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Listen now cbc.ca/pieces
CONTENTS Tickets and General Viewing Information . . . . . . . 5
Awards and Juries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
The Documentary Media Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
DOXA Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Welcome from DOXA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
DOXA Drive-In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Greetings from Our Funders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
SPOTLIGHT:
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Justice Forum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Thank You to Our Donors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Rated Y for Youth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Self Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
SPECIAL PROGRAM: Triple Platinum: 20 Years of DOXA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 SPECIAL PROGRAM: Cousins
and Kin . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
A Returning Trio with Three Handheld Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 SPECIAL PROGRAM:
SPECIAL PROGRAM: (War on) Drugs, Social Movements, and Liberation . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
SCREENINGS A Golden Voice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
The Gig is Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Mobilize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Aalto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Giizis Mookaam Giiwe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Nude to Me . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Afghan Girls Can Kick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Gramma & Ginga: The Movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
The Owl’s Legacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Ain’t No Time For Women . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
The Grocer’s Son, The Mayor, The Village and The World... (Le Fils de l’épicière, le Maire, le Village et le Monde) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
P.S. Burn This Letter Please . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Ale Libre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 The Arrow and the Uniform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Aswang . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 At Its Own Rhythm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Bicentenario . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 The Big Scary “S” Word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Halpate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 The History of the Luiseño People . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Homegoing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Honey Mocassin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 The Return: Life After ISIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 The Rumba Kings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Sacred Brick Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 San Diego . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Seyran Ateş: Sex, Revolution and Islam . . . . . . . . . 71
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Impressions For a Sound and Light Machine (Impresiones para una máquina de luz y sonido) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Bocamina (Pithole) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
In the Rumbling Belly of Motherland . . . . . . . . . . 66
Burnt. Land of Fire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Six Miles Deep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
INAATE/SE/ [it shines a certain way. to a certain place./ it flies. falls./] . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Six Portraits XL: No 2. Jacquotte et Daniel . . . . . 72
Cane Fire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Creatura Dada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Dead Man’s Switch: a crypto mystery . . . . . . . . . 53 Dear Elnaz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Delphine’s Prayers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Dope is Death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 FANNY: The Right to Rock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Far From You I Grew (Loin de vous j’ai grandi) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Father . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Firestarter - The Story of Bangarra . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 The First Woman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 FIX: The Story of an Addicted City . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Fly So Far . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Food for the Rest of Us . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Forest for the Trees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64
Indigenous Plant Diva . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Into Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Inuit Languages in the 21st Century . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Itzcóatl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Joe Buffalo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Silent Voice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Sisters with Transistors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Smelly Little Town . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Someone Like Me . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Space Lady . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Still Here . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Still Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Just Dandy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) . . . . . . . . . . 73
Kalinga (Care) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Tell Them We Were Here . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
There Will Be No More Night . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Koto: The Last Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Less Lethal Fetishes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Living and Knowing You Are Alive (Être vivant et le savoir) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 The Love and Death of Yosef and Zilli . . . . . . . . . . 85 Love, The Last Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Through the Night . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 ‘Til Kingdom Come . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 The Tomahawk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 We Only Answer Our Land Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 What About Our Future? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Wuhan Wuhan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 You are always 20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Free Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
You Are Not a Soldier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Gephyrophobia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Mimi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Your Mother’s Comfort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Three different types of financing. Three different funds. All from one source.
The Rogers Group of Funds offers support to Canadian independent producers with three different types of funding: Rogers Telefund offers loans to Canadian independent producers; Rogers Documentary Fund, Canada’s premier source of funding for documentary films and Rogers Cable Network Fund, an equity investor in Canadian programs with a first play on a Canadian cable channel. Three different types of financing. Three different funds. All from one source – Rogers. For more information contact Robin Mirsky, Executive Director, at (416) 935-2526. Application deadlines for the Rogers Documentary Fund are Wednesday, April 21 and Wednesday, August 18, 2021. Application deadlines for the Rogers Cable Network Fund are Wednesday, June 23 and Wednesday, October 13, 2021.
www.rogersgroupoffunds.com
WELCOME TO
D O X A D O C U M E N TA R Y F I L M F E S T I VA L ! This year’s festival is taking place, once again, online. ABOUT DOXA ONLINE
Between May 6–16, you will be able to watch all films in the DOXA 2021 film program from the comfort of your own home. Films will be available to watch on-demand for the duration of the aforementioned festival dates. Films are geo-blocked to Canada, which means you will need to be in Canada to watch festival screenings. Once unlocked, you have 48 hours to watch. Select screenings will include live-streamed or pre-recorded filmmaker Q&As and extended discussions. Please see film descriptions for more information. If you would like to know more about the technology required, please see our FAQ page:
https://watch.eventive.org/help
If you have specific questions or require support, email support@doxafestival.ca. VIRTUAL FILM TICKETS GENERAL ADMISSION
$10
STUDENTS (with valid ID) SENIORS (65+) LOW INCOME
$7
VIRTUAL FESTIVAL PASSES GENERAL
$75
STUDENTS (with valid ID) SENIORS (65+) LOW INCOME
$65
• Includes membership; valid for all film screenings and live presentations • Your pass allows you to unlock each program once. • After you push play, you will have 48 hours to complete the screening.
ANNIVERSARY VIRTUAL FESTIVAL PASS + PACKAGE PASS $200 (includes membership; valid for all film
screenings and live presentations, available for pick up only)
• Featuring a bag of snacks, your choice of white wine or sparkling water and exclusive DOXA anniversary merchandise - including an enamel pin, mug, fanny pack, and more! • Includes a Virtual Festival Pass. • Pick up from the DOXA office at #110 - 750 Hamilton Street. • Quantities are limited. Get yours today! HOW TO BUY
• Go to the online festival by visiting https://doxa2021.eventive.org • Browse through all of the available programs.
VIEWING DOXA FILMS ONLINE
All festival films are accessible through our Eventive page at doxa2021.eventive.org/welcome. You can screen the films directly from your laptop, desktop computer or mobile phone. Click Film Guide to see all the films we’ll have available during the festival. Click on any film to read our program notes and if you’re interested you can buy a ticket by clicking Select a Showing. You will receive an email with instructions explaining how to access the film after purchasing tickets to a screening. If you have specific questions or require support: • please visit our website at www.doxafestival.ca • email support@doxafestival.ca • or call 604.646.3200, extension 106 PROGRAM KEY
• Purchase your ticket or pass by selecting Unlock. • Enter your email address to create an account. • Enter your credit card information to complete the purchase of your ticket. • Virtual tickets are available for purchase now. Reserve your ticket today!
TRIPLE PLATINUM
COUSINS AND KIN
WAR ON DRUGS
SELF STUDY
FRENCH FRENCH
JUSTICE FORUM
RATED Y FOR YOUTH
DOXA DRIVE-IN
LIVE Q&A
WORLD PREMIERE
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
CANADIAN PREMIERE
REFUND POLICY
All sales are final. No exchanges. DOXA only offers refunds in cases of technical failure or cancellation of a film program. FEES
• Third-party processing fees are applied to all pass orders. • A $0.99 processing fee is applied to each ticket.
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THE DOCUMENTARY MEDIA SOCIETY
OUR MISSION:
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
To support a better understanding of the complexity of our times through engaging the public in documentary media as an art form.
Jill Anholt Chris Dafoe Andrea Gin
WE’RE COMMITTED TO:
Martin Gerson
CHAIR
TREASURER
• Cultivating curiosity and critical thought • Promoting the intersection of actuality and artistic expression • Fostering a local and international community interested in non-fiction media OUR MANDATE: DOXA is presented annually by The Documentary Media Society, a Vancouver based non-profit, charitable society (incorporated in 1998) devoted to presenting independent and innovative documentaries to Vancouver audiences. The Documentary Media Society is a founding member tenant of the 110 Arts Co-op, which manages The Post at 750, a collection of office and studio facilities. DOXA also presents the Vancouver Podcast Festival each fall. The Documentary Media Society is located on the traditional and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples. DOXA STAFF, BOARD & COMMITTEES BUSINESS AND FINANCE MANAGER
SPECIAL EVENTS COORDINATOR
Atenas Contreras
Sharon Bradley
Steve Chow chowdesign.ca
DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMMING
COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR
WEB DEVELOPMENT
Selina Crammond
Carina Xu
DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER
OPERATIONS ASSISTANT
Sarah Bakke OPERATIONS AND VOLUNTEER MANAGER
Gina Garenkooper PROGRAMMING AND OUTREACH COORDINATOR
Dharra Budicha TECHNICAL COORDINATOR
Eirinn McHattie 6
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Bailey Nicholson PROGRAMMING AND INDUSTRY MANAGER
Milena Salazar PROGRAM BOOK AND WEBSITE COPY EDITOR
Patrick Geraghty MEDIA RELATIONS
Marnie Wilson Artsbiz Public Relations
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Left Right Minds leftrightminds.com
Roger Holdstock VICE-CHAIR
Lizzy Karp Jamala MacRae Michelle Mason Debra Pentecost SECRETARY
Natasha Tony Ken Tsui PROGRAMMING COMMITTEE
Joseph Clark Selina Crammond Marco Fratarcangeli Christina Larabie Carson Pfahl Anant Prabhakar Kris Rothstein Milena Salazar Dharra Budicha Gina Garenkooper SCREENING COMMITTEE
Sarah Bakke Jurgen Beerwald Michelle Bjornson Josie Boyce Dharra Budicha Patrick Carroll Kathy Evans Gina Garenkooper liisa Hannus David House Melissa James Jessica Johnson Brie Koniczek Viktor Koren Melanie Lemaire
Michelle Martin Bailey Nicholson Sara Wylie Jeff Yu FUNDRAISING COMMITTEE
Jill Anholt Sarah Bakke Charlotte Cavalié Andrea Gin Natasha Tony ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Nova Ami Kris Anderson Colin Browne Szu Burgess Peg Campbell Mel D’Souza Ann Marie Fleming Cari Green Duncan Low Alex Mackenzie Wendy Oberlander Carmen Rodriguez Lauren Weisler Aerlyn Weissman VANCOUVER PODCAST FESTIVAL ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Jill Anholt Lisa Chen-Wing CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Joseph Clark Andrea Gin Carlos Hernandez Fisher WEB EDITOR
Lizzy Karp Hannah McGregor Roshini Nair Andrea Warner GUEST CURATORS
Kris Anderson Cousin Collective
Thierry Garrel Dorothy Woodend Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users Board of Directors WRITERS
Tania Alekson Kris Anderson Sarah Bakke Josie Boyce Dharra Budicha Natalie Corbo Selina Crammond Kathy Evans Thierry Garrel Melissa James Eirinn McHattie Jacob McNeil Bailey Nicholson Cole Nowicki Kris Rothstein Milena Salazar Dennis Scott Dorothy Woodend
ANDREA GIN
GINA GARENKOOPER
MILENA SALAZAR
ATENAS CONTRERAS
JAMALA MACRAE
NATASHA TONY
BAILEY NICHOLSON
JILL ANHOLT
ROGER HOLDSTOCK
CARINA XU
KEN TSUI
SARAH BAKKE
DEBRA PENTECOST
LIZZY KARP
SELINA CRAMMOND
DHARRA BUDICHA
MARNIE WILSON
SHARON BRADLEY
EIRINN MCHATTIE
MARTIN GERSON
STEVE CHOW STRE A MING AT DOX AFESTIVAL .CA
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WELCOME FROM DOXA
WELCOME FROM THE CHAIR OF THE BOARD
WELCOME FROM THE DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMMING
On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Documentary Media Society, I’m pleased to welcome you to the 2021 DOXA Documentary Film Festival.
In 1998, Kris Anderson founded The Documentary Media Society alongside a small group of women (Sook C. Kong, Rachel Rocco and Elleni Centime Zeleke). Their aim was to create an inclusive festival that focused on documentary as an art form (as opposed to an industry). In 2000, the very first DOXA festival was conceived, and was scrappily organized from Kris’s spare bedroom in East Van. After first manifesting as a series of one-off events biannually, DOXA became an annual festival in 2004. Since then, documentary as a genre has exploded in popularity, dominating streaming platforms worldwide.
This year, we are celebrating a huge milestone: the 20th edition of the festival. When we started planning for this momentous occasion, we hoped beyond hope that we would be able to meet in person, but instead we find ourselves entering the second year of presenting our film festival online. We have not let circumstances dampen our spirits. The unofficial motto for the organization over the past year has been “the closest you can safely get to another person is through a documentary,” and we sincerely believe this to be true. Documentaries continue to be a vital and important way of connecting people, creating dialogue and engaging with the world. DOXA festival was established in 2000 by the Documentary Media Society, an organization launched by festival founder Kris Anderson, to whom we owe a debt of gratitude. Over these past 20 festivals, our goals as an organization have remained unchanged—we still strive to bring together audiences, filmmakers and diverse cultural communities through the presentation of outstanding documentary work from around the globe. Through screenings, panel discussions, workshops and educational initiatives, we want to facilitate a cinema culture that is curious, inventive and bold, whether it be in person or online. This year, we have started a donation drive to raise $20,000 for our 20th Anniversary. We hope to use these funds to re-launch the Kris Anderson Youth Connexions educational program, which is designed to foster documentary filmmaking and storytelling skills in young filmmakers who face barriers in attaining their career goals. We feel that renewing Youth Connexions would be a wonderful way to move forward into the next 20 years of our festival, and we truly appreciate any contribution you can make to this effort. As we reflect on how far we’ve come over the last two decades, I can’t help but think of the countless people—staff, board members, volunteers, funders, partners, sponsors and audience members—who have all helped build the organization into the vital cultural event it is today. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to you all, and hope you will join us this year in celebrating DOXA’s past, present and future. Here’s to another amazing 20 years!
Andrea Gin BOARD CHAIR
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Whether it’s a vessel for knowledge, an usher towards social change or a canvas for experimentation, nonfiction cinema continues to present resonant possibilities. With over 80 films in this year’s online program, it’s difficult to summarize my personal highlights, but our programming streams can offer some guidance. Check out our Special Presentations, as well as cornerstone programs Justice Forum and Rated Y for Youth, for some of the year’s most critical films, sure to inspire dialogue. This year we’re also spotlighting films that craft rich character studies of ordinary people caught in extraordinary circumstances. Self Study showcases a selection of contemporary films from around the world, all of which push the creative boundaries of the genre itself. We also have a handful of high voltage music docs. And with more short films in our program than ever, there are so many gems to discover! Guest curators have been an integral part of DOXA’s programming since the beginning, and we’re thrilled to carry tradition forward with four curated programs this year. Most urgently, Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users have selected a series of feature films that ask us to go beyond the headlines and take a careful look at the drug-poisoning epidemic and the war on drugs; Cousin Collective has put together a mind-bendingly cool suite of experimental films by Indigenous directors; Thierry Garrel, our steady champion of French documentary auteurship, has curated a special Trio for us; and finally, in celebration of our 20th anniversary, we’re going platinum by offering a small but eclectic selection of some of our favourite films from years past, collectively curated by DOXA founder Kris Anderson, former Director of Programming Dorothy Woodend, and yours truly. Thank you to our board of directors, partners, funders, volunteers and you, our audience. Your support means more than ever as we celebrate our 20th anniversary festival amidst the backdrop of a year of confusion, uncertainty and grief. I also hold so much gratitude for the filmmakers who have entrusted their work to us, to share in the online format. While we all miss the cinema immensely, it’s a
privilege to continue to share these crucial stories. Finally, I need to send a huge heartfelt virtual hug to the compassionate, whipsmart and committed DOXA crew. There’s no group of people I’d rather get lost in an endless stream of Slack channels and Google docs with! While the festival form has been seriously challenged in the wake of COVID-19, I’m so proud of this year’s program and hope you’ll be able to enjoy at least a few DOXA docs from the comfort (and safety) of your own home. Remember to hide your phone, prepare your favourite snack, and give the films in this program your undivided attention. I know the filmmakers will appreciate it, and we will too.
Selina Crammond DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMMING
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SPONSORED BY
British Columbia’s Creative Industry Catalyst creativebc.com
@creativebcs
GREETINGS FROM OUR FUNDERS Welcome to the 2021 DOXA Documentary Film Festival. Celebrating its 20th year showcasing thought-provoking films from Vancouver and beyond, DOXA will look different this year to ensure the health and safety of all documentary buffs. DOXA has always promoted understanding in a complex world, which is now more important than ever! Given the rich diversity of voices and perspectives that are always in the spotlight at DOXA, our government is proud to support this compelling gathering. As Minister of Canadian Heritage, I thank the organizers and volunteers for persevering to stage this gathering during the pandemic.
On behalf of the BC Arts Council, I am pleased to welcome you to the 20th annual DOXA Documentary Film Festival. Congratulations to DOXA on this important anniversary edition! We are proud to be a long-time supporter.
The Honourable Steven Guilbeault
To comply with public health orders related to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s festival will have a different look. I applaud DOXA on their responsiveness and commitment to bringing us the best in documentary cinema from around the world. Through documentary cinema, DOXA provides audiences with the opportunity for critical engagement. Documentaries like the ones you’re about to experience help us to better understand our world, so critical at a time when the need for social justice and for connecting with each other is stronger than ever.
---------
Dr. Sae-Hoon Stan Chung
Enjoy the films!
The arts further our understanding of one another, and they bring us together to imagine a better world. In these unprecedented times, artists and arts organizations are embracing innovative approaches so that they can continue to create their work and share it with audiences. As we grapple with enormous global challenges, the arts offer an endless supply of renewal, inclusion and resilience. The Canada Council for the Arts is proud to support DOXA Documentary Film Festival, which centres on the unifying power of the work it presents.
Simon Brault, O.C., O.Q. DIRECTOR AND CEO, CANADA COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS
CHAIR, BC ARTS COUNCIL
--------On behalf of Premier John Horgan and the Government of British Columbia, I welcome you to the 20th annual DOXA Documentary Film Festival. For 20 years this festival has provided people in Vancouver with the opportunity for critical engagement through documentary cinema. This year’s online format allows people across BC to enjoy the festival’s selection. Given the challenges of the last year, it’s so important we continue finding ways to connect and learn. This year Rated Y for Youth and Justice Forum both return. Young people push the envelope and lead us forward. It’s great to see DOXA making space for these conversations.
Telefilm Canada is proud to continue its support of the DOXA Documentary Film Festival especially now as we navigate these extraordinary circumstances. On behalf of Telefilm Canada, I want to congratulate the DOXA Documentary Film Festival for its resilience and creativity in finding new and exciting ways to showcase and celebrate Canadian talent. And to all Canadians who continue to demonstrate your appetite and support for our filmmakers and their work, you have our heartfelt thanks. Continue watching Canadian films wherever they are available and tell others to do the same!
Christa Dickenson EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, TELEFILM CANADA
--------On behalf of the citizens of Vancouver and my colleagues on Vancouver City Council, I want to extend my warmest greetings to all those attending the 20th Annual DOXA Documentary Film Festival. The Documentary Media Society presents independent and innovative documentaries to Vancouver audiences. Film plays an indispensable role is bringing new issues, concerns and human experiences to the public’s attention. This year’s festival, like those that have gone before, brings a remarkable new series of films before viewers. The DOXA Documentary Film Festival creates opportunities for dialogue and education and it is a tribute to the organizers and volunteers that this festival has become so popular. Best wishes for the best festival!
Mayor Kennedy Stewart
Our government is proud to support DOXA through both the BC Arts Council and Creative BC. And we continue to support documentary and factual content creation through Creative BC. Thank you to all the organizers and for their dedication. I hope you enjoy this year’s festival.
Bob D’Eith PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY FOR ARTS AND FILM STRE A MING AT DOX AFESTIVAL .CA
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS FUNDERS
MAJOR PARTNERS
PREMIER MEDIA PARTNERS
MAJOR MEDIA PARTNER
CULTURAL PARTNERS AND CONSULATES
CONSULAT GÉNÉRAL DE FRANCE À VANCOUVER
INDUSTRY PROGRAM PREMIER PARTNERS
INDUSTRY PROGRAM SUPPORTERS
british columbia yukon northwest territories
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MEDIA PARTNERS
HOSPITALITY PARTNER
PRINT PARTNER
TRANSPORTATION PARTNER
SCREENING PARTNERS
TECHNICAL PARTNER
DISTRIBUTION PARTNER
AUDIENCE PARTNERS
HEU
HOSPITAL EMPLOYEES’ UNION
ACFC WEST, LOCAL 2020 UNIFOR
LABOUR STUDIES PROGRAM
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THANK YOU TO OUR DONORS We would like to take a moment to acknowledge the support we receive from individual donors. We thank each and every donor for supporting our efforts in presenting the best in documentary media, and for your generosity. We couldn’t do our work without you! DIRECTOR
MOTIVATOR
Tony Fogarassy Andrea Gin & Joseph Clark Roger Holdstock Laura Moore
Colin Browne Janice Chutter Blair Cresswell Chris Dafoe Zoë Druick Cynthia Flood Tara Flynn Sonia Fraser Marco Fratarcangeli Martin Gerson Layne Hellrung Neil Jones-Rodway Bonnie Klein Stacy LeBlanc Kenji Maeda
ADVOCATE
Jill Anholt Patrick Carroll Atenas Contreras Kathy Evans Debra Pentecost
For more information about our individual giving program, contact Sarah Bakke at sarah@doxafestival.ca or 604.646.3200 ext 104
SUPPORTER
S. Ti Muntarbhorn Carol Newell Wendy Oberlander Carson Pfahl Joseph Planta Ana Policzer Veronica Singer Mo Simpson In honour of Haida Paul Teri Snelgrove Sally J. Taylor Leslie Thompson
Harold Bakke John Bolton Patricia Bolton Peter Cameron Melanie Covey Simon Cowell Jane K. Davidson Margaret Duncan Lynda Griffiths Randy Iwata Carol Jerde Alan Jones In honour of Selina Lynn Kagan Lizzy Karp
Tas & Sarah Lacroix Melody Mason William Pegler Bruce Pentecost In memory of Jeanne Pentecost Barry Shell Michèle Rechtman Smolkin Ann-Marie Spicer Peter Toppings Shannon Walsh David Wong Robert Woollard
VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS EDUCATION FOR YOUNG PEOPLE New home opens for classes April 10, 2021.
1400 Johnston Street, Granville Island | artsumbrella.com/spring 14
#DOX A 2021
FRIEND
Leslie Adams Gloria Altman Simone Artaud Leanne Asante Diane Ash Kyra Audain Nicolas Ayerbe Deirdre Bennison Janet Berry Sue Biely Monika Bittel Michelle Bjornson André Boel Linda Brandt Clint Burnham Joella Cabalu Peg Campbell Lydia Cartar Antoine Chuzeville Anna Cooper Marian Dodds Jason Dubois & Clayton Baraniuk Joanna Dundas Anthony Eric Dunn Deborah Dunne Catherine Fallis Venay Felton Alan Goldman In honour of Tanya Goldman Michael Grand Ali Grant Ellen Hamer Tamara Harvey Barbara Louise Hodgins Kerr Holden Annie Huston Joy Illington Nancy Jackson Collin Koo & Kevin Smith Adrienne LaBelle Fiona Tinwei Lam Denise Lee Susan Levang Kent Lins
Mary Locke Alanna MacLennan Jerry Mah Claudia Malacrida Francois Marier Sharon McGowan Kathy McGrenera Marlee McGuire Aimee McKinney Halina Naveau Gail Noonan Edward Pascal Stacey Repas Ann Robson Pamela Rogers Dedeker Rondeau Janet Shaw Victoria Tang Barry Truter Marilyn Wardrop Lauren Weisler Harriet Williams Marnie Wilson Ashleigh Withall Brandon Yan ...and all of our anonymous donors
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AWARDS
AND
JURIES
The DOXA award winners are selected on the basis of three major criteria: success and innovation in the realization of the project’s concept; originality and relevance of subject matter and approach; and overall artistic and technical proficiency.
The First Woman (p. 61)
DOXA is very happy to welcome an outstanding group of filmmakers, film critics and industry professionals to the Award Juries this year. Jury members meet during the course of the festival to choose the winning films, as well as award honourable mentions to selected films. See doxafestival.ca for more information on this year’s juries.
Through the Night
Someone Like Me (p. 43)
DIRECTED BY MIGUEL EEK
The Return: Life After ISIS
DIRECTED BY SEAN HORLOR AND STEVE J. ADAMS (p. 70)
DIRECTED BY ALBA SOTORRA CLUA (p. 74)
DIRECTED BY LOIRA LIMBAL
COLIN LOW AWARD FOR BEST CANADIAN DIRECTOR PRESENTED BY
FANNY: The Right to Rock (p. 57) DIRECTED BY BOBBI JO HART
Wuhan Wuhan (p. 75)
DIRECTED BY YUNG CHANG
DOXA SHORT DOCUMENTARY AWARD FILMS IN COMPETITION
Ain’t No Time For Women
(p. 80)
DIRECTED BY SARRA EL ABED
Bicentenario (p. 80)
DOXA FEATURE DOCUMENTARYw AWARD FILMS IN COMPETITION
FILMS IN COMPETITION
DIRECTED BY PABLO ALVAREZ MESA
Cane Fire (p. 53)
Dead Man’s Switch: a crypto mystery (p. 53)
Burnt. Land of Fire (p. 85)
DIRECTED BY ANTHONY BANUA-SIMON
DIRECTED BY SHEONA MCDONALD
DIRECTED BY BEN DONATEO
Delphine’s Prayers (p. 55)
Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy (p. 41)
Halpate (p. 78)
DIRECTED BY ROSINE MBAKAM
DIRECTED BY ELLE-MÁIJÁ TAILFEATHERS
DIRECTED BY ADAM KHALIL AND ADAM PIRON
Far From You I Grew (p. 59)
The Gig is Up (p. 39)
Homegoing (p. 81)
DIRECTED BY MARIE DUMORA
DIRECTED BY SHANNON WALSH
DIRECTED BY YEON PARK
Father (p. 59)
Food for the Rest of Us (p. 64)
Into Light (p. 81)
DIRECTED BY CAROLINE COX
DIRECTED BY SHEONA MCDONALD
DIRECTED BY DENG WEI
Forest for the Trees (p. 64)
Still Processing (p. 85)
DIRECTED BY NEFISE ÖZKAL LORENTZEN
DIRECTED BY RITA LEISTNER
DIRECTED BY SOPHY ROMVARI
Silent Voice (p. 71)
In the Rumbling Belly of Motherland (p..66)
The Love and Death of Yosef and Zilli (p. 85)
DIRECTED BY REKA VALERIK
DIRECTED BY BRISHKAY AHMED
DIRECTED BY DEAN GOLD
There Will Be No More Night (p. 74)
Love, The Last Chapter (p. 67)
San Diego (p. 77)
Seyran Ateş: Sex, Revolution and Islam
DIRECTED BY ÉLÉONORE WEBER
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#DOX A 2021
(p. 71)
DIRECTED BY DOMINIQUE KELLER
DIRECTED BY FOX MAXY
NIGEL MOORE AWARD FOR YOUTH PROGRAMMING
The Big Scary “S” Word
(p. 51)
DIRECTED BY YAEL BRIDGE
DOXA is extremely proud to announce the eighth edition of the Nigel Moore Award for Youth Programming. Named in memory of Nigel Moore, a young man whose passion for knowledge, exploration and advocacy found a home in his love for documentary film. On May 25, 2021, Nigel would have been 25 years old. We are very pleased to continue celebrating youth programming in his honour, during our 20th anniversary festival.
What About Our Future? (p. 83)
For younger audiences, documentary has particular relevance. The world in which they’re growing up is an increasingly complex place. Documentary not only captures this complexity, but also has the capacity to act as a catalyst for social change, and fundamentally alter people’s behaviour.
Maya Biderman is a first year medical student at the University of Toronto. She is an advocate for social justice with a strong focus on Indigenous wellness. She is also an arts enthusiast, having worked in musical theatre and entertainment, and has a love for documentary film. She is an avid traveller and an enthusiastic amateur rock climber.
FILMS IN COMPETITION
Ale Libre
(p. 83)
DIRECTED BY MAYA MICAELA CUEVA
Firestarter - The Story of Bangarra (p. 61) DIRECTED BY WAYNE BLAIR AND NEL MINCHIN
Forest for the Trees (p. 64) DIRECTED BY RITA LEISTNER
Inuit Languages in the 21st Century (p. 83) DIRECTED BY ULIVIA UVILUK
Joe Buffalo (p. 83)
DIRECTED BY AMAR CHEBIB
Someone Like Me
(p. 43)
DIRECTED BY SEAN HORLOR AND STEVE J. ADAMS
DIRECTED BY JAIME LEIGH GIANOPOULOS AND CLÁUDIO CRUZ
The award will be adjudicated by a youth jury, who will choose the film that best exemplifies the qualities of compassion, social engagement and spirit in which Nigel lived. 2021 NIGEL MOORE AWARD FOR YOUTH PROGRAMMING JURY
Teagan Dobson is the owner of The Pending Approval, a branding and design company located in Vancouver, focusing on creating brands that look as beautiful as they make you feel. When not working on art, Teagan spends most of her time writing, reading and watching documentary films. Steven Hawkins has a passion for sustainable business, environmental policy and music. Holding a Bachelor of Commerce from UVic, Steven has been involved in a range of sustainable business endeavours and has worked in environmental conservation as a business planner. He is an avid surfer, sailor, skier and sport enthusiast. Further, Steven is a seasoned musician who has written, recorded and performed with a number of bands, and has composed for film and theatre.
Anna Hetherington is a business professional with a Bachelor of Business Administration focusing in Accounting. She has been a juror for the Nigel Moore Award since its inception and grew up with Nigel from the time they were born. Anna is an avid traveller and has volunteered and studied all over the world. She enjoys spending time on the ocean, reading memoirs and documentary films. Jacob Saltzberg has been a juror for DOXA for the past six years. He is a musician from Vancouver who has been involved with the Vancouver music scene for the past five years. He graduated from UBC Arts in 2019, specializing in Urban Studies. He recently taught English abroad in southern Israel, having moved back to Vancouver in July.
MAYA BIDERMAN
TEAGAN DOBSON
STEVEN HAWKINS
ANNA HETHERINGTON
JACOB SALTZBERG STRE A MING AT DOX AFESTIVAL .CA
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T H U R S DAY, M AY 13
DOXA INDUSTRY • STREAMING ONLINE • DOXA Industry brings together a diverse community of filmmakers and industry professionals to discuss the art and craft of non-fiction storytelling. Through a series of workshops, roundtable discussions, masterclasses and networking events, we invite filmmakers at all levels of experience to engage in vital conversations while building the skills and connections needed to propel their projects forward. Please visit doxafestival.ca for full event descriptions, including exact scheduling, and registration details.
10AM PST
Directing Documentaries: Stanley Nelson in Conversation with Loira Limbal Stanley Nelson is one of documentary’s leading storytellers. Over the years DOXA has presented several of his films, including Freedom Riders (DOXA 2011), Freedom Summer (DOXA 2014) and Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool (DOXA 2019). In celebration of our 20th anniversary, we’re bringing back one of our favourite titles from his prolific career: The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (DOXA 2015). Loira Limbal is an Afro-Dominican filmmaker and DJ interested in the creation of art that is nuanced and revelatory for communities of colour. She is the Senior Vice President of Programs at Firelight Media, a non-profit founded by Stanley Nelson in 2000 that produces documentaries and supports emerging, diverse filmmakers. Limbal’s most recent film, Through the Night, is a highlight of the DOXA 2021 festival program. In this moderated conversation between two filmmakers and collaborators, Stanley Nelson and Loira Limbal will reflect on the craft of directing documentaries from differing but complementary perspectives. Please join us for this moderated discussion, which will be followed by an audience Q&A. CO-PRESENTED BY DOC BC | YT | NWT
british columbia yukon northwest territories
T U E S DAY M AY 4 5PM PST
DOC BC | YT | NWT at DOXA: A Festival Kick-Off Happy Hour
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2PM PST
Podcasting the Drug War: Mia Donovan (Dope is Death) in Conversation with Garth Mullins (Crackdown)
Join us for a special festival kick-off and evening of filmmaker celebrations! We will spotlight DOXA 2021 highlights as well as DOC BC | YT | NWT filmmakers with films in this year’s festival program and hear from the festival director and programmers about the events planned for the 20th anniversary of DOXA. The evening will include a filmmaker panel and mixer.
Mia Donovan is the writer and host of Dope is Death, a four-part podcast series that explores a visionary project: the first acupuncture detoxification program in America. Donovan’s film of the same name is part of a special program at DOXA 2021 curated by the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU). Produced in Vancouver and hosted by Garth Mullins, Crackdown is a podcast about drugs, drug policy and the drug war led by drug user activists. The episodes cover a wide range of issues, from stories on policing and housing, to gender and blame from drug users’ perspectives. Please join us in this discussion about podcasting, harm reduction and documentary journalism.
CO-PRESENTED BY DOC BC | YT | NWT
CO-PRESENTED BY SFU WOODWARD’S CULTURAL PROGRAMS
#DOX A 2021
F R I DAY, M AY 14 LIVE Q&A
S AT U R DAY, M AY 15 LIVE Q&A
1PM PST
Documentary Studio Trust: Abby Sun in Conversation with Brett Story In her recent article Artist-run Documentary Studios: A New Form of Trust, filmmaker, writer and geographer Brett Story (The Hottest August, The Prison in Twelve Landscapes) re-envisions a future where documentary film production is created by cooperative means. Given the neoliberal economic environment that filmmakers, producers and independent artists find themselves in, Story’s ideas offer a critical intervention. Moderated by artist, film programmer and researcher Abby Sun, this conversation will offer a jumping off point to reimagine more sustainable models for documentary funding, production and distribution that incentivize the creation of bold, ambitious work. IN PARTNERSHIP WITH REISSUE
4PM PST
The Sound of Documentary: Composing for Contemporary Film A well crafted score is a crucial, and sometimes overlooked, element of documentary filmmaking. Music and sound define a film’s tone, rhythm and narrative structure. This conversation invites composers to discuss their collaborations with filmmakers, from creative approaches to storytelling through sound, to some of the challenges and best practices for going from temp score to final mix.
LIVE Q&A
11AM PST
Focus on Editing: The Art of the Documentary Trailer Whether you are pitching your film one-on-one or submitting a funding application, a pitch trailer is your chance to make a strong first impression. And once your project is set for release, the marketing trailer becomes a key element in your distribution strategy. How does a trailer change through the different stages of a project? And how do you capture the depth of a story in only a couple of minutes? This panel invites filmmakers and editors to answer these questions using real life examples from their recent work. IN PARTNERSHIP WITH CANADIAN CINEMA EDITORS (CCE)
2PM PST
Just the Beginning: Racial Equity in Documentary Why do we need racial equity in documentary? This panel will examine the career of one of the most admired, award winning and influential leaders in Canadian documentary filmmaking over the past 25 years, who also happened to be one of the first racial equity hires at the National Film Board—Selwyn Jacob. Travelling with Selwyn through his films, this panel will discuss the changes in filmmaking, filmmakers and the documentary industry in order to understand how we got to where we are today. Join us in celebrating the career of a mentor, a teacher, a friend and a leader in our documentary ecosystem. And he’s not done yet! CO-PRESENTED BY DOC BC | YT | NWT
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S U N DAY, M AY 16
LET’S TALK VIDEO:
LIVE Q&A
A SERIES OF WORKSHOPS
2PM PST
PRESENTED BY THE VANCOUVER PUBLIC LIBRARY
MooNaHaTihKaaSiWew Unearthing Spirit: Indigenous Approaches to Documentary
T U E S D AY, M AY 11 - 2 P M
Let’s Talk Video 101: Pre-Production
The recent work of Cree filmmaker, writer, and scholar Jules Koostachin looks closely at Indigenous documentary practices as containing a comprehensive understanding and awareness of story, because of the positionalities and identities of its makers. Koostachin’s work contributes to the study of visual sovereignty, “the protection and protocols when working with Indigenous story.” Join us as we learn from Koostachin’s recent PhD research and discuss methods and concepts of storytelling, protocol and identity in Indigenous documentary filmmaking.
Do you want to make a video, but aren’t sure where to start? This Let’s Talk is an introductory overview of the first phase of creating a video: pre-production. W E D N E S D AY, M AY 12 - 2 P M
Let’s Talk Video 102: Production
This Let’s Talk is an introductory overview of how to capture footage and record location sound. T H U R S D AY, M AY 13 - 2 P M
Let’s Talk Video 103: Post-Production
This Let’s Talk introduces editing, ADR and foley, location sound, music and other post-production considerations.
PHOTO: ANETE LUSINA
LIVE Q&A
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#DOX A 2021
All Let’s Talk webinars consist of an hour long presentation followed by a half-hour Q&A.
WELCOME TO THE INAUGURAL
D O X A D O C U M E N TA R Y F I L M F E S T I VA L
DRIVE-IN!
Between May 13-15, we’ll be hosting seven separate drive-in film screenings at the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) Amphitheatre, to showcase the best of the festival and celebrate our 20th anniversary. This event will go ahead rain or shine, and is accessible by an enclosed motor vehicle only. COVID-19 health and safety protocols will be in place to ensure the safety of all attendees and staff. DR I V E-I N SC HED UL E THURSDAY, MAY 13
• Dead Man’s Switch: a crypto mystery 9:00PM • The Gig is Up 5:30PM
FRIDAY, MAY 14
• Someone Like Me 9:00PM • Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy 5:30PM
SATURDAY, MAY 15
• In the Rumbling Belly of Motherland • FANNY: The Right to Rock 9:00PM • Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché 1:00PM
5:30PM
HOW TO BUY TICKETS
• Tickets can be purchased directly through our venue partner (PNE) at www.ticketleader.ca • Browse through all of the available programs. • Purchase your ticket by selecting Buy Tickets. • Enter your email address to log in or create an account. • Enter your credit card information to complete the purchase of your ticket. • Tickets are available for purchase now. Reserve your ticket today! REFUND POLICY
All sales are final. Rain or shine. No exchanges. FEES
• $50 for a ticket. • Price is per vehicle, per screening. Your vehicle must have enough seatbelts to accomodate all passengers. Vehicles are limited to 6 people total (including driver). • Third-party processing fees will be applied.
DOXA DRIVE-IN
• Please note that drive-in tickets are NOT included with the purchase of the virtual festival pass. VIEWING DOXA DRIVE-IN FILMS
Guests are asked not to exit their vehicle unless using the washroom facilities. A mask will be required at all times when guests are outside of their vehicles. If you have questions about the event, please email support@doxafestival.ca. If you have specific questions about the purchase of tickets or require support, please contact TicketLeader info@ticketleader.ca or 604-252-3700. For more information, including directions to the drive-in, please go to www.doxafestival.ca.
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YEARS AS VANCOUVER’S TRUSTED VOICE The Vancouver Sun and its award-winning journalists are dedicated to bringing you comprehensive, trustworthy stories that matter to you and your city.
VANCOUVERSUN.COM
S P O T L I G H T
S E L F
S T U D Y
SELF STUDY
In this collection of character studies, we witness the raw and sometimes intense relationship between subject and director. Expressed through intimate portraiture, this series of films demonstrates how the longing for collective change is brought to life through the individual stories of ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances.
POLY STYRENE: I AM A CLICHÉ
Delphine’s Prayers (p. 55)
Fly So Far (p. 63)
The First Woman (p. 61)
Rosine Mbakam’s intimate documentary bears witness to the life story of her friend Delphine, a young Cameroonian woman whose traumatic childhood leads her to pregnancy and homelessness at 13, a career as a sex worker, and a loveless marriage in Europe with dissipating dreams for a better life.
El Salvador’s abortion laws are so restrictive, that a woman may be sentenced to 30 years in prison for having an obstetrical emergency. This is the story of Teodora Vásquez and The Seventeen, a group of women accused of aggravated homicide after having a miscarriage.
After living in a psychiatric hospital for six years, Eva’s dreams are twofold: to live a “normal” life, and to reunite with her estranged son. A tender, empathetic portrait of Eva’s emergence, Miguel Eek’s The First Woman is a film about autonomy, agency and second chances.
Rosine Mbakam, Belgium/Cameroon, 2021, 91 mins
Far From You I Grew (Loin de vous j’ai grandi) (p. 59)
Marie Dumora, France/Switzerland, 2020, 102 mins
Fifteen-year-old Nicolas is at a crossroads: stay at his foster home and school, or return to his birth home and hope for familial love and rebonding. In this nonlinear narrative, Marie Dumora’s film paints a portrait of a young man hoping to find the best path, despite the many changes that hang in the balance.
Father (p. 59)
Deng Wei, China, 2020, 96 mins
Set against the vast transformation and economic change within contemporary Chinese society, Deng Wei’s quiet film captures the fraught relationship between his father, a property developer, and his grandfather, a blind fortune teller.
Celina Escher, Sweden/El Salvador, 2021, 88 mins
Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché (p. 45) Paul Sng and Celeste Bell, UK, 2021, 89 mins
Poly Styrene was the first Black woman in the UK to front a successful rock band. Featuring unseen archival material and rare diary entries, this film follows her daughter Celeste as she seeks to better understand Poly the icon and Poly the mother.
Silent Voice (p. 71)
Reka Valerik, France/Belgium, 2020, 51 mins
Fleeing from Chechnya after his brother discovers his homosexuality, young mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Kavaj is struck by mutism. Forced to live in total anonymity amidst the Chechnyan diaspora in Belgium, director Reka Valerik’s slow, poignant portrait traces Kavaj’s first few months in Brussels as he builds a new identity.
Miguel Eek, Spain, 2020, 77 mins
You Are Not a Soldier (p. 76)
Maria Carolina Telles, Brazil, 2021, 110 mins
In the aftermath of her father’s death, Maria Carolina Telles’s film is a character study of award-winning war photographer Andre Liohn, a man struggling between his work on the frontlines and his attempts to be a present father.
Your Mother’s Comfort (p. 76)
Adam Golub, Brazil/US, 2020, 75 mins
Trans activist and politician Indianara Siqueira is the Mother of Nem House, a homeless shelter for trans sex workers in the centre of Rio de Janeiro. Your Mother’s Comfort follows Indianara as she invades a colonial palace in downtown Rio to bargain with the city, fighting to save her community from the uncertain streets. SPOTLIGHT
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J U S T I C E
F O R U M
For 11 years, the Justice Forum has been one of DOXA’s cornerstone programs, showcasing films that facilitate active and critical engagement, create space for dialogue and sow the seeds for social change. Each Justice Forum film is paired with a live or pre-recorded conversation between speakers relevant to its issue, including filmmakers, experts in the field, academics and/or community activists. In celebration of DOXA’s 20th anniversary, we’re excited to offer a selection of films that foster crucial conversations around a broad range of social issues, offering necessary perspectives for change and progress.
JUSTICE FORUM
FOOD FOR THE REST OF US
Aswang (p. 49)
Alyx Ayn Arumpac, Philippines, 2019, 85 mins
Reframing the horrors of Philippines’ President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs through the myth of the Aswang—a shapeshifter common in Filipino folklore that brutally and senselessly preys on humans—Arumpac’s film explores the devastating toll on people who use drugs in Manila.
Food for the Rest of Us (p. 64) Caroline Cox, Canada, 2021, 84 mins
The issue of food access and security is an intersectional one. From Indigenous-owned organic farms to Arctic geodesic domes, Caroline Cox’s Food for the Rest of Us explores farming and harvesting as forms of radical activism.
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JUSTICE FORUM
In the Rumbling Belly of Motherland (p. 66)
Brishkay Ahmed, Canada, 2021, 84 mins
In the wake of recent news stories announcing the targeted assassination of female media workers in Afghanistan, local filmmaker Brishkay Ahmed’s In the Rumbling Belly of Motherland provides a sharp look into Zan TV, Kabul’s female-operated and -oriented news agency.
Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy (p. 43) Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, Canada, 2021, 125 mins
Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers’s film is an intimate portrait of survival, love and the collective work of healing in the Kainai First Nation, a Blackfoot community in southern Alberta facing the impacts of substance use and a drug-poisoning epidemic.
The Gig is Up (p. 39)
Shannon Walsh, Canada, 2021, 89 mins
From food delivery to ride shares, millions of people around the world are finding work in the gig economy. But with unsafe working conditions, fluctuating pay rates, and the potential for job loss over a single bad rating, Shannon Walsh’s (very human) tech doc The Gig is Up uncovers the real costs of the platform economy.
O AL FF BU OE :J GS IN
After a brief hiatus in 2020, Rated Y for Youth is back for its 12th edition! Rated Y for Youth was founded with the intention of facilitating media literacy through thought-provoking documentaries.
RATED Y FOR YOUTH
RE
CK
ON
RATED Y FOR YOUTH
DOXA selects programming for high school students and youth to foster an appreciation for cinema while giving young audiences an opportunity to engage in open dialogue on a broad range of social issues. Each Rated Y for Youth film will include a complementary Study Guide to support and enrich classroom conversations, as well as a pre-recorded and/or live discussion with filmmakers and community members. This year, we offer a slate of feature-length films, as well as a curation of short films as part of our Reckonings: Shorts Program.
Forest for the Trees (p. 64)
The Big Scary “S” Word (p. 51)
War photographer and director Rita Leistner joins a community of tree planters as they perform the backbreaking labour of replanting logging cut blocks in BC. Forest for the Trees is a coming of age story that follows the lives of tree planters as they overcome grueling conditions and emotional difficulties to bring back the forest.
Since Bernie Sanders’s presidential primary run in 2016, thousands of people have joined the Democratic Socialists of America, and millions more have voted for socialist politicians. But socialism remains plagued by conflicting definitions. Is it dictatorship or democracy? Norway or Venezuela? Reform or revolution?
Firestarter - The Story of Bangarra (p. 61)
Someone Like Me (p. 43)
Sean Horlor and Steve J. Adams, Canada, 2021, 80 mins
Reckonings: Shorts Program (p. 83)
When a group of queer strangers in Vancouver unite to support a gay Ugandan man seeking asylum in Canada, unexpected challenges lead them down a tense, emotional road in search of personal freedom.
From local skateparks and protests to deportations and endangered language preservation, this collection of short films explores the personal and collective reckonings of people working towards environmental change, immigration justice and Indigenous resilience.
Wayne Blair and Nel Minchin, Australia, 2020, 97 mins
30 years ago, three young Aboriginal brothers helped transform a dance company into a First Nations cultural powerhouse. Through the eyes of Stephen, David and Russell Page, the story of Bangarra Dance Theatre is one of reclamation, intergenerational trauma and, crucially, the power of art as an agent of social change and healing.
Rita Leistner, Canada, 2021, 91 mins
Yael Bridge, US, 2020, 82 mins
RATED Y FOR YOUTH
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TRIPLE P L AT I N U M:
20 YEARS OF
TRIPLE PLATINUM
Originally founded in 1998 by Kris Anderson, The Documentary Media Society hosted its first-ever festival—DOXA Documentary Film Festival—in 2000, and it would continue every other year until 2004. DOXA then became an annual event, making 2021 our 20th anniversary festival. To mark the occasion, we’ve enlisted the curatorial support of founder Kris Anderson, our former Director of Programming Dorothy Woodend, and our current Director of Programming Selina Crammond. Platinum is the material of choice for celebrating this milestone occasion. We’re going platinum in our own way by offering a selection of DOXA’s greatest hits!
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TRIPLE PL ATINUM: 20 YE ARS OF DOX A
WOMEN CHANGE THE WORLD
K R I S A N D E R S O N • DOXA Founder and Festival Director/Programmer from 1998–2010
I started DOXA in East Vancouver with a small group of women shortly after moving west from Winnipeg. We brought our life experience and our feminism with us, which contributed to the culture of the organization. The goal of the festival was to celebrate the art of documentary filmmaking in a community-based, conversational and collaborative atmosphere. Guest curators were invited to contribute programming along with essays about documentary filmmaking, and to host discussions about the art of documentaries as a medium. These were elements of DOXA from the very beginning. For many, the festival was a respite from broadcast pitches, funding workshops and film competitions; we heard from filmmakers that it was a relief to be at an event focused on the films, meeting other filmmakers and connecting with the audience. Although I left the organization 10 years ago and haven’t attended the festival for some time, it pleases me to see that DOXA is still a festival for filmmakers and the community, who are of course one and the same. The films I have selected for DOXA’s 20th Festival (Afghan Girls Can Kick and Six Miles Deep) celebrate women who, against great odds, are changing the world, beginning in their own communities. These women are among the revolutionaries of our time. When Selina Crammond invited me to select films from earlier festivals, I pulled out the 2000–2010 program books. I had to choose from hundreds of films, so I needed a focus or it would be impossible to make selections. I have often been drawn to quiet, observational Nordic docs or gloomy, complicated stories of survival, but for this event I wanted to focus on stories about women changing the world. First, I decided to select films made by female filmmakers. On the shortlist was Frances Reid and Deborah Hoff-
man’s film, Long Night’s Journey Into Day, DOXA’s first opening night film from 2000; but it had received wide distribution, so I narrowed my focus to films about women struggling against the patriarchy. This list included On Hostile Ground (Liz Mermin and Jenny Raskin), Sisters in Resistance (Maia Wechsler), The Cucumber Incident (Melodie Calvert and Bonita Makuch), Remains (Samaré Gozal and Astrid Schau-Larsen), Club Native (Tracey Deer), Say My Name (Nirit Peled), Rough Aunties (Kim Longinotto), Sin by Silence (Olivia Klaus) and Africa Rising (Paula Heredia). I mention these titles because I want people to know about these films.
within their ranks while recruiting for “diversity” hires. And we can’t ignore the crime of police mishandling/ ignoring cases of missing Indigenous women, girls and Two-Spirit people alongside the denigration of their families and communities.
The struggle for change is often led by women, but it’s more likely that men are written into history. As women make gains, the backlash can be swift and harsh—like whack-a-mole, a victory for women appears and misogyny ramps up in response. For example, gender stereotypes are more deeply entrenched today (try shopping for kid’s clothing or toys); pornography producers promote even more violent sexist imagery to even younger people today; femicide and sexual assault are on the rise. As I write this, a new report from the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability has determined that the murder of Canadian women by Canadian men is rising, yet most of these crimes go unreported because they take place in private homes. It’s a time of great contradictions in this country—systemic sexism is being called out, but the response is all window dressing. The Canadian military has recently released television ads encouraging women to join their organization, while high-ranking military leaders are being exposed as perpetrators of sexual assault. The RCMP is repeatedly investigated for sexual violence and racism
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Amid such contradiction and misogyny, the films that inspire me and allow me see the beauty and possibility in life are the stories of women who, despite immense struggles, simply do what must be done. I hope you get a chance to watch these films. Smash the Patriarchy, Defund the Police, Black Lives Matter, Land Back, Solidarity.
Kris Anderson spent her 20s and 30s as an activist, mother and cultural worker organizing festivals and events, including the Canadian Women’s Music + Cultural Festival (1984–86), where she played a pivotal role. While working at a Winnipeg media arts centre, she joined the feminist media collective Women Artists in Video, collaborating with and nurturing women in media arts production. Alongside curator and photographer Szu Burgess, Kris co-produced the Vice Versa Lesbian Film Festival at Winnipeg’s Cinematheque. Following a move to Vancouver, she established the Documentary Media Society and launched DOXA Documentary Film Festival. After a decade as DOXA Festival Director, Kris moved to Vancouver Island. She is originally from Treaty 1 territory, the traditional territory of Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota and Dene Peoples, and the homeland of the Métis Nation. TRIPLE PL ATINUM: 20 YE ARS OF DOX A
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FACE OF A FRIEND
D O R O T H Y W O O D E N D • DOXA’s Director of Programming from 2010–2017
One of the most fascinating people she has captured among her filmography is her friend Mimi Chiola, in Mimi. As the pair wander the streets and hillsides of Nice, roaming easily through stories and memories both poignant and hilarious, something remarkable Alain Cavalier and Claire Simon both take as their begins to happen. There are three different perspecsubject the idea of friendship, and when I reflect on tives on offer—the filmmaker, her subject and the DOXA, it is the time spent with other people—work- nature of experience itself. All three run togething, talking, making silly jokes, drinking wine, solving er like water, dissolving the barriers that separate problems—that I remember. us from one another. When I think about Mimi now, it is bound up with Alain Cavalier and Claire Simon are the images her stories created in my WHEN I also humanists in the best sense of head. The film has become part of me, REFLECT the word, in that their works not only tangled up with my own memories, so ON DOXA, capture the curious idiosyncrasies that I’m not sure where it leaves off of what it means to be alive, but also and I begin. IT IS THE ennoble their subjects. I can think of T I M E S P E N T Alain Cavalier started his career no other word better suited. Their work dignifies ordinary people; not in a W I T H O T H E R making films with the likes of Romy sentimental or false way, but with clarSchneider, Catherine Deneuve and PEOPLE ity, honesty and profound kindness. Alain Delon, but at a certain point . . . T H AT I Through their eyes, it is possible to he walked away from that world and see people anew, no matter who they R E M E M B E R began to create something entirely are—whether they be an elderly lady different. who works in a public washroom or a It is a rare filmmaker, and indeed a rare human, who sex worker in a park. can look at people with such openness and civility. All of Claire’s films are extraordinary—from the Cavalier’s original Portraits series focused on older atomic zing of a preschool playground in Récréa- women doing ordinary jobs. Six Portraits XL added a tions (1992) to the woodland rambles in the Bois personal layer in that all of the people featured were de Vincennes park of Les Bois dont les rêves sont friends of Alain Cavalier: a baker, an actor, a journalfait (2015). Of creating these fully embodied por- ist, a widow, a bachelor, a cobbler. Filmed over the traits, she says: “It’s very simple. I’m interested in course of many years, the films capture each person other people.” in all of their variegated colours and moods. I have My choice of films to celebrate DOXA’s 20th Anniversary was an easy decision. After too many films to even recall, there are just a few that remain permanently embedded, like boulders jutting out of the sand.
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TRIPLE PL ATINUM: 20 YE ARS OF DOX A
never seen anything quite like them. They feel miraculous and humble all at the same time. But they also offer something deeper, a quality that I am hardpressed to put into words, except to say that like all of Cavalier’s films they somehow grasp the electric current that runs beneath life, creating a connection that belies logic, yet feels innately true. And perhaps, that’s what the best films allow us to see; not just the details of life being lived—work, family, friendships—but the connective tissue that knits us together, all of it resplendently, ineffably beautiful. ------Dorothy Woodend is currently the culture editor for The Tyee. She has worked in many different cultural disciplines, including producing contemporary dance and new music concerts, running a small press, and writing for newspapers and magazines across Canada and the US. Dorothy is a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association and the Vancouver Film Critics Circle. She won the Silver Medal for Best Column at the Digital Publishing Awards in 2019 and 2020 and was nominated for a National Magazine Award for Best Column in 2019. In 2020, Dorothy was awarded the Max Wyman Award for Critical Writing. Dorothy was DOXA’s Director of Programming from 2010 to 2017.
M Y T H T O D AY
S E L I N A C R A M M O N D • DOXA’s Director of Programming 2018–current
I first started screening films for DOXA in 2012 after participating in a filmmaking mentorship program named for DOXA founder (and participating curator) Kris Anderson. Since then I’ve seen hundreds (maybe thousands?) of independent films from around the world. When we first came up with the idea of offering a small retrospective, I knew I’d be faced with decision fatigue. Determined not to overthink it, I drew on pure instinct and picked the first two films that came immediately to mind. INAATE/SE/ [it shines a certain way. to a certain place./ it flies. falls./] was one of the first films I scouted for the 2016 DOXA festival. Set in the filmmakers’ ancestral territory of the Upper Peninsula of Sault Ste. Marie, straddling the Michigan and Ontario border, INAATE/SE/ is an experimental film that is structured by the Anishinaabe teachings known as the Seven Fires Prophecy. Moving from traditional talking head interviews to full-blown improvisational performance, INAATE/SE/ defies categorization and breathes life into the documentary form.
ter only airing on European television for a limited myth. Through experimental methods, they collapse time. In 2018, DOXA was one of the first festivals linear time and present new and deep ways of thinkto reintroduce the world to this foring, listening and seeing. In INAATE/ gotten work, screening the first three SE/, the Seven Fires Prophecy lays MY VERY episodes of the series: Symposium—or the foundation for Indigenous soverFAV O U R I T E F I L M S accepted ideas, Olympics—or imaginary eignty, based on stories of the past. CONTINUE TO BE Greece and Democracy—or the city of For Marker, the Western philosophical T H E O N E S T H AT dreams. tradition and its contradictory emphaOFFER sis on democracy (demos) and politics Each episode is thematically orgaI N F L E X I O N (polis) is on trial. nized by a different Greek word, and I N S T E A D O F In Mythologies, French cultural thefeatures a ragtag group of musicians, politicians, historians, scientists, writ- V O Y E U R I S M , orist Roland Barthes says: “Myth is ers, filmmakers and actors who gather a lie nor a confession: it is an A N D M Y T H neither around food and libations while they inflexion.” In a time when the genre I N S T E A D O F continues to be watered down by an discuss, deconstruct and in some cases dismiss the influence of Ancient onslaught of true crime and celebriDOGMA Greek philosophy. (Did you know that ty profiles that dominate streaming DOXA is also, fittingly, a Greek word platforms, my very favourite films that means “common belief” or “popular opinion”?) continue to be the ones that offer inflexion instead Radical for television in its time, I thought that our of voyeurism, and myth instead of dogma, in their virtual festival, in the comfort of one’s own home, pursuit of meaning. would be the perfect setting to experience this tele------vised experiment once again.
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Embodying an avant-garde and trickster aesthetic, brothers and director duo Adam and Zack Khalil infuse playfulness and humour alongside critical interventions aimed at dismantling the colonial gaze. They use a variety of aesthetic approaches to reflect on contemporary Indigenous identity. It’s as awesome today as it was when we first screened it in 2016. Director Adam Khalil is also a member of the Cousin Collective, who have curated a selection of films for our 2021 festival (see page 30 for more information).
The Owl’s Legacy evokes the Socratic method, and while Marker’s minimal approach here is less bold than in his earlier works such as La Jetée and Sans Soleil, he still utilizes a clever juxtaposition of imagery. An image of an owl—sometimes in the form of a sculpture and other times as a stylized video graphic—looms in the background of all interviewees, calling to mind its meaning in Greek mythology as a symbol of wisdom and prudence.
Film essayist Chris Marker’s The Owl’s Legacy (1989) is a 13-part television series that disappeared af-
Gesturing towards progress, both films offer a profound and paradoxical critique of power, history and
Selina Crammond has been the Director of Programming of DOXA Documentary Film Festival since 2018. Previously she worked with a number of arts and media organizations including the Vancouver International Film Festival and CBC Radio. When not watching documentaries, Selina enjoys playing the drums, drawing sea creatures and reading philosophy. She is currently pursuing an MA in Liberal Studies at Simon Fraser University. TRIPLE PL ATINUM: 20 YE ARS OF DOX A
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COUSINS AND KIN
COUSINS AND KIN BY SKY HOPINKA ON BEHALF OF COUSIN COLLECTIVE
This series of programs represents a mission of the Cousin Collective to share and support Indigenous experimental cinema—a phrase that is loaded in so many ways. What constitutes Indigeneity? How experimental can cinema be given its complicated past in relation to power and class and oppression? And what even is “cinema” anymore as it exists in a theatre or a gallery or a black box or a laptop screen? I have answers to none of those questions, but I do enjoy the process of seeking to understand these words and phrases, and I enjoy the conversations occurring between films and filmmakers as they try to suss out meanings and ask questions.
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COUSINS AND KIN
The three programs we’ve selected are a glimpse into these conversations and A bit of background on us: The Cousin Collective formed in the summer of questions. One of the things we’ve found as we formed our collective is the 2018 at the weeklong Flaherty Seminar in upstate New York. Myself, Adam richness and vastness of the works being made by Indigenous peoples who are Khalil, Adam Piron and Alex Lazarowich were all there together, perhaps thinking of the same things we are, as well as so much more that we weren’t for the first time. In that space, discussions around documentary filmmakor had missed. Our first cohort of support involves 10 filmmakers, and we’re ing, race, representation and power were prevalent, and we found ourselves showing a selection of their works in the Cousin Showcase: Shorts Program (pg drawn to the idea of having these conversations about Indigenous cinema, 77). Due to the pandemic, projects we supported were put on various states of and specifically Indigenous experimental cinema, as it’s an often underreprehold in different stages of progress. As a result, we felt like this is a good opporsented form without much support in terms of either funding or play. Over tunity to show earlier works of these directors. The five filmmakers from Cycle the course of that week, the four of us talked a lot about questions surround1 we selected for this program here at DOXA are Fox Maxy, Miguel Hilari, ing what the genre could do: What are its ethics? What should we show, and Woodrow Hunt and Olivia Camfield, and Eve-Lauryn LaFountain. what don’t we share? What do we not have to explain, and what are ways that we could resist the didactics that are often expected of The next program is titled What was always yours and never lost Indigenous filmmakers? Why contextualize for non-Indige(pg 78), and is a constantly evolving program I’ve been cunous audiences when we really want to be making works for THIS IS OUR rating for a number of years. This is its most recent iteration, Indigenous audiences themselves? There were lots of questions, and not enough voices in the conversation. With that CONTRIBUTION as screened at the Whitney Biennial in 2019. Featuring the works of Caroline Monnet, James Luna, the New Red Order, we began organizing and planning, and were able to secure TO THE Thirza Cuthand and Colectivo Los Ingrávidos, this program some funding from the NY-based non-profit Cinereach. CONTINUING is a way of looking at the ways genre can be challenged, and We put out a call for proposals, and from that selected 10 CONVERSATION the filmmakers who are actively doing so. The last program in filmmakers to be a part of Cycle 1, the first in a cycle of ABOUT WHAT the series consists of the singular Honey Moccasin by Shelsupport to help fund more experimental film projects and ley Niro. This film from 1998 does so much, was ahead of its installations. Eventually we would like to have a seminar INDIGENOUS time, and has been an inspiration to all of us in Cousin. We’ve of our own, to support more artists and build a communiCINEMA IS tried to show and share it whenever we can, and we’re happy ty where we can help each other navigate the film and art AND WHERE IT to have the opportunity to share it with you here. worlds in ways we don’t yet understand. But where we began and where we begin is with film. COULD GO There’s still so much more we wish we could screen, so many artists and filmmakers whose works should be seen and expeAt its best, experimental cinema is a medium expressive of rienced. There’s much more conversation to be had, and again, so many more a multitude of voices. It can be democratic, and it can reflect individuality voices we need to hear from and make space for. This is our contribution to the and perspectives often overlooked and ignored. Less generously, it can be continuing conversation about what Indigenous cinema is and where it could another style of filmmaking defined by outdated and essentialized ideas of go, and we’re looking forward to the future, to new voices, new forms and the what constitutes form. Still, it is this tumultuary aspect of that conversation new cousins and kin we’ll meet along the way. where exciting and new things can happen. How does one embrace a form that is defined by both its disregard for and dependence on tradition? It’s not ------that much of a leap to see the parallels between this and what Indigenous Founded in 2018 by Sky Hopinka, Adam Khalil, Alexandra Lazarowich and Adam filmmakers are grappling with today in terms of evaluating, determining and Piron, Cousin Collective was created to provide support for Indigenous artists exquestioning what “tradition” is in so many contexts. What do we hold on to panding traditional definitions and understandings of the moving image by experiand what do we let go? I’ll leave that question vague and airy. menting with form and genre.
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COUSINS AND KIN
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A RETURNING TRIO WITH THREE HANDHELD CAMERAS
FRENCH FRENCH
BY THIERRY GARREL
Deprived of the physical presence of filmmakers once again due to the ongoing pandemic, FRENCH FRENCH returns online once again following a previous web-based edition in 2020 that introduced three promising first-time female directors. This year, FRENCH FRENCH presents fresh new films from three distinguished cineastes who will be familiar to Vancouver’s devoted filmgoers for their acclaimed films in past editions. Marie Dumora, Claire Simon and Alain Cavalier are three distinctive voices and “écritures” who embody the extraordinary diversity of what’s known informally as the French auteur documentary school. Through thick and thin, these filmmakers have continued producing ambitious and unique works that have promptly been selected into major European festivals.
CONSULAT GÉNÉRAL DE FRANCE À VANCOUVER
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FRENCH FRENCH
Born with a camera on her shoulder, it was almost 20 years ago that Marie Dumora (Belinda, DOXA 2018) began filming the intimate and trusting relationship she has built with a family of Yenish people in Eastern France. Disenfranchised and formerly nomadic, the family and their community have survived as scrap metal dealers while carrying on a rich tradition of gypsy jazz. In her new feature Far From You I Grew, Dumora spotlights Nicolas, a 13-year-old boy (and son of Sabrina, previously featured in Belinda) who is working with his stepfather while living in a foster home. Dumora follows Nicolas as he takes his first steps towards independence.
Turning 90 this year, Alain Cavalier has continued filming his idiosyncratic private diary full of animals, birds, vegetables, amazing still lives and characters previously featured in Le Paradis (DOXA 2015). A work of scrappy minimalism, Living and Knowing You Are Alive begins with Cavalier’s attempt to adapt his friend Emmanuelle Bernheim’s autobiographical book, which details her father’s decision to seek an assisted death. In the film adaptation, Cavalier casts himself in the father’s role; however, plans are abruptly changed when Emmanuelle is suddenly confronted with a terminal diagnosis herself. More than a simple tribute to his friend, Cavalier’s film is a reflection on his own demise and a kind of modern Marcus Aurelian meditation that blossoms into a joyful and poetic celebration of life, time and death.
Most of Claire Simon’s documentary oeuvre screened previously at DOXA between the years 2015 and 2017. Since then she has dedicated several years to chronicling a unique initiative in a small rural village in Southern France. The Grocer’s Son, the Mayor, the Village and the World... tells the story of Jean-Marie Barbe, who 30 years ago created the annual États Généraux du Documentaire film festival in the village of Lussas. Presently, Barbe dreams of launching a digital platform and online streaming channel dedicated to the exhibition of independent documentaries, along with a physical facility to aid in documentary production. Simon’s film charts the construction and assemblage of technical infrastructure in Lussas that will help bring this project to fruition.
Last but not least, DOXA’s 20th anniversary special program Triple Platinum also features the return of two masterworks by Simon and Cavalier that have already been established as classics: Mimi (DOXA 2016), Simon’s collaborative biographical portrait of her remarkable friend, and the coveted Six Portraits XL by Cavalier (DOXA 2018). Additionally, DOXA will screen the first three first episodes of Chris Marker’s The Owl’s Legacy, a brilliant, legendary essay series produced 33 years ago for television and devoted to words and concepts inherited from Ancient Greece (DOXA 2017)! Thierry Garrel CURATOR
A RETURNING TRIO WITH THREE HANDHELD CA MERAS
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(WAR ON) DRUGS, SOCIAL MOVEMENTS, AND LIBERATION
WAR ON DRUGS
B Y VA N C O U V E R A R E A N E T W O R K O F D R U G U S E R S ( VA N D U ) B O A R D O F D I R E C T O R S
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(WAR ON) DRUGS, SOCIAL MOVEMENTS, AND LIBERATION
Originally drafted in 2020
THE WAR ON DRUGS IS A WAR ON US.
In the last four years, we’ve seen a lot of casualties in the war on our community.
Deaths from overdose have shot through the roof as public health measures have failed to keep pace with shifts in a ruthless, highly profitable and rapidly changing drug market that remains criminalized. Compounded to this are deaths from pneumonia, from exposure, from falling, from liver failure, from all the sources of premature death that are made to disproportionately affect poor and oppressed people . . . For us, deaths from overdose are not separate from these other causes of death. They are our neighbours, siblings, aunties, spouses, children and friends. They leave a gaping hole in our community—a silence filled with names and faces that haunt our lives. For us, the war on drugs isn’t separate from the other wars waged on our community. It’s not separate from the war on the poor. It’s not separate from the 500-year war on Indigenous and colonized peoples. It’s not separate from the war on Black people and the plunder of Africa. It’s not separate from class war. In selecting the films for this program, VANDU wanted to show films that represent us as we are: not as poor, downtrodden victims of drugs and addiction, but as a community—sometimes a community of survival, but also sometimes as a chosen family and a community of interest. People struggling to survive and people fighting back.
THE WAR ON DRUGS IS A WAR ON US.
We wanted to select films that would raise important questions, not only about our oppression, but about our liberation: • How do drug users organize and fight back against the drug war? • How are drug user movements woven into other movements of poor and oppressed peoples? • What does liberation look like for people who use drugs?
THE WAR ON DRUGS IS A WAR ON US.
The films selected demonstrate how the war on drugs is a global war on poor and oppressed peoples. They document how addiction and drug use cannot be policed, prisoned, health-cared or social-serviced away, but must instead be addressed by social movements seek-
ing to transform oppressive systems from below. Finally, they prove that only the leadership of organizations by people who use drugs can determine the path towards our own liberation. Nothing about us, without us. Since President Rodrigo Duterte’s election in 2016, the Philippines has become a frontline in the global war on drugs. Alyx Ayn Arumpac’s film Aswang (2019) crawls through Manila’s urban poor communities, exposing those who profit from the war on drugs and those who pay the price. It’s a film where the villain never shows its face, documenting a country that has become one of the most dangerous places in the world for drug users, trade unionists, human rights defenders and, notably, journalists. Arumpac’s document of Duterte’s crimes is an act of courage and resistance. It is a platform for the voices of the poor in their despair and desperation—and in their anger. It also offers glimpses of powerful resistance from our comrades in KADAMAY, RISE UP and the people’s mass movement in the Philippines.
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Mia Donovan’s Dope is Death (2020) grapples with the real problems that addiction and problematic drug use pose in poor and oppressed communities, and how movements and institutions invested in the health and self-liberation of individuals might address these issues. It revisits the Black Panther Party and Young Lords’ Lincoln Detox centre, which combined peer support, political education and community-led health care as an alternative to police, prisons, social workers, child ‘protection’ services, coerced treatments and other conventional responses to addiction. Dope is Death surveys the social relations of addiction, resistance, mutual aid, self-determination and state repression, and binds them in a narrative that reveals a twisting path toward liberation.
L I B E R AT I O N LOOK LIKE FOR PEOPLE WHO USE DRUGS? ”
Nettie Wild’s FIX: The Story of an Addicted City (2002) is a document of VANDU’s history. The radical organization of people who use drugs in the Downtown Eastside, and our struggle for the basic dignity of appropriate health care in the form of a supervised injection site, changed our neighbourhood and—just as importantly—changed the expectations and aspirations of people who use drugs in our community. FIX is a snapshot of a moment of mobilization and resistance built on the painstaking work of grassroots organizing, community-building and democratic processes that have characterized VANDU over its 20-year history.
(WAR ON) DRUGS, SOCIAL MOVEMENTS, AND LIBERATION
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POSTSCRIPT FOR 2021 Dedicated to the memory of Ron Kuhlke, VANDU, WAHRS, and EIDGE Leader The plague year spelled death for drug users and the Downtown Eastside, with infection being the least of our troubles. A recorded 1,716 lives were taken by the drug war in BC in 2020, representing 4.7 deaths a day—a 74% increase over 2019. Organized state abandonment, revanchist policing and forced containment in so-called ‘supportive housing’ suffocated our community as the rest of the city fortified their condo enclaves. In spite of the carnage wrought upon us, we continue to organize and survive. Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy (2021) depicts the various forms of community and state response to the fentanyl crisis in the Blood 148 reserve in Alberta. Users and their families navigate the complex and often conflicting systems of traditional Indigenous leadership and settler government as fentanyl rips through the rez. As an organization with a considerable Native membership, VANDU has long recognized the importance of centering Indigenous elders and the passing on of knowledge and mentorship to combat the continued genocide of young users. The Western Aboriginal Harm Reduction Society (WAHRS), founded by VANDU members, welcomes Native users who arrive from the reserves. Much like the story of Blood 148, the fight for basic harm reduction outside coastal city centres is still far from over. One highlight of the film is its focus on illicit alcohol drinkers, a group often marginalized in the drug user movement despite evidence that nearly a third of all victims of overdose are found with alcohol in their systems. In 2012, VAN-
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(WAR ON) DRUGS, SOCIAL MOVEMENTS, AND LIBERATION
DU leaders formed a caravan to meet and organize with alcohol users across the province. Learning from their struggle, we formed the Eastside Illicit Drinkers Group for Education (EIDGE). To this day, EIDGE continues to combat poison supply and criminalization, in part through the development of community-led Managed Alcohol Programs (MAPs).
“ IN SPITE OF
VANDU’s activism has had a long arc. As of late 2020, municipal and federal actors THE CARNAGE have at last committed to decriminalizing WROUGHT possession (though they are, unsurprisingly, dragging their feet on the issue), and harm UPON US, WE reduction culture is becoming normalized CONTINUE TO across the country. But as our survival pracO R G A N I S E A N D tices become institutionalized—and become SURVIVE. an industry (a highly profitable one at that)— we must remember our radical roots. VANDU is a movement organization. In presenting Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers’s Kímmapiiyipitssini, we extend solidarity to our brothers and sisters throughout Turtle Island, not just to those struggling for the liberation of drug users, but also for the sovereignty of Indigenous nations and the survival and flourishing of poor peoples everywhere.
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VANDU Board of Directors
1 . V I F F ’ S VA N C I T Y T H E AT R E 1 . 1181 V I FSeymour F ’ S VAStN(@ C I Davie T Y T St) H E AT R E 1. V I FSeymour F ’ S VASt N (@ C I TDavie Y TH 1181 St)E AT R E 1181 Seymour St (@ Davie 2 . T H E C I N E M AT H E QSt) UE 2 . 1131 T HHowe E C ISt NE M AT H E Q UE (@ Helmcken St) 2 . 1131 T H Howe E CIN M Helmcken AT H E Q U St E(@ St)E St) 3. 1131 S F UHowe ’ S GStO(@ L DHelmcken CORP C ENTRE FOR THE ARTS 3. 149 S FW U ’Hastings S G O LSt DC R P C St) ENTRE FOR THE ARTS (@OAbbott 3. 149 SFU S GOLD OAbbott R P C ESt) NTRE FOR THE ARTS W’ Hastings St C (@ Hastings St) 4. 149 THW E P L AY HStO(@ U SAbbott E 4. 600 THE P L AYSt H (@ O UDunsmir SE Hamilton St) 4. 600 T H EHamilton P L AY St HO SE (@UDunsmir St) StF(@ Dunsmir 5. 600 M U SHamilton EUM O VA N C O St) UVER 5. 1100 M UChestnut S E U M St O F VA N C O U V E R 5. 1100 MUS EUM O Chestnut StF VA N C O U V E R 6. 1100 T H EChestnut P O S T St AT 7 5 0 6. 750 T H Hamilton E P O S TStAT 50 (@ 7Robson) 6. 750 THE P O S T 50 Hamilton StAT (@7Robson)
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To make a one-time or monthly donation now, visit www.doxafestival.ca/donate. It's quick and easy (we promise)! Prefer a paper form? complete the sheet below! To make a one-time or monthly donation now, visitPlease www.doxafestival.ca/donate. It's quick and easy (we promise)! Prefer a paper form? Please complete the sheet below! Prefer a paper form? Please complete the sheet below! NAME ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ o Please direct my donation to the 20th ANNIVERSARY FUND. NAME ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ o Please direct my donation to the 20th ANNIVERSARY FUND. NAME ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ o Please Please direct direct my my donation donation to to the the HOLDSTOCK 20th ANNIVERSARY FUND. ADDRESS ________________________________________________________________________________________________ o FUND for ADDRESS ________________________________________________________________________________________________ o Please direct my donation to the HOLDSTOCK FUND for ADDRESS ________________________________________________________________________________________________ travel. o filmmaker Please direct my donation to the HOLDSTOCK FUND for CITY ____________________________________________________________________________ PROV _________________ filmmaker travel. CITY ____________________________________________________________________________ PROV _________________ filmmaker travel. o I would like my donation to remain anonymous. CITY ____________________________________________________________________________ PROV _________________ POSTAL CODE ___________________________________ PHONE # ___________________________________________ o I would like my donation to remain anonymous. POSTAL CODE ___________________________________ PHONE # ___________________________________________ myreceive donation to remain anonymous. o II would like to donor benefits (see doxafestival.ca/donate for POSTAL CODE ___________________________________ PHONE # ___________________________________________ o more I would like to receive donor benefits (see doxafestival.ca/donate for EMAIL ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ details). o Imore would like to receive donor benefits (see doxafestival.ca/donate for EMAIL ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ details). EMAIL ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ more details). Receive DOXA's Newsletter? o YES o No, thanks I would like to make my donation: Receive DOXA's. . Newsletter? YES o No, thanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .o ....... I would like to make my donation: Receive DOXA's. .Newsletter? YES o No, thanks ....................o ........ I would like to of make my donation: o In honour _____________________________________________________ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Yes, I would like to support DOXA with a MONTHLY contribution of: o In honour of _____________________________________________________ Yes, I would like to support DOXA with a MONTHLY contribution of: o ____________________________________________________ o In In memory honour ofof_____________________________________________________ Yes,$15 I wo/umonth ld like to suppoo rt D$25 OXA/ month with a MONTo HLY$45 cont/rimonth bution of: o In memory of ____________________________________________________ o o $15 / month o $25 / month o $45 / month o In memory of ____________________________________________________ ..............................
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SPECIAL PRESENTATION • OPENING
JUSTICE FORUM
LIVE Q&A
DOXA DRIVE-IN
The Gig is Up
Shannon Walsh, Canada, 2021, 89 mins
“If done the right way, these kinds of opportunities can literally change lives.” So says tech entrepreneur Prayah Narula of gig labour, a growing phenomenon and employment path that promises flexible hours, independence and open recruitment to workers around the world. From delivering food, to transporting passengers, to tagging images online, millions of people—including those who might otherwise be unable to find work in more conventional environments—are being drawn to gig employment, task by task, for the chance to do any job that pays. Despite its utopian potential, the reality of the gig economy is something far less auspicious. Work conditions are frequently dangerous, pay often fluctuates without notice, and workers can effectively be fired at the push of a button. In The Gig is Up, Vancouver-based director Shannon Walsh offers an unflinching look at the impact gig work is having around the world. Spanning global networks from rural Florida to Lagos, Nigeria (with many ride shares and food services in between), gig workers of all backgrounds share their stories through candid interviews, while tech experts and academics provide critical commentary on an industry now worth over 5 trillion USD—and growing.
As the global pandemic rages on and our collective reliance on online shopping and delivery services becomes increasingly a part of daily life, it’s more important than ever to reflect on the labour that goes unseen. Derek Thompson of The Atlantic has described the emergence of app-based utilities like Uber as “convenience maximalism,” which begs the question: What does life look like for the people providing these services? DOXA is proud to open our 20th annual festival with this courageous film that reveals how the magic of today’s technology and its selling points might not be magical at all, and that asks us to consider the true cost of convenience. THIS IS PART OF JUSTICE FORUM AND WILL INCLUDE A POST-FILM DISCUSSION. READ MORE ON PAGE 24.
SPECIAL PRESENTATION • OPENING
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SPECIAL PRESENTATION • JUSTICE FORUM
WAR ON DRUGS
JUSTICE FORUM
LIVE Q&A
DOXA DRIVE-IN
Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, Canada, 2021, 125 mins
Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy puts humanity and compassion first in its engagement with the substance-use crisis and drug-poisoning epidemic on the Kainai First Nation in southern Alberta. Filmmaker Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers (The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open) invites viewers to witness the collective work of her community as it faces radical transformation. Surrounded by tall prairie grass gently swaying in the wind, Dr. Esther Tailfeathers, a family doctor, community harm-reduction advocate, and Elle-Máijá’s mother, stands strong. She embraces the Blackfoot teaching of Kímmapiiyipitssini: “Kímmapiiyipitssini means compassion…” she says. “In our way of believing, if you help people out then you are blessed to continue to do that, and so our People are supposed to give what they have or what they can to help.” Set among the flowing foothills and vast skies of southern Alberta, Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy draws a connecting line between the impacts of colonialism on Blackfoot land and people, and the ongoing substance-use crisis. With extraordinary care and consideration, Tailfeathers masterfully weaves together multiple stories of hope and resilience. First responders, medical professionals and
community members whose lives have been affected by addiction and recovery offer intimate and urgent perspectives while implementing harm reduction in order to save lives. By questioning abstinence-only treatment, and showing the lives that have been saved through harm reduction models, the film asks the audience to take part in and commit to the Kainai First Nation’s methods of urgent change. A must-see for all citizens (but policy makers and health professionals may want to take special note), Kímmapiiyipitssini charts a road map towards healing. Against the backdrop of Vancouver’s own ongoing drug-poisoning epidemic, Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy is perhaps one of the most urgent and critical films of this year. THIS IS PART OF JUSTICE FORUM AND WILL INCLUDE A POST-FILM DISCUSSION. READ MORE ON PAGE 24. THIS FILM IS PART OF THE WAR ON DRUGS PROGRAM. MORE ON PAGE 34.
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SPECIAL PRESENTATION • RATED Y FOR YOUTH
RATED Y FOR YOUTH
LIVE Q&A
DOXA DRIVE-IN
Someone Like Me
Sean Horlor and Steve J. Adams, Canada, 2021, 80 mins
Drake, a vibrant 22-year-old gay man from Uganda, leaves behind everything he knows in order to be who he is and love whomever he chooses without fear of discrimination, persecution or violence—a freedom that everyone deserves.
support. A substantive amount of the work includes meeting Drake’s immediate basic needs, but sustaining the necessary emotional and psychological assistance and mentorship over the next 12 months becomes the most delicate task.
Tasked with a year-long commitment as Drake’s primary support network, a group of strangers from Vancouver’s queer community unite under the banner of Rainbow Refugee, a non-profit that connects LGBTQ+ asylum claimants with sponsors. In the months following Drake’s arrival from Uganda, facets of his turbulent experiences and day-to-day challenges begin to parallel those of certain group members: Marlon also moved cities in order to live his life openly as a gay Black man; David struggles to find job security after grad school; and Kay’s gender transition presents a long and emotional road to personal freedom. As problems are compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, the group must ask themselves difficult questions about their capacity, their commitment, and the conditions of
Vancouver-based directors Sean Horlor and Steve J. Adams’s feature documentary Someone Like Me takes a verité approach to the generous and rough-edged nuances of what it means to sponsor an asylum seeker. Chronicling the complexities of the journey taken by Drake and his sponsors, the filmmakers illuminate how survival itself becomes a victory in a world where one must constantly fight for the right to exist. THIS IS PART OF RATED Y FOR YOUTH AND WILL INCLUDE A POST-FILM DISCUSSION. READ MORE ON PAGE 25.
SPECIAL PRESENTATION • RATED Y
43
CANADIAN FILMS
telefilm.ca/en/seeitall
SPECIAL PRESENTATION • CLOSING
DOXA DRIVE-IN
Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché Paul Sng and Celeste Bell, UK, 2021, 89 mins
Poly Styrene was the first Black woman in the UK to front a successful rock band. She introduced the world to a new sound of rebellion, using her unconventional voice to sing about identity, consumerism, postmodernism, and everything she saw unfolding in late 1970s Britain, with a rare prescience. As the frontwoman of X-Ray Spex, the Anglo-Somali musician was also a key inspiration for the riot grrrl and Afropunk movements. But the late punk maverick didn’t just leave behind an influential cultural footprint; she is survived by a daughter, Celeste Bell, who became the unwitting guardian of both her mother’s legacy and her demons. Misogyny, racism and mental illness plagued Poly’s life, while the lasting trauma scarred Celeste’s childhood and the pair’s relationship. Featuring unseen archival material and rare diary entries narrated by Oscar-nominee Ruth Negga, this film follows Celeste as she examines her mother’s unopened artistic archive, and travels across three continents to better understand Poly the icon and Poly the mother.
“Testimonials from the Raincoats, Thurston Moore, Vivienne Westwood, Kathleen Hanna and Neneh Cherry… and an abundance of vintage footage make clear the appeal and impact of Styrene’s brightly blazing artistry. But it’s the documentary’s refusal to gloss over the bumpier parts of her life – or fall into the tired trope of the tortured genius whose artistry excuses any missteps – while still treating Styrene with love and admiration that ensures I Am A Cliché is anything but.” - BILLBOARD MAGAZINE
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TRIPLE PLATINUM
Aalto
Afghan Girls Can Kick
Considered by many as one of the greatest architects of the 20th century, Alvar Aalto enjoyed an exceptionally rich career both at home in Finland and abroad. His blend of beauty and functionalism, attention to material details and human-centred approach to design had a profound impact on the trajectory of modernism. Aalto offers a stunning cinematic tour of some of his most celebrated projects: from the ground-breaking Paimio Sanatorium in Finland and the Vyborg Library in Russia, to the MIT Baker House Dormitory in Massachusetts and the Finnish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. But director Virpi Suutari (Garden Lovers, DOXA 2014) challenges the myth of the lone creative genius by highlighting how indebted Aalto’s legacy is to his wife Aino Aalto, an architect, interior designer and managing director of their company, Artek. Through interviews with experts, home videos and letters exchanged between Alvar and Aino, Aalto provides insight into the couple’s intimate life, their joint creative endeavours and their iconic contributions to modernist design. -MS
When the Taliban took power, men tried to outlaw Afghan women’s basic liberties entirely, forcing them to go through life veiled, usually indoors, excluded from education, employment and sports. Afghan Girls Can Kick follows a group of teenagers who rebelled against great opposition to secure themselves the opportunity to play football. Battling both poverty and sexism, the film shows how these women were able to overcome powerful resistance and ultimately establish Afghanistan’s first national women’s football team, gaining power and purpose in the process. The film follows the team in the aftermath of an invitation to play in Pakistan—their first international match—focusing on trip preparations and a few individual players such as Roya, who collected paper on the streets of Kabul until an organization sent her to school and discovered her huge football talent. Hosseini’s film offers rare insight into the lives of these fun-loving, athletic women—not victims, but women fighting for their future. -KA
Virpi Suutari, Finland, 2020, 103 mins
Bahareh Hosseini, Afghanistan, 2008, 50 mins
PRECEDED BY THE SHORT FILM
Sacred Brick Technology (p. 86)
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WAR ON DRUGS
The Arrow and the Uniform
Aswang
In 2013, four rolls of film were found at the Indigenous Museum in Rio de Janeiro. The footage features the 1970 graduation of the Indigenous Rural Guard, Brazil’s first and only Indigenous battalion. Created at the height of repression under Brazilian military dictatorship, the militia’s graduation consisted of 97 Indigenous people, clad in uniform and gesturing like the country’s police.
In modern day Manila, citizens are dying every day, their deaths a consequence of President Rodrigo Duterte’s pledge to end drug trafficking in the Philippines at any cost. This remorseless promise has set off a wave of extrajudicial killings since Duterte’s election in 2016—more than 20,000 men, women and children were killed in Duterte’s first two years alone.
Today, more than 30 years after the end of Brazillian dictatorship, viewing these images causes a kind of vertigo, and it is this vertigo that is at the heart of Miguel Antunes Ramos’s film. In its search for these guards—their bodies, their histories and their memories—The Arrow and the Uniform is also an exploration of the fractures, the silences, the remains and the sustained losses in the violence of Brazillian history.
Alyx Ayn Arumpac’s film reframes the horrors of Duterte’s war on drugs through the myth of the Aswang—a shapeshifter common in Filipino folklore that preys on humans, brutally and senselessly. The film brings the creature to life, surveying the carnage left in its wake: a worker sweeps blood down the street; a six-year-old boy fends for himself while his mother sits in jail; funeral homes fill with corpses. Traveling through neighborhoods and revealing the cruelty and corruption of drug enforcement police, Aswang explores the devastating toll the drug war has taken in Manila. To those who have lost their loved ones and suffered under Duterte’s bloodshed, the Aswang is everywhere.
Miguel Antunes Ramos, Brazil, 2020, 86 mins
Alyx Ayn Arumpac, Philippines, 2019, 85 mins
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virtual edition
Édition VIRTUELLE
RATED Y FOR YOUTH
The Big Scary “S” Word Yael Bridge, US, 2020, 82 mins
How do you define socialism? For Americans, the mere mention of the word is enough to send many either scurrying from the conversation, or baring their teeth in distrust. For those willing to talk about it, opinions range from socialism as the ultimate expression of democracy to the end of society as we know it. Filmmaker Yael Bridge’s heady mix of history, cautionary tale and optimistic road map takes us on a tour of American socialism from early idealistic communes in Wisconsin to the work of a current Virginia legislator (and part-time Lyft driver)—the lone representative of his ideology in his state congress. In addition to some of the intellectual Left’s major stars (Cornel West, Naomi Klein, Eric Foner), we hear from regular folks, including an Oklahoma school teacher turning “radical” before our eyes. Energetically packed with compelling evidence and insightful observations, The Big Scary “S” Word is edu-tainment for the political soul. -TA
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution Stanley Nelson, US, 2015, 115 mins
In The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, Nelson (Freedom Rider and Freedom Summer, both of which screened at DOXA) puts his masterful research skills to work to closely examine the politics and history of the revolutionary organization known as The Black Panther Party. In the wake of the Civil Rights Movement police brutality continued unabated, and the Panthers were determined to fight back. Stunning footage of demonstrations and back room meetings are brought to life by candid interviews with the folks who were on the front lines. Party leaders including Eldridge Cleaver, Bobby Seale and Huey Newton are given due coverage, but even more fascinating are the lesser-known programs that the Panthers initiated, such as the “survival” food program. Fearless not only in challenging white supremacy, but also in attacking capitalism and demanding better housing and education, the Panthers actively advocated for social change. Passive resistance was not on the table. As violence in the US reaches new levels and the racial divide continues to wreak havoc on the American psyche, this film could not be more necessary. -SC THIS ENCORE SCREENING IS PART OF A SPECIAL INDUSTRY EVENT. MORE ON PAGE 18.
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DOXA DRIVE-IN
Cane Fire
Dead Man’s Switch: a crypto mystery
The Hawaiian island of Kaua’i is seen as a paradise of leisure and pristine natural beauty, but these escapist fantasies obscure the colonial displacement, hyper-exploitation of workers, and destructive environmental extraction that have actually shaped life on the island for the last 250 years. Cane Fire critically examines the island’s history—and the various strategies by which Hollywood has represented it—through four generations of director Anthony Banua-Simon’s family, who first immigrated to Kaua’i from the Phillipines to work on the sugar plantations. Assembled from a diverse array of sources—from Banua-Simon’s observational footage, to amateur YouTube travelogues, to epic Hollywood dance sequences— Cane Fire offers a kaleidoscopic portrait of the economic and cultural forces that have cast Indigenous and working-class residents as “extras” in their own story.
The 2018 death of Gerald Cotten, CEO of Canada’s largest Bitcoin exchange, reads like something out of a paperback mystery. When Cotten died suddenly in India at age 30, he took with him the secret to accessing $215 million in cryptocurrency, setting off a mad search by reporters, regulators and former customers for the missing funds. What they uncovered only raised more questions, including the biggest one of all: Did Gerald Cotten really die, or did he fake his death and walk away with all the money?
Anthony Banua-Simon, US, 2020, 90 mins
Sheona McDonald, Canada, 2021, 78 mins
In the hands of filmmaker Sheona McDonald—who DOXA audiences may remember from her 2019 film Candice, a profile of feminist pornographer Candice Vadala—Cotten’s story becomes a fast-paced, gripping thriller. McDonald is methodical in her reporting, exploring every theory and chasing down every lead. The journey takes us from a crypto club in Victoria, to one of Cotten’s bankrupted former customers in San Francisco, to a doctor in India who might just have all the answers. -JM
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APPEL À SOUMISSIONS CALL FOR ENTRIES 24th edition November, 2021
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Montreal International Documentary Festival
1 MARS MARCH — 31 MAI MAY 2021
SELF STUDY
Dear Elnaz
Delphine’s Prayers
In a study hall at the University of Alberta, Javad texts his wife Elnaz as she prepares to board Ukranian Airlines flight PS752 back to Canada after visiting her family in Iran. It’s their final communication, and Elnaz never arrives home.
In a cluttered bedsit in Belgium, 30-year-old Delphine pours out the story of her life to her friend, and filmmaker, Rosine. Over a series of carefully composed recording sessions, Delphine discloses the details of her harsh childhood in Cameroon, the series of events that led her to pregnancy and homelessness at 13, and her career as a sex worker. A loveless marriage did not lead to a better life in Europe as she had hoped, and racism and patriarchy have remained barriers between her and her dreams as she navigates life in a new country where she is routinely reduced to her gender and skin colour. Told on her own terms, Delphine’s narrative is both dramatic and matter-of-fact. “Nobody will stop this story from being told, as long as I’m the pilot of this plane.” A fellow Cameroonian émigré, Rosine Mbakam’s intimate documentary gives veracity to Delphine’s defiant statement and allows us to bear tender witness to her testimony. -TA
Mania Akbari, Canada/Iran/UK, 2020, 85 mins
Elnaz was one of 176 passengers aboard the passenger plane shot down by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran on January 8, 2020. In the aftermath of this event, Javad and a tight-knit crew of Iranian students studying in Edmonton banded together, and Dear Elnaz chronicles the grief and rage they experienced over the tragedy, and the solace they found within their community. “It hit all of us . . . I became unsafe with you,” a friend tells Javad, whose pain is shown unvarnished as he revisits the places he and Elnaz would spend their time together. From the other end of the world, Javad channels his anguish into a cry for justice, calling on the Iranian regime to finally be held accountable. -CN
Rosine Mbakam, Belgium/Cameroon, 2021, 91 mins
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al r u t l u C ’s d r a a w e d b o o o t W d SFU is prou DOXA of
s m a r g o r Pr e n t r a P l Cultura 2021
R s A E Y fuw R E P _W S o N @SFU od O R T A wa P ards w + d o 0 r 0 fuwo ds. s 0 , @ 25 ca
WAR ON DRUGS
DOXA DRIVE-IN
Dope is Death
FANNY: The Right to Rock
In 1970, community activists in NYC were fed up with the city’s lack of response to the growing heroin epidemic. So, with help from the Black Panthers and Young Lords, they came up with their own solution—the Lincoln Detox clinic. Radical politics were at the core of the organization, but first and foremost it offered local folks a safe place to detoxify and work together in outpatient programs. Under the eventual leadership of Dr. Mutulu Shakur (stepfather of Tupac Shakur), the Lincoln clinic grew to embrace the practice of acupuncture as a major part of its grassroots, community-based approach to addiction treatment. Extensive archival footage, deftly presented by filmmaker Mia Donovan, shows how the effects of the organization’s radical approach to health are still felt today. Donovan and the subjects of her film demonstrate how activism and healthcare can intersect in collective healing. -CP
“The conversation about women’s place is right smack dab in the middle of rock ‘n’ roll.” —Fanny drummer, Alice de Buhr
Mia Donovan, Canada, 2020, 78 mins
Bobbi Jo Hart, Canada, 2021, 92 mins
Hard rock was on the rise in the late 60s, and Fanny, a group founded by Filipina-American sisters in California, impressed everyone with their heavy beats and blistering musical chops. They possessed musicianship, ambition and a major label record deal. So why did they end up on so many lists of the “best forgotten bands,” including that of David Bowie? FANNY: The Right to Rock tells the story of a 70s rock band like no other—all-female, Asian-American, with LGBTQ+ members—who struggled to overcome the limitations of an industry and a society hellbent on painting them into a hyper-sexualized corner. Filmmaker Bobbi Jo Hart pulls the action into the present day and follows the women of Fanny as they confront aging and ageism, and inspire new generations of musicians. -TA
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NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
SELF STUDY
FRENCH FRENCH
Far From You I Grew (Loin de vous j’ai grandi)
Marie Dumora, France/Switzerland, 2020, 102 mins
Fifteen-year-old Nicolas is at a crossroads: stay at his foster home and school where he has friends and the possibility of real opportunities, or return to his birth home with his stepdad, mother and three younger siblings, hoping for familial love and rebonding. That’s a lot to have on your plate and at so young an age. Director Marie Dumora (who featured Nicolas’s mom Sabrina in her film Belinda, which screened at DOXA in 2018) presents a nonlinear narrative: we see Nicolas as a baby, as a foster boy reaching for enrichment, and as a taciturn teenager trying to fit in during his sporadic visits home. He appears to open up more so at his foster home, where he reads, spends time with friends and views the stars when visiting an elderly neighbour. Dumora paints a portrait of a young man who hopes to find his best path despite the many changes that hang in the balance. -JM
SELF STUDY
Father
Deng Wei, China, 2020, 96 mins
Filmmaker Deng Wei’s grandfather Zuogui has been blind since the age of three, living most of his life as a fortune teller and raising many children. Now approaching the final chapter of his life, Zuogui lives a life of bitter discontent toward his son (and Wei’s father) Donggu, a businessman who is set on earning the respect not afforded him as a child. Donggu works as a property developer to provide his family with a good life, but when a job-site accident forces him into financial hardship, it prompts a re-examination of his priorities and values—one that may lead the father and son to finally form a bond of respect, perhaps even love. Set against the vast transformation and economic change within contemporary Chinese society, Wei’s quiet fly-on-the-wall cinematography captures the fraught relationship between his father and grandfather as they negotiate past resentments and an uncertain future. -KE
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DAV I D L A M CENTRE
The David Lam Centre at SFU has been supporting events and outreach on the Asia Pacific diaspora since 1989. To join our mailing list and find out more please visit us online. www.sfu.ca/davidlamcentre/events.html
RATED Y FOR YOUTH
SELF STUDY
Firestarter - The Story of Bangarra
The First Woman
Marking Bangarra Dance Theatre’s 30th anniversary, Firestarter tells the story of how three young Aboriginal brothers—Stephen, David and Russell Page—took a newly born dance company and, alongside its founders and alumni, turned it into a First Nations cultural powerhouse.
Eva yearns to leave the psychiatric hospital that she’s called home for the past six years. Her greatest dream is to reconnect with her estranged son, whom she hasn’t seen for over a decade, but she fears he won’t forgive her for her past mistakes. After a long wait at the facility, punctuated by philosophical and often humorous conversations with other patients, Eva’s opportunity to leave finally arrives. Director Miguel Eek (City of the Dead, DOXA 2019) captures this moment of transition in Eva’s life with a keen eye for composition and an empathetic approach. The First Woman is a tender portrait that will challenge preconceptions about people living with mental illness. -MS
Wayne Blair and Nel Minchin, Australia, 2020, 97 mins
But as Bangarra rose to the forefront as Australia’s premiere cultural ambassadors, so too did the brothers’ overwhelming sense of inherited trauma. “Bangara was in the business of reconciliation long before it became fashionable,” Stephen says. But at what cost? Profound tragedies have punctuated the strings of wide, critical acclaim more often than not, shaking the troupe to its core each time. Wayne Blair and Nel Minchin’s moving film explores the loss and reclamation of culture, the burdens of intergenerational trauma and—crucially—the power of art as a messenger for social change and healing.
Miguel Eek, Spain, 2020, 77 mins
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WAR ON DRUGS
SELF STUDY
FIX: The Story of an Addicted City
Fly So Far
Nearly two decades after its release, director Nettie Wild’s account of the fight to establish North America’s first safe injection site remains just as vital as when it was first released. The film focuses on the unlikely partnership between Dean Wilson, a drug user and safety advocate, and Ann Livingston, a community organizer driven by her religious convictions. Together the pair rally drug users and other community members to advocate for reforms that will save lives.
Teodora Vásquez was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the “aggravated murder” of her child after she miscarried. While in prison in El Salvador, Teodora came to learn that she was not alone—at least 17 other women who had suffered stillbirths or other obstetric emergencies were also facing decades-long sentences under the country’s abortion laws. Fly So Far connects this injustice to a wider cultural devaluation of women: “When a woman becomes pregnant, she loses all her rights and automatically becomes an incubator,” explains one obstetrician. In telling Teodora’s story, the film explores the political, social and legal battles that play out as “The Seventeen” fight for their freedom in solidarity with each other and with feminists across the country. -NC
Nettie Wild, Canada, 2002, 92 mins
It’s impossible to watch Wild’s film today without reflecting on how little has changed in the last 20 years. We see police using heavy-handed tactics to clear streets, critics employing negative stereotypes to denigrate drug users, and community activists struggling to do their best with limited resources. Many of these sequences feel like they could have been shot in 2021. While the activists in FIX were able to win the day, their fight to ensure the safety of Vancouver’s drug users goes on. -JM
Celina Escher, Sweden/El Salvador, 2021, 88 mins
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WORLD PREMIERE
JUSTICE FORUM
Food for the Rest of Us
Forest for the Trees
Across Turtle Island and beyond, young people are turning their anxieties into action when it comes to sustenance and the human relationship to food. Food for the Rest of Us follows four unique and inspiring food projects that are making a difference in their communities: a youth internship program in Hawaii offers college tuition in exchange for two years’ service on an organic farm; an urban farmer in Kansas City describes his aquaculture initiative as a form of decolonization; a female Shochet in rural Colorado conducts workshops reconnecting participants to a more humane and local meat supply chain; and a community greenhouse takes advantage of short, intense summers to grow fresh produce in the Northwest Territories where, despite the impending threat of climate change, Indigenous methods of food harvesting have continued to thrive. Centering their agricultural practices firmly in their belief that new ways of operating are crucial for our survival, these food activists demonstrate—through word and deed—alternative paths to our culinary future. -TA
Award-winning war photographer Rita Leistner goes back to her roots as a tree planter in the wilderness of British Columbia, offering an inside take on the gruelling, sometimes fun and always life-changing experience of restoring our province’s forests. Leistner, who has photographed some of the world’s most dangerous places, credits the challenge of tree-planting for her physical endurance. In Forest for the Trees, her first feature film, she revisits her past to share the lessons she learned.
Caroline Cox, Canada, 2021, 84 mins
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#DOX A 2021
Rita Leistner, Canada, 2021, 91 mins
The film introduces us to everyday life on the “cut-block” and the brave souls who fight through rough terrains and work endless hours to bring our forests to life. The rugged BC landscape comes to life magically in Leistner’s photography, but it’s the quirky characters and nuggets of wisdom shared around the campfire that tell a sincere story of community. -MJ
FRENCH FRENCH
The Grocer’s Son, The Mayor, The Village and The World… (Le Fils de l’épicière, le Maire, le Village et le Monde) Claire Simon, France/Belgium, 2020, 111 mins
DOXA audience favourite Claire Simon returns with a project that defies easy categorization. Edited from footage shot for her recent TV series (the similarly titled The Village), The Grocer’s Son, the Mayor, the Village and the World… explores globalization and technology through the microcosm of Lussas, a small French village with an unusual dual economic base. Lussas is home both to traditional family farms and wineries, as well as to a renowned international documentary film festival: Les États généraux du film documentaire. Looking to build on the festival’s success, Lussas-born filmmaker Jean-Marie Barbe (who participated in DOXA Industry in 2017) embarks on an ambitious and utopian project to simultaneously bring into being L’imaginaire, a physical facility to support international documentary filmmaking, as well as Tënk, an online documentary streaming platform (a goal that draws oddly near to DOXA’s own recent experience). As the title suggests, the project pits workers against Barbe, Barbe against his fellow villagers, and villagers against tourists—all in service of carving out a place for documentary filmmaking in a world that can feel both large and small at the same time. -TA
COUSINS AND KIN
Honey Moccasin Shelley Niro, Canada, 1998, 47 mins
The first of its kind in Canada made by an Indigenous filmmaker, Honey Moccasin is set on the fictional Grand Pine Indian Reservation (aka “Reservation X”), and employs a hybrid pastiche of styles depicting the rivalry between two bars (the Smoking Moccasin and the Inukshuk Cafe), the tale of closeted drag queen/powwow clothing thief Zachery John (Billy Merasty), and the travails of the crusading investigator/storyteller Honey Moccasin (Tantoo Cardinal). An irreverent parody of familiar narrative strategies, Niro’s film forges an oppositional aesthetic via its reappropriation of the conventions of melodrama, performance art, cable access and the “whodunit” style to investigate notions of authenticity, cultural identity, gender roles and the articulation of contemporary Native North American experience.
“Hand-picked fruit and handmade cinema are equally up against it in this environment, a parallel that this wry, humane film manages to make tacitly and without undue self-importance.”- GUY LODGE, VARIETY
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WORLD PREMIERE
JUSTICE FORUM
DOXA DRIVE-IN
In the Rumbling Belly of Motherland Brishkay Ahmed, Canada, 2021, 84 mins
“In the name of God, welcome to Women News Network. We begin with breaking headlines.” In the wake of recent news stories announcing the targeted assassination of female media workers in Afghanistan, In the Rumbling Belly of Motherland provides a sharp look into Zan TV, Kabul’s female-operated, female-oriented news agency. Filmmaker Brishkay Ahmed, herself a trained journalist with credits from Langara College and Simon Fraser University, returns to Afghanistan to document this simultaneously harrowing and inspiring work environment. The film’s intimate cinematography deftly yet quietly reveals the daily, sometimes deadly hurdles faced by Afghan reporters and media staff. Following parallel news stories as they unfold—two sets of national elections as well as ongoing US–Taliban peace talks— the film pulls us into the Afghan political climate and highlights the existential current events that threaten both Zan TV as a media outlet and the livelihoods of the women at its heart. -TA
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TRIPLE PLATINUM
INAATE/SE/ [it shines a certain way. to a certain place./it flies. falls./] Adam Khalil and Zack Khalil, US, 2016, 75 mins
The Seven Fires Prophecy is an ancient Anishinaabeg story that predates, and even predicted, the arrival of European settlers. The prophecy acts as the bedrock of Zack and Adam Khalil’s debut feature, a palimpsest of animation, candid interviews and hallucinatory performances. Set in their ancestral territory of Sault Ste. Marie, which straddles the border between Michigan and Ontario, the film transgresses mainstream convention and linear history to fashion a subversive look at the devastating impact of colonialism. INAATE/SE/ is a playful and wildly intelligent experiment that unsettles colonial narratives, challenges notions of conventional non-fiction cinema, and carves space for contemporary Indigenous identity. -SC Confident in its antagonism without ever lapsing into smug self-regard; formally adventurous but never esoteric, INAATE/SE/ is an inimitable model for what radical documentary in the 21st century might be. -SCREEN SLATE
FRENCH FRENCH
Living and Knowing You Are Alive (Être vivant et le savoir) Alain Cavalier, France, 2019, 82 mins
Emmanuelle Bernheim and Alain Cavalier have been friends for 30 years, and are planning to collaborate on a film adaptation of Bernheim’s recent memoir recounting the story of her father’s search for an assisted death. In the film, Bernheim will portray herself, and Cavalier will play her father. However, things take an abrupt, tragic turn as Emmanuelle herself receives a terminal cancer diagnosis. Suddenly, the project’s focus changes. Living and Knowing You Are Alive is a new chapter in Cavalier’s ongoing idiosyncratic personal diary, blending personal encounters with introspection, poetic fragments, and small, intimate rituals glimpsed in the secret garden of his workshop. The 87-year-old filmmaker documents his friendship with Bernheim through snapshots, notes and phone messages, and the film becomes an offbeat rumination on the end of a life, including a mock rehearsal of Cavalier’s own passing. The result is a joyful celebration of life and the time we have together. -TG
WORLD PREMIERE
Love, The Last Chapter Dominique Keller, Canada, 2021, 78 mins
Is it ever too late to find love? In this portrait of life in a Calgary seniors’ home, we meet six residents who refuse to face the last chapter of life alone. As they struggle with declining health, limited mobility and dwindling finances, they find that the one thing they can rely on is the love they share with their new partners. Director Dominique Keller embeds herself in the lives of her subjects, having moved into the seniors’ facility while making this film. Her dedication pays off in the intimate moments she is able to capture, a mark of the trust between filmmaker and subjects. We see not only the residents’ daily struggles but also their moments of shared joy. The film shows that even when life has taken so much else, it cannot take away our capacity for love. -JM
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CANADIAN PREMIERE
TRIPLE PLATINUM
Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust
Mimi
Ann Kaneko, US, 2020, 77 mins
What do the water rights of Indigenous people in Southern California have to do with Manzanar, a World War II internment camp for Japanese Americans? American filmmaker Ann Kaneko expertly entwines these strands into a powerful story about the cultural and historical significance of water in the Owens Valley. The film connects the displacement of Indigenous people with the movement and imprisonment of Japanese Americans and the contemporary coalitions working to protect the disappearing ecosystem. Kaneko insists that these are all facets of the same story, while uncovering how official entities like the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power have made decisions regarding how the landscape should be used—and for whose benefit. Indigenous people who were relocated, Japanese Americans who were interned, park rangers and activists are all at work to reclaim this site and its histories, invoking the value of memory and storytelling in the quest for a sustainable future. This is an ambitious, elegant and evocative film that captures the beauty rooted in a dusty, contentious landscape. -KR
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#DOX A 2021
Claire Simon, France, 2003, 105 mins
More than just issue-driven films or talking head interviews, documentary can contain life, fix a sense of place, and in the case of Claire Simon’s film memoir Mimi, stop time. For Mimi Chiola, story is also a means of starting time all over again. On a warm sunny day in the seaside town of Nice, France, Mimi and her friend Claire walk and talk about her memories of the town. The sky is white and blue. You can virtually feel the heat, and smell the sea in the air. A natural-born raconteur, Mimi’s métier is memory. As she recounts how her father and mother first met (“Love at first sight, at age 42!”) or remembers her father’s death, or talks about her first encounter with her own sexuality, we listen and we see (and feel) the stories come to life. There is so much beauty in accidental details. Along the way, there are chance meetings, songs, and the occasional bit of dancing. -DW
TRIPLE PLATINUM
CANADIAN PREMIERE
The Owl’s Legacy
P.S. Burn This Letter Please
The legendary 13-part series, commissioned by Arte and the Onassis Foundation (which kept Marker’s work unavailable for 20 years), alights again at DOXA in its first three episodes: SYMPOSIUM or Accepted Ideas, OLYMPISM or Imaginary Greece, DEMOCRACY or The City of Dreams. Interviews were filmed in Tbilisi, Athens, Paris, Berkeley and Tokyo. The cast of characters is equally as expansive, with composers, filmmakers, philosophers and friends in the mix. But what is most startling are the ideas examined. Whether it is the Nazi appropriation of Ancient Greek gods and ideology, or George Steiner stating that “the Greek civilization enhanced the whole human race” but describing Socrates as “a royal pain in the ass.” Passions run high as the assembled minds debate and drink, talking about the foundational concepts of Western culture. Every interview is attended, perhaps witnessed, by the enigmatic gaze of a different owl—Minerva’s bird that looms large in the background. What is most curious, as with a great deal of Marker’s work, is the timeliness of his ideas and their respective focus. -DW
A long-buried box of letters penned by New York drag queens is opened in the modern era, revealing the 1950s—a time when the word “queer” was still very much a pejorative—as a glamorous but dangerous time to be gender non-conforming. To quote historian George Chauncey from the opening of the film: “Whenever you find a diary or a set of letters written by gay people themselves, it just opens up a world.”
Chris Marker, France, 1989, 80 mins
Michael Seligman and Jennifer Tiexiera, US, 2020, 101 mins
Through original interviews, unearthed archival footage and photographs, and stylized recreations, P.S. Burn This Letter Please investigates and rediscovers a world of mopping (stealing) clothes, wigs and jewels and calling it ‘camp.’ There is joy, heartbreak and truth in the testimonies of famous/infamous queens, now well into their 80s and 90s, who reflect on the days when they were both revered and reviled, even within the gay community. We can be glad that Reno, to whom the titular letters were addressed, did not burn them, and instead left them to be found. -JB
THIS SCREENING IS GENEROUSLY PROVIDED BY CINÉMATHÈQUE FRANÇAISE AND ARTE FRANCE.
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WORLD PREMIERE
The Return: Life After ISIS
The Rumba Kings
Trapped—first by their alienated youth as Muslim girls living in minority enclaves within Western countries, then by ISIS and its ultra-radicalized doctrines that deprived them of agency, now as stateless individuals whose governments work to deny them as citizens. Alba Sotorra Clua’s stirring and sensitive film, filmed over the span of a year at the Roj Detention Camp in Northern Syria, immerses us in the stark stories of some of the world’s most notorious female ISIS “fighters.” With soft-spoken maturity, Shamima Begum, Hoda Muthana and others like them, including Canadian Kimberly Polman, speak for themselves, giving dramatic and sometimes grisly accounts of their experiences. In addition to fighting for their right to return home, they share the struggle of moving through overwhelming emotional and physical toil, as they wrestle with the guilt of their decision to join ISIS and hint at the work needed to rebuild a sense of identity and trust in humanity. -TA
Since its inception in the 1940s, Congolese Rumba has invited its listeners to get on their feet, dance and feel joy. Brain’s film combines concert footage, interviews and archival images (featuring both fabulous fashions and infectious dance moves) to document the history of this melodic, magical style known as “the calling card of the Congo.” In a region better known for oppressive regimes, violently contested mineral wealth and the harsh colonial suppression of anything African, a group of Leopoldville musicians decided to build something unique. Reworking extremely popular Cuban songs, these sound alchemists added traditional elements and produced a new, repatriated, African form of jazz. Featuring intricate techniques and a unique three-guitar format, Congolese Rumba has shared stories of the working class and independence, and made its stars “bigger than the Beatles or the Rolling Stones” across the continent. The Rumba Kings is a stirring story of “a people who decided to fight oppression with music.” -TA
Alba Sotorra Clua, Spain/UK, 2021, 90 mins
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#DOX A 2021
Alan Brain, Peru, 2021, 94 mins
SELF STUDY
Seyran Ateş: Sex, Revolution and Islam
Silent Voice
“I’m not fighting against Islam. I’m fighting against patriarchy.” Seyran Ateş has spent her life dodging bullets and collecting death threats (including a fatwa or two) in her quest to bring about a more open-minded, 21st century version of her faith. Her message is clear: “Islam needs a sexual revolution.” Nefise Özkal Lorentzen’s film skillfully winds history and Ateş’s work into a cohesive whole as vibrant and articulate as the woman herself, taking us from Ateş’s childhood in the “slums” of Istanbul, through her family’s immigration to Germany in the 1970s, to her ongoing advocacy as the founder/Imam of a Berlin mosque and worldtravelling human rights activist. Despite Ateş’s repeated and defiant refrain, “Why do you want to kill me?”, the film’s takeaway is inspiring optimism from a dedicated humanitarian. -TA
Khavaj, an MMA (mixed martial arts) fighter from Chechnya, is on the run from his family, his country and himself. His homosexuality assures his death back home, while the threat of persecution and the shock of exile have caused Khavaj to go mute. Now in Belgium, Khavaj lives his life alone and underground, moving from hotel to hotel and linked to his homeland only through audio messages sent by his mother. Reka Valerik’s film follows Khavaj as he lives in the shadows, training only in secret with a friend. As Khavaj struggles to regain his voice, he must battle with his own identity and confront the pain of his exile to survive. -KE
Nefise Özkal Lorentzen, Norway, 2020, 81 mins
Reka Valerik, France/Belgium, 2020, 51 mins
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TRIPLE PLATINUM
Sisters with Transistors Lisa Rovner, UK, 2020, 90 mins
A thorough and concise account of women in electronic music, from Clara Rockmore’s experiments with the theremin in the early 20th century, to the BBC Radiophonic Workshop of Delia Derbyshire (famous for the Doctor Who theme) and synthesizer masterminds Laurie Spiegel and Suzanne Ciani in the 1970s. The film investigates the vanguards of electronic music who were making weird sounds, composing film scores and coaxing dreamy drones from unusual sources. They developed innovative methods and machinery, including giant tape loops, early synthesizers and computer software. For these women who felt marginalized and patronized in the traditional music hierarchy, electronic music offered a space where they were free to innovate and able to make a mark. Though they have been hugely influential in their fields, the work of people like Daphne Oram and Pauline Oliveros is largely unknown outside niche circles. Whether you are already an electronic music aficionado or totally new to the genre, Sisters with Transistors is an absorbing, fascinating and satisfying study. -TA PRECEDED BY THE SHORT FILM
Space Lady (pg 86)
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Six Portraits XL: No. 2 Jacquotte and Daniel Alain Cavalier, France, 2017, 104 mins
“Inanimate things, might you have a soul that bonds to our soul and forces it to love,” wrote Lamartine. In the untouched bourgeois house invaded by swallows and dust, Jacquotte wanders through her childhood. The old wallpaper crumbles. Toys, paintings, stuffed animals, clothes and old umbrellas—how could she ever throw away all this memorabilia? Year after year, she takes inventory and saves her past until it is “saved for eternity.” In his small apartment, an old bachelor named Daniel talks frankly with an uncomplaining humour about the difficulties in his life, his erratic romances with street girls and his hope to repeat the 20,000 euros he once won. “Unhappy in love, happy in games,” he says. As the years go by, he hides nothing from Cavalier’s camera including his invasive OCD rituals of cleanliness and security. Sometimes he feels he is on the verge of losing it, but somehow he copes. -TG THIS SCREENING IS GENEROUSLY PROVIDED BY INSTITUT FRANÇAIS.
Summer of Soul (...Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, US, 2021, 120 mins
Directed by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Summer of Soul (...Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) is a vibrant archival music documentary chronicling the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, a hugely popular series of outdoor concerts held in Harlem the same summer as Woodstock. Featuring riveting footage of never-before-seen performances by the leading Black artists of the age—Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder, B.B. King, Gladys Knight, and more—Questlove’s film is nothing short of a sociopolitical love letter to Black music and movement. As an act of restoration and reclamation, Summer of Soul is an unapologetic tribute to Black artistry on the heels of a decade of civil rights and civil losses. “It’s a music documentary like no other, because while it’s a joyful, cataclysmic, and soulfully seductive concert movie, what it’s really about is a key turning point in Black life in America.” - VARIETY
Tell Them We Were Here
Keelan Williams and Griff Williams, US, 2021, 88 mins
San Francisco was arguably the countercultural epicentre of the latter part of the 20th century—a refuge for artists and weirdos, a place where political activism proliferated, a city in which to live and make art free of commercial pressures. Tell Them We Were Here traces the throughline of that history into the 21st century, probing the artistic practices of seven notable Bay Area artists. Each is interested in challenging the transactional value of art, and all seem to be more interested in a life, rather than a career, in the arts. These artists have developed art practices that directly benefit their communities and centre ideas of civic responsibility, social activism and healing divisions of inequality in spite of the Bay Area’s increasingly unequal and unaffordable realities. Featured artists include Sadie Barnette, Amy Franceschini, Jim Goldberg, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Alicia McCarthy, Tucker Nichols, Nigel Poor and Michael Swaine. -NC
GRAND JURY PRIZE 2021 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL AUDIENCE AWARD 2021 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL
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CANADIAN PREMIERE
There Will Be No More Night
Through the Night
“While they are flying, everything the pilots watch is being filmed.” In There Will Be No More Night, video images captured by American and French armed forces surveil conflict zones in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria through the unblinking eye of a military camera. These stark, startling images are enhanced by the words of an anonymous pilot and terse, precise narration exploring how “the imbalance of the forces is irrevocable.”
The many dimensions of care work intersect in Loira Limbal’s film, an inspiring window into the world of working mothers. Using a mix of observation and personal narrative, Through the Night drops us smack into the centre of the US child-care crisis, immersing us in the goings-on of one 24-hour daycare and the work of its extraordinary proprietor, Delores “Nunu” Hogan. With the help of her husband Patrick (“Pop Pop”), Nunu has spent over two decades caring for the children of working parents—and often caring for the parents themselves. Producer/director Loira Limbal’s patient and multi-layered film not only confirms what it looks like to give kids the solid foundation they need to grow and thrive, but deftly outlines the ways in which harsh economic and labour policies are currently hindering, not helping, working class mothers. -TA
Éléonore Weber, France, 2020, 76 mins
“Once you start shooting, it is difficult to stop,” the pilot admits, a witness to moments of horror and anxiety relayed by the grainy video feed. The film grapples with the near-limitless potential of surveillance as a tool of war, using thermal cameras to coldly observe gruesome scenes of alleged insurgents being gunned down in pitch dark, alongside images of children playing in an Afghani village. The effect is a chilling look into the unchecked power of modern war. -CN YOUNG JURY AWARD + SPECIAL MENTION 2020 CINÉMA DU RÉEL AUDIENCE AWARD 2020 DOCUDAYS
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#DOX A 2021
Loira Limbal, US, 2020, 72 mins
THIS SCREENING IS PART OF A SPECIAL INDUSTRY EVENT. MORE ON PAGE 18.
‘Til Kingdom Come
Wuhan Wuhan
“A strategic partnership of God” is how Yael Eckstein, leader of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, describes the curious alliance forged in 1983 between the American Jewish and evangelical Christian communities. Her organization has become Israel’s foremost philanthropic group by appealing to Christians through an emphasis on the critical role Jews will play in Jesus’s return, and Maya Zinshtein’s film focuses on the financial, political and messianic objectives of this partnership, as well the inherent clashes in ideology that threaten to undo it.
Wuhan Wuhan is a deeply compassionate portrayal of the early days of COVID-19. Despite shuttered shops, eerily empty streets and deserted public spaces, the city of Wuhan still teems with stories. Chinese-Canadian filmmaker Yung Chang (director of the award-winning Up the Yangtze) follows optimistic essential workers whose personalities shine through layers of PPE.
Maya Zinshtein, Israel/UK/Norway, 2020, 76 mins
From evangelical constituents praying for the State of Israel in an impoverished coal mining town in Kentucky to the halls of power in Washington and Israel, the film reflects on the alarming moves the Trump and Netanyahu administrations have made in recent years, including the relocation the American Embassy to Jerusalem and continued annexation of the West Bank. What is revealed is an apocalyptic worldview reshaping American foreign policy toward Israel and the Middle East. -TA THIS SCREENING IS PART OF A SPECIAL INDUSTRY EVENT. MORE ON PAGE 18.
Yung Chang, US, 2021, 90 mins
The film focuses on a handful of characters: Zhang is a psychologist who traveled to Wuhan to help quarantined patients and overtaxed medical workers deal with stress, grief and anger; Yin is a gentle father-to-be who can’t bear being cooped up, and so has volunteered to drive medical staff where they need to go; Zheng keeps a sense of humour while running a fast-paced emergency room; nurse Susu cries when her job necessitates the cutting of her hair, and tries to comfort her children from afar; and Lailai and Mama Liu long to leave their sterile, makeshift quarantine centre. Yung Chang’s intimate access to medical workers, patients and hospitals during the lockdown, along with his empathetic eye for detail, creates insight that transcends the confusion and loneliness of isolation, revealing a tenacious spirit of togetherness. Wuhan Wuhan is restrained, meditative, beautiful and alienating all at the same time, and lands with immense emotional impact. -KR
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SELF STUDY
You Are Not a Soldier
Your Mother’s Comfort
As filmmaker Maria Carolina Telles comes to terms with the death of her father, a man who regretted never making it to the frontlines of World War II, she focuses her lens on the life of another man who had his own unique experience as a civilian in the midst of combat: award-winning war photographer André Liohn.
Indianara Siqueira is an unapologetic transgender whore (self-proclaimed), a farleft activist, a housemother to dozens of trans sex workers at the NEM (“neither/ nor”) homeless shelter, and a motivational example of thousands of occupied squats in Rio de Janeiro. Your Mother’s Comfort follows as Indianara runs for city council in 2016 (losing by 300 votes), leads in the occupation of a building to provide housing and a safe place for disadvantaged neighbours, and anxiously watches along with her fellow NEMers as the hateful Jair Bolsonaro ascends to the top of the Brazilian political scene in 2018.
Maria Carolina Telles, Brazil, 2021, 110 mins
Telles’s film captures Liohn as he navigates fatherhood alongside the intense turmoil that comes with his profession, with much of the story told in first-person through Liohn’s own lens—on the frontlines of the Libyan Civil War and in ISIS-occupied Mosul, as well as with his children in Italy and his hometown of Botucatu, Brazil. As Liohn explores his children’s understanding of his job, he also attempts to come to terms with the work himself: What does it mean to be in the midst of a war zone by his own choosing? The film explores the modern ethics of war journalism, pondering whether Liohn is unafraid of death or simply putting his life at risk as a way to be remembered. -NC
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#DOX A 2021
Adam Golub, Brazil/US, 2020, 75 mins
She may seem a force of nature, but Indianara is also human, and Golub’s film explores his subject as she drinks, reflects on past sexual encounters, and succumbs to exhaustion as the new president is sworn in. Politically defeated but alive to fight another day, her’s is a spark that could once again become a flame. What a woman! -KE
COUSINS AND KIN
S H O R T S
P R O G R A M
COUSIN SHOWCASE
Bocamina (Pithole)
Giizis Mookaam Giiwe
We see: Potosí, a colonial mining town, stationed near a mountain of silver ore. At the pithole, the faces of workers leaving the mine, which become still images observed by the town’s youth—images of the people, the land and the past, intertwined and in flux.
This film is a smudging ceremony, animating the rising and setting of the moon and the sun, in reverence to planetary, urban and earthly cycles. Originally made on 16mm color film, LaFountain’s piece collapses time, space and sound to create a singular meditative experience.
San Diego
We Only Answer Our Land Line
Stitching together homegrown video footage with social media screen captures, archival material, club music and field recordings, this experimental piece explores anti-colonial resistance and the complexities of engaging in cultural practice under the strictures of quarantine. The enchantment of sound and colour pervades each assembled moment. -EM
An experimental essay film exploring the non-linearity of Indigenous experience and the material specificity of digital video to resist the violence of settler colonialism by following the lead of the film’s central character, the Alien.
Miguel Hilari, Bolivia, 2019, 22 mins
Fox Maxy, Ipai Kumeyaay/Payomkawichum US, 2020, 33 mins
Eve-Lauryn LaFountain, US, 2016, 13 mins
Woodrow Hunt and Olivia Camfield, US, 2019, 6 mins
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COUSINS AND KIN
S H O R T S
P R O G R A M
W H AT WA S A LWAY S YO U R S A N D N E V E R L O S T
Creatura Dada
Gephyrophobia
Halpate
Six powerful Native women, depicted in luxurious closeups, share an extravagant feast. Together, they celebrate a new beginning and the end of the world as we know it.
The word gephyrophobia means “fear of bridges.” An ominous soundtrack accompanies 16mm monochrome shots depicting the dépanneurs, byways and bridges of Ottawa/Gatineau—cities for whom the shared river and its crossings are ever-present motifs of intractable cultural contradictions. -EM
Considered a staple of Florida tourism, alligator wrestling has been performed by members of the Seminole Tribe for over a century. Halpate profiles the hazards and history of the spectacle through the words of the tribe’s alligator wrestlers themselves, and reflects on what it has meant to their people’s survival.
Impressions For a Sound and Light Machine (Impresiones para una máquina de luz y sonido)
Itzcóatl
Caroline Monnet, Canada, 2016, 4 mins
Caroline Monnet, Canada, 2012, 3 mins
Adam Khalil and Adam Piron, US, 2020, 14 mins
IMAGE COURTESY OF VIDEO DATA BANK AT THE SCHOOL OF THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO
The History of the Luiseño People James Luna, US, 1993, 27 mins
Based on his ever-changing performance Indian Tails, this film features Luna sitting alone in his darkened room in front of the TV on Christmas Eve. As he sits, he calls friends, family and ex-lovers, excusing himself from all of their celebrations.
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#DOX A 2021
Colectivo Los Ingrávidos, Mexico, 2017, 7 mins
A woman raises her voice to deliver a painful, endless speech that becomes increasingly overwhelming as time goes on. Her words are heartbreaking and permanent impressions in the collective memory, words that stab at an old Mexican celluloid print that tears and disappears.
Colectivo Los Ingrávidos, Mexico, 2016, 5 mins
The scales of the snake refract and bend, commanding a trance-like attention. At the film’s epicentre, the pyramids join Itzcóatl’s battle while the Obsidian Serpent cultivates the emphatic call that all dances must move against the war.
Just Dandy
Less Lethal Fetishes
Mobilize
Invited to speak at an Indigenous Revolutionary Meeting, the narrator describes an intimate encounter with an Evil Colonizing Queen that leads to Turtle Island’s contraction of an invasive European flora.
Not a sex video, but maybe a sexy video? About a latent gas mask fetish, but maybe actually about a certain art world tear gas controversy the filmmaker was involved in? But also about Chemical Valley in Southern Ontario? A pretty film, about weird shit.
Guided by those who live on the land and driven by the pulse of the natural world, this film reframes archival NFB footage to carry us from the far north to the urban south. Over these landscapes, Monnet captures the perpetual negotiation between the traditional and the modern by a people moving ever forward.
Thirza Cuthand, Canada, 2013, 8 mins
Thirza Cuthand, Canada, 2015, 10 mins
Caroline Monnet, Canada, 2015, 3 mins
Reel 2 Real International Film Festival for Youth
The Vancouver Queer Film Festival
April 14 - 23, 2021 | r2rfestival.org
August 12 - 22, 2021 | queerfilmfestival.ca
The Reel 2 Real International Film Festival for Youth (R2R) will be online from April 14 thru 23. With a household pass, the whole family can enjoy documentaries, animation, and dramas from Canada and around the world. Elementary and high school teachers can purchase a pass to watch films in their classrooms; educational materials are included, as media literacy is more important than ever. R2R’s diverse, imaginative, and inspiring films foster empathy, understanding, and a nuanced view of the world.
The Vancouver Queer Film Festival is a vibrant space for queer arts, culture, and community. It showcases dynamic and thought-provoking films from British Columbian filmmakers as well as other Canadian and international directors and storytellers. As Western Canada’s largest queer arts event, the Festival curates films which contextualize and celebrate queer lives and experiences, and prioritizes foregrounding diverse identities in our communities, including narratives from trans people, queer people of colour, and Indigenous people.
Vancouver Latin American Film Festival August 26 - September 5, 2021 | vlaff.org When you like something, you should do it all night long. ― Chavela Vargas VLAFF invites you to join us for our 19th year throughout 2021 for some dynamic online programming and our hybrid festival in August. Featuring 70+ films from all over Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean, spoken in over nineteen different languages (always with English subtitles), along with artist talks, panel discussions, interactive virtual events, and (we hope) a REAL party or two. Have a wonderful time at DOXA and see you soon!
The Vancouver International Film Festival September 30 - October 10, 2021 | viff.org VIFF’s 40th edition will take place from September 30 - October 10, 2021. The landmark edition will feature both in-cinema and online screenings, with approximately 100 features and 100 shorts to be screened in a showcase of exceptional films from around the world. Happy Anniversary Doxa! In celebration of Doxa’s 20th year of championing exceptional documentary cinema, VIFF is offering DOXA fans a $20 discount on a VIFF+ Silver or Gold Membership. Get yours today with the code ‘VIFFDOXA20’ and enjoy streaming, in-cinema and festival discounts, plus free access to VIFF curated cinema and talks from the comfort of your home all year. See what’s on now at viff.org. STRE A MING AT DOX AFESTIVAL .CA
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SHIFTING HISTORY
D R I V E-I N ! PACIFIC NATIONAL EXHIBITION (PNE) AMPHITHEATRE
From divisive Tunisian politics and radical Cuban media to Colombian national narratives, this assemblage of short films grapples with our collective notions of history, as well as the ever-permeating nature of social and political change.
• T H U R S D AY, M AY 13 • 5:30PM
Dead Man’s Switch: a crypto mystery
Ain’t No Time For Women
9:00PM
The Gig is Up
Sarra El Abed, Canada, 2020, 19 mins
A group of women gather at Saïda’s, a hairdresser, on the eve of Tunisia’s 2019 presidential election. The camera is a fly on the wall in Sarra El Abed’s whimsical film, as the salon transforms into a town square, offering an intimate look at the country’s burgeoning democracy.
• F R I D AY, M AY 14 • 5:30PM
Someone Like Me 9:00PM
Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy • S AT U R D AY, M AY 15 • 1:00PM
In the Rumbling Belly of Motherland 5:30PM
FANNY: The Right to Rock 9:00PM
Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché
At Its Own Rhythm
Bicentenario
At Its Own Rhythm (A su propio ritmo) lifts the curtain on a relatively unknown audiovisual archive chronicling the early years and struggles of the Cuban Revolution: the Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano (ICAIC Latin American Newsreel). Pairing politically charged visuals with an eclectic soundtrack, Jorge Ayala-Isaza’s film asserts Cuba’s vital role in reshaping the iconography of one of the 20th century’s most revolutionary movements.
Two hundred years after Simón Bolívar’s liberation journey across Colombia, Bicentenario reflects on the Liberator’s spirit and legacy, kept alive through social rituals of remembrance and mired by political mysticism, doctrine and a curse that has fixed itself in the collective imagination of an entire continent. Summoning Bolívar’s spirit to the exact sites that witnessed the battles, it is this curse that Bicentenario seeks to invoke and, perhaps, exorcise.
Jorge Ayala-Isaza, Canada, 2019, 20 mins
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Pablo Alvarez Mesa, Canada, 2020, 40 mins
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FAMILY IN FOCUS Family is the underlying thread in this collection of short films. From reflections of Bill Reid’s granddaughter to the closing of a family restaurant in Campbell River, as well as issues of gender identity, caregiving and immigration in the time of COVID-19, these five stories explore plural meanings of home, family and legacy.
A Golden Voice
Homegoing
Over 20 years have passed since the work of Bill Reid has been explored on film. Patrick Shannon and Jenn Strom’s A Golden Voice is an imaginative take on the origin story of one of Turtle Island’s most iconic Haida artists.
In the United States, permanent residency applications were temporarily suspended during COVID-19 lockdowns. Yeon Park’s portrait film quietly observes a South Korean couple’s struggle to define where home is as they await their Green Cards.
Patrick Shannon and Jenn Strom, Canada, 2020, 6 mins
Yeon Park, US, 2021, 18 mins
WORLD PREMIERE
Into Light
Kalinga (Care)
Koto: The Last Service
In Sheona McDonald’s gorgeous film, a mother and child in Yellowknife navigate the complexities of gender identity. Capturing the duo’s journey to acceptance, authenticity and allyship, Into Light ultimately asks, “When a child reveals who they truly are on the inside, how does a parent set aside their own expectations to help them become their most authentic self?”
At the age of six, director Kent Donguines’s mother left him and his family to become a nanny. Years later, his film Kalinga (Care) shares the stories of several Filipina caregivers and nannies in Vancouver, bearing witness to their sacrifices as they struggle to reunite with their children and families.
After nearly 40 years, the family-run Koto Japanese Restaurant in Campbell River is closing down. Run by the Maeda family, the Koto is known for being one of the first authentic Japanese restaurants in the “Salmon Capital of the World.” Set during its final business days, Joella Cabalu’s film is a meditation on graceful goodbyes and the legacy of investing care and attention in relationships through sushi.
Sheona McDonald, Canada, 2020, 19 mins
Kent Donguines, Canada, 2020, 29 mins
Joella Cabalu, Canada, 2021, 15 mins
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HOMETOWN BANTER In this lineup of short films, we feature the bold, the quirky and the downright peculiar. Behold a flock of rogue local roosters, a problematic favourite restaurant in North Vancouver, the oldest nudist club in Canada (also in North Van?!), two celebrity grandmas, and a very small town struggling to capitalize on its most famous native: Madonna.
WORLD PREMIERE
Free Range
Gramma & Ginga: The Movie
The Jeffery family, though not farmers by trade, must rid their chicken coop of four brutish roosters. BC director Daniel Jeffery’s hilarious Free Range chronicles a daylong misadventure to 100 Mile House, where the family—and the roosters—don’t quite end up at the butchery.
Genevieve “Gramma” Musci and her sister Arlena “Ginga” Bashnett once lived a simple life. But at ages 104 and 99 respectively, the beloved sisters have suddenly become a viral sensation, with videos of their incessant bickering and comedic insight catching the attention of millions of people worldwide.
Daniel Jeffery, Canada, 2020, 15 mins
Jennifer Steinman Sternin, US, 2020, 31 mins
WORLD PREMIERE
Nude to Me
Smelly Little Town
The Tomahawk
When local filmmaker Danny Berish learns that his grandmother found love at a nudist camp, he sets off to explore his family history, which leads him to Canada’s oldest nudist club, Van Tan. Nude to Me is a charming plunge into naturism that ultimately asks, “What does it take to dare to go bare?”
When Madonna described her birthplace as a “little smelly town” on national television in 1987, local media turned public opinion against her. But as the town falls on hard times, Zach Neumeyer’s Smelly Little Town details one rust belt city’s indecision over whether to capitalize on the celebrity of its most famous native.
The fine line between kitsch and racism is examined in Lyana Patrick’s film about The Tomahawk, the oldest family-run restaurant in British Columbia.
Danny Berish, Canada, 2021, 20 mins
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Zach Neumeyer, US, 2020, 26 mins
Lyana Patrick, Canada, 2020, 3 mins
RATED Y FOR YOUTH
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RECKONINGS
From local skateparks and protests to deportations and endangered language preservation, this collection of short films explores the personal and collective reckonings of people working towards environmental change, immigration justice and Indigenous resilience.
Ale Libre
Inuit Languages in the 21st Century
Alejandra Pablo, a criminalized community organizer and unapologetic immigrant, is preparing for the biggest moment in her life—her deportation case. As her court date nears, this film follows Alejandra in her work for immigration and reproductive justice, all the while reckoning with a system threatening to tear her family apart.
What does language preservation look like in the digital age? True to form, young Inuit director Ulivia Ulivuk’s multimedia film explores the possibilities the internet offers for Inuktitut, a complex language currently under threat. Ulivuk asks, “Are there solutions so that these technologies are allies and not enemies?”
Maya Micaela Cueva, US, 2020, 17 mins
Joe Buffalo
What About Our Future?
Joe Buffalo is an Indigenous skateboard legend. He’s also a residential school survivor. As he emerges from a traumatic childhood and decades of addiction, local director Amar Chebib presents an intimate portrait of Joe’s journey to fulfill his lifelong dream of turning pro.
24 mins
Amar Chebib, Canada, 2021, 16 mins
Ulivia Uviluk, Canada, 2019, 10 mins
Jaime Leigh Gianopoulos and Cláudio Cruz, Canada, 2020,
“We are unstoppable, another world is possible!” chant the Sustainabiliteens, a group of young environmental activists who, in 2019, organized the largest climate strike in Vancouver’s history. What About Our Future? chronicles the everyday lives of these youth leaders as they organize, mobilize and pressurize for climate justice. STRE A MING AT DOX AFESTIVAL .CA
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CREATE FROM YOUR IMAGINATION
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MATERIAL OF MEMORY Some choose therapy to process grief; others make movies. In this collection of short films, four filmmakers take to the camera to explore, frame by frame, the loss of youth, of friends, of siblings and parents and, for one Italian village, of life as it once was.
CANADIAN PREMIERE
Burnt. Land of Fire
The Love and Death of Yosef and Zilli
Ben Donateo’s exquisite film is a slow portrait of Filippa di Mesoraca, a village in southern Italy’s Calabria region. Hit by the migration of its youth to the north, Burnt. Land of Fire captures what’s left of the village’s land, homes and residents.
After 62 years of marriage, Yosef and Zilli decide to take their own lives together. Dean Gold’s gentle film brings to life the memories of their love and premeditated deaths through the videotapes of their youngest son, Doron.
Ben Donateo, Switzerland, 2020, 15 mins
Dean Gold, Canada, 2020, 19 mins
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Still Processing
You are always 20
At the centre of Sophy Romvari’s film is a box of family photos, stowed away and unseen for decades. As these photos come into view for the first time, so too do Sophy’s lost memories. “I’m still not sure if it’s finished,” Sophy silently narrates, indicating that when it comes to matters of loss and grief, no one ever truly stops processing.
Cut entirely from an old feature film made by himself and his best friend at age 19, director Christer Wahlberg’s You are always 20 is a trip down memory lane as well as a personal reckoning with grief, loss and friendship.
Sophy Romvari, Canada, 2020, 16 mins
Christer Wahlberg, Sweden, 2020, 15 mins
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TRIPLE PLATINUM
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SHORTS
P R O G R A M
SIX MILES DEEP
WITH
FE AT U R E S
Space Lady
Sophia Feuer, US, 2020, 17 mins
Six Miles Deep
Indigenous Plant Diva
In February of 2006, members of the Iroquois Confederacy (the Haudenosaunee) set up a blockade near Caledonia, Ontario to stop a housing development on traditional land. Despite the media’s attendance at the time, minimal attention has ever been given to the Indigenous land protectors who were involved in the confrontation, and in particular to the crucial role played by the women of the Six Nations tribes, who stood their ground even as community chiefs asked their people to abandon the cause. Roque aims to remedy this exclusion, highlighting the role the clan mothers played in fortifying their people’s resolve, and her film is a stirring portrait of a group of women whose actions led to a cultural reawakening within their community. -KA
Artist, ethnobotanist, educator and activist Cease Wyss understands the healing powers of the plants that grow in downtown Vancouver, and passes on this ageless wisdom and unspoken language to her daughter, Senaqwila. -KA
Sara Roque, Canada, 2009, 43 mins
Kamala Todd, Canada, 2008, 9 mins
After 30 years of homelessness and busking, 71-yearold musician Susan Schneider (otherwise known as “The Space Lady”) is beginning to receive notoriety for her early contributions to electronic pop music, largely thanks to online word of mouth. Sophia Feuer’s film brings to light sensory, observational details from The Space Lady’s present life in rural Colorado—namely, her struggle to reclaim the music from the pain that encompasses it—while reflecting on her past. THIS FILM WILL PRECEDE THE FEATURE FILM, SISTERS WITH TRANSISTORS (p. 72)
CANADIAN PREMIERE
Sacred Brick Technology Still Here
JB The First Lady and Toni Lavallie, Canada, 2018, 6 mins
Hip-hop artist, activist and educator Jerilynn Webster (JB The First Lady) describes her music as political and positive. Amidst the powerful emotions evoked in her music video Still Here, love is strong. -KA
Ian Bertorelli, US, 2020, 15 mins
From city, to block, to building, to brick: Sacred Brick Technology invites the viewer to take a novel look at the familiar yet often unnoticed masonry unit. Exploring concepts of individual identity and magnitudes of scale in urban environments, Ian Bertorelli’s film follows the brick from its beginnings at the dawn of civilization to its role in building Chicago—a staggering metropolis constructed almost entirely out of the very earth on which it stands. THIS FILM WILL PRECEDE THE FEATURE FILM, AALTO (p. 47)
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