Deborah Gyapong: So, we went to see Iranium last night

Crowd waits in lobby of the National Archives: I wait in line for Iranium, photo by Miss Marprelate

: Heritage Minister James Moore

Heritage Minister James Moore was there---he got a standing ovation for his staunch defence of freedom of expression when the Archives first shut down the the Free Thinking Film Society's first attempt to present Iranium.

: Free Thinking Fillm Society founder Fred Litwin and journalist

The movie told me little new, but pulled together the overwhelming threat to world stability Iran poses. The question and answer session with Claire Lopez of the Centre for Security Studies was also informative, especially about the extent to which Islamist fronts have infiltrated the media and government agencies both in the United States and Canada. Sadly, the movie was mostly preaching to the converted.

: The biggest crowd yet for the Free Thinking Film Society

Here are some pictures and links to the coverage.

The Globe and Mail:
A controversial movie about Iran that was cancelled after concerns of violence and complaints from the Iranian embassy finally screened Sunday night in Ottawa before a sold-out audience – one of its first showings in North America.
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An earlier screening of the documentary Iranium was booked for January 18 at the Library and Archives Canada, but was cancelled the day before after staff received a call from the embassy, said Heritage Minister James Moore. Mr. Moore stepped in and ordered Archives Canada to go ahead with the screening, but it was cancelled again, when police were called after a drop off of two suspicious letters, eventually found to be harmless.
“We’re not going to be bullied into not showing films that we want to watch in Canada,” said Mr. Moore on his way to the screening of the film Sunday night. “We never should have been in this position to begin with. This movie should already have aired. People should already have seen it, and people should have been debating, discussing and talking about the film.”

The National Post:

"Who cares what the Iranians think?" said Fred Litwin, president of The Free Thinking Film Society, in response to requests from the Iranian Embassy that the film not be shown. "Canadians need to know that Iran is a brutal regime that funds terrorism all over the world, and they're trying to get a nuclear weapon."
Demand for tickets was high. One seller told Mr. Litwin his phone was ringing off the hook. The film was supposed to be screened at the archives on Jan. 18, but threats of protest and official pleas from the Iranian embassy shut it down.
The federal Conservatives accused Iran of trying to censor and influence the activities of Canadians and quickly moved to reschedule the film at the arm's length government agency. Foreign Affairs sent a diplomatic note to Tehran stressing that Canada values freedom of expression and will screen whatever films it wants.
In attendance at the Sunday night event was Heritage Minister James Moore, who had directed Library and Archives Canada not to cow to pressure from Iran last month.
"This movie will be shown, the agreement will be kept and this movie Iranium will be shown at Library and Archives Canada," he said prior to Sunday night. "We will not be moving it to a different facility, we're not bending to any pressure."