Stephen Lawrence’s mother to launch film festival programme
Doreen Lawrence mother of Stephen Lawrence who was murdered in 1983 will help launch the Foyle Film Festival’s Intercultural & Anti-Racism Programme.
Following the racist murder of her son by white gang in London, Mrs Lawrence has dedicated the last 18 years of her life fighting to secure justice for her murdered son Stephen, and other victims of racially motivated crime. Two men were found guilty of the murder in January 2012.
Doreen Lawrence will also take part in an educational talk aimed at post-primary schools, colleges, universities, and the general public.
The Foyle Film Festival Intercultural & Anti Racism Programme will take place over ten days from Wednesday 21-Friday 30 March and will run outreach events in Queen’s Film Theatre in Belfast, the Alley Arts Centre in Strabane, the Regional Cultural Centre in Letterkenny, as well as film clubs in Newry and Newcastle.
This annual event is aimed at raising awareness around issues such as racism, discrimination and harassment – including racist bullying. It seeks to educate children, young people, and the wider public, to accept, value, and embrace diversity in all its forms – whether race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, the poor, migrants, minorities, those with physical disabilities – as well as encouraging awareness of local and global issues like war, the environment, and human rights abuses.
Highlights of this year’s event include talks by human rights activist Peter Tatchell, to be delivered in Derry and in Belfast. Peter has been campaigning for human rights for over 40 years, on issues of democracy, civil liberties, social equality, environmental protection, peace and global justice. From 1971, he was a leading activist in the Gay Liberation Front in London; staging the first ever gay rights protest in a communist country, East Germany, in 1973.
Other highlights include screenings of the film The Lady which is the extraordinary story of Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Anna Roberts, Executive Director of Burma Campaign UK, will introduce this screening and take part in a Q&A afterwards.
Also included in this year’s programme is the innovative documentary The First Movie, made by Belfast born Mark Cousins. Mark gave kids in Iraq cameras so that they could record their day-to-day lives in a war zone. The result is magical! While in As We Forgive two Rwandan women come face to face with the men who slaughtered their families during the 1994 genocide.
For further information contact the festival office: 028 71373456
