MEDIA ADVISORY
Exclusive Ottawa screening of PUSH: a documentary about the global housing crisis
(Ottawa) – Housing prices are skyrocketing in cities around the world. Incomes aren’t keeping up. Families are pushed out of their homes and not even nurses, police officers or firefighters can afford to live in the cities they are supposed to protect. Meanwhile, new buildings are left vacant, used as a place to house money instead of people.
On Tuesday, June 25 at 6:30 pm, at Academic Hall in the University of Ottawa, an award-winning documentary film, PUSH, will screen in an exclusive Ottawa premiere. It opened in Copenhagen where it won the Audience Award, was featured at Toronto’s Hot Docs to sold-out audiences, and recently won the Young Juror’s Award at DocsBarcelona. It is currently touring the world.
PUSH, directed by Fredrik Gertten (Sweden), features Ottawa resident, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to housing, Leilani Farha (Canada), in her attempts to uncover who is pushing people out of cities and for what reason. She meets politicians, experts and the people directly affected by the growing housing crisis from across the planet and unearths the relationship between big capital including pension funds, and the housing crisis reverberating in cities around the world. Though truly global in scope, the film will resonate with residents of Ottawa who have witnessed the mass eviction of Heron Gate tenants by a multi billion-dollar asset management firm, to make way for higher-priced housing.
This is the first independent screening of PUSH in Canada. The film (92 min.) will be followed by a 30-minute panel discussion and audience Q&A with the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing, as well as a representative from the Ottawa Herongate community, and City Councillor, Mathieu Fleury. The panel will be moderated by Alex Neve, the Secretary General of Amnesty International, Canada.
The event is hosted by Canada Without Poverty, a leading voice in the anti-poverty movement. Tickets to the event are available online at Eventbrite. Discount tickets are available for students and seniors. Free tickets are available for persons with lived experience of poverty.
WHO: Canada Without Poverty and the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing, Leilani Farha
WHERE/WHEN: Tuesday, June 25, 2019
6:00 pm Doors Open, Academic Hall, University of Ottawa, 135 Séraphin-Marion Private
6:30 pm Film Screening Begins Followed by 30-minute Panel
For more information about the Exclusive Ottawa screening of PUSH, visit:
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/push-the-exclusive-ottawa-premiere-tickets-62435222431
To arrange interviews pre or post screening: Alexandra Zannis, Canada Without Poverty, 613-789-0096, alexandra[at]cwp-csp.ca
About Canada Without Poverty
Canada Without Poverty (CWP) is a non-partisan, not-for-profit, and charitable organization dedicated to ending poverty in Canada. The organization was created in 1971 as an outcome of the Poor People’s Conference, a national gathering of low-income individuals, under the name National Anti-Poverty Organization (NAPO). For over 40 years, CWP has been championing the rights of individuals experiencing poverty and marginalization through research, awareness-building campaigns, public policy development, and educational programming. See more at: www.cwp-csp.ca.
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