The Film: Bella Ciao!
Reel Causes is pleased to present the virtual premiere of Bella Ciao! and support two charitable causes with a portion of ticket sale revenue: Vancouver-based Watari and Toronto-based Casa Salvador Allende.
Carolyn Combs’ ensemble drama is a searching film about home and displacement, isolation and solidarity. Set over the arc of one day, the film stars Carmen Aguirre as Constanza, a refugee who fled the coup against Salvador Allende in Chile, and now calls East Vancouver home. Bella Ciao! weaves the stories of her friends and neighbours – activists, artists, hustlers and coffee house consiglieri – to capture how traditions of solidarity renew across cultures and generations. Viva East Van!
Ticket purchase includes recorded Q&A with the cast and crew, moderated by Eva Salinas:
Viewing Instructions
Reel Causes offers sliding scale pricing. Contact info@reelcauses.org for a discounted ticket.
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The Cause: Watari
Watari Counselling and Support Services, is a registered, charitable social-profit organization established in 1986 in response to a lack of services and programs for street involved youth, families and communities. They are also one of the first agencies in Vancouver to adopt “Access Without Fear,” one of the main principles of Sanctuary City. With a people driven and social justice approach, they work with individuals and service partners across programs such as community counselling, youth housing programs, Latin American and Vietnamese/Asian outreach and counselling, adult mental health outreach and aboriginal youth one to one work. Their goals are to work with people in an individualized approach based on participant’s expectations of self and their commitment to the communities they support. They are committed to being innovative, to collaborate with anyone that is required to deliver the program/project effectively and liberate individuals/systems through knowledge and expanded experience of healthier choices.
The Cause: Casa Salvador Allende
Casa Salvador Allende Toronto (CASAT) is an activist grassroots Chilean-Canadian organization founded in 2002, and based in Toronto, Ontario. CASAT’s focus is the cultivation and promotion of Chilean culture, social justice, the defence of human rights and humanitarian solidarity, with both national and international marginalized groups, via community events and community oriented collaborations with like-minded artists and organizations.
The portion of ticket sale revenue donated to CASAT will be used to buy food for ollas comunes (soup kitchens) in Santiago, Chile. Ollas comunes are frequently located in lower-income neighbourhoods and support those directly impacted by COVID-19.
