Culture, Activism & Identity: My Cultural Divide

posted by Michael Lithgow on March 28, 2007

The Montreal Human Rights Film Festival is on, and there are some great documentaries to see. My Cultural Divide (2006) is a personal and political examination of some of the outcomes of a global flows, both human and economic. Montreal filmmaker Faisal Lutchmedial travels with his mother to her home country Bangladesh in order to better understand his family roots and to confront his activist ideologies about the impacts of global trade. He discovers complexity on both counts: on the factory floors of Bangladesh, and in his relationships with his extended family.

The film takes us into Bangladeshi factories where Lutchmedial talks as frankly as he can with the workers about their jobs and living conditions. The labour leaders he speaks with and the workers on the factory floors challenge his activist assumptions.

The film is thoughtful examination of the ways in which identity, culture, and political beliefs collide.

My Cultural Divide screens at 5 pm Thursday March 29 at Cinema du Parc. For more info go here.