The Hottest August: Film Screening (June 8)

On Wednesday June 8 from 7 to 9 pm in the OAG Alma Duncan Salon, the Ottawa Art Gallery in a partnership with the Ottawa Sanctuary City Network (OSCN) presents an award-winning film by Brett Story, The Hottest August. A portrait of New York City during August 2017, the film depicts a month heavy with the tension of a new President, growing anxiety over everything from rising rents to marching white nationalists, and unrelenting news of either wildfires or hurricanes on every coast. The film offers a mirror onto a society on the verge of catastrophe, registering the anxieties, distractions, and survival strategies that preoccupy ordinary lives.

The film pivots on the question of futurity: what does the future look like from where we are standing? And what if we are not all standing in the same place? A virtual discussion with the filmmaker, led by OSCN members Sinda Garziz and Andi Vincente along with Fiona Jeffries, will follow the screening.

This screening is the last event in Sanctuary Matters series, a program of talks, workshops, and other events co-presented by OAG and OSCN with an aim to build public awareness and foster a culture of support for newcomers with precarious immigration status in Ottawa and beyond.

Brett Story is a non-fiction filmmaker and geographer based out of Toronto and New York whose work explores landscapes of power and capitalist crises. Her films have screened at True/False, Oberhausen, Hot Docs, the Viennale, and Dok Leipzig, among other international festivals.

The presentation will be in English.

Please register for your free tickets to the screening and discussion at the following link

For more information contact Michael Davidge, OAG Manager of Learning and Engagement: mdavidge@oaggao.ca

Sanctuary Matters is funded in part by a grant from the Ottawa Community Foundation.