MEDIA ARTS NETWORK OF ONTARIO CALLS FOR THE IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF JOHN GREYSON AND TAREK LOUBANI

The Media Arts Net­work of Ontario/Réseau des arts médi­a­tiques de l’Ontario (MANO/RAMO)  calls for the imme­di­ate release of Cana­di­ans, film­maker John Greyson and Dr. Tarek Loubani from cus­tody in Egypt. The Cana­dian gov­ern­ment must con­tinue and inten­sify its efforts to ensure their safe­ty and secure their release.

Since news, of their August 16 arrest has spread, we have heard from many in the Ontario media arts com­mu­nity of their grave con­cern for John and Tarek. John a long­time con­trib­u­tor Cana­dian film and video and is know not only for his films, but for his pas­sion as an edu­ca­tor, con­trib­u­tor to fes­ti­vals and dis­trib­u­tors across Cana­da and the world. Tarek has shown a sim­i­lar com­mit­ment to shar­ing his knowl­edge and build­ing insti­tu­tions through his inter­na­tional work and edu­ca­tional contributions.

It is the tal­ents and com­mit­ment of such indi­vid­u­als that have not only cre­ated the media arts sec­tor, but have improved the qual­ity of life for all cit­i­zens. In addi­tion, we would like to echo the Egypt­ian Film­mak­ers Syn­di­cate in their denun­ci­a­tion of any deten­tion or inter­fer­ence with film­mak­ers or jour­nal­ists doc­u­ment­ing events. The impor­tance of these doc­u­ments is not only in the present, but pro­vides future gen­er­a­tions with the tools to under­stand his­tory from an array of perspectives.

In this time of tur­moil, our thoughts are with the Egypt­ian peo­ple, John, Tarek, their fam­i­lies, and loved ones.

MANO/RAMO is a not for prof­it arts ser­vice orga­ni­za­tion rep­re­sent­ing over 50 non-prof­it media art pro­duc­tion cen­tres, fes­ti­vals, dis­trib­u­tors, and col­lec­tives across Ontario.

For more infor­ma­tion on John and Tarek’s sit­u­a­tion please see: http://tarekandjohn.com/

For more onfor­ma­tion from MANO/RAMO see https://mano-ramo.ca/, or con­tact Man­ag­ing Direc­tor, Ben Donoghue at director@mano-ramo.ca.