Human Rights Day World Premiere: Cinéma du Musée
WITH FRENCH SUBTITLES
First to Stand will open on Human Rights Day, December 10 and 11 at 7:30.
The evening will be introduced by Jess Salomon (The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon), human rights lawyer turned stand-up comedian; and followed by a bilingual Q&A with Irwin Cotler, human rights champion; Shaparak Shajarizadeh, pioneer of the women’s right movement in Iran; and Ensaf Haidar, the wife and voice of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi.
Buy advance tickets online here to ensure availability: Cinéma du Musée
1379-A Sherbrooke St. West, Montréal
See you there!
“We spend a lot of energy dealing with the villains, but hardly any time celebrating the heroes. Irwin Cotler is one of the greatest heroes of our time. He’s taken on the most intractable dictators and saved the most unjustly imprisoned hostages. I hope everyone will watch First to Stand and become familiar his inspiring commitment to justice.”
Bill Browder“How does it start? It’s precisely in the schoolyard. It starts with the exclusion of the “other.” How you create a difference until… until you kill.”
Esther Mujawayo
“It begs another question: Are all humans human? Or are some humans more human than others?”
Romeo Dallaire
“It is clear that the challenges to media freedom are urgent, and they are global. But my message to all the ministers who are here is that they must make sure that their laws respect media freedom and they impose targeted sanctions on states that try to silence critical speech by detaining or killing journalists.”
Amal Clooney
“Having nail polish is against the law, or having makeup. For them, everything is seductive. And it’s not the man who has to be healthy and control themself. It’s the women. The women should cover their bodies, so men don’t get tempted.”
Shaparak Shajarizadeh
“Never forget, as Elie Wiesel put it, that indifference always means coming down on the side of the oppressor, never on the side of the oppressed. Wherever people are persecuted, he put it, whether by reason of their race or religion or belief or sex, that must be your place to stand. Each of you here has a voice. You can speak and you can act. You can be the agents of change and bring about the change that you want to see!”
Irwin Cotler
Pictures from the event:
Irwin Cotler in conversation with Shaparak Shajarizadeh (former Iranian political prisoner and women’s rights activist) and Ensaf Haidar (activist and wife of imprisoned Saudi blogger Raif Badawi)
