2023 DOXA Documentary Film Festival Program Guide

Book by Douglas McGrath Words and Music by Gerry Goffin & Carole King   Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil Music by Arrangement with Sony/ATV Music Publishing

by Steve Sidwell

Book by Colin Escott & Floyd Mutrux Original concept and direction by Floyd Mutrux Inspired by Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis & Carl Perkins

I am a (Wo)man .Transatlantic perspectives on political struggles in the 1960s–1970s in Guinea-Bissau, Morocco, the USA and France .

OUR MISSION:

To support a better understanding of the complexity of our times through engaging the public in documentary media as an art form .

WE ’RE COMMITTED TO:

• 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 .

The Documentary Media Society is located on the traditional and stolen territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples . We are immensely thankful for the opportunity to present challenging and affirming nonfiction media on these lands, which have been cared for by xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Skwxwú7mesh and səlilwətaɬ peoples in perpetuity . To work and live on stolen land requires consistent interrogation of given histories, systems and identities . We believe that documentaries can be an important tool in this process .

DOXA STAFF, BOARD & COMMITTEES:

BUSINESS AND FINANCE DIRECTOR

Atenas Contreras

PROGRAMMING DIRECTOR

Sarah Ouazzani

DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR

Sarah Bakke

VOLUNTEER SERVICES AND OPERATIONS DIRECTOR

Gina Garenkooper

PROGRAMMING COORDINATOR

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INDUSTRY COORDINATOR

Laura Arboleda

HOSPITALITY MANAGER

Sharon Bradley

COMMUNICATIONS + OUTREACH COORDINATOR

Brit Bachmann

DIGITAL PRINT TRAFFIC COORDINATOR

Eirinn McHattie

PROGRAM OUTREACH + VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR

Erica Hui

PROGRAMMING CONSULTANTS

Dharra Budicha

Selina Crammond

Milena Salazar

PROGRAM BOOK + WEBSITE COPY EDITOR

Patrick Geraghty

MEDIA RELATIONS

Marnie Wilson / Artsbiz Public Relations

GRAPHIC DESIGN

Steve Chow / chowdesign ca

WEB DEVELOPMENT

Left Right Minds / leftrightminds com

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Rudy Bootsma

Martin Gerson

TREASURER

Lizzy Karp

Jamala MacRae

Michelle Mason

Debra Pentecost SECRETARY

Natasha Tony VICE-CHAIR

Ken Tsui CHAIR

Ashleigh Withall

PROGRAMMING COMMITTEE

Dharra Budicha

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Joseph Clark

Selina Crammond

Bailey Nicholson

Ogheneofegor Obuwoma

Sarah Ouazzani

Carson Pfahl

Anant Prabhakar

Kris Rothstein

Milena Salazar

SCREENING COMMITTEE

Darren Alexander

Laura Arboleda

Farid Azar

Brit Bachmann

Sarah Bakke

Jurgen Beerwald

Josie Boyce

Dharra Budicha

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Atenas Contreras

Selina Crammond

Jessica Dymond

Gina Garenkooper

liisa hannus

Kimberly Ho

David House

Erica Hui

Melissa James

Jessica Johnson

Kat Krampol

Viktor Koren

Christina Larabie

Samantha Marier

Abigail Markowitz

Maleki Maziar

Bailey Nicholson

Ogheneofegor Obuwoma

Sarah Ouazzani

Kris Rothstein

Milena Salazar

Barney Sprague

Sara Wylie

Jeff Yu

FUNDRAISING COMMITTEE

Sarah Bakke

Joseph Bardsley

Jamala MacRae

Ken Tsui

Ashleigh Withall

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

GUEST CURATORS

Farah Clémentine

Dramani-Issifou

Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis

Nya Lewis

WRITERS

Tania Alekson

Brit Bachmann

Sarah Bakke

Josie Boyce

Dharra Budicha

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Joseph Clark

liisa hannus

Sarah Ouazzani

Kris Rothstein

Barney Sprague

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

Roelof Bootsma

Andrea Gin & Joseph Clark

Tony Fogarassy

Laura Moore

For more information about our individual giving program, contact Sarah Bakke, Development + Communications Director, at sarah@doxafestival.ca or 604.646.3200 extension 104 .

ADVOCATE

Wendy Oberlander

Not Just Coffee Fund

Vivienne Taylor

Jeff Gangnon

Roger Holdstock

Carol Newell

Debra Pentecost

MOTIVATOR

Colin Browne

Patrick Carroll

Kirk Chantraine

Janice Chutter

Marian Collins

Blair Cresswell

Tara Flynn

SUPPORTER

Simone Artaud

Harold Bakke

Eleanor Brockenshire

Peter Cameron

Paul Coulter

Simon Cowell

Jack Dlugan

Cynthia Flood

Marco Fratarcangeli

Selwyn Jacob

Carol Jerde

Bonnie Klein

Neil Naiman For Roger Holdstock’s 80th Birthday

Bruce Pentecost

In memory of Jeanne Pentecost

Carson Pfahl

Ana Policzer

Michele Rechtman Smolkin

Leslie Thompson

Chad Townsend

Ken Tsui

David Wong

Erlene Woollard

FRIEND

Leslie Adams

Mike Archibald

Rich Ashe

Brenda Benham

Richard Biederman

Michelle Bjornson

A Simone Broderick-Hale

Priscilla Brooke

Phil Byrne

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Sue Cormier

In memory of Michael Battley

Melanie Covey

Chris Dafoe

Lorraine Daoust

Richard Duggan

Sharon Fenton

Amber Fritz

Martin Gerson

Layne Hellrung

Tim Herron

Neil Jones-Rodway

Stacy LeBlanc

Jamala MacRae

Kenji Maeda

Cole Nowicki

Seth Oldham

Joseph Planta

Veronica Singer

Teri Snelgrove

Natasha Tony Bakke Wealth Management

Ellen Hamer

Stephenie Hendricks

Maureen Hunter

Annie Huston

Reet Kana

Peter Ladner

Lynn Ledgerwood

Denise A Lee

Jacqueline Levitin

Warren Lowe

Joanne MacKinnon

Miwa Matreyek

Michelle Mason

Andrew McCann

Gary McVarish

Adam O’Neill

Amanda Palmer

Matan Pawer

David Plackett

Deanna Reder

Olga Schwartzkopf

Esther Segal

Mona Sharman

Mo Simpson

In honour of Haida Paul

Hilary Somerville

Jane Srivastava

Sarah Taekema-Slot

Fondy Tam

John Thompson

Patricia Towell

Laura Track

Ralph Wells

Ashleigh Withall

Brandon Yan

...and all of our anonymous donors

PHOTO: SARAH DARUVALA

WELCOME FROM THE CHAIR OF THE BOARD

On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Documentary Media Society, I’m pleased to welcome you to the 2023 DOXA Documentary Film Festival .

Emerging out of a hybrid format, we are thrilled to invite audiences back to a fully-fledged, in-theatre program for the 22nd edition of DOXA .During these 11 days, DOXA will be returning to a more familiar festival form .

In the spirit of our commitment to sharing films and forums for discussion, we are proud to welcome local, national and international filmmakers to the festival . These opportunities to spark vibrant dialogue are essential ingredients to making DOXA such an exciting festival to attend . We are also pleased to host a cohort of emerging filmmaker mentees this year, as we introduce the Kris Anderson Connexions Mentorship Program . The Kris Anderson Youth Connexions Forum, named after one of DOXA’s founding members, ran from 2006 to 2013 and is evolving in 2023 while still continuing in the spirit of fostering documentary storytelling skills in emerging filmmakers who face barriers to success Along with a strong slate of industry events, DOXA remains committed to cultivating a diverse local documentary filmmaking community .

Documentaries can be windows into global points of view, and have the power to be windows beyond our own perspectives No program has been more grounded in that mandate than Thierry Garrell’s French French . Launched in 2015, it was a vibrant reflection of contemporary French non-fiction and a gateway to the international landscape . Thierry’s passion brought prestigious films and inimitable guests to DOXA, including Chris Marker and Claire Simon . In 2023 we bid farewell to French French, and we want to thank him for seven years of building a key bridge between DOXA and international film dialogues We remain inspired by his spirit of programming with an international eye, reflected in this year’s trio of guest curated programs—we are ecstatic to present programming from Nya Lewis, Farah Clémentine Dramani-Issifou, Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein .

The examination of labour and labour movements continues to resonate in our programming A priority at DOXA is to inspire action through documentary cinema, and this cornerstone issue has inspired us to take stock of the labour of festival work . DOXA was certified as a Living Wage Employer in February of 2021, and we continue to move towards being a human-centred society that prioritizes the well-being of its staff, contributors and volunteers as a way to seek a more sustainable future for the organization

I would like to thank the staff, volunteers, partners and sponsors in DOXA’s community .Thanks to all of you for bringing DOXA to life this year .I also want to acknowledge the dedication of fellow Board members, who continue to support the team and the society’s mandate Finally, we are deeply grateful to the filmmakers and audiences who will join us in fostering discourse through documentary as a powerful way to understand the matters of the day .

Ken Tsui BOARD CHAIR

“

A PRIORITY AT DOXA IS TO INSPIRE ACTION THROUGH DOCUMENTARY CINEMA.

WELCOME FROM THE PROGRAMMING DIRECTOR

The art of film offers us a chance to contemplate both the ugliness and the beauty of our inner worlds Sometimes the line between the two is thin

To consider this nuance is to turn away from what we do not like and to put our focus on the things that intrigue us . The cosmic films of this edition promise to aid us in this contemplation, as we encounter other people, places and spaces .

At DOXA 2023 you will meet filmmakers who are redefining documentary, as they continue to reinvent form and storytelling, inviting you to meet revolutionary figures and fragments from both earth and sky (2012/Through The Heart and Fragments from Heaven); expand and open a dialog between the living and the dead (Anhell69); and show us the determination of our communities to stay where they belong (Big Fight in Little Chinatown), all while creating innovative films that will make your head spin

Our two spotlights, Dance, Dance Otherwise We Are Lost and Thin Places, present films that fuse the disciplines of dance and filmmaking, and locales where a sense of Heaven and Earth meet, respectively .

Our short film programs also embrace a multitude of narratives, providing striking visual commentary .

This year, we have had the privilege of collaborating with four guest curators: Farah Clémentine Dramani-Issifou, who has built a short films program and written an essay on Transatlantic perspectives on political struggles of the 1960s to 1970s in Guinea-Bissau, Morocco, the USA and France; Nya Lewis, whose essay and chosen film reflect on Black Womanhood on “Both Sides of the Lens”; and Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis, who take us to Argentina to meet Nora Cortiñas, “the most famous of the white kerchief-wearing Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo— Argentina’s movement of women fighting for justice for their children . ”

It is the presence of these films and filmmakers that justify the existence of DOXA . These unique visions are the ones that the Kris Anderson Connexions Mentorship Program will champion, through the individual mentorship of emerging filmmakers At a time when major production and distribution channels are consolidated, it is essential that festivals do more than simply screen films After many years of development and hard work by our dedicated team, and in the face of numerous challenges, DOXA’s international reputation gives it the legitimacy it needs to support projects from idea to screen . It ensures that unique perspectives continue to show us new ways of viewing the world .

We are so grateful to our audiences, filmmakers, volunteers, partners, donors, our incredible Board and the 5 Star DOXA team, without whom this festival would not be possible I would also like to extend my gratitude to our French French curator, Thierry Garrel, who for the last seven years curated French “auteur” documentaries at DOXA .

Keeping a festival or arts organization alive nowadays is in itself a miracle; our former Director of Programming, Dorothy Woodend, would say that it’s not only a “Labour of Love” but a “Gulag of Love,” particularly in today’s hostile neoliberal context .Sometimes I wonder, how is it that we can continue to sustain and reinvent ourselves? But then I remember…

“Pliny the Elder was once preoccupied by a type of fly named pyrallis or pyrotocon, which was only able to fly within fire: as long as it remains in the fire, it can fly; when its flight takes it out too far a distance, it dies.” Goerges Didi-Huberman, Survival of the Fireflies (University of Minnesota Press, 2018)

Sarah Ouazzani DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMMING

“

IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT FESTIVALS DO MORE THAN SIMPLY SCREEN FILMS. ”

Welcome to the 2023 DOXA Documentary Film Festival!

Documentary film has the power to expand our horizons and help us better understand the lived experiences of people in our commuam happy that this festival will once again bring film lovers together to enjoy some outstanding documentaries, and make discoveries that educate, enlighten, and entertain

As Minister of Canadian Heritage, I would like to thank everyone at DOXA who helped make this year’s festival possible . I hope everyone taking part enjoys watching these films and celebrating voices and stories from Canada and around the world!

The Honourable Pablo Rodriguez MINISTER OF CANADIAN HERITAGE

On behalf of Premier David Eby and the Government of British Colum bia, welcome to the 2023 DOXA Documentary F

We look forward to another year of showcasing the best content in documentary cinema in Canada and beyond also offers several important programs that mentor the next generation of filmmakers and promote sto rytelling on screen These stories are often important agents of change, and the Province is pleased to sup port these initatives through Creative BC and the BC Arts Council

We would like to thank the organizers, sponsors and volunteers for their time and commitment congratulations to those whose work is being featured throughout the festival, and best wishes for another successful event .

The Honourable Lana Popham MINISTER OF TOURISM, ARTS, CULTURE AND SPORT

We could not be more excited to come back to the festival circuit to celebrate the artistry of film and showcase Canadian creatives around the world and at home .That is why we are proud to support the 2023 DOXA Documentary Film Festival!

We want to thank and congratulate the 2023 DOXA Documentary Film Festival for its continued support of diverse voices in film and for fostering the return to cinemas so we can all celebrate these talents from around the world in theatres once again

And remember, keep supporting Canadian talent in theatres and online whenever you can!

Francesca Accinelli

INTERIM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND CEO TELEFILM CANADA

On behalf of the BC Arts Council, I would like to welcome you to the 22nd annual DOXA Documentary Film Festival!

DOXA Documentary Film Festival returns with a hybrid edition for 2023, offering online experiences to engage local audiences and beyond, and a focus on welcoming visiting filmmakers to in-person screenings .With a commitment to cultivating curiosity and critical thought, presentations of both short and feature films from across Canada and the globe, industry-specific events and mentorship will be included in this year’s program .

However you are attending this year’s festival, I hope you will enjoy some of the best in documentary cinema .We are proud to be supporting this festival again this year!

Dr. Sae-Hoon Stan Chung CHAIR

The arts are a vital part of our society: they inspire us to reflect, bring us joy, nourish our sense of belonging, and strengthen our connections to one another and the wider world .

the arts now more than strong support for a resilient, inclusive and accessible arts sector benefits society in all its diversity .

Canada Council for the Arts is a proud supporter of the DOXA Documentary Film Festival and its creative contributions that bring the arts to life .

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

FUNDERS

MAJOR PARTNERS

CULTURAL PARTNERS AND CONSULATES

CONSUL AT GÉNÉRAL DE FR ANCE À VANCOUVER

INDUSTRY PROGRAM PREMIER PARTNERS

INDUSTRY PROGRAM SUPPORTERS

PREMIER MEDIA PARTNER

MAJOR MEDIA PARTNER

PREMIER PRINT MEDIA PARTNER

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 .

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 .

DOXA FEATURE DOCUMENTARY AWARD IN COMPETITION

Anhell69 (p. 41)

DIRECTED BY THEO MONTOYA

Cheenee (p. 45)

DIRECTED BY ANDREAS ANTONOPOULOS

Fragments from Heaven (p. 55)

DIRECTED BY ADNANE BARAKA

The Golden Thread (p. 55)

DIRECTED BY NISHTHA JAIN

Silent House (p. 69)

DIRECTED BY FARNAZ JURABCHIAN AND MOHAMMADREZA JURABCHIAN

La Singla (p. 59)

DIRECTED BY PALOMA ZAPATA

North Circular (p. 65)

DIRECTED BY LUKE MCMANUS

We Will Not Fade Away (p. 73)

DIRECTED BY ALISA KOVALENKO

Notes on Displacement (p. 67)

DIRECTED BY KHALED JARRAR

You Were My First Boyfriend (p. 73)

DIRECTED BY CECILIA ALDARONDO AND SARAH ENID HAGEY

COLIN LOW AWARD FOR BEST CANADIAN DIRECTOR

PRESENTED BY

IN COMPETITION

Karen Cho

Big Fight in Little Chinatown (p. 31)

Khoa Lê

Má Sài Gòn (Mother Saigon) (p. 61)

Kaveh Nabatian

Kite Zo A (Leave the Bones) (p. 37)

Rodrigue Jean and Arnaud Valade 2012/Through The Heart (2012/Dans le cœur) (p. 39)

Sean Horlor and Steve J Adams Satan Wants You (p.69)

Terra Long Feet in Water, Head on Fire (p. 53)

Dominique Chaumont Veranada (p. 72)

Geneviève Dulude-DeCelles Days (Les jours) (p. 49)

DOXA SHORT DOCUMENTARY AWARD IN COMPETITION

Tiny (p. 74)

DIRECTED BY RITCHIE HEMPHILL AND RYAN HACHÉ

Le Roi n’est pas mon cousin (The King is Not My Cousin) (p. 74)

DIRECTED BY ANNABELLE AVENTURIN

What They Left Behind (他們所留下的記憶 ) (p. 75)

DIRECTED BY VICKY XINGYU GU

Madeleine (p. 75)

DIRECTED BY RAQUEL SANCINETTI

lii bufloo aen loo kishkishiw (buffalo wolf memory) (p. 75)

DIRECTED BY DIANNE OUELLETTE

Chinatown 2050 (p. 76)

DIRECTED BY LINDA ZHANG AND MAXIM GERTLER-JAFFE

Zug Island (p. 76)

DIRECTED BY NICOLAS LACHAPELLE

Sister Mother Lover Child (p. 76)

DIRECTED BY NADIA SHIHAB

My Body Is A Poem/The World

Makes With Me (p. 77)

DIRECTED BY BRANDON WINT

Mulika (p. 77)

DIRECTED BY MAISHA MAENE

When We Fight (p. 79)

DIRECTED BY YAEL BRIDGE AND YONI GOLIJOV

BLUSH – An Extraordinary Voyage (p. 77)

DIRECTED BY IITI YLI-HARJA

NIGEL MOORE AWARD FOR YOUTH PROGRAMMING

DOXA is extremely proud to present the Nigel Moore Award for Youth Programming, first launched in 2013 . Named in memory of Nigel Moore, a young man whose passion for knowledge, exploration and advocacy found a home

audiences, documentary has particular relevance . The world in which they are growing up is an increasingly complex place . not only captures this complexity, but also has the capacity to act as a catalyst for social change and fundamentally alter people’s behaviour 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 .

IN COMPETITION

King Coal (p. 35)

DIRECTED BY ELAINE MCMILLION SHELDON

Kaatohkitopii: The Horse

He Never Rode (p. 57)

DIRECTED BY TREVOR SOLWAY

When We Fight (p. 79)

DIRECTED BY YAEL BRIDGE AND YONI GOLIJOV

Muanapoto (p. 75)

DIRECTED BY CHRISS ITOUA

Coming Around (p. 47)

DIRECTED BY SANDRA ITÄINEN

We Will Not Fade Away (p. 73)

DIRECTED BY ALISA KOVALENKO

ELEVATE AWARD

PRESENTED BY

The Elevate Award celebrates outstanding work by a filmmaker from an equity-deserving community Filmmakers with lived experience outside the white, cis-hetero, neurotypical and able-bodied “norm” face barriers to success in the documentary industry—the Elevate Award amplifies their excellence .

Films in competition are listed on our website.

PHOTO: FANDY MUCH

DOXA INDUSTRY

MAY 6-16

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 and registration details

12PM PST

Masterclass with Amy Miller

Award winning director, producer and activist Amy Miller will present a special masterclass to celebrate the World Premiere of her latest feature, Manufacturing The Threat .We will examine her work in the documentary medium and the power of doc as a catalyst for social change and justice CO-PRESENTED

Collective Authorship: Katerina Cizek in Conversation

Inspired by the release of the collectively authored book Collective Wisdom, this discussion will explore co-creation in media as a concept and a practice . Celebrated filmmaker and educator Katerina Cizek will be in conversation with various creators about alternatives to the idea of the solitary author, with practical examples including the artists’ own work and films from the archives of the National Film Board of Canada . CO-PRESENTED

VIFF CENTRE 1181 SEYMOUR ST.

5PM PST

Work in Progress: Norita

DOXA’s mission is to offer the public a true im mersion into documentary through unique critical experiences, going beyond a simple viewing of a film DOXA is first and foremost a meeting place, a space for discussions to develop around both local and international issues Come and get a first look at Jayson McNamara’s Norita, followed by a discussion with guest curators and the filmmaker on the secrets of the film, anecdotes about its making and its political context .

This is a ticketed event. Please see our website for more details.

Case Study: Tiny Documentaries

In this intimate case study, we’ll dive into the work of filmmakers Ritchie Hemphill and Ryan Haché as they discuss the creation of their short film imation in documentary storytelling

Alternative Forms of Distribution

How do you get your film seen? And how do you plan a successful release? Festivals, broadcasters, streaming platforms and community screenings—oh my! This distribution panel will look at alternative forms of distribution (i e centers, documentary streaming platforms, independent distributors and cooperatives) from across the country .

5PM PST

Focus on Editing: Terra Long

Join us for a conversation with Terra Long as she talks about her editing career, hand-processing practices, and her feature directorial debut Feet in Water, Head on Fire .

CO-PRESENTED BY

MAY 9, 11 & 16

VIDEO WORKSHOPS

MAY 9 | 2PM-3:30PM

INSPIRATION LAB’S PRESENTATION SPACE

Let’s Talk Planning a Video Project

Do you want to make a video, but aren’t sure where to start? Join us in the Inspiration Lab to see what’s possible for your video project! No registration required.

MAY 11 | 2PM-3:30PM

INSPIRATION LAB’S PRESENTATION SPACE

Recording a Video Project

You don’t need a big budget to make a great video! There are tons of ways to get creative with your camera . Join us to learn how to make the most of your video recording equipment .Registration required.

MAY 16 | 2PM-3:30PM

INSPIRATION LAB’S COMPUTER GALLERY

Editing a Video Project with Premiere Pro

Learn the basics of editing video with Adobe Premiere Pro in this hands-on class! No registration required. Seating is limited, please arrive early.

KRIS ANDERSON CONNEXIONS MENTORSHIP PROGRAM

2023 is a very special year for DOXA—we’re bringing mentorship and filmmaker education back!

The Kris Anderson Connexions Mentorship Program will facilitate one-on-one mentorship between an experienced documentary filmmaker and an emerging filmmaker . The program will create a space for participants to discuss their creative practice and their goals with a mentor who can speak to their specific needs, while also making space for peer mentorship and collaboration .

The Kris Anderson Youth Connexions Forum, named after one of DOXA’s founders, was an exciting part of DOXA’s programming from 2006 to 2013 and was designed to foster documentary filmmaking and storytelling skills in emerging filmmakers who face barriers in attaining their career goals We intend to carry forward the original spirit and intent of the program, while continuing its evolution in meeting the matters of the day .

For more information on this year’s Connexions program, visit the DOXA website

PRESENTED BY

VPL CENTRAL BRANCH 350 WEST GEORGIA ST.

SPOTLIGHT

“DANCE, DANCE OTHERWISE WE ARE LOST”

- PINA BAUSCH

As German dancer Pina Bausch once advised: “Dance, dance otherwise we are lost ” In an effort to make sense of their world, these films meld the disciplines of dance and filmmaking, strengthening relationships between ancestors, culture and community in the process .

Cheenee (p .45)

Andreas Antonopoulos, Trinidad and Tobago, 2022, 60 mins Sugar—“cheenee” in Hindi—was the resource behind the forced relocation of thousands of Indians to Trinidad and Tobago . Cheenee is the story of how Indian immigrants struggled, and later flourished, as a community within the Caribbean . Through archival material mixed with contemporary versions of classical dances, the combined cultural influences of the island are seen .

Kite Zo A (Leave the Bones) (p 37)

Kaveh Nabatian, Canada/Haiti, 2022, 70 mins

In a creative and immersive experience, Kite Zo A (Leave the Bones) weaves together ancestral veneration, choreographed dance and interviews to tell a story of fighting back against colonial oppression Formally and thematically, the film builds up to Kanaval, a cathartic celebration of joy and endurance .

A Way To B (p 41)

Jos de Putter and Clara van Gool, Netherlands, 2022, 96 mins Barcelona’s Liant la Troca dance collective is made up of artists with diverse physical disabilities who create expressive stories with their bodies, challenging ableist assumptions and expectations .In a tender set of portraits, A Way To B showcases a joyous and resilient look at humanity .

La Singla (p 59)

Paloma Zapata, Spain/Germany, 2023, 95 mins

Antonia Singla, born deaf to a Romani family in the suburbs of Barcelona, rose to international acclaim by the age of 17 with her powerful flamenco . Then, at the height of her fame, she disappeared Director Paloma Zapata delves into La Singla’s revolutionary dance legacy, intertwining Antonia’s history with the passionate rage of her performances .

SPOTLIGHT THIN PLACES

“There are places,” says Irish writer Kerri ní Dochartaigh, “both hollowed and hallowed, all in one ” Thin places, as they are known in the Celtic tradition, are locales where a sense of Heaven and Earth meet .But in this dense collection of films, Hell is present too

Anhell69 (p .41)

Theo Montoya, Colombia/Romania/France/Germany, 2022, 75 mins

Part queer ghost story, part ode to Colombian cinema, director Theo Montoya was set to make his first fiction film when his protagonist died of an overdose at 21 Now a phantom of its former cinematic self, Anhell69 bores its gaze into the streets of Medellín, where political violence directs the doubts and dreams of a generation

Excess Will Save Us (p .53)

Morgane Dziurla-Petit, Sweden, 2022, 100 mins

An eccentric village in northern France features squarely in this tragicomedy from director Morgane Dziurla-Petit, who happens to call it home When a falsely suspected terrorist threat throws the village into a full-scale theatre of war, the French media, paranoia and xenophobia play their parts dutifully

Feet in Water, Head on Fire (p

Terra Long, Canada/USA, 2023, 90 mins

Fragments from Heaven (p

55)

Adnane Baraka, Morocco/France, 2022, 84 mins

In the sweeping vastness of the Moroccan desert, a search party seeks fallen celestian stones . Wondrously shot, Adnane Baraka’s atmospheric film encircles nomads and scientists as they comb the land for a piece of the sky

Má Sài Gòn (Mother Saigon) (p .61)

Khoa Lê, Canada, 2023, 100 mins

Following various members of the Queer and Trans community in Saigon, Khoa Lê constructs a series of intimate portraits Lingering on desire, belonging and the spaces between, Má Sài Gòn (Mother Saigon) tenderly observes not only the sight of love, but the site of it

North Circular (p 65)

Luke McManus, Ireland, 2022, 86 mins

The Golden Thread (p 55)

Nishtha Jain, India/Bosnia-Herzegovina/Netherlands/ Norway/UK, 2022, 91 mins

Sonically immersive and made with creative precision, The Golden Thread follows the production of jute fibre from farm, harvest and transport, to the jute mills of West Bengal .But what will remain for workers as the industry shifts from quality to profit?

Veranada (p .72)

Dominique Chaumont, Canada/Argentina, 2022, 75 mins

At summer’s end, in the uplands of the Argentinian Andes, a lone herder migrates his flock in search of greener pastures, as the region withers from unprecedented drought .Veranada is a contemplative observation of a remote community bearing the brunt of climate change

20 Days in Mariupol

(p 39)

Mstyslav Chernov, Ukraine, 2023, 95 mins

53)

Planted for generations, miles of date palm trees from the Middle East dot the landscape of Southern California . Terra Long’s sensorial film curiously traces, like fault lines, the people and vegetation shaping the region’s identity, whether inherited or imported .

Shot in black and white, Luke McManus’s meditative film is a musical ode to Dublin’s (in)famous, working class North Circular Road Tackling issues of class, poverty, incarceration and colonization, the various strands of North Circular are harmonized through traditional Irish music and community fellowship through song

After nearly a decade of conflict reporting, Ukrainian journalist Mstyslav Chernov’s first film painfully documents his country at war, as he and his colleagues remain trapped in a city under siege A harrowing account of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, 20 Days in Mariupol is an increasingly important and courageous piece of documentary journalism

JUSTICE FORUM

For 13 years, 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 prerecorded conversation between speakers relevant to its issue, including filmmakers, experts in the field, academics and/or community activists .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 .

How to Save a Dead Friend (p 57)

Marusya Syroechkovskaya, Sweden/Norway/France/ Germany, 2022, 103 mins

Marusya is a teenager in post-Soviet Russia, lacking a way forward—until she meets her soulmate, Kimi . But as they mature, Marusya and Kimi’s paths diverge and the couple separates as the totalitarian state closes in around them . Filmed over 12 years, How to Save a Dead Friend depicts a lost generation growing up without a clear vision for the future, but embracing love, irreverence and joy all the same .

Delikado (p .51)

Karl Malakunas, Philippines, 2022, 94 mins

The island of Palawan contains one of the oldest and most biodiverse rainforests in the world . Delikado follows three land defenders—Bobby, Tata, and Nieves—as they fight to save their homeland from the violence of capitalism . In his directorial debut, Karl Malakunas showcases a timely story set in one of the most dangerous places to be a land defender Ang Lupa ay Buhay! Land is Life!

Powerlands (p 67)

Ivey-Camille Manybeads Tso, Navajo Nation, 2022, 75 mins

At age 19, Ivey-Camille Manybeads Tso began making a film about her home, Dinétah, and the Navajo Nation’s struggle against resource colonization at the hands of the mining, oil and gas industries .Along the way, she discovered that her people were not alone: Indigenous resistance movements across the globe are combating the destructiveness of resource extraction and the environmental racism being perpetrated by multinational corporations Both sweeping in scope and deeply personal, Powerlands offers a vision of hope in the face of corporate power .

Twice Colonized

(p .71)

Lin Alluna, Canada/Denmark/Greenland, 2023, 92 mins

Inuit lawyer Aaju Peter is determined to bring Indigenous voices to the European Union through the creation of a permanent Indigenous Peoples’ forum Filmed over seven years, Twice Colonized documents Aaju in different stages of reckoning, as she ultimately attempts to understand how to change the world by decolonizing one’s mind .

Kokomo City (p 33)

D. Smith, USA, 2023, 73 mins

Sharing reflections on desire, taboo, identification in labour and gender’s many meanings, four Black transgender women working as sex workers offer a cutting analysis of Black culture and society at large from a vantage point that is vibrating with energy, sex, provocation and hard-earned wisdom

Rated Y for Youth is back for its 14th edition! Curated with the intention of facilitating media literacy through thought-provoking documentaries, this programme offers films for high school students and youth, providing them with an opportunity to appreciate cinema while engaging in open dialogues on a broad range of social issues . Each Rated Y for Youth film includes 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 .

Coming Around (p 47)

Sandra Itäinen, USA, 2023, 75 mins

Twenty-eight-year-old Eman is many things: a scholar, an artist, a Palestinian-Egyptian . She’s also a queer Muslim woman, with a devoutly religious psychiatrist mother to whom she struggles to come out . Sandra Itäinen’s Coming Around is an intimate portrait of Eman’s process, documenting the tension between appeasement and autonomy as Eman makes decisions that fundamentally alter the course of her relationships, both with herself and the people she loves .

Preceded by the short film, Muanapoto .

Kaatohkitopii: The Horse He

Never Rode (p 57)

Trevor Solway, Siksika, Alberta, 2022, 65 mins

Weaving through intergenerational memory, Trevor Solway’s film is a visual chronicling of his Blackfoot family’s history, at the centre of which is his grandfather Sonny, a life-long rancher .Through family interviews, archival footage and reenactments, Trevor explores the defining moments of Grandpa Sonny’s life—residential school, horsemanship, love—that have, in turn, come to define Trevor

King Coal (p 35)

Elaine McMillion Sheldon, USA, 2022, 79 mins

In Central Appalachia, the decline of coal as an industry haunts the region and its people .They cling to something that no longer represents livelihood but remains essential to their way of life Viewed through the dreamlike perspective of a young girl, King Coal is a surreal and immersive exploration of alternative futures for a community on the cusp of change

When We Fight (p .79)

Yael Bridge and Yoni Golijov, USA, 2022, 30 mins

In the second largest school district in the United States, a vote to go on strike rallies the support of 98 percent of teachers When We Fight is a rousing testament to the collective action of teachers, students and parents, from the picket line to the bargaining table .

Muanapoto (p .75)

Chriss Itoua, France, 2022, 29 mins

In Lingala, muanapoto means “child of France”—a term used to describe the cultural gap between Congolese parents and children born on separate continents . As he considers how to come out to his Congolese mother, Chriss Itoua turns the filmmaking process into a dialogue, rooted in respect, between her heritage and his identity .

This f ilm will precede the feature film, Coming Around.

We Will Not Fade Away (p

73)

Alisa Kovalenko, Ukraine/Poland/France, 2023, 100 mins Donbas, Ukraine, 2019 . As shells strike the region bordering Russia, f ive teenagers attempt to live lives of normalcy—creating music, taking photographs and fixing motorbikes . When an opportunity to join an expedition to Mount Everest emerges, all five take the leap, yearning to escape reality .Alisa Kovalenko’s tenacious film portrays a cynical yet hopeful generation that, as of this writing, faces a fully fledged war

SO LONG FRENCH FRENCH!

“But are you French French?” Canadians would often ask me when they noticed my accent, suggesting mezza voce I am not one of those French Canadians! This funny bit of confusion became the title of DOXA’s French documentary programme, French French Since 2015, the programme’s seven editions have illustrated the politique des auteurs (auteurs theory), which is still the best gift France has given to the history of cinema and documentary filmmaking .

Showcasing retrospectives as well as new films in the presence of the filmmakers who made them, French French has introduced British Columbian audiences to old masters and talented newcomers who have been invited with the support of the French Consulate in Vancouver, the Institut Français, Unifrance and, above all, SCAM, the French authors society . In 2019, Italia Italia extended the programme to other schools of European documentary .Of this Italian excursion, I wrote, “There are many mansions in my documentary house . ”

In addition to screening almost 100 films, more than 25 filmmakers have delivered invigorating masterclasses, passionate Q&As and industry talks They have helped to shape a rich cultural landscape where the diversity of voices, écritures and the art of cinema have enlarged our thinking around the contemporary world, including its past, its values and its future . Let’s hope that DOXA will continue for many years to develop future programming for the pleasure and continued enrichment of its vibrant and passionate audiences

Thierry Garrel

CURATOR OF FRENCH FRENCH (2015–2022)

MEMORIES OF FRENCH FRENCH

I remember the first time I met Thierry Garrel . We were on a film jury and at the end of the deliberations, he called over the then-Director of the festival and jokingly slapped him across the face for the programming choices he’d made At the time, I remember thinking “Who the heck is this guy!?” And more importantly, “Why is he so committed to documentary?”

The first edition of French French at DOXA is something I will never forget . In addition to a selection of films from the legendary ARTE series Cinéma, de notre temps, there was a collection of new works from filmmakers Laurent Bécue-Renard (Of Men and War) and Anna Roussillon (Je suis le peuple) But it wasn’t simply the films and the filmmakers themselves, although they were powerful enough, but the sensibility on offer . In essence, a deep and abiding respect for what documentary cinema could be: radical, revelatory, profound, resoundingly beautiful .Art, in other words .

Over the years that Thierry and I worked together, I occasionally wanted to hit him with something heavy, but I was in utter thrall to the films he selected for DOXA Whether it was Claire Simon, Alice Diop, Chris Marker or my beloved Alain Cavalier, these films changed me on a cellular level .

Of all the many things that happened at DOXA during my tenure as Director of Programming (and it was a lot!), French French remains the thing that I am most proud of It wasn’t always easy, but great things are rarely easy and that includes Thierry Garrel

Dorothy Woodend

DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMMING (2010–2017)

VIVE LE DOCUMENTAIRE!

During the second year of French French I was working as Programming Coordinator when, after a busy few festival days, I sought refuge in God’s Offices by Claire Simon—a film programmed as part of the first North American retrospective on Simon An intimately provocative film that still gives me chills when I think about it .

Other highlights of past iterations have included showing Olivier Babinet’s stylized teen-drama Swagger to a whip-smart group of high school students .Alain Cavalier’s perfect character portraits of working class women in France (24 Portraits of Alain Cavalier) was a major discovery for me and remains essential viewing for all interested in short-form documentary filmmaking

Chris Marker’s Greek philosophy-inspired television series The Owl’s Legacy was a startling revelation of what television could be, and in the same way, French French expanded my definition of a documentary .The 2019 program Italia Italia extended geographic bounds by presenting a rich mix of films from Italy, including a masterful collection of mafia films by one of the sweetest filmmakers I’ve ever met, Mosco Levi Boucault

I’m grateful for my time working with Thierry . His fiery passion for cinema is contagious, and like the filmmakers he championed, his approach to programming French French was adventurous and uncompromising . As DOXA continues to champion documentary as an artform and to collaborate with curators from around the world, I’m excited to see how the legacy of French French will live on

Selina Crammond DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMMING (2017–2021)

PHOTOS CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: THIERRY GARREL INTERVIEW (2018); FRENCH FRENCH RECEPTION AT THE CINEMATHEQUE (2022); DOROTHY WOODEND AND CLAIRE SIMON (2015); FRENCH FRENCH RECEPTION AT THE CINEMATHEQUE (2022); FRANÇOIS CAILLAT POST-SCREENING Q&A (2022); THIERRY GARREL WITH GUEST (2018); CLAIRE SIMON MASTERCLASS (2015)

A RADICAL PLURIVERSE:

REFLECTIONS ON BLACK WOMANHOOD ON BOTH SIDES OF THE LENS

BY NYA LEWIS

When African and Black women evoke a strategy of self-proclamation, it changes lives Summoning through art, critical texts, rigorous study, a commitment to shaping cultural memory through restorative representational acts of care I return to the challenges of self-documentation that live within the limitations of imaging Blackness and particularly Black womanhood, in awe of how self-actualization becomes central to the work of conceptualizing our lives in social space .

An embodiment and physical manifestation of world-making .

The undeniable genesis of Black womanhood in the aftermath of slavery is the ongoing development of affirmation through which we form our identities Oral and documented declarations of self propel us into spheres of being we simultaneously design and operate .Though I haven’t been gifted stories that predate my great-grandmother, I’d like to think our sources of self-regard exist far beyond resistance to colonial and post-colonial contrived references to the Black woman . I consider it a privilege to access a spiritual legacy of mothers, sisters and daughters—a lineage or genealogy of Black women(hood) that is defined by collective self-awareness, shared political consciousness, love, magic, quests for liberation and futurism .

Omitting redundant queries concerning external constructs of Blackness, I acknowledge the strategic and deliberate formation of these tropes and unchecked sentiments within institutions, in form or in thought . Scholarship from Afro-diasporic feminist thinkers like Alice Walker, bell hooks, Patricia Hill Collins, Maria Isabel Romero Ruiz and Hortense Spiller build a foundational understanding of the complex trajectory of harm Black women experience in the media Ripped from their sovereignty and purged from intellectual spaces, impacts of race, class and gender have long upheld the imaging of Afro-diasporic women . Far more dire than the crosswinds of history is Western infatuation with Blackness, Black womanhood and efforts toward its destruction, reinforcing the societal power dynamic between the historically (pre-determined) author and (imposed) subject . Particularly for systematically marginalized communities, the threat of documentary is the power of the documentary: the provisional truth, the uninvited and the intention and supposed authority to mediate, adopt and appropriate Understanding this exploitative power is imperative to determining modes of resistance— the

bravery of illuminating a version of self beyond the veil of whiteness is unique to the condition of Black women under imperial scrutiny . At constant odds with a visual, literary, emotional, social, living and breathing archive of colonial thought is our ongoing interpretive intervention We have always done the double work of creating intercommunal guides: how we see ourselves, while dismantling the archive and how they see us . Black women documentarians dismantle the universalizing logic of Western visual regimes .

Black women are rarely both the subjects and authors of artistic studies, but are instead objects for social scientific investigation as exotic representatives, often partially or completely bereft of cultural grounding or clear identity The common characterizations of ghetto girl, class poor, one African (dissolving nuance), jezebel or mammy provided “sufficient” depictions of the Black woman form to serve white society .The Western desire to author, contain, frame and collect meaning-making perpetuates an often violent “othering” into our social and visual consciousness, outlining the anthropological implications of a voyeuristic chronicle Where Black women push themselves into visibility, their work holds the potential to call into existence complex and decisive articulations of history There is an almost indistinguishable line between the politicization of the Black woman and the visual history of Blackness in front of the lens .

Thus, the transformative potential of a documentary: a self-portrait, a counter archive and a voice of adamant positioning that foregrounds the lived experiences of Afro-diasporic women, expanding, interrogating and disrupting conventional storytelling It can be an offering of “tell it like it is” interventions against assimilation, language and respectability I champion an approach that prioritizes the redistribution of authority, burgeoning opportunities for new narratives, expansion of accessibility and the daylighting of our disillusionment .In this gesture of autonomy, marginalized communities take up self-imaging as a tool to establish, enact and reflect on their presence in complex and meaningful ways .Practices that require both adjacency and cross-disciplinary methodologies challenge surface-level representations of Black womanhood in favor of participatory telling, and rearticulate public visual narratives that bridge the personal and subjective, and document lived experiences beyond their current state of representation with care It is through this lens that we produce an honest, multilayered framing of Black womanhood, ancestry, identity and coming of age . Self-documentation as a mechanism of power, ascribing new meanings to our experiences through reclamation, preservation, grounding and collective self-care .

“You are now entering my universe .I am the lens, the subject, the authority . ”

REBECA HUNTT

“

I CONSIDER IT A PRIVILEGE TO ACCESS A SPIRITUAL LEGACY OF MOTHERS, SISTERS AND DAUGHTERS.

I AM A ( WO ) MAN .

TRANSATLANTIC PERSPECTIVES ON POLITICAL STRUGGLES IN THE 1960 s –1970 s IN GUINEA-BISSAU, MOROCCO, THE USA AND FRANCE .

CURATED BY FARAH CLÉMENTINE DRAMANI-ISSIFOU

In the 1960s and 1970s, the world was shaken by anti-colonial, anti-racist and anti-capitalist struggles .

As early as the 1950s and ‘60s, filmmakers had mobilized the means of cinema to denounce the ravages of colonialism Invented in 1895, only 10 years after the Berlin Conference that saw the continent of Africa divided between the great European powers, cinema was initially used as a tool to convey colonial ideology . The Laval Decree (1934–1960) forbade anyone to film without the authorization of the lieutenant governor of the French colony . In the films produced during that era, colonial violence is omitted and the local populations are never given a voice—until Independence, Africans could not represent themselves . However, a few French filmmakers took up the camera to fight colonialism and its violent effects: René Vautier’s Afrique 50 (1950) was censored for 40 years Also censored was the Alain Resnais, Chris Marker and Ghislain Cloquet–directed pamphlet Les statues meurent aussi (1953) .Their film denounced the lack of consideration for “Negro art,” which was shown in Paris at the ethnographic Musée de l’Homme, while art from An-

cient Greece or Egypt was exhibited at the more prestigious Louvre . Other films that shed light on the colonial condition were made later, but were often directed by white people French filmmaker Mario Marret (1920–2000), who alternated between radio operator, resistance fighter, polar explorer, militant filmmaker and psychoanalyst, joined Marker in the Medvedkine Groups, a militant documentary film collective . He participated in the collective production of À bientôt j’espère (1968), a documentary on the 1967 labour strike in a Besançon textile plant . In the 1960s, Marret travelled several times to Guinea-Bissau where he filmed Nossa Terra (1966), a film that captures the struggle in the midst of the guerrilla war for independence of the country .

The Years of Lead in Morocco from the 1960s to the 1980s, during the politically oppressive rule of King Hassan II, saw the mobilization of students claiming their anger and organizing anti-colonial and pro-democracy demonstrations In (Wanted, 2011), Moroccan director Ali Essafi strives to reactivate some of Morocco’s collective utopias through little-known archival and censored images, and uses

film extracts from Moroccan cinematographic heritage to restore the political stakes of the student revolts in the 1970s A former Marxist-Leninist activist incarcerated during this time explains the gap of missing images at the outset of the documentary: “There were few photos then,” and “we avoid ed photos,” to preserve the anonymity of the activists . It is with a formal freedom that Essafi manages decades later to represent and capture these years of repression and clandestinity in Morocco

Solidarity was being established between workers’ unions and the film industry throughout the 1950s, mostly by white men, but with a few notable exceptions Madeline Anderson directed Integration Re port 1 in 1960, which is considered the first documentary film direct ed by an African-American woman The 20-minute short filmed in Alabama, Brooklyn and Washington, DC, is a vital record of the civil rights movement, incorporating footage by documentary filmmakers Albert Maysles and Ricky Leacock, protest songs by Maya Angelou, and a speech by Martin Luther King, Jr of the situation in the United States, 1960 was the year of inde pendence for many African countries, and it also marked the birth of continental cinema Director, editor and producer Madeline Anderson saw film as a means of expressing and telling the story of African Americans in a different, combative and committed way 400 low-paid Black women hospital workers in Charleston, South Carolina, went on strike to demand recognition of their union and a pay raise, and were confronted by state troopers and the National Guard Anderson was contacted by the Drug, Hospital, and Health Care Employees Local 1199 union in New York, who asked her to docu ment the strike Featuring activists Andrew Young, Charles Abernathy and Coretta Scott King, I Am Somebody (1970) is a crucial document in the struggle for African American women workers’ rights Devil is a Condition (1973) by Carlos de Jesus explores the housing conditions and needs of poor Puerto Rican and Black communities living side-by-side during the late ‘60s and ‘70s, set to a soundtrack of free jazz and poetry To take a place like New York, where the des tinies of the two communities feel inextricably tied, recounting that exchange/relationship is enduringly important Jumping to Brooklyn, and back to The Bronx, The Devil is a Conditio capsule of a burning New York, as well as a depiction of how some things have still failed to change .The documentary was timely then and remains so now in how it depicts the two communities relying on each other both artistically, as well as for social progress

At the same time on the other side of the Atlantic, Med Hondo—a formative filmmaker in African cinema, as well as actor and voice actor— was filming the anti-racist struggles taking place in France in the 1960s voisins (My Neighbours, 1974), he uses his camera to bring the experiences of Af rican immigration in France to the screen . Part of a larger documentary project

(Les Bicots-nègres, vos voisins), the film gives voice to African immigrant workers who describe their daily lives and the racism they face in the labour and housing markets of Paris The first witness, a worker at Renault, explains how he was moved from Flins to Billancourt—to a distant and unheated home— without being able to pay for a hotel to rest in In addition to poor housing, he describes being coerced and subjected to racism by his foreman, who prevented him from exercising his rights . Recorded in a café, the first interview surprises with a radical formal choice: the refusal to dub the witness, and to let him speak to the end of his story before pausing, so that his voice may be better heard; only once he has finished speaking does the image stop scrolling to translate what has been said The worker appears first and foremost as a human being with a voice, even before participating in the discourse of the film Likewise, Hondo’s neighbours are shown as who they are: proletariats facing the joint exploitation of capital and the colonial state . A short animated sequence concludes the film that depicts an alliance of Western leaders (Georges Pompidou and Richard Nixon) and African autocrats on the altar of the dollar . Counteracting exploitation happens through collective organizing, and always begins with the telling and sharing of experiences To one of Hondo’s comrades who declares that he does not want to ask for more than what the French people have, a witness replies that the French are not at home either because one is never really “at home” as long as one is a worker .

ogs Were Quiet (Et les chiens se taisaient, 1974), directed by and starring Sarah Maldoror, is based on a dramatic play of the same name written by the Martinique poet Aimé Césaire, and tells the story of a revolutionary as he dies in the midst of a great collective disaster (Gabriel Glissant) relives his hesitations, his impulses, his dreams, his defeats, his victories: First, we witness the birth of the hero in the colonial setting, and his initiation into solitude amidst the contradictory solicitations of the spirit of life and amor fati; next, we see his spiritual struggle, grappling with forces of feeling and forces of the past; finally, in the third act, he confronts death . Glissant and Maldoror perform the play inside the Musée de l’Homme, whose collections are devoted to Africa, integrating the spectators, silent witnesses, into their performance

social inequalities are inextricably linked to an international geopolitical order .The Black Condition is immediately linked to the position of Africa in the order of international exchange just as the coloniality of power is linked to the unfinished struggles for the emancipation of colonized peoples . The here is the there . While the legacies of anti-colonial, anti-racist and anti-capitalist struggles continue to be trampled on everywhere, the struggle is far from over

NORITA

THE MOTHER OF ALL STRUGGLES

BY AVI LEWIS AND NAOMI KLEIN

(DIR JAYSON MCNAMARA)

It wasn’t until our third or fourth time watching the opening moments of Norita that we noticed the pin .

Nora Cortiñas is lit, made up, miked up and ready for her interview She’s a small bundle of purposeful, grandmotherly energy in her white blouse and black sweater, green eye shadow and cloud of silver hair . And she’s taking advantage of a pause in the action to make a phone call, chatting with someone offscreen as she dials .This is a woman, we will soon learn, who is never not multitasking .

Not that she’s particularly good at it, and who is, really? While recounting an anecdote about attending a recent protest, she dials a number on her cell phone but does not press “call . ” Someone off-camera points this out, and her story is interrupted as she locates and pushes the right button .“Norita” (the diminutive, affectionate nickname for this diminutive, beloved activist) continues: “I received so much affection So many hugs, kisses, photos So, so many that at one point I thought of taking off my headscarf . ”

Nora is the most famous of the white kerchief–wearing Madres of the Plaza de Mayo—Argentina’s movement of women fighting for justice for their children who were among the 30,000 people disappeared, tortured and murdered by the dictatorship of the 1970s .They’ve been marching around and around the square outside the seat of government in Buenos Aires every Thursday since 1977 .

And somehow, despite the fact that we’ve been in her presence for only a few seconds, her complaint doesn’t come off as self-serving .You can tell that she’s used to being the centre of attention and considers it an annoyingly necessary part of the work—the work of leading one of the iconic human rights struggles of the late 20th and early 21st century .

But about that pin: it’s a standard-issue protest accessory .In this case, the universal symbol for “no,” with its red circle and slash through the words “IMF,” “Debt” and “G20 . ” The scene must have been shot in 2018, when Nora was leading the charge at huge protests against Donald Trump’s visit to the G20 summit in Argentina The fact that she’s wearing it conveys something essential

about this 92-year-old revolutionary, and the beautifully crafted film that bears her name

Norita explores the most intimate nexus of the personal and political, a powerful story of transformation and connection .Nora was, by her own account, a relatively conventional middle-class housewife in the 1970s, until her son Gustavo got involved in leftist politics and a US-backed dictatorship seized control of the country His disappearance by the state, and the complicity of the Catholic Church and other institutions, radicalized her and a growing cohort of other mothers . Nora took the rage and grief of her own loss—the amputated limb of a missing child whose body was never found—and transmuted it into an inexhaustible source of fuel, powering the commitment to activism that would define the rest of her life .

This movement of mothers (known in the streets simply as “Las Madres”) had as many tendencies and political pathways as it had members . And this being Argentina, and the political left, there were splits and fractures and grinding debates over the decades But for Nora and many others it was a gateway—an invitation to connect the dots, seek root causes and turn the search for the missing ones into a quest for justice for all .

The f ilm shows Nora’s evolution brilliantly Through her search for Gustavo, she was herself radicalized, eventually fully embracing the cause for which he and his generation paid the ultimate price: the struggle against the institutions and structures of predatory, patriarchal capitalism . As the symbolic power of Las Madres and their iconic white kerchiefs grew, and Nora’s commitment to her son’s revolutionary politics grew with it, she made connections among the many struggles in Argentina—both during the dictatorship and in the decades since . Today she’s a living legend, a matriarch whose latest nickname is “the mother of all struggles ”

By wearing that pin—or by forgetting to take it off—Nora reminds us that all the struggles are connected, because all the crises are connected . And the work of healing through struggle is connected too: globally, generationally, in our communities and in ourselves

“

NORA REMINDS US THAT ALL THE STRUGGLES ARE CONNECTED, BECAUSE ALL THE CRISES ARE CONNECTED.

Norita is on one level a straightforward biography, with access to the private life of its very public subject . In McNamara’s nimble hands, the film is a tightly wrapped braid, weaving the story of Nora’s histor ic struggle in tight spirals around pres ent-tense Nora, in all her 92-year-old activist glory, still on the streets and now a cherished icon in a new moment of politi cal upheaval . But appropriate for a move ment leader who seems quite allergic to personality-based politics, this biography is all about situating its subject in a web of connections: historical and political, crossing issues and generations .

The present-day movement on the streets in the film is Argentina’s exhilarating feminist uprising, a youthful rebellion that confronted a stultified political and religious elite to win the country’s landmark legislation legalizing abortion in 2021 . Argentina became the largest country in Latin America to do so, and the movement represented a dam-breaking moment globally, as the “Green Wave” swept across other countries in the region and beyond

This surging movement is proud to show its roots: The Green Wave’s symbol is a green kerchief, emblazoned with a graphic of a white one .

Nora’s current status lies somewhere between revolutionary godmother and cherished elder rock star . Her enduring presence grounds Argentina’s 21st century feminist revolution in the original battle against neoliberalism that was exported with blood and fire to Latin America by the Chicago Boys and other economic-evangelical followers of Milton Friedman in the 1970s .

Indeed, the abortion rights struggle in Argentina is a consciously intersectional one, connecting the dots between the deaths of impoverished, racialized

women at the hands of institutionalized misogyny and the landscape of deep economic inequality on which the battle is playing out

ilm is explicit but never didactic as it traces these rippling connections down through the years .And it’s impossible not to be moved: it is such a powerful narraA youth movement in the ‘70s fought fascism in the streets, was kidnapped, tortured, thrown alive from helicopters into the Rio de la Plata for the crime of daring to dream of a society built on cooperation and equality . A generation of mothers took up that fight—first, merely as parents, beseeching and bereaved; but then, for some, as political actors themselves, continuing the struggle of their murdered children against every injustice of a cruel and corrupt system .With their trademark persistence and commitment, they circled the Plaza de Mayo for decades while new generations emerged to march with them and win new victories that would have been unthinkable when Las Madres were young .

When Nora and the other Madres decided one day in the late ‘70s to wear cloth diapers as headscarves, they were playing quite consciously with the iconography of traditional motherhood . The “pañuelo blanco” was a shield, a challenge, a savvy and subversive claim to the fundamental moral force of motherhood: the sacred duty of care for the most vulnerable

In our current era of youth-led climate strikes and racial justice uprisings confronting rising authoritarianism and cascading, connected crises, Norita is a beacon and a reminder: “the mother of all struggles” still walks among us, shining with commitment to radical care, deep connection and the enduring wisdom of the young

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 19 and Wednesday, August 16, 2023.

Application deadlines for the Rogers Cable Network Fund are Wednesday, June 28 and Wednesday, October 25, 2023.

www.rogersgroupoffunds.com

Big Fight in Little Chinatown

Karen Cho, Canada/USA, 2022, 88 mins

The pandemic and anti-Asian racism has accelerated the disappearance of many Chinatowns in North America, and with them the rich heritage of Chinese immigrant communities. Big Fight in Little Chinatown is a film about resistance, as people fight to stay where they’ve grown cultural roots.

Chinatowns coast to coast are resisting pressure from real estate developers and discriminatory municipal planning projects to preserve homes, family-run restaurants and gathering spaces. Under the looming threat of displacement and food insecurity, Chinatowns in Vancouver, Toronto, Montréal and New York are organizing and rallying support from the broader public. Crucial to these efforts is the shifting of public perspective; Chinatowns are not tourist destinations frozen in time, but areas that evolve and are enriched by multiple generations, as younger community members inherit their family’s established businesses. As Chinatown communities in North America advocate for protected heritage status, their efforts are paving the way for more equitable recognition of Chinese immigrants’

contributions to major infrastructure projects and food accessibility in lowincome neighbourhoods, and an end to perpetual gentrification and displacement. With Vancouver’s Chinatown, and in particular the beloved Kam Wai Dim Sum 金威點心 and Hon Hsing Athletic Club 雲高華漢升體育 featured prominently in this documentary, Big Fight in Little Chinatown is an absolute must-see for local audiences.

With the devastating economic impact of the pandemic and city redevelopment, Chinatowns in New York, Montréal and Vancouver search for innovative ways and resistance to keep their communities thriving. With lush verité footage of bustling Lunar New Year celebrations and warm social gatherings, filmmaker Karen Cho celebrates the vibrance of Chinatown communities. DOC NYC

Kokomo City

D. Smith, USA, 2023, 73 mins

Kokomo City begins with a seemingly straightforward premise: sharing the stories of four Black transgender sex workers in New York and Georgia. The bold facts of these women’s lives are not that simple, though. Sharing reflections on tangled desires, far-reaching taboos, and identification within labour and gender’s many meanings, these women offer a cutting analysis of Black culture and society at large from a vantage point that is vibrating with energy, sex, provocation and hard-earned wisdom.

Shot in striking black and white, this vital portrait is the directorial debut of D. Smith. A veteran of the music industry and a Grammy-nominated producer, singer and songwriter, Smith brings her sonic skills into stunning harmony with a visual style full of grit and brassiness that matches the energy and spirit she elicits from her participants: unfiltered, unabashed and unapologetic.

While Kokomo City doesn’t hold back from addressing the struggles that its interviewees, Koko Da Doll, Liyah Mitchell, Daniella Carter and Dominique Silver, face on a daily basis, it is unapologetically frank and riotously funny, bringing levity to a subject so often associated with trauma. PINK NEWS

Who We Are Now.

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King Coal

Elaine McMillion Sheldon, USA, 2022, 79 mins

“The king’s ghost will haunt our dreams unless we say goodbye,” narrates director Elaine McMillion Sheldon. The king in question is the coal industry of Central Appalachia, and its ghost is the industry’s decline, haunting the region through a nostalgia coiled tightly around the land and its people. Sheldon’s film is a poetic ode to the tension between loyalty and truth, as a community clings to something that no longer represents livelihood, but remains essential to their way of life.

Entrenched as these coal-bound rituals and traditions are, Sheldon’s film shows that new modes are beginning to emerge in Appalachia. Anchoring this exploration is a young girl, whose perspective offers us a glimpse of the future for a region shifting its relationship to itself, above and below ground. Surreal and sonically immersive, King Coal is an evocative look at one community’s willingness to (re) negotiate its collective identity, and a contemplation of what it would take to bid farewell to the king once and for all. -DB

King Coal finds its purpose in [the] process, as a loose collection of segments covering different aspects of coal mining and culture in Appalachia crystallizes into a statement of hope for the region… Sheldon might not know what comes next, but it’ll be as wild as the land she comes from. King Coal begins with the ashes and ends as a phoenix. INDIEWIRE

Kite Zo A (Leave the Bones)

Kaveh Nabatian, Canada/Haiti, 2022, 70 mins

Kite Zo A (Leave the Bones) opens with an evocation of the ancestors that watch over Haiti and an introduction to Vodou. Poetry by Wood-Jerry Gabriel and the percussive sounds of maracas, drums, crickets, children playing, dogs barking, and songs of protest and love gradually thin the veil between spirit and material worlds. Unfinished buildings and crumbling structures—reminders of economic and climate crises—provide a backdrop for expressive displays of dance. Choreographed dance sequences inserted among footage of interviews, landscapes and nightlife express that Haitian collective memory does not dwell within edifices, but within the body and ritual communion. A Vodou priest comments on the presence of other religions, but explains, “Vodou is the culture we’re born into because we used Vodou to gain our independence.” The story of colonial oppression and unrest is told through archival footage and spoken word, while the story of resilience is shown through rollerblading and musical processions. Formally and thematically, the film builds up to Kanaval, culminating in a cathartic celebration of joy and endurance. -BB

In 1791, in Haiti, Dutty Boukman presided over a Vodou ritual in Bois-Caïman that led to the creation of the first Black republic. Since then, rituals of transformation and artistic expression have been at the core of a thriving culture as the country faces oppression, poverty, and natural disasters. Kite Zo A (Leave the Bones) is a sensorial film about rituals in Haiti, from ancient to modern, made in collaboration with poets, dancers, musicians, fishermen, daredevil rollerbladers, and Vodou priests. SXSW

ADDITIONAL SCREENING

SUNDAY MAY 14 • 7:30 PM THE CINEMATHEQUE

DANCE, DANCE

20 Days in Mariupol

Mstyslav Chernov, Ukraine, 2023, 95 mins

“My brain will desperately want to forget all this, but the camera will not let it happen.” Mstyslav Chernov and two Associated Press colleagues (Evgeniy Maloletka and Vasilisa Stepanenko) risked their lives to stay behind in Mariupol, Ukraine, after other journalists left. From the first shelling of residential neighbourhoods at the outbreak of the war, their footage captures in vivid detail the escalating atrocities of Russia’s invasion, and the devastating toll imposed on the city’s trapped citizens as they struggle to stay alive. Isolated from the rest of the world, these three journalists continue to document and do as much as possible in their fight to expose images of a broken city, bearing witness and calling for help from the international community. -TA

Unsparing in its details, from the mass graves to the bloodbaths in hospitals and elsewhere. It’s both urgent and necessary and provides a complex time capsule of the war.

RANDY

Please note that this film contains vivid and potentially disturbing images of war, including gore.

2012/Through The Heart

(2012/Dans le cœur)

Rodrigue Jean and Arnaud Valade, Canada, 2022, 77 mins

Just over a decade has passed since the 2012 student riots in Québec that saw nearly half of the university student population strike in protest of rising tuition costs, resulting in the passing of an emergency law that prohibited protesting near university property—or anywhere in Québec—without explicit permission from police. This is the context for 2012/Through The Heart, which frames the events of 2012 as one more fight in the ongoing struggle against entrenched colonialism and state oppression. Weaving together amateur and professional footage from three distinct demonstrations, directors Jean and Valade capture the protest’s chaos, and reveal the arrogance of government officials, brutal police violence and the manipulation of mass media. Both a history lesson and a first-hand account of collective rage, 2012/Through The Heart shows the spectacle and brutal suppression of the 2012 student movement with palpable immediacy. -TA

Rodrigue Jean and Arnaud Valade exhume images of the battles… that flared up as anger and indignation went head-to-head with the rhetoric of power. FESTIVAL DU NOUVEAU CINÉMA

MYERS, SAN JOSE MERCURY

CANADIAN PREMIERE THIN PLACES

The Hotel of Choice For 2023 Doxa Film Festival

Sandman Suites Vancouver - Davie Street is an all-suite hotel situated in Vancouver’s West End, minutes from English Bay Beach, Robson Street, and Yaletown.

A PROUD HOSPITALITY PARTNER

SO MANY REASONS TO STAY

Sandman Suites Vancouver - Davie Street is an all-suite hotel situated in Vancouver’s West End, minutes from English Bay Beach, Robson Street, and Yaletown.

198 comfortable suites with full kitchens | City, ocean & mountain views | In-suite

washer/dryer units | Complimentary high speed Internet | Gated, underground parking |

SO MANY REASONS TO STAY

Moxies with room service | Outdoor pool | Meeting & banquet facilities | Fitness facilities

198 comfortable suites with full kitchens | City, ocean & mountain views | In-suite

washer/dryer units | Complimentary high speed Internet | Gated, underground parking | Moxies with room service | Outdoor pool | Meeting & banquet facilities | Fitness facilities

A Way To B

Jos de Putter and Clara van Gool, Netherlands, 2022, 96 mins

Liant la Troca is a Barcelona-based dance collective that defies expectations, and that member Desi describes as “a message without words.” Made up of dancers with diverse physical disabilities, the collective create art with their bodies, sharing stories that invite viewers into their everyday lives and demonstrate how adversity can spawn innovation and beauty. Their movements onstage challenge ableist assumptions by embracing the nuances of humanity both within and beyond physical difference. Eschewing sentimentality, A Way To B is in turns tender, sultry, defiant, humorous, joyous and expressive, and always rewarding. -TA

Fluently merging documentary and dance into each other, the hybrid film is an ode to zest for life and love.

A.V. CLUB

Anhell69

Theo Montoya, Colombia/Romania/France/Germany, 2022, 75 mins

In the metropolis of Medellín, Colombia, filmmaker Theo Montoya turns his camera on a unique and creative group of queer friends rebelling against their increasingly dystopian surroundings. Montoya plans to create an allegorical film of speculative fiction in which these young rebels fall in love with ghosts—and face persecution for their lifestyle. However, Montoya’s project changes abruptly when tragedy strikes and a number of his friends’ lives are lost to suicide and overdose (including the charismatic Camilo Najar, who was intended for the film’s starring role). What takes the place of Montoya’s dramatic film is a startling and unusual hybrid documentary. Haunted by the film that never was, Montoya constructs an elegy for his queer community, commemorating its anarchic splendour. As Montoya traverses the shadowy streets of the city in a hearse, he attempts to process loss and grief through his hypnotic narrative. Anhell69 is an achingly poignant tribute to the precarity of youth and the uncertainty of the future that nonetheless inspires hope through the film’s liminal beauty. -KR

THIN PLACES

DANCE, DANCE

SCREENINGSCHEDULE

THURSDAY MAY 4

7:30 PM | SFU CINEMA BIG FIGHT IN LITTLE CHINATOWN - 88 MINS (p. 31)

FRIDAY MAY 5

5:45 PM | VIFF CENTRE NOT QUITE THAT - 47 MINS (p. 65)

6:15 PM | THE CINEMATHEQUE BEBA - 79 MINS (p. 45)

7:45 PM | VIFF CENTRE

MANUFACTURING THE THREAT - 85 MINS (p. 61)

8:15 PM | THE CINEMATHEQUE ANHELL69 - 75 MINS (p. 41)

SATURDAY MAY 6

12:00 PM | VIFF CENTRE

SHORTS PROGRAM: SPACE AS PLACE / PLACE AS SPACE - 87 MINS (p. 76)

12:45 PM | THE CINEMATHEQUE

LA SINGLA - 95 MINS (p. 59)

2:30 PM | VIFF CENTRE DAYS (LES JOURS) - 83 MINS (p. 49)

2:45 PM | THE CINEMATHEQUE

SHORTS PROGRAM: MEMORY WITH(OUT) HOME - 100 MINS (p. 74)

5:15 PM | VIFF CENTRE

KAATOHKITOPII: THE HORSE HE NEVER RODE - 65 MINS (p. 57)

5:15PM | THE CINEMATHEQUE

MÁ SÀI GÒN (MOTHER SAIGON) - 100 MINS (p. 61)

7:30 PM | VIFF CENTRE SATAN WANTS YOU - 90 MINS (p. 69)

8:15 PM | THE CINEMATHEQUE SILENT HOUSE - 101 MINS (p. 69)

SUNDAY MAY 7

12:00 PM | VIFF CENTRE CROWS ARE WHITE - 98 MINS (p. 49)

12:45 PM | THE CINEMATHEQUE

2012/THROUGH THE HEART (2012/DANS LE COEUR) - 77 MINS (p. 39)

2:15 PM | VIFF CENTRE YOU WERE MY FIRST BOYFRIEND - 97 MINS (p. 73)

3:00 PM | THE CINEMATHEQUE WE WILL NOT FADE AWAY - 100 MINS (p. 73)

5:00 PM | VIFF CENTRE

NORITA (WORK IN PROGRESS) - 91 MINS (p. 63)

5:45 PM | THE CINEMATHEQUE LETTRE D’AMOUR À LÉOPOLD L. FOULEM - 53 MINS (p. 59)

7:30 PM | THE CINEMATHEQUE

FEET IN WATER, HEAD ON FIRE - 90 MINS (p. 53)

8:00 PM | VIFF CENTRE

SILVICOLA - 80 MINS (p. 71)

MONDAY MAY 8

5:30 PM | VIFF CENTRE

POWERLANDS - 75 MINS (p. 67)

7:15 PM | THE CINEMATHEQUE

SHORTS PROGRAM: I AM A WO(MAN) - 166 MINS (p. 78)

8:00 PM | VIFF CENTRE CONFESSIONS OF A GOOD SAMARITAN - 105 MINS (p. 47)

TUESDAY MAY 9

10:00 AM | SFU CINEMA

KAATOHKITOPII: THE HORSE HE NEVER RODE - 65 MINS (p. 57)

12:15 PM | SFU CINEMA

COMING AROUND - 75 MINS (p. 47) WITH MUANAPOTO - 29 MINS (p. 75)

3:00 PM | SFU CINEMA

SHORTS PROGRAM: SPACE AS PLACE / PLACE AS SPACE - 87 MINS (p. 76)

5:15 PM | VIFF CENTRE

BIG FIGHT IN LITTLE CHINATOWN - 88 MINS (p. 31)

6:15 PM | THE CINEMATHEQUE 20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL - 95 MINS (p. 39)

8:00 PM | VIFF CENTRE

TWICE COLONIZED - 92 MINS (p. 71)

8:15 PM | THE CINEMATHEQUE

EXCESS WILL SAVE US - 100 MINS (p. 53) WITH THE FILM YOU ARE ABOUT TO SEE (LE FILM QUE VOUS ALLEZ VOIR) - 11 MINS (p. 75)

SCREENINGSCHEDULE

WEDNESDAY MAY 10

5:00 PM | VIFF CENTRE

LA SINGLA - 95 MINS (p. 59)

6:15 PM | THE CINEMATHEQUE

THE GOLDEN THREAD - 91 MINS (p. 55)

7:00 PM | VIFF CENTRE

KING COAL - 79 MINS (p. 35)

8:15 PM | THE CINEMATHEQUE

CHEENEE - 60 MINS (p. 45)

9:00 PM | VIFF CENTRE

NORTH CIRCULAR - 86 MINS (p. 65)

THURSDAY MAY 11

10:00 AM | SFU CINEMA

KING COAL - 79 MINS (p. 35)

12:30 PM | SFU CINEMA

WHEN WE FIGHT - 30 MINS (p. 79)

3:00 PM | SFU CINEMA

SHORTS PROGRAM: MEMORY WITH(OUT) HOME - 100 MINS (p. 74)

5:15 PM | VIFF CENTRE A WAY TO B - 96 MINS (p. 41)

6:15 PM | THE CINEMATHEQUE VERANADA - 75 MINS (p. 72)

7:30 PM | VIFF CENTRE

NOTES ON DISPLACEMENT - 74 MINS (p. 67)

8:30 PM | THE CINEMATHEQUE

FRAGMENTS FROM HEAVEN - 84 MINS (p. 55)

9:15 PM | VIFF CENTRE

DESTINY - 53 MINS (p. 51)

FRIDAY MAY 12

5:00 PM | VIFF CENTRE

TWICE COLONIZED - 92 MINS (p. 71)

6:15 PM | THE CINEMATHEQUE SHORTS PROGRAM: NOTES ON THE BODY - 75 MINS (p. 77)

7:00 PM | VIFF CENTRE KOKOMO CITY - 73 mins (p. 33)

8:30 PM | THE CINEMATHEQUE

SATAN WANTS YOU - 90 MINS (p. 69)

9:15 PM | VIFF CENTRE

MUSIC FOR BLACK PIGEONS - 92 MINS (p. 63)

4:45 PM | THE CINEMATHEQUE

A WAY TO B - 96 MINS (p. 41)

5:45 PM | VIFF CENTRE

HOW TO SAVE A DEAD FRIEND - 103 MINS (p. 57)

6:45 PM | THE CINEMATHEQUE

ANHELL69 - 75 MINS (p. 41)

7:30 PM | SFU CINEMA

KITE ZO A (LEAVE THE BONES) - 70 MINS (p. 37)

8:30 PM | VIFF CENTRE

CONFESSIONS OF A GOOD SAMARITAN - 105 MINS (p. 47)

8:30 PM | THE CINEMATHEQUE

YOU WERE MY FIRST BOYFRIEND - 97 MINS (p. 73) SUNDAY MAY 14

SATURDAY MAY 13

12:00 PM | THE CINEMATHEQUE

DELIKADO - 94 MINS (p. 51)

12:00 PM | VIFF CENTRE

WE WILL NOT FADE AWAY - 100 MINS (p. 73)

2:00 PM | VIFF CENTRE NOT QUITE THAT - 47 MINS (p. 65)

2:45 PM | THE CINEMATHEQUE

MUSIC FOR BLACK PIGEONS - 92 MINS (p. 63)

3:45 PM | VIFF CENTRE

FEET IN WATER, HEAD ON FIRE - 90 MINS (p. 53)

1:00 PM | THE CINEMATHEQUE TBA

3:15 PM | THE CINEMATHEQUE TBA

5:45 PM | THE CINEMATHEQUE TBA

7:30 PM | THE CINEMATHEQUE

KITE ZO A (LEAVE THE BONES) - 70 MINS (p. 37)

MAPOFVENUES

1. VIFF CENTRE

1181 Seymour St (@ Davie St)

2. THE CINEMATHEQUE

1131 Howe St (@ Helmcken St)

3. SFU’S GOLDCORP CENTRE FOR THE ARTS

149 W Hastings St (@ Abbott St)

4. DOXA OFFICE • THE POST AT 750 #110-750 Hamilton St (@ Robson St)

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Beba

Rebeca Huntt, USA, 2021, 79 mins

First-time feature filmmaker Rebeca “Beba” Huntt undertakes an unflinching exploration of her own identity in the remarkable coming-of-age documentary/ cinematic memoir Beba. Reflecting on her childhood and adolescence in New York City as the daughter of a Dominican father and Venezuelan mother, Huntt investigates the historical, societal and generational trauma she inherited and ponders how those ancient wounds have shaped her, while simultaneously considering the universal truths that connect us all as humans. Throughout Beba, Huntt searches for a way to forge her own creative path amid a landscape of intense racial and political unrest. Poetic, powerful and profound, Beba is a courageous, deeply human self-portrait of an Afro-Latina artist hungry for knowledge and yearning for connection.

Cheenee

Andreas Antonopoulos, Trinidad and Tobago, 2022, 60 mins

In Hindi, “cheenee” means sugar—the resource behind the forced relocation of thousands of Indians to Trinidad and Tobago as indentured servants in the nineteenth century. Cheenee is the story of how Indian immigrants struggled, and later flourished, building communities and developing distinct architectural styles in the Caribbean. Antonopoulos’s film combines troves of gorgeous archival photographs, shots of industrial ruins and landscape footage with visual portraits of third- and fourth-generation descendents of labourers.

Anchoring the film is a diverse company of dancers, whose contemporary interpretations of classical dance feature eye-catching costumes and mixed cultural influences, just as the island culture combines Indian, African and European histories and traditions. The dancers move through fields, forest groves and courtyards with vibrant, inventive and energetic choreography. A must-see for lovers of dance and music, and for those interested in Indo-Caribbean culture. -KR

WORLD PREMIERE DANCE, DANCE

A RADICAL PLURIVERSE

Coming Around

Sandra Itäinen, USA, 2023, 75 mins

Meet Eman: a young, queer Muslim woman living in Brooklyn. She is also a Palestinian-Egyptian scholar and performance artist, with a devoutly religious psychiatrist mother to whom she struggles to come out. Despite leaving hints in her stage plays and poems, Eman eventually opts to come around to her mother instead. She tiptoes across the worn, woven proverbial carpet of her and her mother’s relationship, the floorboards creaking all the same.

To prolong the moment of truth, Eman marries her current boyfriend in a traditional Islamic ceremony, in the hope of placating her mother’s unspoken hunches. This decision is one that plunges Eman into her most conflicted performance yet, as she paces between the tensions of appeasement and autonomy with growing unease. Beautifully shot verité-style, Coming Around depicts Eman’s process with gentle intimacy and nonjudgement, documenting a journey that embraces, and meaningfully complicates, the living act of authenticity. -DB

Preceded by the short film, Muanapoto.

Confessions of a Good Samaritan

Penny Lane, USA, 2023, 105 mins

DOXA favourite Penny Lane (The Pain of Others, Nuts!, Our Nixon) returns with her most personal film to date. Confessions of a Good Samaritan follows Lane herself as she embarks on a journey to donate one of her kidneys. She is a so-called “altruistic donor”—an individual donating their organ to a stranger for no financial remuneration. Lane reasons that she can live without one of her kidneys, and that by giving it away she can save someone’s life. Who wouldn’t donate when faced with such a simple calculation? Most people, it turns out. Lane talks to doctors, psychologists, philosophers and fellow donors to understand why such a natural and logical decision for her is so unusual to so many others. Along the way, she learns about the history and future of organ transplants, spurring reflections on her own life and choices. Through her journey, Lane maintains a sense of humour and a carefully balanced tone that never feels like moralizing. The film captures Lane’s signature irreverence, while raising deeply serious ethical questions. -JC

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

RATED Y FOR YOUTH

Crows are White

Ahsen Nadeem, USA, 2022, 98 mins

Filmed over the course of several years, Crows are White begins as a quest by filmmaker Ahsen Nadeem to receive an audience with a famous Tendai Buddhist monk, whose guidance he seeks at an isolated Japanese monastery. What unfolds is something more intimate, as Nadeem wrestles with a secret he has been hiding from his Muslim parents for decades.

Despite Nadeem’s repeated attempts to meet with the revered monk, he is rebuffed. Instead, it is his developing friendship with Ryushin—a monk of much lower ranking who loves ice cream and heavy metal—that brings Nadeem closer to his spiritual goals. Crows are White is an enthralling, humourous and occasionally awkward look at how to be true to yourself, even if it means sometimes risking those you love in the process. -lh

Days (Les jours)

Geneviève Dulude-DeCelles, Canada, 2023, 83 mins

What if your 29th birthday present was a cancer diagnosis? Québécoise PhD student Marie-Philip was about to embark on her final year as a twenty-something when her life was upended by a breast cancer diagnosis. In Days, we follow Marie-Philip on the year-long journey from diagnosis to final chemotherapy treatment, during which she remains unabashedly herself, holding nothing back from family, friends or filmmakers. Director Geneviève Dulude-DeCelles builds a layered and empathetic portrait that allows Marie-Philip’s personality and character to bring lightness to the film’s heavy subject matter, finding delight and empowerment amidst the bouts of depression, negativity and occasional terror. Marie-Philip has generously ushered us into her life, so that we may accompany her on this process of transformation. -TA

Delikado

Karl Malakunas, Philippines, 2022, 94 mins

“Who else will fight for El Nido if all of us are afraid? That is why we are sacrificing our lives for this place.” The island of Palawan contains one of the oldest and most biodiverse rainforests in the world. However, like so many other naturally rich areas, the region is imperiled by the stripping of resources and a growing tourism industry, funded by overseas investors and corrupt politicians.

Delikado follows three land defenders—Bobby, Tata and Nieves—as they fight to save their homeland from the violence of industrial capitalism. In his directorial debut, Karl Malakunas showcases a timely story set in one of the most dangerous places on earth to be a land defender, but one of the areas most in need of defending. Ang Lupa ay Buhay! Land is Life! -jc

Destiny

Yaser Talebi, Iran, 2022, 53 mins

Sahar is an 18-year-old Iranian woman with much to bear, supporting her mentally disabled father after the recent death of her mother. Yet, Sahar longs to go to university to study medicine, against the wishes of her father and aunt who insist she remain home until her father remarries. Receiving kind yet conflicting guidance from her community of elders, teachers and peers, Sahar’s love of volleyball and Instagram provide welcome distractions. Her late mother, too, is a constant presence, asking her daughter for forgiveness in a tearful taped message recorded shortly before her death.

Talebi’s film reveals a loving, though strained, father-daughter dynamic, as Sahar cheerily attends to her father’s personal care, even as she openly questions her parents’ marriage. An intimate and tender portrayal of a young woman seeking self-fulfillment in the face of familial, cultural and economic barriers. -BS

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE JUSTICE FORUM

Long-term care needs a long-term fix.

Excess Will Save Us

Morgane Dziurla-Petit, Sweden, 2022, 100 mins

Blurring the line between fiction and documentary, director Morgane Dziurla-Petit introduces us to the eccentric people of her hometown in rural France, and the complex relationships of her family members. The film opens with a woman fearfully interpreting gunshots as a terrorist attack, and the prompt arrival of no less than 30 emergency vehicles to the small town in response to her report. This vignette sets the scene for a larger investigation into the xenophobia and mistrust held by many members of the small farming community, and an exploration of how these forces shape the townspeoples’ larger worldview. Dziurla-Petit keeps us on our toes as we try to discern what (and who) is real and what is more likely to be a fictionalized interpretation of reality shaped by preconceived notions. -lh

Preceded by the short film, Le Film que vous allez voir (The Film You Are About To See)

Feet in Water, Head on Fire

Terra Long, Canada/USA, 2023, 90 mins

Terra Long’s feature debut is a breathtaking portrait of California’s Coachella Valley that is both anchored in the specifics of place and community, while freely exploring the limits of cinematic time and space. Shaped by seismic forces of the San Andreas Fault, the Coachella Valley is home to an agricultural community built around the date palm trees introduced to the region in the early 1900s. Today, the land and its people face combined threats from economic upheaval, US immigration policy and climate change. With an elliptical grace, Long’s film spans vast expanses of geological time and sweeping desert landscapes into extreme close-ups of the region’s plant and insect life, where microscopic views of cellular biology trace intimate stories of human connection. Beautifully shot on 16mm film and featuring hand-processing techniques that incorporate plants native to the Coachella Valley into the film, Long’s documentary is grounded in place even on a material level. -JC

THIN PLACES

THIN PLACES

Fragments from Heaven

Adnane Baraka, Morocco/France, 2022, 84 mins

“We’re sons of stars. We and everything around us are made of stars and pieces of sky.” Alternating between the lyrical and the scientific, between wide rocky deserts and tiny petri dishes, Fragments from Heaven explores vast existential questions through dual lenses. We follow a nomad named Mohamed as he scours the desert, eyes searching the terrain’s sandy surface for special rocks he believes will change his fortune; meanwhile, scientist Abderrahmane uses some of these same extraterrestrial formations to understand the cosmos and the origins of life. Each man relates uniquely to their work, following a distinct path through landscapes that are hauntingly beautiful, if at times unforgiving. -TA

The Golden Thread

Nishtha Jain, India/Bosnia-Herzegovina/Netherlands/Norway/UK, 2022, 91 mins

This gorgeous, meditative film follows the production of jute fibre—a material commonly used for twine and basket weaving—from farms in West Bengal to the jute mills that have long employed many thousands of low-wage workers. Working conditions and pay continue to decline as profits are prioritized over labour; meanwhile, mills downsize and shutter amidst mechanization and campaigns for higher wages. What will remain for workers who have toiled for decades—in many cases recruiting their relatives and friends to the factories—and whose livelihoods rely on this industry?

Filmmaker Nishtha Jain focuses on the tactile quality of this labour without rendering the industrial process nostalgic. Her camera lingers on the workers, affording them dignity and selfhood in an industry that imposes harsh working conditions. The film inserts long observational shots into the frenzied spectacle of production, using ambient sound to heighten the engrossing rhythm. -KR

THIN PLACES THIN PLACES

How to Save a Dead Friend

Marusya Syroechkovskaya, Sweden/Norway/France/Germany, 2022, 103 mins

Marusya is a teenager in post-Soviet Russia, lacking a way forward. She sleeps all day, struggles to eat and lives in a state of hopelessness as friends around her die from suicide. She considers her own fate—until she meets her soulmate, Kimi. Kimi understands Marusya’s pain. He helps her to laugh, and shares with her an honest look at the joys and miseries of their oppressive and violent world.

Filmed over 12 years, How to Save a Dead Friend depicts a lost generation growing up in poverty. Marusya, Kimi and their friends are creative and rebellious, ecstatic and depressed. As they mature, Marusya and Kimi’s paths diverge—Kimi struggles with drug addiction, moving in and out of rehab centres, while Marusya immerses herself in the underground art scene. As the totalitarian state closes in around them, the couple separates, and the film becomes an elegy to the love, irreverence and joy they shared for over a decade. -KR

Kaatohkitopii: The Horse He Never Rode

Trevor Solway, Siksika, Alberta, 2022, 65 mins

“I always felt like I let my grandpa down and that he was disappointed in me.” Trevor Solway reflects on the life and legacy of his late grandfather Sonny, a lifelong rancher of the Siksika Nation in Treaty 7 territory, now known as southern Alberta. Beginning with his formative memories of early morning chores on the farm, Trevor narrates Sonny’s story, their enduring relationship, and his grandfather’s influence on his life.

Animation and family photo archives guide us through Sonny’s early years in the residential school system and deeper into his storied rodeo career, illustrating the joys and challenges of raising children and grandchildren while running the farm. The Solway family reflect on Sonny’s staunch work ethic, which may have masked a deeper pain. Kaatohkitopii is a candid and sincere tribute, and a thoughtful look at how his grandfather’s influence helped shape Trevor’s identity as a Blackfoot man. -BS

RATED Y FOR YOUTH

La Singla

Paloma Zapata, Spain/Germany, 2023, 95 mins

Uno. Dos. Tres. Cuatro. Silence.

When Antonia Singla graced the stage, she did so without hearing the music. Born deaf to a Romani family in the suburbs of Barcelona, La Singla—as she would affectionately come to be called—rose to international acclaim by the age of 17. Quite literally moving to the beat of her own drum, La Singla’s pistol-like percussions were nothing short of revolutionary, gripping the world of flamenco with a dynamism never before experienced. But at the height of her fame, La Singla disappeared from the dance stage, leaving in her wake a scattered archival legacy of the world’s best bailaora.

Fifty years later, a young woman begins her search for Antonia, only to discover the seething roots of La Singla’s passion. Paloma Zapata’s hybrid film stunningly weaves the past and present together, expertly layering archival footage with passionate music and sound. A rapturous portrait of Antonia’s life, crystallized by the gaze of her admirers, La Singla is a riveting exploration of dance as expression, movement as experiment, and performance as rage. -DB

Lettre d’amour à Léopold L. Foulem

(A love letter to Léopold L. Foulem)

Renée Blanchar, Canada, 2022, 53 mins

Our introduction to the inner universe of ceramic artist Léopold L. Foulem begins on a drive between Montréal and his hometown of Caraquet, New Brunswick. Stopping at every garage sale and eclectic roadside diner along the way, Léopold’s wonder and preoccupation with kitschy, everyday ceramics is both endearing and insightful, giving us a glimpse into his personality as well as his artistry. Léopold is an internationally renowned conceptual ceramicist, known for a pop style of sculpture that combines ready- and handmade objects into a bricolage of ceramic and metal. Despite a prolific career of more than 50 years—and status as a queer icon within the broader international ceramics community—Léopold’s work is noticeably absent from major Canadian art galleries and museums. Through observations of Léopold in his creative environment, and filmed conversations with family and friends, filmmaker Renée Blanchar constructs an intimate portrait of a mature artist who finds endless pleasures in the world around him, and inspires others to do the same. As Léopold just recently passed away on February 18, 2023, this loveletter-turned-eulogy is a colourful tribute to the artist’s legacy. -BB

DANCE, DANCE

Má Sài Gòn (Mother Saigon)

Khoa Lê, Canada, 2023, 100 mins

Through an intimate series of character portraits, Má Sài Gòn constructs a dynamic ode to Saigon’s Queer and Trans communities. Director Khoa Lê follows the lives of different residents as they navigate their vibrant yet melancholic city, full of beautiful and complex relationships. Through an exploration of love, belonging and the need to connect, a hopeful vision of the future begins to surface. This colourful film offers glimpses of a Saigon where the Queer community can thrive and live lives surrounded by love. -jc

Manufacturing The Threat

Amy Miller, Canada, 2023, 85 mins

In 2013, a young couple from Surrey were arrested as the alleged masterminds behind a plot to bomb the BC Legislature. Ana Korody and Omar Nuttall had recently converted to Islam when they were targeted by federal agents posing as radical jihadists—agent provocateurs who pressured the couple to avenge crimes against Muslims through acts of violence. Though they spent time in prison and were found guilty, courts eventually declared Ana and Omar to have been entrapped. Indeed, a lengthy and elaborate plan was revealed to have manipulated the couple, feeding them false information about Islam and deliberately encouraging them to commit acts of terrorism. Without this coercion and egregious conduct by authorities, the couple’s plot would never have taken shape.

Manufacturing The Threat documents the way enforcement agencies can actively create their own “threats,” and presents a compelling case that Ana and Omar were vulnerable individuals taken advantage of by an organization eager to justify its own existence and maintain its substantial funding. A fascinating, high-energy documentary thriller. -KR

THIN PLACES

WORLD PREMIERE

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Music for Black Pigeons

Andreas Koefoed and Jørgen Leth, Denmark, 2022, 92 mins

Music and community make up the core of this deep cinematic dive into the creative process. Structured around the compositions of Danish musician Jakob Bro and supplemented with interviews, footage of studio sessions and a concert performed in the very memorable location of Sisimiut, Greenland, Music for Black Pigeons showcases the artistry and introspection of an array of free-jazz luminaries. Though all seem much more comfortable creating music than musing for the camera, each player brings a unique perspective to this open conversation around performance and inspiration. Through their words and art, a culture of ideas begins to take shape that feels both urgent and timeless. Koefoed and Leth’s film invites you to sit in with some of the best in their field, as they operate at the highest levels of jazz musicianship and share a look at the virtuosity of their craft across decades. -TA

Norita (Work in Progress)

Jayson McNamara, Argentina, 2023, 91 mins

Norita follows 90-year-old Nora Cortiñas as she takes up the fight for women’s reproductive rights in Argentina. Intercut with her present-day campaign is the story of her journey from conservative housewife to radical social activist, which began in 1977 with the kidnapping and disappearance of her son by Argentina’s dictatorship and her enrollment with the iconic Las Madres de Plaza de Mayo movement.

Featuring entirely women participants, Norita is a sweeping intergenerational story about the bonds of motherhood and the strength found in joining forces between young and old. It offers a deeply moving defence of the right to reproductive freedoms, while the backdrop of Argentina’s dictatorship reminds Western audiences about the fragility of our own democratic rights and systems.

Please note that Norita is still in post-production, and that this is a work-in-progress screening. See corresponding Industry event on page 14.

CANADIAN PREMIERE

MOTHER OF ALL STRUGGLES

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North Circular

Luke McManus, Ireland, 2022, 86 mins

McManus’s film is a visually striking journey across the northern side of Dublin that captures the historically working class neighbourhood along North Circular Road. Here, as in other urban centres, gentrification has disrupted patterns of habitation, work, architecture and culture, and the original residents and businesses are being pushed out.

Tackling issues of class, poverty, incarceration and colonization, the various strands of North Circular are harmonized through an emphasis on traditional Irish music and the residents’ fellowship through song. Music anchors the film and its community, who give melody to the neighbourhood both in celebration and protest, even as their homes and spaces are threatened with imminent redevelopment. Filmed in gorgeous black and white, North Circular explores a nuanced social geography using powerful images and musical performances that will linger long after the road runs out. -KR

Not Quite That

Ali Grant, Canada, 2022, 47 mins

After finding out that she carries a genetic mutation predisposing her to breast cancer, Sarah White is faced with a big decision: whether to wait and see what happens, or act fast and have a preventative double mastectomy. As she meets the rush of feelings associated with surgery and illness, questions of identity, inheritance and unresolved selfhood get caught in the flow. As a Jewish woman, a mother and a butch lesbian, Sarah is no stranger to the confused judgements of others. Would life without breasts make everything even more perplexing? With the support of her friends and family, Sarah grapples with what it means to be seen—by the world and by herself—as a person finding congruence amidst nuance and change. -SB

CANADIAN PREMIERE

WORLD PREMIERE THIN PLACES

Notes on Displacement

Khaled Jarrar, Palestine/Germany/Qatar, 2022, 74 mins

Notes on Displacement opens with a quote from critic John Berger that reads: “Ours is the century of enforced travel … of people helplessly seeing others, who were close to them, disappear over the horizon.” For Nadira, who left Palestine in her girlhood and must migrate again in the twilight of her life, the horizon is constantly moving. She embarks on a grueling journey from Syria to Greece over water; along the highways of Bulgaria on foot and by bus; through Hungary, where conditions at refugee camps are horrendous; and further still towards the German border, where her family might finally find rest. Filmmaker Khaled Jarrar is Nadira’s constant companion, accompanying her and her adult children as they navigate relentless adversities alongside so many other migrants. Jarrar advocates for their safety, security and comfort with what little privilege his status as a working filmmaker affords him, but the dangers of language barriers, racism, aggressive authorities and precarious geography are incessant and unyielding. The mainstream media tends to flatten the experiences of refugees into one image of mass struggle, but here we see the nuances of fear and disorientation, as well as personal acts of support and care. -SB

Powerlands

Ivey-Camille Manybeads Tso, Navajo Nation, 2022, 75 mins

At age 19, Ivey-Camille Manybeads Tso began making a film about her home, Dinétah, and the Navajo Nation’s struggle against resource colonization at the hands of the mining, oil and gas industries. Along the way, she discovered that her people were not alone. From Dinétah to Colombia and Mexico to the Philippines, Indigenous resistance movements across the globe are combating the destructiveness of resource extraction and the environmental racism being perpetrated by multinational corporations like Glencore, Peabody and BHP. Both sweeping in scope and deeply personal, Powerlands offers a vision of hope in the face of corporate power. For local audiences, the film is a powerful reminder that assertions of Indigenous sovereignty like the Wet’suwet’en opposition to the Coastal GasLink pipeline are in solidarity with people around the world. Extraction industries are global, but so is Indigenous land stewardship and resistance. -JC

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Satan Wants You

Sean Horlor and Steve J. Adams, Canada, 2023, 90 mins

Forty years before QAnon and Pizzagate, Michelle Smith and Lawrence Pazder’s bestseller Michelle Remembers helped ignite the Satanic Panic of the 1980s. Supported by the Catholic Church and co-written by Michelle’s psychiatrist (who would become her husband), this shocking “true story” relied on adult Michelle’s recovered memories of her supposed enslavement by a Satanic cult as a 5-yearold in Victoria, BC. In Satan Wants You, we embark on a journey to unravel the many threads of this larger-than-life story, and in the process expose the damage done by doctors and therapists with personal agendas. Popular opinion would suggest that the internet and social media are the biggest contributors to the spread of misinformation, but Satan Wants You shows us that it only takes a few “experts” speaking with conviction, the wide reach of televised talk shows, and a public willing to accept the worst for dubious and implausible narratives to take hold. -lh

Silent House

Farnaz Jurabchian and Mohammadreza Jurabchian, Iran/France/Canada/Philippines/Qatar, 2022, 101 mins

The saga of three familial generations in Tehran is chronicled through a cinematic history of the house that shaped their lives. Siblings Farnaz and Mohammadreza Jurabchian reminisce and celebrate their family’s colourful dynamic, captured in their grandfather’s photographs, their mother’s Super 8 film strips and decades of their own footage.

The tale begins with their grandfather, who made his fortune as a trader in the bazaar and used his earnings to purchase a palatial mansion for the family home. The ensuing travails of each generation reflect the massive political and cultural upheavals of Iran’s modern history, including the Islamic Revolution and Iran–Iraq war. While the family and their home withstood seven decades of extraordinary events, no one survived unscathed. Now, the imposing house stands rugged and decaying, having seen better days and an aura of nostalgia hangs in the air. Silent House is a paean to the art of cinema and a gripping family story, as sibling filmmakers seek wisdom and redemption through footage held over from the past. -KR

Silvicola

Jean-Philippe Marquis, Canada, 2023, 80 mins

From seedling to towering leviathan, into the metal arms of machine harvesters and onto the mill floor: this is the course set for a tree, no matter how ancient it may be. The devastation can feel inevitable, as the cogs of industrial logging continue to turn at an increasingly rapid pace and deforestation practices persist, despite knowledge that forests have nurtured complex life since time immemorial. “The whole forest has sustained us, and that’s why we have to honour and behave ourselves in the forest.” If you wander between the bodies of old growth trees still standing, you may see ant highways winding through the underbrush, evidence of cultural practices dating back tens of generations carved into bark and new plantlife bursting from the decay of fallen tree trunks. Silvicola is an immense sensory contemplation of the entanglement of humans, machines and nature in the sprawling forests of the Canadian Pacific Northwest. -SB

Twice Colonized

Lin Alluna, Canada/Denmark/Greenland, 2023, 92 mins

Inuit lawyer Aaju Peter is determined to bring Indigenous voices to the European Union through the creation of a permanent Indigenous Peoples’ forum. Twice Colonized, also the title of Aaju’s forthcoming book, follows her journey to make this happen and the events that inspired it.

Filmed over seven years, director Lin Alluna documents Aaju in different stages of reckoning: as she grieves the death of her son; as she confronts the multi-layered impacts of colonization and the forced assimilation of Indigenous youth; and her ultimate attempts to understand how to change the world by decolonizing one’s mind. In the face of personal tragedy and wider colonial violence, Aaju becomes even more determined to bring opportunities to Arctic Indigenous peoples and secure a better future for her granddaughters. -lh

JUSTICE FORUM

Veranada

Dominique Chaumont, Canada/Argentina, 2022, 75 mins

At summer’s end, in the uplands of the Argentinian Andes, a lone herder shears his sheep with a pair of scissors as he migrates his flock in search of greener pastures. It’s the fifth consecutive year of drought in the Malargüe Department, yet Don Arturo—a local gaucho, or nomadic horseman—is determined to find more verdant land for his livestock, even as local radio forecasts predict sustained drought in the months ahead.

Dominique Chaumont’s debut feature is a precious glimpse into a small community and a serene portrait of the daily rhythms of camp on the rugged Andean plains. The herdsman’s everyday chores and casual conversations portend a wider climate emergency. -BS

THIN PLACES

We Will Not Fade Away

Alisa Kovalenko, Ukraine/Poland/France, 2023, 100 mins

Donbas, Ukraine, 2019. As shells strike the region bordering Russia, five teenagers attempt to cobble together a version of normalcy—creating music, taking photographs and fixing motorbikes—amidst the destruction wrought by war. The houses and park fences of their village are peppered with bullet holes, and the not-so-distant sounds of gunfire and explosions ring out in the distance. “It’s a ruined place that will never be rebuilt,” says one of the youths, putting words to their collective cynicism. When an opportunity to join an expedition to Mount Everest emerges, all five teens take the leap, yearning to escape their reality. Alisa Kovalenko’s tenacious film portrays a generation that, as of this writing, now faces a fully fledged war.

You Were My First Boyfriend

Cecilia Aldarondo and Sarah Enid Hagey, USA, 2023, 97 mins

What if you could rewrite your adolescence? In this high school reunion movie turned inside out, filmmaker Cecilia Aldarondo embarks on a fantastical quest to reconcile her tortured teen years. She “goes back” in more ways than one, tracking down old foes and friends while also reenacting visceral memories of youth’s humiliation and desire.

Oscillating between present and past, hallucination and reality, You Were My First Boyfriend is a hybrid documentary that explores the power of adolescent fantasy, the subtle violence of cultural assimilation and the fun house mirror of time’s passage. Perhaps we can all learn something about growing older and making peace with what haunts us.

ONLINE

SHORTS PROGRAM MEMORY WITH(OUT) HOME

SAT MAY 6 2:45 PM THE CINEMATHEQUE

THU MAY 11 3:00 PM SFU CINEMA

Is it home that creates memory, or is it one’s memory that creates home? In this assemblage of films, 10 directors experiment with notions of both. Some traverse the emotional geographies of memory— across the Black Atlantic, over the prairie grasslands and into the border of Ukraine—while others delve into memory as a home base, delightfully employing stop-motion animation and visual hybridity to (re)locate childhoods, relationships and death in lives both lived and lost.

FILMS IN THIS PROGRAM INCLUDE (7): Tiny, Chasing Light, Le Roi n’est pas mon cousin, Troika, What They Left Behind, lii bufloo aen loo kishkishiw (buffalo wolf memory), Madeleine

Tiny

Ritchie Hemphill and Ryan Haché, Coast Salish Territory, 2022, 17 mins

‘Nakwaxda’xw Elder Colleen Hemphill’s memories of growing up on a float home near Alert Bay are wonderfully brought to life in this intricate and richly detailed stop-motion film. Narrated by Colleen herself, Tiny brings her joyful memories to life with aplomb. -lh

Chasing Light

Hân Pham and Dave Rodden-Shortt, Canada, 2023, 5 mins Legendary Canadian filmmaker Nettie Wild reflects on the milestones of her compelling career in this short and sweet profile. Known for documentaries with high-stakes political subject matter, Wild is never one to shy away from contradiction and collaboration. -SB

Le Roi n’est pas mon cousin

(The King is Not My Cousin)

Annabelle Aventurin, Guadeloupe, 2022, 31 mins

Using fragmented conversations, abstract images and snippets of text, Annabelle Aveturin disrupts the conventions of the typical family documentary. Her narrative focuses on the formidable experiences of her grandmother, whose family history and Caribbean identity provide a unique look at the struggle of the African diaspora. Video, film and music coalesce into a lush collage of sound and images. -KR

Troika

Robert Mentov and Karl Kai, Canada, 2023, 20 mins

“What is home?” “What scares you?” “What do you want out of life?” As Vika struggles to stay in communication with her family in Ukraine’s war zone, her friends (fellow twenty-something immigrants from Eastern Europe) hang out, skateboard, smoke and swap opinions on the uncertainty of their future in Canada. -TA

What They Left Behind (他們所留下的記憶 )

Vicky Xingyu Gu, USA, 2022, 7 mins

Through animated retellings of memories with her late grandfathers, Xingyu Gu wades through complex feelings of grief. As she comes back into the present day, her grandmother’s mourning allows her to make peace with the complicated relationships in her family. -jc

The Film You Are About to See (Le Film que vous allez voir)

Maxime Martinot, France, 2023, 11 mins

Imagine going to film school and your professors are Guy Debord, Jean Luc Godard and Jenny Holzer. Now, imagine a four-year degree that contains all of film history condensed into 11 minutes. Voilà! Le Film que vous allez voir. -JC

Screens with Excess Will Save Us, p. 53

lii bufloo aen loo kishkishiw (buffalo wolf memory)

Dianne Ouellette, Treaty 4 Lands, 2022, 5 mins

An ode to the North American grasslands and the prairie wolves that were hunted to extinction long ago. Morning frost, crawling bugs, the tramp of buffalo hooves … Dianne Ouellette creates a visual poem with the sights and sounds of the land. -BS

Madeleine

Raquel Sancinetti, Canada, 2023, 15 mins

Blending reality with fiction and live action with felted animation, filmmaker Raquel Sancinetti captures the remarkable relationship she shares with the delightful Madeleine who, at the age of 107, is sufficiently content with her experiences and has no further desire to leave her retirement home. -lh

Muanapoto

Chriss Itoua, France, 2022, 29 mins

In Lingala, muanapoto means “child of France”—a term used to describe the cultural gap between Congolese parents and children born on separate continents. As he considers how to come out to his Congolese mother, Chriss Itoua turns the filmmaking process into a dialogue, rooted in respect, between her heritage and his identity. -SB

Screens with Coming Around, p. 47

SPACE AS PLACE / PLACE AS SPACE

SAT MAY 6 12:00 PM VIFF CENTRE

TUE MAY 9 3:00 PM SFU CINEMA

This spacious slate of short films (re)imagines individual and communal relationships to the spaces we inhabit, and the places they become. Be it a family home or a government office, an industrial island or scorched and submerged lands, folks are turning their attention—and ours—to the sprawling maps of our lives, with some resorting to 3D images to better locate their historic roots in future placemaking.

FILMS IN THIS PROGRAM INCLUDE (5): Zug Island, Hell and Highwater, Sister Mother Lover Child, Cubicle Island, Chinatown 2050

Zug Island

Nicolas Lachapelle, Canada, 2022, 22 mins

What is the mysterious hum emanating from Zug Island in the Detroit River? The few remaining residents of a low-income community living in the middle of an industrial wasteland lead an atmospheric investigation into its source. -KR

Hell and Highwater

Jeremy Williams, Canada, 2023, 23 mins

A wake-up call to the status quo, Hell and Highwater traces recent catastrophic environmental events in British Columbia and their devastating impact on Indigenous communities from their racist and pro-corporate origins, bearing witness and demanding change. -TA

Sister Mother Lover Child

Nadia Shihab, Canada/USA, 2023, 18 mins

A sense of loss fills the house as several women busy themselves clearing the garden, preparing a meal, soothing a baby and making a film. With meditative cinematography and immersive sound, we are invited to join them in the only thing left to do: be together. -JC

Cubicle Island

Damien Ferland, Canada, 2021, 6 mins

In less time than it takes to sign a co-worker’s birthday card, filmmaker Damien Ferland lambastes call-centre culture, taking on the institutional tactics that dehumanize employees and turning the blame game around to place responsibility back where it belongs. -TA

Chinatown 2050

Linda Zhang and Maxim Gertler-Jaffe, Canada/UK, 2022, 18 mins

How might the pandemic shape the future of Toronto’s Chinatown? Five scenarios tackling this question are imagined by Asian-Canadian youth, their speculations brought to life by a visual collage of dreamlike LiDAR 3D modeling scans. The hope is to preserve vibrant streetscapes rather than create an empty tourist attraction. -KR

NOTES ON THE BODY

FRI MAY 12 6:15 PM THE CINEMATHEQUE

This quadrant collection of short films identifies the body as both sight and site of the human experience. We begin with a kaleidoscopic observation of Blackness and disability from poet Brandon Wint, then look skywards as lightning strike survivors describe their lingering sensations of being elementally attuned. We gaze up, higher still, for a young Finnish-Kosovan’s animated voyage as he dons makeup publicly for the first time, before returning with futuristic flair to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where one astronaut embodies, quite literally, the very geology of his ancestors.

FILMS IN THIS PROGRAM INCLUDE (4): My Body Is A Poem / The World Makes With Me, Le spectre visible, BLUSH - An Extraordinary Voyage, Mulika

My Body Is A Poem/ The World Makes With Me

Brandon Wint, Canada, 2022, 28 mins

“Do you know, grandson, how absolutely loved you are?” Multi-disciplinary artist Brandon Wint uses poetry, animation and filmmaking to tell a story of belonging, intersectionality and colonialism creating an intimate portrait based in revolutionary love. -jc

Le spectre visible (The Visible Spectrum)

Sarah Seené and Maxime Corbeil-Perron, Canada, 2022, 18 mins

“Overnight, I was connected to the planet.” Five people recount their experiences of being struck by lightning, and their ensuing relationship to the elements. Akin to

BLUSH – An Extraordinary Voyage

Iiti Yli-Harja, Finland, 2022, 15 mins

For teenage Fatu, a trip to the local convenience store in full glam makeup is as frightening and thrilling as a journey to the moon. Transformed into a stop motion astronaut, he’s got his bestie, Rai, along for support. Will their mission succeed? -TA

Mulika

Maisha Maene, Democratic Republic of Congo, 2022, 14 mins

Donning metallic cowrie shells, an astronaut returns to his city of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo, much to the bemused curiosity of its inhabitants. Shot as a sci-fi hybrid, Maisha Maene’s film fuses tradition with futuristic possibilities in the DRC, the protection of both land and people its ultimate mission. -DB

MON MAY 8 7:15 PM THE CINEMATHEQUE

Racial and social inequalities are inextricably linked to an international geopolitical order. The Black condition is immediately linked to the position of Africa in the order of international exchange just as the coloniality of power is linked to the unfinished struggles for the emancipation of colonized peoples.

Shorts Program by Farah Clémentine Dramani-Issifou.

FILMS IN THIS PROGRAM INCLUDE (6): Nossa Terra, Wanted, I Am Somebody, Mes voisins, The Devil is a Condition, And The Dogs Were Quiet

Nossa Terra

Mario Marret, Guinea-Bissau, 1966, 35 mins

Nossa Terra is an urgent film shot during the guerilla warfare surrounding Guinea-Bissau’s struggle for independence in the mid-1960s. Filmmaker Mario Marret was the first director to work with PAIGC, a political party that fought for independence in Guinea and Cape Verde.

Ali

Known as the Years of Lead, the 1970s in Morocco were marked by severe police crackdowns on dissent. Essafi uses archival footage to tell the story of Aziz, a 23-year-old activist dreaming of freedom and democracy, who lived under an assumed identity for two years before he was identified and arrested.

I Am Somebody

Madeline Anderson, USA, 1970, 30 mins

In 1969, a group of Black women hospital workers in Charleston, South Carolina striked and were confronted by the state government and National Guard. Featuring Andrew Young, Charles Abernathy and Coretta Scott King, and produced by Local 1199, I Am Somebody is a crucial document in the struggle for labour rights.

Mes voisins (My Neighbours)

Med Hondo, France, 1974, 35 mins

Mes voisins is part of a larger feature documentary, the critically acclaimed Les Bicots-nègres, vos voisins (1974), which explores post-colonial realities in France through the everyday lives of the largely African labouring diaspora.

The Devil is a Condition

Carlos de Jesus, USA, 1973, 25 mins

Set to a soundtrack of free jazz and poetry, the destinies of New York’s Puerto Rican and Black communities—living side-by-side in poverty—feels inextricably tied. Jumping from Uptown to Brooklyn and back to The Bronx, The Devil is a Condition is a capsule of a burning ‘60s-’70s New York.

Essafi, Morocco, 2011, 28 mins

TRANSATLANTIC PERSPECTIVES ON POLITICAL STRUGGLES IN THE 1960s–1970s IN GUINEA-BISSAU, MOROCCO, THE USA AND FRANCE.

And The Dogs Were Quiet

(Et les chiens se taisaient)

Sarah Maldoror, France, 1974, 13 mins

Adapted from a play by Aimé Césaire, And The Dogs Were Quiet focuses on the rebellion of a man against the enslavement of his people, filmed inside the Musée de l’Homme in Paris. The film features performances by Gabriel Glissant and Sarah Maldoror.

ALSO SCREENING

THU MAY 11 12:30 PM SFU CINEMA

MORE GREAT FILM FESTIVALS THAT DOXA RECOMMENDS

When We Fight

Yael Bridge and Yoni Golijov, USA, 2022, 30 mins

In the second largest school district in the United States, a vote to go on strike rallies the support of 98 percent of teachers. When We Fight is a rousing testament to the collective action of teachers, students and parents, from the picket line to the bargaining table. -SB

Reel 2 Real International Film Festival for Youth March 28 - April 6, 2023

The festival brings the best of the best films for children and their families from around the globe to the Roundhouse Community Centre and VIFF Centre. We’re also happy to announce that all short film programs will be available online across BC.

For our 25th Anniversary we are paying homage to the roots of the festival and the Edith Lando Peace Prize, which has celebrated films that use the medium of cinema to advance the goals of peace and justice since 2008. These themes can be found in many of the films and programs this year, and clearly align with the zeitgeist of young people’s attitudes and focus. Programs include live-action, animated and documentary films from around the world, hands-on workshops, a Youth Media Conference, and a showcase of films made by youth. R2R is sure to delight, move and amaze audiences of all ages.

r2rfestival.org

The Vancouver Queer Film Festival August 10-20, 2023

The 35th annual Vancouver Queer Film Festival returns August 10-20, 2023, in cinemas across Vancouver and streaming throughout BC! Join us for 11 days of outstanding queer film, performances, parties, panels and more. Showcasing local and international content of all genres, VQFF champions stories by and about 2SLGBTQIA+ peoples that overturn stereotypes, push boundaries, arouse and tantalize, and expand our understanding of diverse queer, trans and Two Spirit lives.

All-access Festival and Digital Passes go on sale May 15 at an early bird discount rate. Full Festival details and individual tickets starting at $5 will be available on our website in mid-July. Subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on socials @queerfilmfest to get the latest!

queerfilmfestival.ca

Vancouver International Film Festival September 28 - October 8, 2023

For its 42nd year, VIFF will feature approximately 120 features and 100 shorts, all screening in-cinema from September 28 to October 8, 2023, showcasing the top international, Canadian and BC films along with creators and industry professionals from around the globe. Canadian and International submissions from any genre for the 2023 festival are now open until June 9, 2023. VIFF is presented on the traditional and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səlílwətaʔɬ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

viff.org

Rendez-Vous French Film Festival February/March 2024

Founded in April 1993, Visions Ouest Productions will celebrate its 30th Anniversary in 2023-2024,with the 30th Rendez-Vous French Film Festival (Les 30e Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois et francophone) in February/March of 2024, a full live-screening program complemented by online offerings and special events held in various locations in Greater Vancouver and in BC. The Fall-Winter Season and Festival are scheduled to take place in the new Alliance Française Theatre on Cambie Street.

Online programs are offered all year-round on Eventive. org (channel rendezvousfrenchfifilmfestival). Shorts, documentaries and feature films from national and international Francophonie are added each month. The Salon du cinéma and Youth Program, the School Matinées (K-12), provide opportunities to foster a link with the francophone community through the presentation of top-quality films in French.

rendez-vousvancouver.com

TICKETS AND GENERAL FESTIVAL INFORMATION

MEMBERSHIP

DOXA presents films that have not been seen by Consumer Protection BC. Under BC law, anyone wishing to see these unclassified films in theatres must be a member of The Documentary Media Society and at least 18 years of age, unless otherwise stated. When you purchase your $2 membership, you are entitled to attend screenings, provided you show your membership card and your ticket. Check out the films we rate especially for youth and families (18 and under) at doxafestival.ca

TICKETS

GENERAL ADMISSION

$15

STUDENTS (with valid ID) SENIORS (65+)

LOW INCOME

$2 discount from regular prices for any film screening

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS

$18

Opening Gala screening and Closing Gala screening

FESTIVAL 5 TICKET PACKS

$65 (5 tickets) • Packs are valid for one ticket per in-person screening. NOTE: Ticket Packs are NOT valid for Opening Night and Special Presentations and do not include the $2 membership.

FESTIVAL PASS

$195 • Includes membership; valid for all film screenings except Opening Gala.

INDUSTRY

Tickets by donation.

ABOUT DOXA ONLINE

Between May 15-24, you will be able to watch some films in the DOXA 2023 film program from the comfort of your own home. Films will be available to watch on-demand for the duration of the aforementioned dates (unless otherwise stated). Films are geo-blocked to Canada, which means you will need to be in Canada to watch the film. Once unlocked, you have 48 hours to watch.

Please see the film description on our website 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, please email support@doxafestival.ca.

ONLINE TICKETS

ONLINE TICKETS

$10

STUDENTS (with valid ID)

SENIORS (65+)

LOW INCOME

$8

Your ticket allows you to unlock the film program once. After you push play, you will have 48 hours to complete the screening.

HOW TO BUY: IN PERSON SCREENINGS

ONLINE: DOXAFESTIVAL.CA

Tickets are available for purchase online. Visit https://doxa2023.eventive.org/

COMMUNITY BOX OFFICE: #110– 750 Hamilton St

April 29 - 30 (12pm to 5pm)

Buy tickets in person at the DOXA Office.

VENUES

• The Cinematheque (May 5-14)

Tickets available for all festival screenings. Box office opens 30 minutes prior to the first screening of the day at the venue.

• VIFF Centre (May 5-13)

Tickets available for all festival screenings. Box office opens 30 minutes prior to the first screening of the day at the venue.

• SFU’s Goldcorp Centre for the Arts (May 4, 6-9, 11, 13)

Tickets available for all festival screenings. Box office opens 30 minutes prior to the first ticketed event at the venue.

HOW TO BUY: ONLINE SCREENINGS

• Go to the online festival by visiting  https://doxa23.eventive.org/

• Browse through all of the available programs.

• 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.

VIEWING DOXA FILMS ONLINE

Festival films are accessible through our Eventive page at https://doxa23.eventive.org/welcome

You can screen the films directly from your laptop/ desktop or mobile phone. Click Film guide to see all available films. 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 on how to access the film after purchasing tickets to a screening.

REFUND POLICY

All sales are final No exchanges. DOXA only offers refunds in cases of technical failure or cancellation of screening.

RUSH TICKETS

Rush tickets may be available at the door when all advance tickets have been sold. Any unclaimed seats will be released starting 10 minutes prior to the screening on a first-come, first-serve basis.

THEATRE PROCEDURES FOR FESTIVAL PASSHOLDERS

Tickets must be booked in advance. Tickets may be available at the door, bring your festival pass and membership and arrive at least 15 minutes prior to the screening you wish to attend. Festival passholders are not guaranteed seating. All passes are strictly non-transferable and passholders are required to show ID.

ACCESSIBILITY

All theatres are wheelchair accessible with limited spots available. Please email boxoffice@doxafestival.ca or call the DOXA office to make note of space requirements, ask about any additional accessibility features, and for advance ticket purchases. Attendants accompanying people with disabilities will be admitted at no cost.

ASL interpretation will be available at all in-person Industry events, unless otherwise specified.

Films in languages other than English will have subtitles, unless deliberately left untranslated by the filmmaker.

Hearing Assistance devices are available at VIFF Centre and The Cinematheque. Closed captioning devices are available at VIFF Centre; films that include closed captions are specified on our website.

FEES

Third-party processing fees are applied to all orders.

DOXA OFFICE

#110 – 750 Hamilton St, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6B 2R5 | 604.646.3200

DOXAFESTIVAL.CA

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NORTH BY NORTHWEST

MARGARET GALLAGHER WITH WEEKENDS 6AM