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