Latest news with #Susana
The Guardian
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Autumn review – amazing landscape plays central role in Portuguese wine-family drama
This wistful Portuguese film is a pointillist portrait of a nuclear family over the course of an eventful year; it has plenty of earthy flavour, perhaps like the wine the paterfamilias of the story, Otávio (Miguel Frazão), produces on his small plot in hills above the Douro river. In oenological terms, you can really taste the terroir – the land on which it's made – with notes of nostalgia and melancholy and a tangy, slightly humorous spice. But there's also maybe a touch too much sweetness in the blend, given writer and director Antonio Sequeira's script occasionally slips into a tannic, sentimental theatricality. If it weren't for the fact that the stunning landscape plays such an integral part in the film's atmosphere you'd assume that this must have started as a stage play given the tidy scene breaks, dividing the story into four consecutive seasons. In the first act, Otávio and his wife, Susana, (Elsa Valentim) are busy preparing to say goodbye to their eldest child Tomas (Salvador Gil), who is about to go off to university in London. As Tomas packs and Susana fusses trying to find the mislaid bongos he wants to bring with him, Otávio comforts himself by treading his grape harvest with his own feet – an old-school method that could be done in seconds, as Tomas says, if he hired in some equipment. Younger sister Belinha (Beatriz Frazao, who does the most convincing job of ageing over the course of the movie), worries about surviving the coming year with her annoying parents without Tomas around to take some of the heat. The act ends, like each of the subsequent segments, with the family seeing Tomas off on the train. By the spring, he's back home with a new girlfriend (Krupa Narci Givane) whose Portuguese is not good enough to understand Otávio's racist jokes, much to the younger characters' relief. So this study in mild generational conflict goes on, in which no one is really a bad guy, not even Otávio for all his maladroit joshing. The dialogue is pretty conventional, although perhaps more expressive or interesting for native Portuguese speakers, while for the most part Sequeira doesn't try anything too tricksy. That said, there's one striking flashback to when Otávio and Susana were young (played by Ricardo de Sa and Sara Barradas), and we see them age up to the present over a series of deft edits in which every time Susana is carrying Tomas: first a baby, then as he grows older until poor Valentim is carrying the fully adult Gil piggyback, as an apt symbol of a mother's self-imposed martyrdom. A few more expressive touches like this might not have gone amiss, but as it stands Autumn is a sturdy if not especially distinguished work. Autumn is on digital platforms in the UK from 2 June and in the US from 3 June.
Canada Standard
15-05-2025
- General
- Canada Standard
Decades of neglect: Migrant farm worker housing needs national regulatory standards
In today's political climate, temporary migrants in Canada are being scapegoated for everything from rising grocery bills to the affordable housing crisis. Yet migrant workers, particularly farm workers, face a hidden housing crisis that needs urgent attention. Much of Canada's ability to produce food hinges on hiring migrant agricultural workers from countries like Mexico, Guatemala, Jamaica and elsewhere. Yet, housing for migrant agricultural workers in Canada is often overcrowded, dangerous and undignified. Amid government inaction, our group of 29 researchers, clinicians and advocates with the Coalition for National Housing Standards for Migrant Agricultural Workers (CoNaMi), have developed a proposal for national housing standards. This work is backed by clinical experience, hundreds of interviews and surveys and migrant agricultural workers' own advocacy. When two of us - Anelyse and Susana - interviewed 151 migrants in Ontario and British Columbia as part of our research, workers described conditions of isolation, crowding, inadequate ventilation, poor maintenance and close proximity to hazards such as agrochemicals. Both during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, many workers struggled to access health care, groceries and social services. In addition, their phone and internet access was often unreliable. Some workers reported employer-imposed restrictions on leaving the property, and bans on visitors. These living conditions pose serious risks to workers. Similarly to research led by the Centre for Climate Justice in British Columbia, we also encountered several workers who endured significant hardships as a result of extreme weather events. Consistent with recent research in Nova Scotia, we found that a lack of meaningful union representation, precarious status and low wages created coercive conditions in which workers felt forced to accept poor living conditions. As migrant workers typically live on the farms where they work, the lines between work and home can be blurred. This living arrangement often contributes to isolation and surveillance by employers. It may also enable harassment and abuse. Furthermore, migrants are geographically separated from their families for months or years at a time. Research that Adam has conducted in Atlantic Canada and Ontario, Jill in Quebec and Susana in Ontario and British Columbia, outlines how poor housing conditions not only threaten workers' health and well-being, but also contribute to their marginalization and exploitation. Workers often describe feeling demeaned and controlled, and they wonder why Canada, a country so willing to accept their labour, is so reluctant to accept their common humanity. In 2024, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery has described Canada's temporary foreign worker program, accessed by migrant agricultural workers to come to Canada, as "a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery," a statement echoed by international human rights watchdog Amnesty International. Yet the federal government has failed to meaningfully improve housing conditions or establish clear, enforceable and mandatory standards. This inaction persists despite years of reviews, consultations and recommendations. In fact, a study commissioned by the federal government to review the possibility of a national housing standard for migrant agricultural workers in 2018 called for greater consistency in housing quality assessments. Academic experts have long called for a national housing standard, as well as proactive and unannounced housing inspections. Other professional and labour organizations have identified the need for greater inter-jurisdictional co-ordination and attention to issues of safety, pandemic preparedness, privacy and dignity. Furthermore, safeguarding housing quality requires policy changes that provide meaningful status and adequate collective bargaining representation to migrant workers, as these conditions underlie their vulnerability in housing. In the 2020 Auditor General of Canada report, the need for national minimum accommodation requirements for migrant agricultural workers was identified. However, housing remains a key concern for these workers who have not yet benefited from such proposed recommendations. A national housing standard for migrant agricultural workers is a crucial step towards protecting their rights and mitigating their vulnerability. These standards must include: Appropriate and enforced housing standards: Ensure robust and proactive enforcement of housing standard. Living quarters must be well-constructed, safe and dignified. Privacy, security, access and freedom: Guarantee workers' rights to privacy, movement, access to health and social services and freedom from surveillance. Workers must have access to transportation and be able to enjoy rest, leisure and a social life. Dignified living conditions: Safeguard basic rights to comfort, storage and personal care by prescribing minimum standards and ratios for private bedrooms, common areas, laundry and cooking facilities. Workers should have private bedrooms and reliable internet access. Health and safety in housing: Protect workers from the spread of illness, extreme weather events and other hazards through proper air conditioning, ventilation and reduced occupancy ratios for bathrooms and kitchens. Co-ordinated government leadership: Prevent different jurisdictions passing the buck by mandating co-ordination, data-sharing and training among federal, provincial and municipal governments. For example, inspectors should be trauma-informed and armed with strategies to mitigate implicit bias and to anticipate barriers this group faces because of their precarious status. The federal government must lead with adequate funding and policy reform to address barriers that prevent workers from advocating for decent housing. The evidence is clear. Canadian governments must raise the bar from the floor, and create national standards for migrant agricultural workers' housing.
RNZ News
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- RNZ News
Remembering service through music
ANZAC Day is about memories and memories of course can be triggered by a lot of things - including music. Mark Brewer served in multiple deployments all over the world, in a military career spanning almost 40 years. He talks to Susana about three Kiwi songs that transport him back to three very different places in time. Mark Brewer on deployment in Afghanistan Photo: SUPPLIED/Mark Brewer
RNZ News
25-04-2025
- General
- RNZ News
The next generation - a cadet excited to serve
ANZAC Day is a day that brings people of all ages together including those who could become our future soldiers, sailors and air crew. The New Zealand Cadet Forces is the country's oldest youth organisation, offering training and unique experiences that develop leadership and life skills. There is no requirement to join the armed forces at the end of a course but it does provide an insight into what a military career might look like. 17 year old Tayla Francis is a Cadet Flight Sergeant with the Air Cadets. She joins Susana from Burnham Military Camp where she took part in the Dawn Service. To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
RNZ News
25-04-2025
- RNZ News
ANZAC Day across the Pacific
In October 1915, 160 men travelled from Niue to New Zealand to join the war effort. They trained at the Narrow Neck camp on Auckland's North Shore and sailed to Egypt in February 2016 with the 3rd Maori Reinforcements, before travelling on to France and serving with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. Niue is 23 hours behind New Zealand and the island nation is preparing to observe ANZAC Day tomorrow. The Niue RSA is made up of the descendants of the men who served in the First World War. President, Charlie Tohovaka speaks to Susana from the capital of Niue, Alofi. To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
