STORY TO ACTION is a six month program that includes training and mentorship to support five Canadian documentary filmmaking teams to create strategies, build partnerships and organize screenings designed to educate and expand audience understanding of the social and environmental issues featured in their films.
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ROBINDER: Hi everyone, I’m Robinder Uppal.
MARC: And I’m Marc Serpa Francoeur, and we’re the co-directors of No Visible Trauma.
This is not the film we would have liked to make about Calgary, the city where we were born and raised... but in 2015, when we met Godfred Addai-Nyamekye, a young immigrant originally from Ghana, and we heard his horrific story, it became painfully clear that there was something very wrong going on at the Calgary Police Service.
Imagine that you’re a designated driver, bringing your friends home from a party; a blizzard has blown in and you slide off the road and get stuck in a snowbank. Thankfully, no one is hurt — but before you have a chance to call a tow truck, a police van pulls up. Maybe it’s because they don’t like the look of you and your friends, all of whom are Black, but for whatever reason, rather than helping you, they toss you in the back of their van, drive you in the opposite direction of your house, and dump you in an isolated construction site. It’s the middle of winter, 4 o’clock in the morning, and -28 degrees with the windchill... and you have nowhere to go inside and get warm. Terrified, you call 911 for help — but when another officer finally arrives, what you get is anything but that...
Let’s play the trailer, with a warning that the video contains disturbing images of police violence.
ROBINDER: It’s no accident that our hometown, Calgary, is becoming infamous for the violence and dysfunction of its police department. As we started to investigate Godfred’s story, we were horrified to uncover just how many other brutal incidents — assaults, kidnappings, shootings — the Calgary police had been responsible for in recent years, and virtually without any consequence.
Another tragic story in the film is what happened to 27-year-old Anthony Heffernan. He was alone and unarmed in a hotel room but didn’t respond to knocking on the door, so staff called Police for a “wellness check.” They kicked in the door, tasered him, shot him four times, and killed him. No charges have ever been laid against the officers involved, and his family continues the fight for justice almost seven years later.
In both 2016 and 2018, Calgary was the deadliest police force of any city in Canada, and, shockingly, had more shooting deaths than either the New York or the Chicago Police departments in 2018.
The Calgary Police Service is also embroiled in an unprecedented number of internal scandals and lawsuits, including widespread accusations of a culture of bullying and harassment — it’s clear the current system is failing everyone, including the officers themselves.
MARC: Throughout the more than five years spent working on this film, we’ve been profoundly disturbed by the devastating impacts on the victims and their families of a justice system that refuses to hold police officers to account for their actions. It’s clear that the problems we identify go far beyond the police, to include the Crown prosecutors, the provincial police watchdog, and other government bodies.
And there are clear disparities along racial and class lines. For example, the very same officer who beat and tasered Godfred went on to brutally assault another handcuffed man just a year and a half later — in that case, the victim was a white man and the officer was indeed charged.
ROBINDER: Godfred and Anthony’s stories, and the other cases in our film, foster critical discussion about police accountability and make clear why it’s so important to hold police officers to account — failing to do so means that this kind of irreparable harm to victims and their communities is sure to continue.
We believe that hearing directly from survivors of police violence is crucial for understanding the ripple effects that are felt throughout society, but disproportionately among Black and Indigenous communities, drug users, those experiencing mental illness, and other marginalized populations.
Unfortunately, the issues we address are by no means exclusive to Calgary, but are mirrored across the country; our goal is not to just expose the failings of one particular police force and its oversight bodies, but to shed light on how universal the problem is.
MARC: Our ambitious goal is to help ignite a movement in Canada; this film is a powerful tool to open eyes and inspire Canadians to demand change in city halls and legislatures across the country.
While the film should absolutely be used to galvanize activists and organizations who are already engaged with policing issues, we don’t just want to preach to the choir — getting this film in front of policymakers and demographics who are not aware of or concerned about these issues has the potential to make a dramatic impact: faith groups, older audiences, and especially those who work in or alongside law enforcement.
Through a nimble mix of in-person and virtual screenings, we want to go beyond the major urban centres and bring the film to smaller cities, towns, and Indigenous communities across the country — especially those acutely dealing with the consequences of police violence.
We also believe it’s crucial to get the film into classrooms: high schools, criminology courses, law schools, and nursing programs — settings where it can have a real impact on the attitudes of students heading into the many careers that are policing adjacent
ROBINDER:There’s no reason whatsoever to tolerate toxic police culture and violence — these are issues that we absolutely can address, and this film can help us get there. Now, we need help from you; we need funds to create an educational guide and get the film into classrooms, and to host impact screenings, both virtually and physically, that feature post-screening panels with advocates and individuals who have lived experience with police violence and can situate the issues raised in the film in their local context — from Victoria to St. John’s, Winnipeg to Whitehorse.
If the uprising after the murder of George Floyd and its ripple effects have shown us anything, it’s that real, detailed stories of police brutality, however horrifying and difficult to watch, can have a serious impact on the world. With your help, there’s every reason to think that this film can move us toward a world where society’s most vulnerable are not harmed by those sworn to protect them.
Thank you.
WHO ATTENDED?
Anisha Datta - King's University College at Western University
Will bring the film to her sociology classes at Western University, and will look to host an in person screening and panelist discussion. Will also reach out to other faculty who are knowledgeable in race and Indigenous issues to see if they could use or speak about the film. Will ask the Librarian at Western to purchase the film for use in the library's collection. Would like to assist in development of cross-cultural reach of the film, specifically how Indian Canadians and Muslims experience police violence/discrimination.
Aurelio "Jun" Naraval - ActionDignity
Will work with the film team to see how the film can best be brought to their organization and the people that need the film most.
Brianna Macleod - calgary John Howard Society
Will follow up with the impact team to see how the Calgary John Howard Society may be able to support the film.
Byron Chan - Catholic Family Service
Will introduce the film to the councilors at his organization to use in police trauma counselling.
Carole Chan - Social Justice Committee of LSoNB
Will bring the film to the CPD group as a form of education. Will also bring it to other municipalities including Moncton.
Chad Haggerty - C.H. Advocacy
Will bring the film to several legal podcasts that so that they may promote the film. Is in conversation with the Metis Settlements of Alberta to see if they can have screenings in the communities. Will reach out to professors at Mt. Royal University to set up screenings with the students in Criminal Justice programs as well as have a discussion with those students to talk to future police and police adjacent people about these issues. Willing to be present as a panelist at any screening where his perspective would be valued. Offered his contacts with a court certified translator/translation service (written and audio) to help translate the film to Spanish & French. Pledged a personal financial contribution.
David Blaeser - Burnaby Teachers Association
Will speak with his colleagues about bringing this film to the Burnaby Teachers Association
Davin Charney - Charney Law
Is open to being a panelist at a screening.
Don Schafer - The Conversation Lab
Will provide a 30 to 60 minute interview at The Conversation Lab, a weekly radio program and podcast that supports the work of not for profit organizations, community groups and change makers about the work they do. The audio is shared with dozens of podcasting platforms and all audio and video can be repurposed for promotion and marketing.
Esther Chetner
$600 towards impact campaign costs.
Jaquie Duhacek - Calgary Family Peer Connections
Interested in hosting a screening and reaching out with other agencies relevant to the cause.
Jhamesha Milord Ashford - CHUO 89.1 FM
Would like to have a meeting to see how she can contribute to the campaign.
Jody Yaa Dunn - Black Legal Action Centre
Interested in being a panelist in any Toronto screenings.
Julian Carrington - Hot Docs
Would love to help organizations co-produce screenings and panels on behalf of Hot Docs, would also look at the potential of a screening at the Ted Rogers cinema.
Lynn Armstrong - Canadian Unitarians for Social Justice
Will reach out to the Unitarian Church in Calgary to see what networks are in place and what sponsorships exist or are able to be used by the film team, recommends Alliance for the Common Good as another organization she could get team in contact with, interested in helping to organize a screening.
Maryam Adrangi - Ben & Jerry's
Pledged to connect with U.S activism manager and global social missions team to see how they can work with the film team to engage with their audience and bring a Canadian context to these issues on a larger scale outside and inside of Canada. Will also help connect the team with other orgs that B&J works with around these issues.
Sadia Zaman - Inspirit Foundation
Would like for the film team to connect with her to see how they can work together.
Sarah Spring - Documentary Organization of Canada
Would like to host a conversation around the ways they've been putting their campaign together. Will connect the team with Hoodstock, an organization in Montreal that deals with police violence and police discrimination, could talk about helping get the film subtitled in French. Will help to promote screenings.
Tuulia Law - York University
Will hold a screening for sociology department at YorkU, particularly to help in their search for a faculty member to study police violence in Canada.
