An important event about Israel....

An Important Event on Israel! Terry Glavin on Nicky Larkin Here's a link to a nice piece about Nicky and Ireland at Terry Glavin's blog. Bruce Bawer writes about the Free Thinking Film Society! Acclaimed author Bruce Bawer has just written about the Free Thinking Film Society for FrontPage Magazine. The year was 2006.  Fred Litwin couldn't help noticing that Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 was playing all over his hometown of Ottawa - "in the main cinemas, in the repertory cinemas, on campus, and it was the talk of TV.  I couldn't escape it." Then he learned about a documentary called Michael Moore Hates America, made by a relatively unknown filmmaker named Mike Wilson. "I asked a local rep cinema if they would bring it in, since his film was not available on DVD.  They quickly replied that they wouldn't."  So Litwin decided to bring it to Ottawa himself. This was not his line of work.  He had an MBA in finance, and over the years had worked in various business enterprises in New York, Britain, Hong Kong, and Singapore.  In 2000 he had retired to start his own successful music label, NorthernBlues. Over the years his politics had shifted.  A socialist during his student days, he was moved after 9/11 by David Horowitz's The Politics of Bad Faith.  The left's hysteric response to 9/11 bewildered him.  "I could hardly believe hearing people questioning whether Bin Laden was behind it or whether the US had it coming.  I couldn't be part of that.  And, when I started seeing some of my liberal friends abandon Israel during the second Intifada - a time when suicide bombers were regularly killing people in Israel - I then completely moved to the right." [Please read the whole article..] Where to buy tickets for the Nicky Larkin event:  Tickets will be available at the door. You can also buy tickets at four locations in Ottawa - tickets available right now.  1.  Compact Music, 785 1/2 Bank Street in the Glebe. 2.  Compact Music 190 Bank Street (at Nepean). 3.  Collected Works (1242 Wellington).   4.  Ottawa Festivals (47 William Street)  Quick Links Free Thinking Film Society Irish Filmmaker Nicky Larkin tells the truth about Israel...   Please join us for "Forty Shades of Grey" an incredibly film by Nicky Larkin, who will be in attendance to answer questions. Forty Shades of Grey An Evening with Nicky Larkin June 18, 2012. 7 PM Library & Archives Canada 395 Wellington, Ottawa Admission: $15 ($10 for students) Tickets are now available at Compact Music (785 Bank, 190 Bank), Collected Works (1242 Wellington), and Ottawa Festivals (47 William). Tickets will also be available at the door.   Forty Shades of Grey (trailer) We are also partnering with B'nai Brith Canada to bring Nicky and his film to Toronto (June 20th) and Montreal (June 19th - Chabad of the Town,4054 rue Jean-Talon Ouest,Montreal, QC H4P 1V5).  Stay tuned for details. Nicky Larkin: Israel is a refuge, but a refuge under siege. Through making a film about the Israeli-Arab conflict, artist Nicky Larkin found his allegiances swaying. From the Irish Independent Sunday March 11 2012 I used to hate Israel. I used to think the Left was always right. Not any more. Now I loathe Palestinian terrorists. Now I see why Israel has to be hard. Now I see the Left can be Right -- as in right-wing. So why did I change my mind so completely? Strangely, it began with my anger at Israel's incursion into Gaza in December 2008 which left over 1,200 Palestinians dead, compared to only 13 Israelis. I was so angered by this massacre I posed in the striped scarf of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation for an art show catalogue. Shortly after posing in that PLO scarf, I applied for funding from the Irish Arts Council to make a film in Israel and Palestine. I wanted to talk to these soldiers, to challenge their actions -- and challenge the Israeli citizens who supported them. I spent seven weeks in the area, dividing my time evenly between Israel and the West Bank. I started in Israel. The locals were suspicious. We were Irish -- from a country which is one of Israel's chief critics -- and we were filmmakers. We were the enemy. Then I crossed over into the West Bank. Suddenly, being Irish wasn't a problem. Provo graffiti adorned The Wall. Bethlehem was Las Vegas for Jesus-freaks -- neon crucifixes punctuated by posters of martyrs. These martyrs followed us throughout the West Bank. They watched from lamp-posts and walls wherever we went. Like Jesus in the old Sacred Heart pictures. But the more I felt the martyrs watching me, the more confused I became. After all, the Palestinian mantra was one of "non-violent resistance". It was their motto, repeated over and over like responses at a Catholic mass. Yet when I interviewed Hind Khoury, a former Palestinian government member, she sat forward angrily in her chair as she refused to condemn the actions of the suicide bombers. She was all aggression. This aggression continued in Hebron, where I witnessed swastikas on a wall. As I set up my camera, an Israeli soldier shouted down from his rooftop position. A few months previously I might have ignored him as my political enemy. But now I stopped to talk. He only talked about Taybeh, the local Palestinian beer. Back in Tel Aviv in the summer of 2011, I began to listen more closely to the Israeli side. I remember one conversation in Shenkin Street -- Tel Aviv's most fashionable quarter, a street where everybody looks as if they went to art college. I was outside a cafe interviewing a former soldier. He talked slowly about his time in Gaza. He spoke about 20 Arab teenagers filled with ecstasy tablets and sent running towards the base he'd patrolled. Each strapped with a bomb and carrying a hand-held detonator. The pills in their bloodstream meant they felt no pain. Only a headshot would take them down. Conversations like this are normal in Tel Aviv. I began to experience the sense of isolation Israelis feel. An isolation that began in the ghettos of Europe and ended in Auschwitz. Israel is a refuge -- but a refuge under siege, a refuge where rockets rain death from the skies. And as I made the effort to empathise, to look at the world through their eyes. I began a new intellectual journey. One that would not be welcome back home. The problem began when I resolved to come back with a film that showed both sides of the coin. Actually there are many more than two. Which is why my film is called Forty Shades of Grey. But only one side was wanted back in Dublin. My peers expected me to come back with an attack on Israel. No grey areas were acceptable. An Irish artist is supposed to sign boycotts, wear a PLO scarf, and remonstrate loudly about The Occupation. But it's not just artists who are supposed to hate Israel. Being anti-Israel is supposed to be part of our Irish identity, the same way we are supposed to resent the English. But hating Israel is not part of my personal national identity. Neither is hating the English. I hold an Irish passport, but nowhere upon this document does it say I am a republican, or a Palestinian. PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE (SEE THE LINK ABOVE).    Join our Fan Page We now have a brand new fan page on FaceBook.  Please become a fan and please pass it on to your friends on faceBook! And, check out our Youtube channel where we have film trailers and other videos of interest. Check out our Youtube channel!  Here's a link to many of our past presentations. Please Volunteer! We can use your help!!! First, we value all suggestions for films for us to show. Secondly, we need people to help at our upcoming events.  From planning to staffing to marketing, there's always something to do! info@freethinkingfilms.com Article Headline Know your target audience. Who are your most important customers, clients or prospects, and why? Know what is important to them and address their needs in your newsletter each month. Include a photo to make your newsletter even more appealing. Drive traffic to your website by entering teaser text for the article with a link to your website for readers to view the full text.