Salaam Montréal documents the sponsorship of three Syrian refugee families by Dorshei Emet – the Reconstructionist Synagogue of Montréal. The 16-minute documentary chronicles the efforts undertaken by synagogue members to bring the families from Lebanon and Saudi Arabia to new homes in Canada. This uplifting portrayal is directed by Garry Beitel and produced by Barry Lazar.
Still available
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Our new EDUCATOR’S GUIDE for In Pursuit of Peace is available for free (click here to download and view the PDF).
In Pursuit of Peace
In Pursuit of Peace is a riveting 86-minute feature documentary film that makes the case for unarmed civilian peacemaking and mediation as a response to violent international conflict.
We follow four Canadian peacemakers as they take us inside the drama of their work in some of the word’s hottest conflict zones: land disputes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the civil war in South Sudan, IDP camps with displaced minorities in Kurdistan, Northern Iraq, and stories of mediation in Darfur, Nepal, and Aceh. As we follow our protagonists, we share their challenges and their hopes as they work to create alternative responses to war and violence.
Their work is portrayed in the context of Canada’s historic role as a major contributor to UN-mandated military peacekeeping missions – a role which has been significantly reduced in the last 20 years.
In Pursuit of Peace is written and directed by Garry Beitel and produced by Barry Lazar.
Cricket & Parc-Ex: A Love Story
Produced in collaboration with Canal D.
A 47-minute documentary about Montreal’s South Asian community who live for their love of cricket.
Cricket & Parc-Ex: A Love Story takes us inside the world of cricket and the daily life of Parc Extension – one of Canada’s poorest yet most vibrant immigrant neighbourhoods.
Little known in Quebec, cricket has hundreds of millions of fans worldwide. For the immigrant cricket players in Parc-Ex, cricket is a buffer, an arena in which they can find success, dignity, and community recognition as they slowly integrate into Quebec society. As we immerse ourselves in their world, we get to know several local cricket players including Suk, a 66 year old who immigrated from Guyana over 40 years ago and now sells and repairs cricket equipment in the basement of his grocery store; Raiyan, a 17-year-old aspiring cricket star who came to Montreal only two years ago from Bangladesh; and Huma, Alishba, Suma, and Eeman – a group of four girls of Pakistani origin who challenge the belief that only boys can play cricket. As we get to know them, we also learn more about how to play the world’s second most popular sport.
Cricket & Parc-Ex: A Love Story is a film written and directed by Garry Beitel and produced by Barry Lazar.
Official selections, 2012 CSWE Film Festival
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Giota’s Journey 47 minutes 2011 Directed by Garry Beitel | More than Half the Sky 21 minutes 2010 Directed by Garry Beitel |
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Giota’s Journey and More than Half the Sky are official selections of the Council on Social Work Education 2012 Film Festival, Nov. 10-12 Washington, D.C.
Now available
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Giota’s Journey
47 minutes 2011
Directed by Garry Beitel
An intimate portrait of Giota Boussios, a 48-year-old Montreal woman, born with cerebral palsy.
Warm, good humoured, acutely sensitive and keenly intelligent, Giota is wheelchair-bound and unable to speak. She has learned to communicate through an intriguing system that uses subtle eye movements and slight facial gestures. Supported by a loving Greek family, she spends her days at an educational program for adults with similar disabilities. Giota’s Journey explores her unique relationships with family and caregivers, her dreams of love and travel, the poetry of her eyes and words. Here is a short excerpt.
Bourse de carrière (lifetime achievement award)
Garry Beitel is the 2011 recipient of the Bourse de carrière (for lifetime achievement) awarded annually by the Conseil des arts et des letters de Québec. He is the first Anglophone filmmaker in Quebec to receive this prestigious award.
Bonjour! Shalom!
Les Productions du Boulevard is now the Canadian distributor for Garry Beitel’s award winning documentary. Described by the Gazette’s John Griffin as “…a remarkable look at twin solitudes… insightful, compassionate and beautifully composed…,” Bonjour! Shalom! takes us inside the relationship between the Hassidic Jews in Montreal’s Outremont district and their predominantly Francophone neighbours.
Now available on DVD to commemorate the 20th anniversary of its first release in 1991.
More than Half the Sky
(2010) 21 minutes
Directed by Garry Beitel
This documentary for the University of Manitoba highlights the efforts by Canadian social workers to introduce basic social-work practice to cadres working with women in rural China.
