Ottawa Chamberfest presents the Ottawa premiere of Dear Lara, a documentary by Canadian violinist, filmmaker, and Member of the Order of Canada Lara St. John, on October 3 at the Ottawa Art Gallery. A panel discussion with St. John will follow both the 3PM and 7PM screenings, with the filmmaker also giving a short live performance as part of the presentation.
A JUNO Award-winning recording artist and internationally acclaimed soloist, St. John has spent decades performing around the world. In 2019, she publicly shared her experience of sexual assault as a 14-year-old student at the Curtis Institute of Music. The response was immediate: survivors from across the classical music world began reaching out to share their own stories. St. John picked up a camera and travelled across North America and Europe to hear them, creating Dear Lara as an investigation into abuse, abuses of power, and the institutional failures that allow them to continue.
Emerging from the wider cultural reckoning around the #MeToo movement, Dear Lara has made waves across the classical music world, bringing together survivor testimony, musicians, journalists, students, activists, and others to examine the culture surrounding abuse and ask what meaningful change could look like. This cultural happening offers audiences the rare opportunity to experience both the film and conversation with the filmmaker/artist herself; Dear Lara is not otherwise available to the public. Her visit is part of a multi-day Chamberfest residency exploring music, abuse, institutional responsibility, and change, including conversations with students, educators, and community and institutional leaders.
“I wanted to break the silence from within. I wanted survivors – and there are so many of us – to feel seen, believed, and connected to me and to each other.” — Lara St. John
Dear Lara Film Screening + Conversation with Lara St. John
Saturday, October 3 | 3PM & 7PM
Ottawa Art Gallery, 10 Daly Avenue
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