The Amnesty International Surrey Centre Action Circle is hosting a viewing of a award-winning documentary film and a discussion of an award-winning novel at their next meeting on Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. at the City Centre Library, 10350 University Dr.
Children of the Jaguar is a groundbreaking documentary film about an Ecuadorian indigenous people’s successful legal battle against their country for allowing foreign oil exploration on their land without their consent.
The 29-minute film won the award for Best Documentary at National Geographic’s prestigious All Roads Film Festival. Children of the Jaguar was directed by Eriberto Gualinga, a member of the Indigenous Kichwa People of Sarayaku, and co-produced by the Sarayku community and Amnesty International.
Following the film screening and a related letter-writing activity, the group will discuss Joseph Boyden’s first novel, Three Day Road, which launches the new Amnesty International Book Club.
Three Day Road earned Boyden a number of honours, including the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, the CBA Libris Fiction Book of the Year Award, the Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award, and the McNally Robinson Aboriginal Book of the Year Award. It was also shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award for Fiction.
“This promises to be an interesting and informative evening,” said Don Wright, a regional staff person with Amnesty International.
Admission is free.