ALFF FILMS

Blood Quantum Bones Of Crows

Blood Quantum

DIR. JEFF BARNABY, 2019, QUEBEC | 98 MIN

This ALFF 2023 tribute screening remembers incendiary Mi’gmaq filmmaker, Jeff Barnaby, who passed away in 2022 at the age of 48.

The dead are coming back to life outside the isolated Mi’kmaq reserve of Red Crow, except for its Indigenous inhabitants who are strangely immune to the zombie plague.

As the citizens of surrounding cities flee to the reserve in search of refuge from the outbreak, the community must reckon with whether to let the outsiders in — risking not only their own extinction, but also humanities. Further accentuated by animated chapter breaks that instill a comic-book aesthetic, Barnaby takes advantage of the canvas zombie films that regularly afford for cultural critique, exploring racism, colonialism, and the very real threat of extinction that Indigenous communities have experienced for generations.

In English and Mi’kmaq with English subtitles.

Content advisory: implied sexual violence, explicit violence, frightening scenes, drug use, coarse language, sexual content.

Bones Of Crows

DIR. MARIE CLEMENTS, 2022, BRITISH COLUMBIA | 127 MIN

In these troubled and lopsided times, we need our storytellers to help us understand our inheritance, be it pain or privilege, and to lay the intellectual and emotional groundwork not only for reconciliation, but for reparation and restoration. Dene/Métis writerdirector Marie Clements (whose previous films The Road Forward and Red Snow were both ALFF selections) squares up to the challenge with this bold, necessarily harrowing tale of oppression and resilience which spans the greater part of the 20th century.

In English, Cree, ʔayʔajuθəm, and Italian with English subtitles.

Content advisory: content relating to residential schools; child abuse, sexual and psychological abuse, racism.

Associate producer, Leena Minifie in attendance for post-screening Q&A.

BROKER (BEUROKEO)

BROKER (BEUROKEO)

DIR. KORE-EDA HIROKAZU, 2022, KOR/ JPN | 129 MIN

SCREENING SPONSOR: MIDNIGHT SUN COFFEE ROASTERS

With his newest film the lauded Japanese filmmaker, Hirokazu Kore-eda (Shoplifters), brings to audiences this beautifully crafted and achingly touching crowdpleaser about an unconventional family formed under the strangest of circumstances.

The film follows two brokers who sell orphaned infants, circumventing the bureaucracy of legal adoption, to affluent couples who can’t have children of their own. After an infant’s mother surprises the duo by returning to ensure her child finds a good home, the three embark on a journey to find the right couple, building an unlikely family of their own.

In Korean with English subtitles.

Recommended for ages 15+ for mature themes.

BROTHER

Brother

DIR. CLEMENT VIRGO, 2022, ONTARIO | 119 MIN

SCREENING SPONSOR: EDGEWATER HOTEL

Clement Virgo (The Book of Negroes) makes a brilliant return to feature filmmaking with this propulsive adaptation of David Chariandy’s celebrated novel. Set against the backdrop of suburban Scarborough, Brother follows siblings Michael (Lamar Johnson) and Francis (Aaron Pierre) as they strive to justify the sacrifices of their devoting mother (Marsha Stephanie Blake) and realize their own ambitions: for Francis, that’s a career in hip-hop; for Michael, it’s the love of Aisha (Kiana Madeira). However, fate has other plans for this pair and all those they hold dear.

Content advisory: police violence, themes of racism.