Adrienne Harry

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For the eighth year, the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy and the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF)  partnered to present the TIFF Speaker Series. Each year, this series pairs Munk School scholars and filmmakers for a post-screening discussion about select TIFF films, aimed at deepening understanding of the issues each film explores.

This year’s film selections included Rubaiyat Hossain’s Made in Bangladesh, a film about a garment factory worker who is inspired to start a union with her colleagues after her friend dies on the job. Rachel Silvey, the Richard Charles Lee Director of the Asian Institute, joined Hossain for a discussion after the September 7 screening.

On September 8, the Munk School’s Joseph Wong joined filmmaker Alexander Nanau to discuss Collective, a documentary about the consequences of a fire in a Romanian music club in October 2015. The fire left 64 dead and another 180 injured. Over the course of one year, the film follows an investigative journalist and a young Minister of Health, who, triggered by the fate of the victims, are each struggling with the corruption of state institutions.

Ron Levi sat with filmmaker Yaron Zilberman on September 9 to discuss the film Incitement. This TIFF selection chronicled the disturbing descent of a promising law student to a delusional ultranationalist obsessed with murdering his country’s leader, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Levi and Zilberman were joined by Dalia Rabin, daughter of the late Prime Minister Rabin.

Also on September 9, TIFF welcomed Julie Moreau, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto’s Department of Political Science and Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies, who discussed the film Comets with filmmaker Tamar Shavguildze. Set in Tbilisi, Georgia, the film followed Nana and Irina, two women whose teenage romance made life so unbearable that one flees the country. The couple reunited in their mid-50s to relive the love of their youth.

Randall Hansen spoke with filmmaker Eva Mulvad about her documentary, Love Child, on September 10. The film focused on a refugee family from Iran and the challenges they faced seeking asylum in Turkey.

To close the series, Janice Stein sat with Maryam Touzani on September 13 to discuss Touzani’s directorial debut, Adam. Set in Casablanca, Adam explored friendship, motherhood and grief in this story about an unwed pregnant woman and the widow who takes her in after she is rendered homeless.

September 16, 2019