In partnership with the Breast Fest Film Fest, I’m giving away 6 FREE TICKETS to two important cancer activism documentaries + panel discussions, happening this weekend at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema. The first 6 people who email hello@rethinkbreastcancer.com (and CC info@paulinehwang.ca) with the subject line: “ACUPUNCTURE” will get the tickets. Please specify which film+panel you prefer to attend (3 free tickets for each film available).

A summary of each documentary is below, but for further details on the films and panelists, plus film trailers, click here.

1) Pink Ribbons Inc.

Saturday, November 3 @ 1:30 pm

Breast cancer has become the poster child of cause-related marketing campaigns. Countless people walk, run and shop for the cure. Each year, millions of dollars are raised in the name of breast cancer, but where does this money go and what does it actually achieve? Directed by Léa Pool, produced by Ravida Din, and based on the book by Samantha King, Pink Ribbons, Inc. is a powerful and thoughtful feature documentary that shows how the devastating reality of breast cancer, which marketing experts have labeled a “dream cause,” has become obscured by a shiny, pink story of success.

Producer in Attendance. To be followed by panel discussion entitled “50 Shades of Pink: A Conversation About the Controversies of Breast Cancer Fundraising.”

2) Semper Fi: Always Faithful

Sunday November 4 @ 10:30 am

When Marine Corps Master Sgt. Jerry Ensminger’s young daughter dies from a rare type of leukemia, he wants to know why. Hints about polluted wells at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune leads him to others diagnosed with rare cancers, including a high number of men diagnosed with breast cancer. Further investigation uncovers a shocking discovery: a Marine Corps cover-up of one of the largest water contamination incidents in US history. This intelligent and dramatic documentary is both a searing look at the military’s betrayal of its own and an emotional story of one man’s transformation into the activist he never imagined he’d become.

To be followed by a panel discussion entitled “What’s in My Backyard?: Potential links to breast cancer in our local environments.“