Bradford Library reverses course, will screen film 200m

PRESS RELEASE
BRADFORD WEST GWILLIMBURY PUBLIC LIBRARY
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After listening carefully to the concerns from the community regarding our library’s decision in March to cancel the screening of the film 200 metersand after receiving a professional opinion from the Center for Free Expression, the Bradford West Gwillimbury Public Library (BWG Library) has decided to move forward with free public screenings of the film on Sunday, June 2, in collaboration with the resident organizer.

The decision we made on March 11, 2024, to cancel the planned screening of 200 meters it was difficult. The award-winning film explores the fictional life of a Palestinian father trying to reach his hospitalized son. The event was organized in partnership with a local resident and aimed to combat the rise of Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism.

In announcing the cancellation, the BWG library said they will work to find a solution that honors the original intent of the resident program while ensuring that everyone feels safe and welcome at this event.

200 meters, which debuted in 2020 and went on to play at international festivals around the world, won numerous awards, most notably the Jury Prize for Human Rights at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival. A nuanced and compassionate approach to Palestinian and Israeli individuals living in the current Israel-West Bank geopolitical dynamic is needed.

After careful consideration, we have decided that screening the film is an ethical responsibility we have to the resident organizer with whom we worked to program the film and to the community members who have expressed interest in attending the screening. This is our obligation as a public library that upholds the values ​​of free expression and prioritizes a community-led approach to our programming and vision.

The Ontario Library Association’s Declaration of Intellectual Freedom states that: “Intellectual freedom requires the freedom to critically examine and create other ideas, opinions, viewpoints and philosophies of life than those currently approved by the local community or society generally and including those ideas and interpretations which may be unconventional, unusual or unpopular.”

The two free public screenings of 200 meters will be in the BWG Library’s Zima Room on Sunday, June 2 at 1:15 and 3:15 p.m. This event will be in partnership with the resident organizer and will be co-sponsored by the Center for Free Expression, a non-partisan organization working in collaboration with academic and civil society organizations in Canada and internationally.

We are sensitive to how this scheduling decision may affect residents with different relationships to the ongoing and intensifying conflict in Israel, Gaza and beyond. When we announced the screening of the film, community members reached out fearing that the event could incite anti-Semitism and compromise feelings of safety on the library premises.

We take these concerns seriously. The BWG Library has offered partnership opportunities to residents and Jewish organizations over the past few months. Following the release of this statement, we reached out to these residents and organizations again as we hope to create space for the sharing of a variety of opinions, cultural expressions and perspectives based on the lived reality of residents.

As a library that takes a community-led approach to our programming, we encourage community members who would like to co-host free public events that promote intercultural understanding to contact us. We are a public institution that provides all individuals in our community with a gateway to advancement through literacy, lifelong learning, social engagement and cultural enrichment. We look forward to continuing to collaborate with a diversity of artistic, cultural and religious groups and residents to ensure that our space is one that promotes understanding by providing open access to ideas, opinions, resources and experiences.

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