This article was last updated on April 16, 2022
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Join us for the screening of our short documentary "The Spirit of Social Change," followed by a panel discussion with the director Tendisai Cromwell and two activists featured in the film, Simon Black and Nayani Thiyagarajah. The discussion will be moderated by CBC journalist Pacinthe Mattar, producer at The Current.
The documentary features two activists who explore their evolving relationship to spirituality and examine it as a force for personal transformation and social change.
The film is the culmination of a two-year Couchiching Conversation Series centred around youth empowerment, spirituality, and social action. We engaged hundreds of people in cities across Canada to reflect on their beliefs and how they are translated into social engagement. This was made possible through the generous support of the Inspirit Foundation.
Register for free tickets via Eventbrite. Limited seating is available.
Panelists' Bios:
Nayani Thiyagarajah is a film director, writer, and producer. She completed her Bachelor of Journalism Broadcasting at Ryerson University and her M.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies at York University, with a focus on film, diaspora, and gender and feminist studies. Nayani's first feature documentary Shadeism: Digging Deeper 2015 had its World Premiere at the Zanzibar International Film Festival 2015 and won the Special Jury Prize. She is currently producing, writing, and directing multiple independent film projects, including two new feature films. Nayani is a 2015 fellow of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporations Workshop for Diverse Creators, an Executive producer at Refuge Productions, and a Co-founder of the Society of DirectHERS and ProduceHERS.
Simon Black is a writer, activist, and Assistant Professor in the Centre for Labour Studies at Brock University. He is a regular contributor to the anti-poverty newspaper The Tough Times and writes a sports column, from a radicals perspective, for the progressive bimonthly Canadian Dimension. His writing has appeared in The Independent, the International Socialist Review, Relay, New Labor Forum, on rabble.ca, and in Canadas hip hop magazine POUND. He also contributes op-eds on social issues to The Toronto Star,Black holds a BA Hons. in sociology from the University of Toronto and an MA in labour studies from McMaster University. He has studied at the New School for Social Research in New York City and was a visiting Fulbright student-fellow at the City University of New Yorks Graduate Center in 2008-2009. He is completing his PhD in political science at York University in Toronto and is an Assistant Professor at the Centre for Labour Studies, Brock University.
Tendisai Cromwell is a Toronto-based filmmaker, writer, and journalist. She founded New Narrative Films in 2014 where she currently serves as the Creative Director. Tendisai participated in the 2014 Doc Accelerator program offered by Hot Docs and most recently worked as a production coordinator at the Canadian Film Centre. Her foray into journalism began on the streets of Palestine as a reporter for a Ramallah-based publication in 2009. Since then, Tendisai has written for various publications, produced radio segments at CBCs The Current while also completing the Master of Journalism program at Ryerson University. She also writes creatively and, on occasion, performs her works, one of which is included in an anthology. Beyond her creative and journalistic endeavours, Tendisai can often be found sipping tea and planning her next travel destination.
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