Documentaries

NOW Magazine Reviews No Volverán

20 September 2007
Janis Cole - NOW Magazine
This is a good review of No Volverán by Toronto's main entertainment NOW magazine. A 3-N rating means "entertaining." Yes, the documentary is openly biased in favour of the Venezuelan people. However, it is also objective and allows the Venezuelan people to speak for themselves. This is a good review of No Volverán by Toronto's main entertainment NOW magazine. A 3-N rating means "entertaining." Yes, the documentary is openly biased in favour of the Venezuelan people. However, it is also objective and allows the Venezuelan people to speak for themselves. There is no such thing as un-biased media and those that attempt to hide their bias merely have a bias towards the status quo.

You can also listen to an interview with Alex Grant on CIUT about the new documentary at http://archives.take5.fm/2007/09/19/sept-19.aspx (move the slider 16mins into the show).

Rep Cinema Feature
http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2007-09-20/movie_repfeature.php

Vivid Venezuela

No Volverán doesn't hide its bias in favour of Hugo Chávez's Venezuela.

By JANIS COLE No VolverAn: The Venezuelan Revolution Now (Melanie MacDonald and Will Roche) Rating: NNN

Here's a film that gives President Hugo Chávez's socialist regime a major boost. Free of political investigation and controversy, No Volverán (no turning back) is strictly a love-in for Chávez's Bolivarian revolution.

Filmmakers MacDonald and Roche introduce the political action group Hands Off Venezuela as its members set out on a tour bus to observe the 2006 election, which Chávez wins by a landslide. Later, one of them gushes in admiration of the re-elected president and emphatically swears to bring his example to the U.S., Canada and Britain. So it's no surprise when the credits reveal that Hands Off Venezuela was involved in making this celebratory film.

It is satisfying to watch archival coverage of Venezuela's tumultuous roller-coaster revolution interwoven with present-day footage about the massive social movements that are transforming the squalid living conditions of the country's poorest.

Ordinary folks run their own councils and determine how to allocate government grants to fix up their neighbourhoods. When 800 workers overthrow their boss to turn the Sanitarios Maracay factory into a cooperative, it becomes the role model for other workplaces.

But the best power-to-the-people message is the guiding motto of Catia TV, a channel run by residents of Caracas: "Don't watch TV, make it." (Sep 20, 7 pm, Cumberland Theatre, 159 Cumberland. www.handsoffvenezuela.org)

NOW | SEPTEMBER 20 - 26, 2007 | VOL. 27 NO. 3

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Canadian Premiere of No Volverán - The Venezuelan Revolution Now - followed by discussion with film maker Melanie MacDonald

Watch the revolutionary new documentary from Altered State Films in association with Hands Off Venezuela and with the support of the Venezuelan Consulate in Toronto.

This exciting film documents the Venezuelan revolution, and takes the viewer behind the scenes of the 2006 presidential election, as well as into the barrios and the occupied factories of Venezuela, in an attempt to uncover the reasons behind this socialist revolution.

Film maker Melanie MacDonald will be attending the screening and there will be an opportunity for Q&A with her after the screening.

WHEN:    Thursday 20th September, 7pm
WHERE:    Cumberland Theatre, 159 Cumberland St. (at Avenue Rd.) Yorkville

Media enquiries should be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 416 782-8432

Entry by donation.