October 2024
justNEWS
CJFF at The Confluence
To resister for tickets visit here!
Mark your calendars: this year’s annual Calgary Justice Film Festival takes place next month!
When? November 21, 22, & 23, 2024
Where? The Confluence (formerly Fort Calgary)
750 9 Ave SE, Calgary, AB T2G 5E1
After their extensive discussions over the spring and summer, the board of directors from both CJFF and The Confluence (formerly Fort Calgary) are enthusiastic about partnering together. These two organizations will showcase some of the best documentaries currently available to inform audiences about social and environmental justice matters occurring here at home, as well as nationally and globally.
The Confluence Historic Site & Parkland is proud to be a partner of CJFF, and the venue hosting all film screenings this year. Those attending the film festival will get complimentary admission to The Confluence Cultural Centre and are welcome to explore the exhibits and 40-acres of parkland to learn a bit about Calgary’s history before, after, and between films. There will also be a concession for filmgoers to purchase snacks and drinks, including alcoholic beverages.
What can you expect at this year's film festival?
Getting to The Confluence: The Confluence Historic Site & Parkland is located at 750 9th Ave SE. Situated between downtown Calgary and the community of Inglewood, The Confluence is accessible by train, bus, bike, or foot.
Free Parking: Ample parking is available at The Confluence. Although it’s usually pay-for-parking at this site, this year, we’re happy to say that parking fees will be waived for festival attendees! How great is that?! Free parking in The Confluence ParkPlus lot is available for festival attendees from Thursday, November 21 at 5 pm until midnight on Saturday, Nov. 23.
NO Cost Attendance: As customary at past festivals, the film festival is FREE of charge to attendees, something made possible by generous donors and grant funding. A donation box at the entrance to each of the film screening venues at The Confluence will be available for festival patrons who wish to make a contribution.
ShowPass Admission: To ensure you have a seat, you, as an audience patron, will book your free ticket online via ShowPass. More information about how to secure your place at the film/s of your choice will be available in our next newsletter. In the meantime, our website will be updated regularly to provide you up-to-date information about this and other film festival details.
You can also visit The Confluence website for information about booking tickets.
The Confluence Site Venues: Films will be screened in two unique locations at The Confluence: the Burnswest Theatre, located in the cultural centre, and the Upper Barracks. About 100 comfortable theatre seats are available in the Burnswest Theatre and the Upper Barracks can accommodate up to 175 attendees.
Signs, staff, and volunteers will help you make your way around and in the building The Confluence is a wheelchair accessible venue.
Burnswest Theatre at The Confluence, one of the venues for CJFF 2024.
Film Festival Schedule
Events: This year’s festival is shaping up to be our best one yet! Indigenous Lens is the theme of our opening night on Thursday, November 21. Events begin at The Confluence at 6:00 p.m. with drumming, dancing, and a blessing from a First Nations Elder. The films to be screened that evening focus on indigenous people, both their struggles as well as their resilience, and the films will be followed by a short discussion.
Festival Films and Film Schedule: To learn what individual films are about and when each film will be showing at the festival, you can visit either of The Confluence website or the CJFF website.
This year’s films, selected by the diligent, committed members of the Programming Committee, include films originating from Canadian and international filmmakers. Several of the 20 films—yes! 20 films!!—to be screened at this year’s festival are short docs of 10 to 30 minutes. Many other films provide upwards of 80 minutes of feature-length informative documentaries.
Films closer to home depict the lesser-known and hard-hitting experiences of people across our country. Through the lens of both history and current events, audiences gain insight about the racism endured by Black pioneers, the resilience of indigenous residential school survivors, the human trafficking occurring on Ontario’s 401 highway, and the murky world of Canada’s policing and national security agencies.
Stories from farther afield are also wide-ranging: a European lawyer takes on Big Oil on behalf of the environment, aging women who break their silence about their long-ago reproductive choices, the often unacknowledged darker side of the safari industry, the journey of a man who becomes an LGBTQ+ activist after being fired from his job for being gay, as well as the migrants who pick the fruits and vegetables we love to eat.
Other documentaries bring to light issues from Ukraine, Africa, and the Middle East. All of them make visible the inequities experienced by vulnerable others and why that should matter to us. English sub-titling accompanies all non-English language films.
Post-Film Discussions: as can be seen from the festival schedule, opportunity for discussions with filmmakers, experts, and people knowledgeable about the film themes, will allow attendees to ask questions and gain a better understanding of the issues.
For the most up-to-date information about festival events, film information and schedule, please check our website.
Visitor Code of Conduct at The Confluence: As guests at The Confluence, we respect the people and space available to us at this historic site. To that end, we ask that you familiarize yourself with the Visitor Code of Conduct.
Refreshments: Although you can pack and eat your own lunch (please see Visitor Code of Conduct for where food can and cannot be eaten), food and beverages will be available at The Confluence concession for a cost.
Partnerships and Sponsorships
Calgary Justice Film Festival is proud of the partnerships it has fostered over the past several years, including, The Confluence, Okotoks Film Festival, and BC Environmental Film Festival. Partnerships such as these help to minimize challenges and expand possibilities, particularly for smaller film festival organizations such as CJFF.
We’re also pleased to announce our newest partnership with the Calgary International Film Festival. CIFF showcased over 200 multi-genre feature and short films at its September 11-day film festival, an event that marked its 25th anniversary! In honour of the start of this partnership, CIFF is making possible the screening of Pride vs. Prejudice as the CIFF finale. This award-winning film about a local story will show on November 23, Upper Barracks at 8:30 p.m.
Without the ongoing support of River Park Church, CJFF would not have succeeded. Thus, the CJFF community extends a HUGE thank you to River Park Church, which, for many years and free of charge, hosted the annual film festival and allowed the board of directors to hold their monthly meetings. What an immense, generous gift!!
For additional information about partners and sponsors, click here.
Upcoming Events
Calgary International Film Festival
EMILIA PÉREZ: October 23 @ 7:00 p.m.
Globe Down
617 8 Ave SW, Calgary, AB T2P 1H1
This film, EMILIA PÉREZ, defies genres and expectations. Through liberating song and dance and bold visuals, this odyssey follows the journey of four remarkable women in Mexico, each pursuing their own happiness. The fearsome cartel leader Emilia (Karla Sofía Gascón) enlists Rita (Zoe Saldaña), an unappreciated lawyer stuck in a dead-end job, to help fake her death so that Emilia can finally live authentically as her true self. This double Cannes-winning film also stars Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz, and Edgar Ramírez.