By Diana Ginsberg
Films from around the world are expected to reel in Ottawa residents for both the One World and Diaspora film festivals throughout October.
The 16th annual One World Film Festival will include four evenings of documentaries on global concerns, covering a wide range of issues including health, social justice, environment and community development, says Prince Jusu Nallo, the director of the One World Film Festival.
Ottawa is a conscious choice for the festival’s location because it is the capital of Canada and in October, a lot of the diplomats are in the city, says Nallo.
“To bring a One World Film Festival to Ottawa means that we can bring all of the diplomats and embassies together to learn about international development from a perspective of filmmakers from different parts of the world.”
Shahram Tabe, director of the fifth annual Diaspora Film Festival says their festival is not politically motivated and screens many films, including fictional stories that deal with diaspora.
The festival screens in both Ottawa and Toronto because it has been successful in these cities in the past, says Tabe.
Although the festivals differ in their scope and administration, the directors from both of the events agree that their festivals share a common problem: a lack of funding from the city to make these events successful.
“We need documentaries to be made and to be interesting to others and we don’t have enough support for that to happen when the city is giving us $1,000. We appreciate their funding but this is only negligible.”
Tabe says that the Diaspora Film Festival has also suffered artistically from a lack of funding. The festival screens its full program in Toronto but organizers are only showing a selection of its films in Ottawa due to the lack of finances.
According to Tabe, this year’s festival is funded purely through ticket sales and is receiving nothing from the city.
“We used to do the whole program in Ottawa,” says Tabe. “However, this year, the major problem was we didn’t receive enough of a budget from the city. So I had to cut it short and just select a few movies.”
In an e-mail interview, Colleen Hendrick, director for the city’s community and protective services, said cultural funding programs are assessed through a peer review process according to approved assessment criteria. In 2005, the Cultural Services Division received 455 applications and awarded 211 funding allocations.
The city allocates approximately $3.8 million annually in cultural funding, and each year there are more funding requests than the funding program can support, she added.
André Loiselle, director of the School for Studies in Art and Culture at Carleton University, says independent festivals are a unique experience for cinephiles.
“Because the filmmakers will be there to talk about their films, people who are interested in the diaspora experience can talk to people who have lived that experience,” says Loiselle.
Organizers say the festivals complement each other as they are held at the same location.
“It’s definitely an advantage to have both festivals screening at the same location in October because the same type of cinephile will attend both festivals,” says Tabe. “When they don’t have screenings, we do, and when we have screenings, they don’t. So, in essence, we just warm each other up.”
The One World Film Festival will be screened on Oct. 9, 13, 21 and 26, and the Diaspora Film Festival on Oct. 15, 22 and 23. Both festivals will be screened at the Library and Archives on Wellington Street.