''International Dawn Chorus Day'' is a 2021 Canadian short experimental documentary film, directed by

John Greyson John Greyson (born March 13, 1960) is a Canadian director, writer, video artist, producer, and political activist, whose work frequently deals with queer characters and themes. He was part of a loosely-affiliated group of filmmakers to emerge in ...

. Taking its name from the observance of

International Dawn Chorus Day The dawn chorus occurs when birds sing at the start of a new day. In temperate countries this is most noticeable in spring when the birds are either defending a breeding territory, trying to attract a mate or calling in the flock. In a given loc ...

, when people are encouraged to listen to

birdsong Bird vocalization includes both bird calls and bird songs. In non-technical use, bird songs are the bird sounds that are melodious to the human ear. In ornithology and birding, songs (relatively complex vocalizations) are distinguished by func ...

, the film features the participation of 40 international filmmakers and artists who recorded birdsong for a

Zoom Zoom may refer to: Technology Computing * Zoom (software), videoconferencing application * Page zooming, the ability to magnify or shrink a portion of a page on a computer display * Zooming user interface, a graphical interface allowing for image ...

call in tribute to deceased

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

ian activists Shady Habash and Sarah Hegazi. Participants included

Sofia Bohdanowicz Sofia Bohdanowicz is a Canadian filmmaker. She is known for her collaborations with Deragh Campbell and made her List of directorial debuts, feature film directorial debut in 2016 with ''Never Eat Alone''. Her second feature film, ''Maison du Bonh ...

AA Bronson AA Bronson (born Michael Tims in Vancouver in 1946) is an artist. He was a founding member of the artists' group General Idea, was president and director of Printed Matter, Inc., and started the NY Art Book Fair and the LA Art Book Fair. E ...

, Julie Burleigh,

Shu Lea Cheang Shu Lea Cheang () (born April 13, 1954) is a Taiwanese-American artist and filmmaker who lived and worked in New York City in the 1980s and 90s, until relocating to the EuroZone in 2000. Cheang received a BA in history from the National Taiwan Un ...

, Sheila Davis,

Richard Fung Richard Fung (born 1954) is a video artist, writer, public intellectual and theorist who currently lives and works in Toronto, Ontario. He was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and is openly gay. Fung is a professor at OCAD University. He earned a ...

, Rebecca Garrett, Shohini Ghosh, Maureen Greyson, Sharon Hayashi,

DeeDee Halleck DeeDee Halleck (born January 5, 1940) is a media activist, founder of Paper Tiger Television and co-founder of the Deep Dish Satellite Network, the first grass roots community television network. She is Professor Emerita in the Department of Commu ...

Nelson Henricks Nelson Henricks (born 1963) is a Canadian artist known for his video works. Originally from Bow Island, Alberta, he received a diploma in visual arts from the Alberta College of Art. In 1991 he relocated to Montréal and obtained a Bachelor of Fi ...

, April Hickox,

Michelle Jacques Michelle Jacques is an American singer/music educator, and Jenpet Records recording artist. She is currently the Artistic Director of Chelle! and Friends.Lyne Lapointe Lyne Lapointe (born 1957) is a French-Canadian artist. Her work ranges from Site-specific art, site-specific installations (1981–1995), found-objects, drawings, and paintings, with focuses on art history, museology, botany, and feminism. She has ...

, Stephen Lawson, Jack Lewis,

Catherine Lord Catherine Lord (born 1949) is an American artist, writer, curator, social activist, professor, scholar exploring themes of feminism, cultural politics and colonialism. In 2010, she was awarded the Harvard Arts Medal. Early life and education Bor ...

, Loring McAlpin, Alexis Mitchell, Maki Mizukoshi, Ken Morrison, Daniel Negatu, Martha Newbigging, Jane Park, Pamela Rodgerson,

Su Rynard Su Rynard (born 1961) is a Canadian film and television director, editor and video artist. She is most noted as the director of the 2005 feature film ''Kardia (film), Kardia'',Ken Eisner"Kardia" ''Variety (magazine), Variety'', October 26, 2005. wh ...

Lior Shamriz Lior Shamriz (born September 13, 1978) is a writer, producer, and film director. They reside in Santa Cruz, California. Career Born to an Iraqi-Iranian Jewish family in Ashkelon, a city in southern Israel, they skipped the army at 18 and moved to ...

, Amil Shivji,

Cheryl Sourkes Cheryl Sourkes (born 1945) is a Canadian photographer, video and new media artist. A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, volumes 1-8 by Colin S. MacDonald, and volume 9 (online only), by Anne Newlands and Judith Parker National Gallery of Canada / Mus ...

, Dieylani Sow, Richard Tillmann, Almerinda Travassos, David Wall, BH Yael, and three Egyptian personalities who contributed anonymously due to the risk of political retribution by the government of Egypt. The film premiered in the short film program at the

71st Berlin International Film Festival The 71st annual Berlin International Film Festival took place from 1 to 5 March 2021 as a virtual festival due to the COVID-19 pandemic. An in-person event has also been tentatively scheduled for June, pending the resolution of the COVID-19 issu ...

, where it won the

Teddy Award The Teddy Award is an international film award for films with LGBT topics, presented by an independent jury as an official award of the Berlin International Film Festival (the Berlinale). In the most part, the jury consists of organisers of gay a ...

for best LGBTQ-themed short film."'Miguel's War' erhält Teddy Award"
RBB Fernsehen, June 19, 2021.

References

External links

* 2021 films 2021 short documentary films 2021 LGBT-related films Canadian short documentary films Canadian LGBT-related short films Films directed by John Greyson English-language Canadian films 2020s English-language films 2020s Canadian films Canadian LGBT-related documentary films {{John Greyson