimal to
Spartan, but nostalgie de la boue is still nostalgia.

“We have nothing left but our freedom,” one villager grouses. Mr.
Saleem understands that need is the central motivating force in the
villagers’ lives: for heat, food, emotional humidity and clarity.

Mr. Saleem’s layering does compensate for the lack of formal
structure, though the picture is provisionally set around the shock
waves caused by the imminent wedding of Nina’s granddaughter. But the
picture does not need an elaborately contrived plot. What it has
instead is a neighborly, fresh-air quality; all the doors in the
miniature snow-globe of a town are open, as is the chatter and
curiosity about everyone’s familial intrigues.

The movement from one conversation to another gives a likable freedom
to “Vodka Lemon,” and allows Mr. Saleem to set up a few running jokes
that combine quotidian absurdity with thoughtful melodrama, like the
opening shot of the old man, and a few other freakish outbursts that
have to be witnessed to be believed, and savored. It is an
intelligent gamble on Mr. Saleem’s part; he knows that if he’s not
going to satisfy audiences with convention, he should at least supply
a few entrances as detonation devices.

“Vodka Lemon” could be an Ice Capades version of a Beckett play, with
a group of seasoned though modest hammy actors in complete control.
Their affectlessness gives the movie an atmosphere of
hypothermia-laced surrealism, with shots of drama serving the same
purpose as the vodka; both keep the blood flowing. This movie has an
antic, mordant visual poetry that matches up with the rancor and
feeling in its population’s souls.

VODKA LEMON

Directed by Hiner Saleem; written (in Armenian, Kurdish and Russian,
with English subtitles) by Beatrice Pollet; director of photography,
Christophe Pollock; edited by Theodora Mantzouru; music by Michel
Korb; production designer, Albert Hamarash; produced by Fabrice Guez.
Running time: 88 minutes. This film is not rated. Shown with a
six-minute short, David Licata’s “Tango Octagenario” tonight at 6 and
tomorrow night at 8:30 at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center,
165 West 65th Street, and Saturday at 9 p.m. at the MoMA Gramercy
Theater, 127 East 23rd Street, Manhattan, as part of the 33rd New
Directors/New Films series of the Film Society of Lincoln Center and
the department of film and media of the Museum of Modern Art.

WITH: Romik Avinian (Hamo), Ivan Franek (Dilovan), Zaal Karielachvili
(Giano), Lala Sarkissian (Nina), Armen Maroutyan (Romik), Astrik
Avaguian (Avin), Rouzana-Vite Mesropian (Zine), Témou (Azad) and
Armen Sarkissyan (Bus Driver).

Diaspora Armenians to protest at British envoy’s genocide remarks

Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
1 Apr 04

[Presenter over video of British ambassador] The hullabaloo over the
remarks by the British ambassador to Armenia, Miss Thorda Abbot-Watt,
about the Armenian genocide is not dying out in the diaspora.

Armenians intend to stage demonstrations outside the British embassies
in many countries on 24 April, complaining because the British
ambassador said that the 1915 mass killings of Armenians in the
Ottoman Empire were not genocide. US newspaper California Courier has
written about this.

Our correspondent has reported that French Armenians will stage a
protest rally in Paris tomorrow outside the British embassy to condemn
Ambassador Abbot-Watt’s remarks.

Foreign investment in Armenia tops 200m dollars in 2003

Mediamax news agency
1 Apr 04

YEREVAN

Foreign investment in the Armenian economy stood at approximately 230m
US dollars in 2003, the National Statistics Service told Mediamax
today.

Direct investment last year was 153m, an 8.9 per cent increase on
2002.

Funds received from the privatization of state enterprises accounted
for 43.8 per cent of direct investment (or 67m dollars).

Peace process unpredictable under new Azeri leader, says Karabakh minister

Azg, Yerevan
31 Mar 04

No significant progress has been made in the Karabakh talks since
Ilham Aliyev became Azerbaijani president, the foreign minister of the
self-declared Nagornyy Karabakh Republic (NKR) has said. Ashot Gulyan
told Armenian newspaper Azg that remarks by Aliyev, such as that the
talks should start from zero, made the negotiating process less
predictable. He said that Ilham Aliyev had chosen to concentrate on
domestic issues during his first few months in power. The following is
the text of Tatul Akopyan’s interview with Gulyan in Azg on 31 March,
headlined “Factor of unpredictability has grown in negotiating
process”; subheadings inserted editorially:

Baku refused to take in part in the meeting between the Armenian and
Azerbaijani foreign ministers, with the participation of the OSCE
Minsk Group co-chairmen, due to have taken place in Prague on 29
March. President Ilham Aliyev criticized the OSCE Minsk Group once
again and said that the mediators has “achieved nothing positive in 12
years”. The Azerbaijani authorities are refusing to continue the
negotiating process on Karabakh and continuing to make bellicose
statements and threatening to settle the Karabakh issue by war.

What do the authorities of Nagornyy Karabakh [NKR] think of this? The
NKR foreign minister, Ashot Gulyan, answered this and other questions.

Negotiating process more unpredictable under Ilham Aliyev

[Correspondent] Mr Gulyan, has anything changed in the Karabakh
negotiations since Ilham Aliyev’s accession to power?

[Ashot Gulyan] There is no progress. The negotiating process has
become less predictable. The first several months of Ilham Aliyev’s
presidency show that there is no significant progress and the future
of the negotiating process is very unclear. Azerbaijan’s refusal to
take part in the Prague meeting shows that it has nothing to say. It
seems that Baku decided to put the Karabakh issue on the back burner,
accompanied by unclear statements. I am talking about bellicose
statements, references to zero levels and displeasure with the Minsk
Group’s work. In comparison with Heydar Aliyev’s tenure, the
negotiating process has become more unpredictable.

[Correspondent] Ilham Aliyev recently said that in 12 years the OSCE
Minsk Group did not achieve any progress in the negotiating
process. What is Stepanakert’s position? Was there any progress in the
negotiating process?

[Gulyan] The OSCE Minsk Group is an international organization that
has dealt with the Karabakh issue really professionally and it is
illogical to assess its activity for these 12 years as in vain. But I
would like to draw your attention to another problem. Ilham Aliyev
says in his statements that all the suggestions of the Minsk Group,
for a stage-by-stage or package solution, have become zero. That is,
what seemed acceptable for the former authorities of Azerbaijan is not
acceptable for today’s. This means that Azerbaijan is not approaching
the international mission seriously. I think all this has the aim of
hiding Azerbaijan’s inaction.

Ilham Aliyev concentrating on domestic issues

[Correspondent] Mr Gulyan, a view is being circulated in the Armenian
press and political circles that the essence of the Karabakh issue has
been misrepresented. How did the Karabakh party participate in the
negotiating process in recent years?

[Gulyan] If we take the last five or six years, we can say there was
no active negotiating process, and the Karabakh party participated as
much as possible. In the last five or six years the OSCE Minsk Group
co-chairmen visited Stepanakert in the framework of their visits to
the region and met the NKR authorities. During all those meetings the
mediators noted that, irrespective of the negotiations being stepped
up, Karabakh continues to remain a negotiating party. That is,
Karabakh is a negotiating party and nobody denies that except
Azerbaijan.

If we take the essence of the negotiating process into account, which
was at the level of meetings of the Armenian and Azerbaijani
presidents for several years, and if we compare them with the
negotiations before 1996, we may say that these meetings were directed
more to taking the process out of deadlock.

Ilham Aliyev’s statements show that today the Karabakh issue is not so
urgent for Azerbaijan. I have the impression that for the new
president of Azerbaijan the first stage of his presidency will be the
settlement of domestic problems. In this way he is trying to avoid
those domestic political upheavals, which may appear at different
levels of discussion of the Karabakh issue.

Europe taking more interest in Karabakh settlement

[Correspondent] Recently Europe has shown more interest in a Karabakh
settlement. How can you comment on this?

[Gulyan] This may be explained, first of all, by the fact that the
countries of the region have turned towards Europe and today their
involvement in European structures means feedback. The same European
structures (the European Union and Council of Europe) in the framework
of their interests are trying to clarify, by means of monitoring or
supervising the situation in the region, to what extent the
obligations are being carried out in the countries of the region.
There is an evident reality that the European structures have started
to be also interested in the unsettled problems or conflict situations
of the region. Here there is a big gap which seems not to be
corrected by the Council of Europe and European Union with the help of
necessary work. European structures, except the OSCE Minsk Group, do
not know the problem of the conflict, they do not know the pre-history
of the conflict and today’s positions of the parties to the
conflict. An impression has been created that Azerbaijan is trying to
make use of the situation and to make accusations from the European
rostrum. Our objective is to give, as much as possible, independent
information to the European structures, to make them understand the
truth about the Karabakh conflict. Naturally, the NKR does not have
such key levers and we are expecting Armenia’s support.

Armenian defence minister rejects talks with opposition

Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
31 Mar 04

[Presenter] Defence Minister Serzh Sarkisyan has described the current
situation in the country as rather strained. He denied the rumours
that he is gathering mercenary groups to reduce tension, calling them
a fairy tale.

[Defence Minister Serzh Sarkisyan, captioned] All those rumours and
tales that the Defence Ministry and defence minister are gathering
mercenary groups are the results of a diseased imagination and are
spread by people who have no idea about the country’s national
security.

One person is speaking in terms of ultimatums to the leadership and
openly says that there will be bloody clashes. [One of the leaders of
the National Democratic bloc, MP Arshak Sadoyan, said on 31 March that
the people should resort to civil disobedience if a referendum on
confidence in the president is not held by 16 April.] I think that the
law-enforcement bodies have to do something. This is not the first
time that Arshak Sadoyan has called for bloody clashes. But let Arshak
Sadoyan remember 1996, when there was bloodshed where he was. If this
time Arshak Sadoyan organizes bloody clashes, he will hide in the
garages, I do not hide anywhere. What can I say?

[Correspondent] Speaking about the negotiations with the opposition,
Serzh Sarkisyan stressed that there is no point holding negotiations
with the opposition when they repeatedly announce the illegitimacy of
the country’s leadership.

[Serzh Sarkisyan] Negotiations demand a resolution of problems. Let us
imagine that a miracle has taken place and the authorities have been
changed in Armenia by force. Then there will be new elections. Many
candidates will be nominated for the presidential post. The losing
side will again stage rallies and declare the elections unfair.

You know, when a person is sick with the disease of wanting to be
president, this person is dangerous, dangerous at all times, and this
man can lead the country to disaster.

Nune Aleksanyan, “Aylur”.

Azeri ministry concerned at UK reporter’s visits to breakaway Karabakh

Ekho, Baku
1 Apr 04

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry intends to look for verification of
the reports carried by Kavkazskiy uzel news agency and some other
sources that British journalist Thomas de Waal, coordinator of the
Caucasus project of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, has
visited Stepanakert. The visit’s objective was familiarization with
preparation for the first edition of the new “public Karabakh
newspaper Demo”, sponsored by an international foundation.

Armenian sources maintain that Thomas de Waal, author of the book,
Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War, on the
Nagornyy Karabakh conflict, was an informal intermediary in this
process between the British grant-givers and the newspaper. The
sources said that in addition to material about life in Karabakh, Demo
will carry reports about other countries of the Caucasus region.

[Passage omitted: minor details]

De Waal said that over the past eight years he has visited Nagornyy
Karabakh 10 times. Certainly, he visited the occupied Azerbaijani
territories without the official permission of the Azerbaijani
government.

The head of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s press service, Matin
Mirza, said that if the reports are confirmed, then the ministry will
tell the UK embassy in Azerbaijan about its concerns. As for de Waal’s
private visits to Stepanakert, this issue must be looked at from
different perspectives, Mirza said.

“The Armenians may, as usual, hype up the information about de Waal’s
visits to Stepanakert and his objectives. They mainly do this to
attract more attention from the international community. However, it
must be noted that foreign citizens do not have the right to visit
Nagornyy Karabakh without permission from the Azerbaijani
government. This is unacceptable and jeopardizes the notions of
territorial integrity and inviolability of Azerbaijan’s borders, as
well as threatens peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict,” he
said.

In addition, Mirza described the assistance of a UK citizen in the
publication of a newspaper in the separatist entity as “an attempt of
blatant intrusion in the process of peaceful settlement of the
conflict”. De Waal’s stance on this issue has to be interpreted as
assistance in the dissemination of Armenia’s anti-Azerbaijani
propaganda, Mirza said.

Yesterday [31 March], Ekho newspaper managed to get in touch with de
Waal, who was in Tbilisi. In response to a question about the
Azerbaijani government’s permission to visit Stepanakert, he said that
he “never even thought about making such a request to the Azerbaijani
authorities”.

In his words, he is a man monitoring developments in Karabakh,
Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. “In my job, I advise the press
publishers on how to organize their work. I have paid many visits to
Karabakh,” he said.

De Waal confirmed to Ekho that he had recently visited Stepanakert. “I
have visited Azerbaijan and met high-ranking officials here for many
years. I have never concealed and will not conceal that I visit
Karabakh. When in Azerbaijan, I inform the officials that I was in
Karabakh. For this reason, I never ask for permission to visit that
region. I am a foreign correspondent who often visits unrecognized
territorial entities, such as Karabakh, Abkhazia, Chechnya and
others. This is the duty of foreign reporters.”

He told Ekho that he intends to continue visits to Karabakh skirting
the Baku government. “I consider myself a neutral person and can make
such visits.”

In conclusion, de Waal said that he will soon visit Azerbaijan. He
hoped that Azerbaijani officials will not obstruct his visit to Baku.

United Nations Development Programme Country Office in Armenia
14, Karl Liebknecht Street, Yerevan 375010, Armenia
Contact: Aramazd Ghalamkaryan
Tel: (374 1) 56 60 73
Fax: (374 1) 54 38 11
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

UNDP COUNTRY OFFICE IN ARMENIA
1 April, 2004

UNDP AND THE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY OF ARMENIA LAUNCH THE
`REDUCING DISASTER RISK. A CHALLENGE FOR DEVELOPMENT’ GLOBAL REPORT

Yerevan, Armenia

Today the Emergency Management Agency of Armenia (EMA) and the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP) presented a major global report
`Reducing Disaster Risk, A Challenge for Development’ to the general
public. Mr. Aram Tananyan, Deputy Chief of EMA and Ms. Lise Grande, UN
Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative presided over
the event. Mr. Tananyan also appealed to the donor community to
support the Governmnet’s efforts to mitigate the recent floods that
occurred in a number of regions.

The `Reducing Disaster Risk, A Challenge for Development’ was prepared
by UNDP’s Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery and presented
worldwide. The Report examines three major types of natural disasters:
earthquakes, tropical cyclones and floods. According to the Report,
billions of people in more than 100 countries are periodically exposed
to at least one earthquake, tropical cyclone, flood or drought. As a
result of natural disasters, more than 184 deaths per day are recorded
throughout the world.

The Report also shows that the achievement of the Millennium
Development Goals are endangered in many of the countries exposed to
natural disasters because they destruct infrastructure and cause
financial, social, economic and environmental shocks.

According to Ms. Grande: `The Report shows that Armenia ranks second
in the world in terms of exposure to earthquakes. This is an important
fact – it means that Armenians are more exposed to earthquakes than
almost anyone else in the entire world. The recognition of this should
lead us to strengthen and accelerate our efforts to help Armenia be
better prepared to confront natural and man-made disasters.’

Mr. Tananyan noted that the Governmenmt of Armenia is in the process
of calculating the damage caused by the recent floods and storms. He
expressed his grateful acknowledgement of UNDP’s efforts made so far
in the area of disaster management, and presented an appeal to the
donor community for assistance.

Country background: Despite its relatively small territory, Armenia’s
landscape is diverse. Armenia also has different climatic zones and is
vulnerable to a number of potential natural including earthquakes,
floods, landslides and hailstorms. In addition, Armenia is also
exposed to a number of potential technological or man-made disasters
as a result of the nuclear power plant, which is located in a
seismically active zone, and chemical and hazardous production
facilities.

***

UNDP is the UN’s global development network. It advocates for change
and connects countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help
people build a better life. We are on the ground in 166 countries,
working with them on their own solutions to global and national
development challenges. As they develop local capacity, they draw on
the people of UNDP and our wide range of partners.

***
For further information, please contact Mr. Aramazd Ghalamkaryan, UNDP
Armenia at [email protected].
***

The Globe and Mail, Canada
April 1 2004

A reel close-up on diversity

Documentaries and social-realist dramas dominate this film festival
dedicated to giving visual minorities greater exposure, LIAM LACEY
writes

By LIAM LACEY

Toronto’s fourth ReelWorld Film Festival, which kicks off today and
runs through the weekend at the Famous Players SilverCity Empress
Walk cinema, is moving up to a new level this year with a series of
seminars and panel discussions about breaking into the film business.

Started four years ago by soap-opera actress Tonya Lee Williams, the
festival (and the ReelWorld Foundation behind it), has generated
government financing and corporate sponsorship, and on that level is
already a success. What remains difficult to pin down is what the
festival, with its all-too generic name, is about.

The aim is diversity, specifically films about and by visual
minorities, but there’s a lot of overlap with existing Toronto
festivals. There is already a successful Reel Asian film festival in
the fall, and for black film, Planet Africa at the Toronto
International Film Festival and the Get Reel Film Festival (April
21-25). But nobody ever suggests a cap on the number of film
festivals for white people, and more festivals may mean more
opportunities and better representation of minorities in films.

The handful of films I’ve seen — there are more than 80 works
ranging from feature films to music videos in the festival — look
like good old Canadian multiculturalism. Several of the films have
white lead characters. Several others — the short Nigel’s
Fingerprints, the feature Little Brother of War and the Cuban film,
Entre Ciclones (Between Hurricanes) — have bi-racial lead
characters.

Documentaries and social-realist dramas are predominant. (The extreme
example of this is a film called Take Out, about Chinese immigrants
in New York, which spends most of its running time taking us on a
tour of food deliveries.) The opening gala, Little Brother of War
(tonight at 6:30), is Vancouver director Damon Vignale’s story about
an eight-year-old half-Indian orphan boy who travels across the
country to Chicago for a lacrosse championship, and befriends a jaded
cop. The film previously played at the Vancouver and Montreal film
festivals.

The closing-night gala on Sunday is the world premiere of a romantic
comedy, The Seat Filler (at 7 p.m.), about a regular guy who falls
for a superstar, Destiny’s Child’s Kelly Rowland.

A couple of documentaries look promising. Change from Within (Sat., 3
p.m.), a first film from Montreal’s Peter Farbridge, is about
inspirational teacher Margaret Bolt and her success in giving poor
children a break through her St. Peter Claver school in Kingston,
Jamaica.

Wet Sand: Voices from L.A. Ten Years Later (tomorrow at 1 p.m.) is
Korean-American filmmaker Dai Sil Kim-Gibson’s re-examination of the
L.A. riots of 1992, and its aftermath, on relations between the
Korean and black communities.

I Made a Vow (tomorrow at 4:30 p.m.) is a documentary focusing on
Canada’s oldest black community in Nova Scotia. Filmmaker Juanita
Peters (winner of a $5,000 National Film Board’s Reel Diversity Award
for her story pitch) offers a charming shot-on-video profile of the
importance of elaborate weddings in the town of North Preston. The
hour-long film follows the year-long preparations for Sharon and
Robbie up to the big day. The film does little to explain the
cultural history of these elaborate fetes but the music and warmth of
the characters carries it through.

Music and dance are the subjects of a quite wonderful film, Dame La
Mano (Give Me Your Hand) (Sunday, 3 p.m.), by veteran Dutch
documentarian Heddy Honigmann, which follows a group of irrepressible
Cuban expatriates. These characters gather each Saturday night at a
New Jersey nightclub to sing and dance the rumba, a dance that is
promoted as doing everything from stopping aging to promoting sexual
vigour and fighting cancer.

Cuban culture is also the focus of Entre Ciclones (Between
Hurricanes), which is screening Saturday at 9:30. This Havana-set
comedy, a huge hit in its native country last spring, follows the
misadventures of a handsome telephone repairman and the various women
in his life. While it does offer some insights into contemporary
Cuba, its bureaucratic frustrations and the differences between the
revolution generation and the pragmatic self-interested children,
it’s a shrill affair, with the stereotypes broadly drawn.

Neither is there much new in director Michael Tolajian’s feature
Bought & Sold (Friday, 9 p.m.). This multi-ethnic dramedy is about a
young Hispanic man who takes on work for a local Italian loan shark,
befriends an Armenian pawnbroker, learns about the Armenian genocide
and ditches his gold-digging girlfriend for a better choice.

A much more ambitious if not entirely successful drama, set in the
world of graffiti artists, is Bomb the System (Saturday at 7 p.m.).
When the film was shown at festivals in New York and Los Angles last
year, Variety hailed its director, Adam Bhala Lough, as a fresh new
directing voice, with a kinetic visual and driving narrative sense.

The film follows recent high-school graduate Anthony (Mark Webber,
who played Scooby in Todd Solondz’s Storytelling), who lives to go
out at night with his crew and “bomb” or paint walls with his art.
Anthony’s older brother, also a graffiti artist, was killed years
before on the streets. The movie, which plays out like Footloose with
spray cans, feels more than a little absurd, but it’s a visual tour
de force, with the director throwing in jump cuts and dissolves in
celebration of a visual art form, all accompanied by a layered
techno-rap soundtrack.

All screenings take place at the Famous Players SilverCity Empress
Walk, 5095 Yonge St., Toronto. For more information: the ReelWorld
website (); for tickets call (416) 923-9232.