Technology in the hands of activists can lead to some interesting encounters.

When the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry began using Hamilton's Bayfront Park Tuesday evenings for military training, two members of the Dundas Independent Video Association (DIVA) took them up on the offer to attend.

As they filmed the activity of 60 fully armed soldiers crawling through the public park with assault rifles, the two were approached and bizarrely questioned by a Sergeant of the RHLI who implied that the two (one holding a video camera, the other an umbrella) might be armed with something that might "endanger the life of people" or that they might be terrorists.

The result of the exchange was recorded, then produced into a four minute film which will be shown at the 4th annual PHOTOPHOBIA FILM FESTIVAL at the Art Gallery of Hamilton THURSDAY AUGUST 15, 2002. The showing takes place at 9:00 pm (dusk) at the SCULPTURE COURT AT THE AGH. An opening reception in the Art Gallery Lounges begins at 7:00 pm and local musicians FLUXad perform outside at 8:00 pm. Admission is free.

Following the encounter with the sergeant, it appears that bad press (a transcript of the exchange was printed in VIEW magazine) and complaints about the military using public parks for war training resulted in the RHLI scrapping their Tuesday night visits to Bayfront Park.

"The line of questioning the sergeant followed would never have happened before September 11. It is clear that the military have taken the S11 tragedy and begun to use it to their own ends. To imply that we might be armed terrorists down at Bayfront Park is patently absurd. But to realize that people of Muslim faith or arabic background are being held in Canadian jails on anti-democratic "Security Certificates" underscores the very real impact of security state paranoia" says DIVA's Randy Kay.

The four minute documentary shares the screen Thursday with film-makers such as Canadian John Greyson as well as others from the United Kingdom, the U.S.A. and all over Canada.

DIVA is an all volunteer video activist group founded in 1999. DIVA has produced several short documentary films including "Target Audience: Children, War and the Hamilton International Air Show' (1999); "Buy Nothing Day" (2000); "Car-Free Day" (2001); "Litany of Resistance: Catholic Workers at the Hamilton War Show" (2002) and "War Games in the Park' (2002)

PHOTOPHOBIA began in 1999. Hamilton film enthusiasts Chris and Paul Shannon set out trying to organize an outdoor screening of mostly regionally-produced films. With the help of three institutional partners – the Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton Artists Inc., and the Hamilton and Region Arts Council -- Photophobia quickly developed into an enthusiastically attended yearly festival attracting a diverse array of national and international filmmakers.