2023 OFFICIAL SELECTIONS

 

FIGHTING FOR THE FUTURE

The future we want doesn't always come easily, but it is always worth fighting for. These films explore autonomy,
self-determination, and the courage required to create futures that are worth fighting for.

your guardian


Dir. Mimi Vlaovic

Yugoslavia 1992; Mina and her soon-to-be-recruited boyfriend plan to leave the country, but her family's expectations stand in the way.


Reste

Dir. Ginger Le Pêcheur

On a summer morning, Chichou, a six-year-old girl, invites us to discover what her daily life is made of. Perhaps at the cost of what childhood should normally look like.

About Memory
and Loss

Dir. Amélie Hardy

Capture, document, record, share, restart.

We are making ourselves more memorable than ever by archiving every bit of our daily lives. What if we lost something along the way?

Bodies (Tanha)


Dir. Morvarid Kashiyan

This is the story of a trans person, a boy who feels like a girl. She is a stage actor and has fallen in love with her director. She would like to have gender affirming surgery, but her conservative father does not approve. 

Blond Night

Dir. Gabrielle Demers 

At night, Victor walks without supervision to live his life. 

 

HEALING OUR FUTURES

Building our futures often means revisiting our pasts: our trauma, our families, and the stories that made us. The films in this programme celebrate reclaiming those pasts in order to move forward in our lives and in our communities. 

Menace

Dir. Joy Webster

Addy is out to get revenge against Tom, her ex-boyfriend and well-known TV host. But when she breaks into Tom's apartment one night while he is asleep, Addy begins to spiral out of control, putting her new relationship, and much more, at stake.

Crane

Dir. Carri Chen

As an anonymous audience to Olivia’s live stream and Q&A, David finally understands his daughter’s buried thoughts in her honest monologue and at last lets go of the past as a step towards healing.

Papaya

Dir. Dédé Chen 

A dancer breaks the silence of incest and sacrifies a papaya as a ritual to her adult sexuality.

Naissance des Oasis

Dir. Marion Jamault 

A cold-blooded snake and a hot-blooded camel become close friends. 

Halves and Doubles

Dir. Adam Mbowe

Two sisters attempt to find common understanding amidst bickering.

 

IMAGINING NEW FUTURES

Sometimes, the future can surprise you. These are stories of the unexpected characters, the beautiful moments, and the joy that awaits us when we bravely set out into the unknown futures before us.

Raja's Had Enough

Dir. Ekaterina Saiapina

Raja is a creature in human form working at The Afterlife Bureau, where souls are processed after their death. Fed up after years of processing femicide victims, Raja sneaks to Earth to save a stranger Zoey from her upcoming murder. 

Tabanca

Dir. Lauren Marsden 

Dampened by office life during a wet Vancouver winter, a genderqueer Trinidadian woman, Marlinn, misses out on the chance to celebrate Carnival season back home. Until, one night, they discover that the power of masquerade is within them no matter where they are. 

Roped

Dir. Carmen Córdoba González

Mother and Daughter are roped for life by an eternal bond that heals and hurts, and that is perpetuated when Daughter becomes a Mother. 

Adore

Dir. Beth Warrian

While a family party echoes in the distance, a game of dress up descends into chaos when Luci’s protective instincts clash with her young nephew’s desire for freedom.

Luce and the Rock

Dir. Britt Raes

One day, out of nowhere, a giant Rock lays in the middle of the peaceful little village where Luce lives. The villagers can’t even open the door to their houses anymore! Luce is angry: go away Rock, you don’t belong here! And why are you here anyway? 

 

FUTURES TOGETHER AND APART

Futures await all our communities, but not all our communities will look familiar when we get there. These films challenge us to consider what the future might look like when our communities and families have changed, and when our communities have been taken apart; but also when they have been built back stronger than ever.

Distantes EP 1: Fracaso (failure)

Dir. Leda Artavia 

A woman moves energetically in a room that is flooding. Faced with the senselessness of her struggle, she tries to rescue some things from the water, dances with the objects.

The Mother’s Seat

Dir. Kaia Singh

Believing that she has received a sign from her deceased mother, Veera tries to bring her family back together by cooking the mother’s dhal for her younger sister and withdrawn father. As she cooks, Veera is overwhelmed both by her discomfort in the kitchen as well as the memories of her elegant mother.

We are not speaking the same language

Dir. Danika St-Laurent 

Thinking back on her only phone call with her maternal grandmother, Danika explains her connection to her Indigenous identity (and her grandmother) through beadwork.

in the whiteness

Dir. Niya Abdullahi 

An exploration of identity through the eyes of a Harari woman. She uses poetry and movement to reconnect with herself and in doing so, establishes a magical bond with her ancestors. 

Reel Black:
Our Film Stories

Dir. Tristen Sutherland, Ayan Tani, Emeraude Domingos-Mbuku

Young Black filmmakers learn what it takes to fulfill their filmmaking dreams through the insight of veteran filmmaker Claire Prieto-Fuller and other Black Canadian filmmakers.