ReelHeART International Film Festival

Theater 222,  Innis College,
2 Sussex Street, U of T Campus, Toronto, M5S 1J5
(1 block south of St. George Subway)

Journalists who have covered the most important stories of our time are featured in this film. They’ve covered everything from Columbine, to 9-11, from Katrina to the War in Iraq and the Oklahoma City Bombing. They’ve told us the most important stories of our time, but they’ve never told us their personal stories, until now. Breaking News, Breaking Down breaks new ground by showing how getting the big story can actually affect the journalists, in many cases affecting their emotional well being. You’ll watch as a group of journalists move from tragedy and trauma to triumph.

Programers’ Note: This film focuses attention on an issue that clearly isn’t catching the attention of the mainstream media. The film focuses on trauma, and how it’s impacting journalists worldwide. It’s something that most news consumers are unaware of.

In My Living Room, a cinematic documentary, introduces Patrick Toal, he relives his service as a Gunnery Soldier during the Vietnam War. Currently presiding as a Federal Administrative Court Judge, he is neither ordinary nor extraordinary but bares his heart and soul. Extemporaneously driven; punctuated with Vietnam War Veterans’ Art; intermixed with previously unseen footage during the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention riots and set amid the haunting backdrop of the memories of home and war.

Art in the Face of War is a feature documentary on eight World War II Veterans/Artists who recount their service experience and their use of art for journalism, as a tactical tool and as a way to preserve their own sanity. Covering all branches of the military (including the secret Deception Corps), their powerful imagery will enlighten, challenge, even amuse, showing that war is hell but that creativity can exist in the face of destruction.