Mining has become a controversial industrial practice and yet metals are so much part of our daily experience that we no longer even notice how extensive our use of these materials are. Can we imagine living without metals?
Dossiers
A Tenuous Peace - New!
War rages in Darfur but a three-year-old tenuous peace holds in Southern Sudan. What happens to a place after peace deals are signed, while refugees return, as media emerge, and as aid pours in? There is peace in Sudan, and we're taking a close look at it.
Agent Orange
Notorious for its devastating use by the U.S. military in the Vietnam War, the toxic defoliant Agent Orange was tested and sprayed extensively in Canada by both the Canadian military and its U.S. counterpart in the 1950s, '60s and '70s at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown in New Brunswick.
All Mixed Up
“Mixed up” refers to the notions of blending identities and transgressing cultural norms...
American Politics Through a Canadian Lens
American politics, culture, power and influence and the effect these things have on Canadian - American relations.
Autonomous Media
Armed with video camera, transmitter, keyboard or spray can, autonomous media makers are fighting to democratize the channels of communication.
Between the Pixels: media literacy online
Media Literacy Week 2010 begins November 1st to the 5th, and this year's theme is Gender and Media.
Biodiversity
CitizenShift assembles a group of media environmentalists to mark International Day of Biological Diversity.
Brave New 1984: Visionaries of the 21st Century?
Brave New 1984 is a new, innovative web-video project that uses the ideas of George Orwell's 1984 and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World to examine contemporary global issues and realities.
Burundi Film Center
The Burundi Film Center (BFC) is a media development projected launched by three Canadian filmmakers in the little-known East African nation of Burundi.
Cement Roots - IN DEVELOPMENT
This dossier takes a look at the practice of urban agriculture within the confines of cemented spaces.
CIVICUS World Assembly 2010 - Acting Together for a Just World
CIVICUS is a worldwide community of informed, inspired, committed citizens engaged in confronting the challenges facing humanity.
Clip your 514
This dossier will give visitors behind the scenes access to the Clip your 514 project. The project teams professional journalists with students between the ages of 15 and 20!
Cod Help Us
The village of St. Paul's River is reeling after the 2003 moratorium on cod fishing. What will become of their way of life if they can't fish?
Critical Mass: Wheels of Change
Hop on the bandwagon...or anything with wheels! We are at the tipping point in society where human-propelled motion is critical to our sustainability. Explore and contribute to this manifestation!
CyberBullying
Have you ever been bullied? Perhaps 'teased' to the point of discomfort? It might be a common phenomenon--particularly during the teenage years-- but it is never a positive experience and often leads to deep distress in the victim.
Echo Park's Creative Community Cinema
An urban media arts collective that utilizes the magic of the moving image to empower at-risk youth and celebrate community stories.
Exploring Alberta’s Tar Sands: Fuelling whose economy?
With more than 173 billion barrels of oil recoverable with current technology and more than $150 billion in committed capital investment, the Alberta tar sands around Ft. MacMurray are considered the largest industrial project on earth.
Femicide and Violence: Remembering Women
December 6th is the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women
Fighting Marginalization - in development
Despite the difficult task of adapting to a new culture and the challenge of growing up in more than one culture and language, living in a marginalized neighborhood with financial hardship, we can still see a fertile garden with its uniqueness of experiences and stories.
Focus and Turning Points: Giving a Voice to Youth
Young people learn how to tell their stories of change and courage through film, music and poetry.
Food for Thought - Important Issues Affecting our Food
Food for Thought, explores some of the progressive choices people are making in the name of responsible food consumption.
From Charity to Entitlement
Freedom from poverty is a basic right, says Louise Arbour, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
From the Ground Up: Soil to Plate
A dossier covering the politics of food from the earth to our dinner tables.
GANGS : Shared Identity
The word "gang" holds a very negative connotation generally associated with organized crime. How does being a part of a gang relate to the need for identity?
Global HIV/AIDS Awareness
A collection of short films and resources that help raise awareness on the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Harm Reduction
The central idea of harm reduction is to reduce the potential dangers and consequences, both legal and health wise, associated with risky behaviours and lifestyles. Discover the controversy.
Hide And Go Homeless
A controversial documentary by youth from Victoria exploring the issue of homelessness and poverty.
HomelessNation.org
www.homelessnation.org is a website created for and by homeless communities where they can voice their own concerns and create their own media.
Human Rights DocFest
The University of Toronto Chapter of Journalists for Human Rights is seeking submissions for the 2nd Annual Human Rights Documentary Film Festival.
In the Same Boat?
Right across Canada small-scale fishers are being bought out by big corporations. Will the fish stocks be able to survive corporate greed?
jhr (Journalists for Human Rights)
jhr is Canada's largest international media development organization. Our goal - to make everyone in the world fully aware of their rights.
Language Lost
First Language usage has diminished in many First Nations communities. Being only one generation away from language extinction has prompted a concerted effort to re-introduce first language use in a dynamic way.
Les Jardiniers à bicyclette
Here’s a new documentary web series we just launched for the beggining of Spring. Eight short video segments folowing the start of an eco-friendly gardening company called Les jardiniers à bicyclette. The webseries is presented to you by Les productions Cinémachine and Challenge Your World. You can watch them all online by clicking on this link : www.cinemachine.ca/garden
Life Stories: Displaced By War, Genocide and Violence
We invite all persons displaced by violence to reflect on and share their life experiences, here.
Measuring Security Measures
Experts, activists and the directly effected examine the price we pay when security measures are given extraordinary status.
Medicine Under the Influence
Are premature babies genetic experiments for our doctors? Is it humane to keep a child born at 22 weeks alive?
Mitchikinabiko’inik Nodaktcigen: Radio Barriere Lake - in development
Located in northwestern Quebec, the Algonquin of Barriere Lake are establishing the first community radio station on the Rapid Lake reserve.
Monarch Vectors : Migrations/Transmigrations - NEW!
Monarch Vector is a poetic reflexion on flight and the fragility of frontiers, real or imagined, inspired from a true-life adventure while following the path of the monarch butterflies’ migration over North America.
Mumbai: A Zero-Slum Game? - IN DEVELOPMENT
Slum-dwellers in Mumbai, India, face forced evictions, police brutality, and political repression. With conviction, they fight for survival against an economic system predicated on ‘using and losing’ them.
Nuevo Horizonte
Building a brighter future, together. The example of Cooperativa Nuevo Horizonte in Guatemala.
Olympic Footprint
This dossier is CITIZENShift's call for media on how you see the Olympics: Does the goodwill it's meant to foster outweigh local criticism? What kind of 'footprints' (environmental, economic, social, etc) are the Vancouver games leaving on that city and what kinds of 'footprints' have past Olympics left on other hosting cities?
Out in Schools
Being queer in school is still a challenge.
The Out in Schools project encourages all students, especially queer students, to develop a cultural voice by sharing media and art that speaks to, and represents, their own identities.
Project Media: Holistic Learning
Four motivated mothers addressed the needs of marginalized youth to create Project Media. Media creation, nutrition and physical activity were just some of the topics covered throughout this powerful learning adventure!
Random Gems: Miscellaneous Works
The following random gems have been uploaded to CitizenShift but don't have a dossier to call home....yet.
Check them out and enjoy!
Rebel With a Cause : Alanis Obomsawin
Canadian aboriginal filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin talks about her films and their impact.
Rebel With a Cause : Avi Lewis
Meet Avi Lewis - born activist. His family is political, and social change is in his blood.
Rebel With a Cause : Bonnie Sherr Klein
A legendary filmmaker that has shifted her lens from feminism and the peace movement to disability rights, following a brainstem stroke.
Rebel With a Cause : Craig Chivers
Photojournalist, filmmaker, social activist - Craig Chivers gives voice to Canada's disenfranchised.
Rebel With a Cause : Daniel Cross
Meet Daniel Cross, a rockin' rebel with a cause that's as grassroots as they get.
Rebel With a Cause : Diego Briceño-Orduz
Acapulco is a destination for pedophiles in search of vulnerable children. Meet the street kids whose testimonies led to the arrests of 18 men.
Rebel With a Cause : Mark Achbar
Mark Achbar discusses his films, his influences, and his passion as an activist filmmaker.
Rebel With a Cause: Nettie Wild
Nettie Wild discusses her unique position as a documentary filmmaker.
Rebel With a Cause: Rana Ghose
As a filmmaker, video trainer, and photographer, Rana Ghose is dedicated to empowering community groups with the tools to tell their own stories.
Reel Youth
What issues compel young people to speak out? Take a look at how Reel Youth inspires a multitude of voices through media creation!
RESFEST: International and Original Media Art!
Eclectic, at times funny and full of imagination, these RESFEST videos will keep you glued to your screen!
Revolution Underground
Told in the powerful voices of a struggling generation, an inspiring story of community, solidarity and resistance.
Roadsworth - Feature Film Now Released!
Explore the work of Roadsworth and his controversial art in the streets.
Rubbish - ReCycle ReUse ReThink
We're talking trash! Take a look at where your garbage ends up, and what some green-thinking people are doing to change our throw-away culture.
Ryerson: A Residential School Legacy - New!
In 1847, the superintendent general for Indian affairs in Upper Canada asked Egerton Ryerson, to prepare a report that considers strategies for native education. In it, Ryerson suggested that the federal government educate “Indians” in separate schools that focused on religion and manual labour. To some, his report marked the beginning of the residential school system in Canada — a national calamity that natives and non-natives have considered a genocide.
Six Billion People, One Common Heritage
'UNESCO's World Heritage Convention', was adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO in 1972, and is founded on the premise that certain places on Earth are of "outstanding universal value" and as such should form part of the common heritage of humankind. Click here to find out more!
Telling the Stories of the Nikkei - New Denver
A community based project featuring a collection of short films about the history of the Japanese Canadian Internment in New Denver BC, created by students at Lucerne school, community members and two filmmakers.
The Damage Done: Canada and the Coup in Haiti
A human rights disaster in Haiti and how Canada was implicated.
The Forgotten Ones
The Forgotten Ones - a sci-fi adventure conceived by students with emotional and intellectual disabilities.
The Right to Live My City - In Development
The Strangest Dream
Podcast series following the discussions and debates inspired by screenings of The Strangest Dream across Canada.
This Ability
Six films made by This Ability Media Club, a group of adults with developmental disabilities who have learned to use video to tell their stories.
To Break Through: (dis)Proving (dis)Ability
A collection of stories about individuals who use their abilities to break through barriers and challenge misconceptions about life with a physical disability. This dossier was inspired by Luca "LazyLegz" Patuelli an impressive break dancer who not only entertains, but inspires.
Trafficking In Humanity
Women are being bought and sold against their will. Follow the making of a film by BleuRouge about human trafficking.
Umoyo (Life): Through the Eyes of Young Women
Growing up into womanhood, no matter where you live, can be a whirlwind of emotional experiences. How does one's culture and environment play a role?
Unschooling the Next Generation
Often referred to as "homeschooling", "unschooling" is an alternative education practice that rejects the rigid institutional demands of a traditional educational environments.
Wal-Town : The Film
Join the activists of the UberCulture Collective on a road trip to check out the effects of Wal-Marts on small towns and big cities across Canada.
Walk The Talk - In Development
Canada’s World is a three-year national citizens' dialogue that has been engaging Canadians in developing a new story for Canada in the world. Join us! Grab hold of what we’ve been talking about and put it into visible actions that can speak louder than words.
War Resisters
U.S. soldiers are going AWOL and coming to Canada. They want to stay.
Will this country give them refuge from a war they deem illegal?
Where is Iraq?
Iraqis have been living in a state of war for decades. Hear Iraqis tell their stories.
Women's Voices for Change
Media from the Montreal Action Committee of Women of Diverse Origins and the Forum on Women's Activism in Constitutional and Democractic Reform.
Work For All: Stop Racism in the Workplace
Meet the people involved in the fight to eliminate racism in the workplace.
World Social Forum 2011 - Dakar
The World Social Forum is an open meeting place where social movements share their experiences freely and network for effective action.
Youth for Peace and Conflict Resolution
World peace. Cultural understanding and anti-violence. Youth take action and make media to express themselves and to educate others.
YOUTH: Towards Tolerance
Canadian youth create media to share personal experiences and share ideas in the hopes of putting an end to racism, homophobia and stereotyping.
