"I wanted more than anything to denounce terrorism," is the plaintive explanation from the Danish cartoonist whose infamous caricature of the Prophet Muhammad with a bomb under his turban sparked violent protests around the world in 2005.

Kurt Westergaard is one of many cartoonists featured in the French documentary Cartoonists: Foot Soldiers of Democracy (director: Stéphanie Valloatto), which has its Ontario premiere March 27 and 28 at the Reel Artists Film Festival in Toronto.

When a former U.S. army private awoke in her jail cell just over a week ago -- some 17 months into a 35-year jail sentence -- she could have been forgiven for thinking, in the immediate aftermath of the terrible Paris magazine attacks, that the commutation of her punitive sentence for exercising freedom of speech and conscience was about to be placed on President Obama's desk. Obama, like many world leaders, had just issued stunning, passionate statements about freedom of the press, human dignity, and all the great things that make countries like Canada and the U.S. just so undeniably terrific.