DOXA Documentary Film Festival Screening of "No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka"

Photo courtesy of DOXA Documentary Film Festival

The Simons Foundation is sponsoring the screening of "No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka" during the 2014 DOXA Documentary Film Festival in Vancouver.

No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka
Sunday, May 4, 2014
2:00pm
at The Cinematheque
1131 Howe Street, Vancouver

From DOXA: The final months of the 26-year civil war in Sri Lanka were perhaps the most violent and bloody in the history of the country. Civilians fleeing the fighting were told to seek refuge ‘safety zones’ in the Tamil-held sections of the country. As people flooded into a thin strip of land along the Northern Coast, the government began a bombing campaign that would leave more than 70,000 people dead. Callum Macrae’s film, No Fire Zone, is an eviscerating experience but it is also a necessary act of witness. As survivors tell their stories and even share their own footage, some of which was captured in the midst of bombardment, the true scope of the horror becomes apparent. The film’s meticulous ordering of the sequence of events that led to this atrocity is clear and relentless. In September of 2008, the bitter struggle between the ultra-nationalist Sinhalese government of Sri Lanka and the secessionist army of the Tamil Tigers had reached a turning point. A media blackout ensured that both the international and the Sri Lankan press would not be able to document or report on the situation. The UN was also forced to leave. In darkness and secrecy, the massacre began.

The story is not yet over, as people are still disappearing in the midst of the government’s continued efforts to restructure the country. No Fire Zone acts not only as a call to action, but also a record of people who needlessly suffered and died in the middle of a war they had no part in.   Callum Macrae | UK |  2013 | 93 minutes

The 2014 DOXA Documentary Film Festival runs from May 2-11, 2014 in Vancouver, BC, and features over 90 films. Tickets are available online at www.doxafestival.ca. For further information, please visit their website or call DOXA at 604.646.3200.

DOXA is presented by The Documentary Media society, a Vancouver-based non-profit, charitable society.