We spend a lot of energy dealing with the villains, but hardly any time celebrating the heroes. Irwin Cotler is one of the greatest heroes of our time. He’s taken on the most intractable dictators and saved the most unjustly imprisoned hostages. I hope everyone will watch First to Stand and become familiar his inspiring commitment to justice.”
— Bill Browder
With their new film about Irwin Cotler, married Montreal filmmakers make a stand for human rights
Brad Wheeler, The Globe and Mail
Irwin Cotler’s many fights for human rights detailed in documentary
Bill Brownstein, The Montreal Gazette
“First to Stand” puts a spotlight on the work of human rights advocate Irwin Cotler and others who stand up for justice
Sonali Karnick, CBC
First to Stand’s Irwin Cotler Plays the Reluctant Participant
Matthew Hays, Point of View Magazine
Movers and shakers in Israeli society
Greer Fay Cashman, The Jerusalem Post
“First to Stand”: Irwin Cotler, Crusader of Human Rights
Randy Pinsky, Concordia University
First to Stand Review
Maurie Alioff, film journalist/critic
First to Stand – The Cases and Causes of Irwin Cotler
Mike Cohen, The Suburban
Here’s why Irwin Cotler says his political prisoner clients are the real heroes
Ellin Bessner, The Canadian Jewish News
Opening Human Rights Day, December 10, 2022
Extended to December 22
“Saturday’s launch of Irene Angelico and Abbey Neidik’s new documentary, First to Stand: The Cases and Causes of Irwin Cotler at the Cinéma du Musée was a beautifully orchestrated and emotionally charged event. Playing to an enthusiastic full house, the captivating, fast-paced movie tracks former Justice Minister Cotler’s battles in defence of people who have been victimized for fighting against repressive regimes. The stories captured in the doc were amplified by the presence of three of the featured participants: Irwin Cotler, human rights champion; Shaparak Shajarizadeh, an Iranian woman tortured and sentenced for protests that spearheaded the current movement for women’s rights, and Ensaf Haidar the wife and voice of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi who was sentenced to ten years in prison and 1000 lashes for advocating freedom of speech. The film, the filmmakers, the responses by Cotler and these courageous women, who all handled questions with modest brilliance, drew several standing ovations.”
— Maurie Alioff, film journalist/critic
“Congratulations on the film’s triumphant reception last night! The amazing thing is how you managed to pay tribute to a man who spends much of his day with files and conferences and on the phone, made it feel like a political thriller! The pace never let down.”
— Sam Wendel, former director Telefilm, Los Angeles
”We spend a lot of energy dealing with the villains of the world, but hardly any time celebrating the heroes. Irwin Cotler is one of the greatest heroes of our time. He’s taken on some of the most intractable dictators and saved some of the most unjustly imprisoned hostages. I hope that everyone will watch First to Stand and become familiar with his inspiring commitment to justice.”
— Bill Browder, financier, political activist and creator of Magnitsky Sanctions
“Captivating new documentary! First to Stand: The Cases and Causes of Irwin Cotler is the latest from the dynamic Montreal spousal filmmaking team of Irene Angelico and Abbey Neidik.”
— Bill Brownstein, The Montreal Gazette
“What a treasure we have in Irwin Cotler. A great film. Absolutely captivating!”
— Duke Eatmon, CBC
“An extraordinary new documentary entitled First to Stand: the Cases and Causes of Irwin Cotler, will be released in Montreal at Cinéma du Musée.”
— Mike Cohen, Cohen in the City
“It’s not a biography — the film instead travels the four-decade career representing the likes of the late Nelson Mandela, Natan Sharansky, Raif Badawi a Saudi blogger sentenced to a thousand lashes and ten years in prison. Audiences will catch a glimpse of what it’s like travelling the world to stand up to oppressive regimes as Cotler collaborates with allies including acclaimed human rights lawyer Amal Clooney.”
— Ellin Bessner, The Canadian Jewish News
”…thrilled there was such a good reception to this great work.”
— Amal Clooney, human rights Barrister
“What an evening! What a tribute to Irwin! What a tribute to you. What a fantastic reception! Standing ovations! You did a fantastic job.”
— Beverly Shaffer, Academy Award winner
“You have gone and done it again! What a wonderful, brilliant film!… it is so well illustrated in the stories of the incredibly courageous individuals who risked everything to stand up for their rights. So inspiring. And for change to happen, how essential it is for others to support these brave individuals, which of course, is what Cotler does so well and why his Institute matters.
The film has such clarity and is beautifully structured! The main ideas were so well expressed both at the beginning and then the way they ripple throughout the cases. This film so brilliantly illuminates the stories of those who are paying the price of that freedom for the rest of us. All this to say that this is a really, really extraordinary, and important film. What more can I say? I just loved it! Bravo!”
— Terre Nash, Academy Award winner
“Lawyer Irwin Cotler travels the globe to defend political prisoners, journalists, and those threatened by genocide. One imagines his goals to be unattainable; yet, when we see that he gets results, we’re left speechless. An awe-inspiring portrait by the courageous documentary filmmakers Irene Angelico and Abbey Neidik.”
— Gyuri Unger, International Award-Winning Filmmaker
“A wonderful film on Irwin Cotler, a totally inspiring man!”
— Joyce Borenstein, Academy Award winner
“Congratulations on an important, engaging, and wonderful film! I hope it inspires many to learn and to act.”
— Alice Herscovitch. Gouvernement Relations, musée de l’Holocauste Montréal
“Excellent research and hard-to-get film clips, great shots of important meetings and moments in Irwin Cotler’s advocacy, all beautifully edited. I was captivated by Abbey and Irene’s latest doc. Well done!!!”
— Irwin Block, journalist
“Extraordinary film about an extraordinary man!”
— Fran Rishikof, former sales executive, Astral Media and Bell Media
“I saw the film last night. It is wonderful, painful, heartfelt. Just terrific.”
— Sandy Climan, owner, Bibliophile Bookstore
“Kudos to you for putting together this wonderful piece about our thus far, unsung hero, Irwin Cotler. It is a well-deserved tribute which could not have been easy to put together. It deserves to be seen and talked about.”
— Abigail Hirsch, film producer
“Incredible achievement!”
— Tamara Boness, Dawson College
“That was a fabulous film!”
— Susan Palmer, sociologist, Concordia University
written and directed by
Irene Lilienheim Angelico
and
Abbey Jack Neidik
produced by
Abbey Jack Neidik
and
Irene Lilienheim Angelico
executive producers
Paul Cadieux
Michael Levine
executive producer, TVO
Jane Jankovic
independent production officer, TVO
Linda Fong
camera
Abbey Jack Neidik
sound
Toben Neidik
edited by
Howard Goldberg
Martin Nault
Irene Lilienheim Angelico
Abbey Jack Neidik
original music
Philippe Dionne
research
Irene Lilienheim Angelico
archive producer
Terri Foxman
additional archive research
Holly Dressel
post-production
DLI Productions
Productions St-Antoine
sound editing
Martin Cadieux-Rouillard
mix
Gordon Neil Allen
colour correction and online editing
Philippe Carbonneau
assistant-editor
Frédéric Bernard
titles
Louis-Gabriel Pothier
quality control and DCP supervisor
Isabelle Stephen
closed captioning
Anne-Émanuelle Romanelli
technical director
Simon Legault Beaudoin
post-production supervisor
Isabelle Bouchard
technical support
Patrick Clune
transcript
Sassonique Productions
graffiti artist
Toben Neidik
archives
Alamy
American Israel Public Affairs Committee
American Jewish Historical Society
Amnesty International
Amnesty International Norway
AP Archive
Bald and Bankrupt
BBC News
BStU (Stasi)
CBC Archive Sales
CBC News
Canadian Press Images
Centre de Ressources des Entreprises et les droits de l’Homme
City Beautiful
Critical Past
C-Span
CTV News/Bell Media Inc
Deutsche Welle (DW)
The Diplomat
Dramatic Videos
Ethnomusicology Explained!
Eureporter
Euro News
ExMuslim Rights
F.I.L.M. Archives
Jamison Firestone
Kylie Flavell
Footage Berlin – rbb media
Footage Farm
Freedom House
Photo © by Alexander Frenkel
Getty Images
Hengameh Golestan, Untitled (Witness ‘79 series), March 1979, Tehran
The Guardian
Ensaf Haidar, personal collection
House of Commons, Canada
Human Rights Network
Idea City, MZTV Production & Distribution
International Observatory of Human Rights (IOHR)
IStock by Getty Images
Robert H. Jackson Center
Jewish Agency for Israel
Howard Kay, CJC photo collection, Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives
Kostack Studio
Kremlin
Montreal Gazette
MsMaskit
My Stealthy Freedom
National Archives and Records Service of South Africa
Nelson Mandela Foundation, photographer unknown
National Post
Luke Mogelson, The New Yorker
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project
Oslo Freedom Forum
Ottawa Citizen
Gerald Praschl
Picture Alliance
Pond5
Radio-Canada
Ruptly
Samin
Screenocean/Reuters
Shaparak Shajarizadeh, personal collection
© Alix Kates Shulman, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University
UN TV
Vancouver Sun
Vice News
Wall Street Journal
WPA Film Library
additional music
Stand Up
written and performed by Isobel Cameron
composed by Philippe Dionnne
additional violin Kiarra Saito-Beckman
additional cello Matthew Fields
assistant recording engineer Santiago Garcia-Quevas
I Shall Be Released
performance by Joan Baez
written and composed by Bob Dylan
published by Dwarf Music
Freedom
performed by Pharrell Williams
written and composed by Vincent Brown, Anthony Criss, Keir Gist
and Pharrell Williams
published by EMI Pop Music Publishing, More Water from Nazareth, Wb Music Corp. and Naughty Music
courtesy of Columbia Records, a Division of Sony Music Entertainment (Canada)
Artlist
music copyright clearance
Josée-Anne Tremblay, laNégo
accounting
Gerry Vininsky
Weisbord, Del Gaudio, Iacono
production accountant
George Highfield
Marco Vitullo
legal services
Remy Khouzam
Lussier & Khouzam Entertainment
insurance
Globalex
member of Front Row Insurance Brokers
travel services
Always Travel
the producers wish to thank
Montreal Centre for Genocide and Human Rights Studies, Concordia University
Jewish Agency of Israel
Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto
Canadian Parliament Buildings
Congregation Shaar Hashomayim
Hermitage Capital Management
European Union
United States Capitol Complex
International Bar Association
Crowne Plaza
Tel Aviv University
Montreal Science Centre
Maurie Alioff • Luc Côté • Barbara Falk • Jen Herszman Caprau • Felix von Geyer • Randall Kempf • Greg Klymkiw • Terre Nash • Jan Rofekamp • Patricia Scarlett • Shelley Tepperman
and a very special thanks to all our participants
Irwin Cotler
Anatoly Sharansky
Shaparak Shajarizadeh
Ensaf Haidar
Bill Browder
Amal Clooney
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Dikgang Moseneke
James P. McGovern
Masih Alinejad
Romeo Dallaire
Ester Mujawayo
Brandon Silver
Judith Abitan
Nirushaa Senthilnathan
Yonah Diamond
Jeremy Assaly
Zoe Gladstone
Barbad and Alireza Shajarizadeh
Avital Sharansky
Raif Badawi
Miriyam, Najwa, and Terad Badawi
High-Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom
Peter Kent
Garnett Genuis
Guy Caron
Ketty Niviyabandi
Yves Boivert
Christopher Hernandez-Roy
Kyle Matthews
Payam Akhavan
the Libérez Raif Demonstrators in Sherbrooke, Quebec
the Cotler family – Ariela, Michal, Gila, Tanya, and Jonathan
and
Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights
produced with the participation of



produced in association with

VP programming and content
John Ferri
for Michael Lilienheim
a production by

www.firsttostand.com
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© 2022 DLI Productions Inc.
Stand Up!