On Monday 20 November, Ana Pereira, member of the EFRJ and responsible for the Portuguese subtitles of the movie, organises in partnership with the Rotary Club of Porto the premiere of the film ‘A Conversation’ in Portugal. The event is one among many others taking place on the occasion of the international #RJWeek.
Living the Rotarian goal of approaching professionals and work towards the construction of good relationships and peace in the communities, on this occasion the Rotary Club of Porto will proudly organise a Restorative Dinner, during which the goals and mission of the EFRJ will be presented to their membership and selected guests.
Following dinner, the film ‘A Conversation’ will be screened (English audio & Portuguese subtitles). Closing the event, the audience will have the chance to discuss the movie and reflect upon the role of RJ in the case portrayed.
Find here the flyer of this event.
Venue: Hotel da Música, Mercado do Bom Sucesso, Largo Ferreira Lapa, 21 a 183, 4150-323 Porto – Portugal
More info: please contact [email protected]
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News after the event, attended by almost 30 people:
The Restorative Dinner for the Rotary Club of Porto was a big success!!!! The reactions to the movie were incredibly positive!!! During the discussion the audience was very interested about the Portuguese situation regarding RJ, and mediation in particular. Regarding the movie in itself, people considered the theme very important but they also felt the need to reflect upon the story for a few days. So, few days later I sent them a kind of follow-up survey, where they can express their opinions about the movie after some days of reflection. I am receiving the answers now…
‘Despite the fact the movie tackles very difficult, and sometimes highly unpleasant questions, it managed to capture my full attention. I would describe it as uncomfortable but necessary.’
‘It was a hard, visceral, highly emotional experience for me. I felt anger, revolt, disgust, pity, anxiety and hope. Hope because, after everything that happened and everything that was lost, life will continue for the people that stayed and the session seems to have helped them to deal better with their emotions and to move on with their lives, finding some level of peace with themselves, the offender – as much as possible- and with his family.’
‘When I heard about the movie for the first time my thought was that I would not participate in the dinner and screening of the film. After some reflection I accepted the challenge. Considering the initial description of the situation I could not imagine that this approximation between the two families was possible.’
‘The experience was highly enriching. I confess that, in the beginning I felt fear trying to guess the films’ development, and mostly, about the way people would accept it or not. After, I felt that the movie is very well done, the play is very well interpreted and makes people ‘clinging’ to the story, wanting to see how it ends. Regarding feelings, the film is a proposal of peace and comprehension and evokes, above all else, the forgiveness, even in the hardest situation, such as the one described in the movie.’
‘It was a very strong experience for me. I felt a profound sadness about the situation portrayed together with a mix of compassion both for the victim’s parents and the offender’s family, and even for the therapist. However, my final thoughts were that, after all that grieve, there was still hope for both families to manage to survive, both the high level of anger felt by people who were so violently attacked with the death of a daughter, as well as the feeling of guilt felt by an entire family destroyed by the behavior of just one of its elements.’
