In partnership with the Media Commons Archives, join us for an evening with a filmmaker who made activism an art form.

For 40 years, documentary filmmaker and activist, Nancy Nicol (Professor Emerita, York University), has been documenting movements for social change, including migrant workers’ rights, women’s reproductive freedom, LGBTQ+ histories in Canada, and transnational stories of resistance and resilience. In 2011, Nicol launched Envisioning Global LGBT Human Rights—a collaboration with partners in Africa, the Caribbean, India and Canada. Through conversation and film excerpts, we will celebrate the ‘Nancy Nicol’ and ‘Envisioning Global LGBT Human Rights’ collections, recently donated to U of T’s Media Commons Archives. Q&A and reception to follow.

Filmmaker, scholar and activist Nancy Nicol has spent her career documenting histories of social change. In particular, her work documents lesbian and gay rights in Canada from the early years of gay liberation during the 1970s, to the recognition of same-sex relationships, queer parenting and same-sex marriage. Utilizing participatory documentary, Nicol, working with Envisioning grassroots partners and community leaders, documented key battles, including: decriminalization of homosexuality in India, Belize and Botswana; resistance to the anti-homosexuality law in Uganda; international Sexual Orientation Gender Identity and Expression (SOGIE) initiatives at the United Nations; and grassroots LGBT organizing efforts.

Through video excerpts and an on-stage discussion with Professor Nicol, we will celebrate a prodigious career as we welcome these exciting new collections at U of T.