Documentary filmmaker Adeola Egbeyemi Credit: Adeola Egbeyemi
Meet Adeola Egbeyemi, Hamilton’s newest documentary filmmaker who studied arts and science at McMaster University in Hamilton, ON.
Adeola’s arts and science degree emphasized inquiry-based interdisciplinary learning which also tuned up her writing skills across a variety of disciplines, but specifically in political science and creative writing.
In the spring of 2021, Adeola completed a curatorial mentorship at McMaster Museum of Art. She worked with Senior Curator Pamela Edmonds on a series of online and writing programs based on her interests in critical writing, art, metaphysics and politically engaged issues.
Adeola was the editor of Pitch Magazine from 2020 to 2021 and her work has also appeared in Journal of Integrative Research and Reflection (JIRR) Waterloo, International Affairs Forum, Inquiries Journal, and Our Climate Our Stories anthology.
When not writing, Adeola can be found organizing, watching art history videos and reading. She is also invested in municipal climate resiliency, theatre and film.
Over the past of couple years, Adeola wrote, produced and directed her documentary, peace love (unicorns) & communism (2024), a homegrown chronicle of a decade of movements at McMaster University.
Adeola Egbeyemi (right) in conversation with social justice advocate at downtown Hamilton bus station. Credit: peace love (unicorns) and communism
I just happened to be in Hamilton on Friday, October 25th, when peace love (unicorns) & communism premiered at The Westdale Theatre, and am thrilled to have social disrupter and social justice advocate Adeola Egbeyemi on Small Change today!
Find out the inspiration for this very personal documentary showcasing many of the political and social justice advocates I’ve interviewed and championed over the years.
Adeola made the conscious decision to not include the names of many of the folks appearing in peace love (unicorns) & communism This was in an effort to ensure their safety as pushback to progressive ideas, movements and individuals has been rising. In 2022, there were 1,721 incidents of police-reported hate crimes — a 20 per cent increase from 2021.
According to Statistics Canada (Feb 2024), Ontario cities with the highest hate crime rates include Brantford (16.4 per 100,000), Greater Sudbury (18.7), Hamilton (20.6), Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo (22.7), Kingston (23.1) and Ottawa (28.3).
The report also determined that areas with high rates of hate crime report lower scores on quality of life indicators.
Social justice advocates decompressing on the Niagara Escarpment Credit: peace love (unicorns) & communism
And, what does that fear of being targeted for holding progressive beliefs and challenging the white supremacist corporate fascist agenda mean as Ontarians face a potential third term under Doug Ford as well as a potential first term under Pierre Poilievre and given the fact that Donald Trump and J. D. Vance got a majority in the recent US election?
Adeola and I also focus on the technical side of creating documentaries, what it means to be a young producer and how her creative career will evolve over time.
Perhaps most importantly, it’s critical to discuss how realistic it is to expect today’s young activists to finally achieve even a few of the much needed grassroots changes that even veteran progressives continue fighting for.
Social justice advocates standing outside Old Dundas Town Hall Credit: peace love (unicorns) & communism
Follow peace love (unicorns) & communism (2024; 93 minutes) on Twitter @peaceluvunifilm and Instagram @peaceloveunifilm for online and in-person viewing updates.
Contact Adeola Egbeyemi to arrange a community screening at egbeyema@gmail.com
Sound track for peace love (unicorns) & communism
Thanks to everyone who read today’s article and listened to my podcast. With your continued support, a little Nicoll can make a lot of change.
Music: Real Estate by UNIVERSFIELD is licensed under a Attribution 4.0 International License. freemusicarchive.org.
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