ALFF CREATOR TALK

VIRTUAL REALITY, GAMES AND APPS AT LOFTY SKY ENTERTAINMENT

SATURDAY FEB 11, 9 - 10:30AM

OLD FIRE HALL, FREE ADMISSION

CEO of Lofty Sky Entertainment and director of Eternal Spring (長春), Jason Loftus, in conversation with XR creator, animator and principal of Outpost 31, Jayden Soroka.

This talk explores the creation of an award-winning animated documentary Eternal Spring (長春), (which opens the festival Thurs Feb 9) and the online companion pieces to share this fine animated film with the world. We’ll dive deep into the blending of 2D illustrations, animation and documentary. Show creator Jason Loftus of Lofty Sky Entertainment will walk through the creative process with clips, anecdotes and answers to audience questions.

A Peabody Award-winning film producer and four-time Canadian Screen Award nominee, Jason Loftus’ work spans documentary, docuseries, virtual reality, narrative games, and animation.

An alumni of the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Jayden Soroka combines his talent for animation and producing with his passion and proficiency for motion design, visual-fx, and 360/ VR content.

PROUD MAJOR SPONSOR

Four plus days of industry sessions including master classes, panel discussions, decision-maker and funder presentations and the ALFF Pitch Event, the ALFF Industry Series kicks off on February 7 and runs until February 12.

For the full schedule please view: alff.ca

February 7

7PM-8PM: Old Fire Hall, Whitehorse. Independent Production Fund with Jon Taylor.

February 8 - all day on Zoom

9PM-5:30PM: Industry Presentations by decision-makers, festivals and public funders, including: CBC Drama, CBC Comedy, Indigenous Screen Office, Bell Fund, Telefilm Canada, National Film Board of Canada, Canada Media Fund, Knowledge Network, Northwestel Community TV, Documentary Organization of Canada, Hot Docs International FF, and Level Film

February 9

9AM-11AM: Zoom, DOC IGNITE Market Intelligence workshop

12PM-1PM: Old Fire Hall, Creator Talk - The Art of Polaris with Leslie Leong

1:30PM-3:30 PM: Zoom, DOC IGNITE From Treatment to Screen workshop

February 10

9AM-10AM: Old Fire Hall Keynote Address - Joy Loewen, National Screen Institute

10:30AM-12PM: Panel DiscussionLifting Up Indigenous Screen Projects/ Producers

1PM-2:30PM: Zoom, 1 to 1 Meetings

2:30-4:00 PM: IN-person 1 to 1 Meetings

February 11

9AM-10:30 AM: Old Fire Hall, VR, Games and App Case Study: Lofty Sky Entertainment’s Jason Loftus in conversation with Jayden Soroka (Outpost 31)

1PM-2:15 PM: Old Fire Hall, Yukon Film and Media Production Status and Future

3PM-4:30 PM: Old Fire Hall, Submitting to Film Festivalsfilmmakers and festival programmers

February 12

1PM: Old Fire Hall, ALFF Pitch Event. Public event. Everyone is welcome to attend to witness 6 filmmaking teams pitch their short film project to a jury of film professionals for the chance to win the ALFF Pitch Prize: $7,500 in cash and $5,000 in in-kind support from Northwestel Community TV and Yukon Film Society.

Passes And Registration

Thanks to our wonderful sponsors Canada Media Fund and Warner Bros. Discovery Access Canada for providing Industry access to under-represented creatives.

ALFF Industry Online Pass: $40 ALFF Industry: $75 alff.ca/passes

*FREE for Indigenous, Black, Persons of Colour and LGBTQ2+ Creatives in the Yukon, NWT & BC please email: alff@ yukonfilmsociety.com

ALFF 2023 Presenting Partner: Canada Goose. ALFF Industry is presented in partnership with the support of Canada Media Fund, Documentary Organization of Canada, Warner Bros. Discovery Access Canada, Hot Docs International Film Festival, Telefilm Canada, and Northwestel Community Television.

ALFF SHORT WORKS 1: HERE AND THE GREAT ELSEWHERE

Vistas: Ignition

DIR. DOUG, JR. SMARCH, 2009, CA | 3 MIN

This animated video captures the feeling of nighttime solitude on a murky rural road. High beams pierce the night to cast shadows that distend and hide all beyond.

Mold

DIR. SHELBY ATWOOD STRANGLING WOLF & STEVIE-RAY ATWOOD STRANGLING WOLF, 2022, CA | 10 MIN

A lone, hollow protagonist finds themselves ridden with an uncanny mold that cannot be cleaned or expunged.

Vistas: Dancers of the Grass

DIR. MELANIE JACKSON, 2009, CA | 2 MIN

Stop-motion embodies unity in the majesty of a First Nations hoop dance.

Thanadoula

DIR. ROBIN MCKENNA, 2020, CA | 6 MIN

The tale of a palliative doula who finds her calling through her late sister.

Forests

DIR. SIMON PLOUFFE, 2022, CA | 16 MIN

Innu voices speak to swamped forests while drums punctuate the gravity of flooded woodlands. Dams emerge as aurality intensifies and recalls legends of the land.

Here and the Great Elsewhere

DIR. MICHÈLE LEMIEUX, 2012, CA | 14 MIN

Lemieux abstracts elements of matter through a short series of pinscreen tableaux.

Alambic: By Winds and Tides

DIR. DOUG, JR. SMARCH, 2022, CA | 3 MIN

This short film weaves words and visuals to illustrate how creation takes shape and is unleashed.

ALFF SHORT WORKS 2: TRIANGLE OF DARKNESS

Saturday Night

DIR. ROSANA MATECKI, 2021, CA | 15 MIN

Spanish visual essay about a lone narrator whose nostalgia encompasses a melancholy perspective. Amidst an impassive city, memory and dance prove to be a refuge.

Nowhere Land

DIR. ROSIE BONNIE AMMAAQ, 2015, NU | 15 MIN

A hushed elegy for a way of life forgotten by conquest albeit deeply remembered by those who lived it. A family who lives as Inuit generations before them and renounces the frigid formality imposed by colonial institutions.

At Dusk

DIR. MIRYAM CHARLES, 2022, QC | 17 MIN

Charlotte faces inner demons during a field trip to the woods. She ventures to find herself alone in an effort to escape shared mealtimes and overcome her own hunger.

Triangle of Darkness

DIR. MARIE-NOËLLE MOREAU ROBIDAS, 2022, CA | 15 MIN

Cold is custom for those who reside in a region known as the “triangle of darkness” amidst an ice storm that saw an unprecedentedly prolonged power outage. Reproductive labour and kinship always manage to warm those cold.

Walking is Medicine

DIR. ALANIS OBOMSAWIN, 2017, CA | 5 MIN

Six Cree men, the Nishiyuu walkers, trudge 1600 kilometers from Whapmagoostui to Ottawa like their ancestors. They trek upon frozen lakes and rivers to span long distances.

55 Socks

DIR. CO HOEDEMAN, 2011, CA | 8 MIN

During World War II, a mother and daughter care for two Jewish ladies when Nazis occupied Holland. The women unravel a quilt to make 55 pairs of socks to trade for necessities.

Alambic: Solid Ground

DIR. BEATRIZ CARVALHO, 2022, CA | 2 MIN

A sonic travelog that follows an expatriate on their journey home. Monotype animation characterizes a sentiment of simultaneity wherein one feels both at home and abroad upon return.

ALFF

SHORT WORKS 3:

THREE THINGS WE WON’T TALK ABOUT FREE SCREENING

Pony

DIR. CHALA HUNTER, 2022, CA | 11 MIN

Familia(l)(r)ity depicts a fine line between indelicacy and endearment.

Iii

DIR. SALOMÉ VILLENEUVE, 2022, CA | 12 MIN

Nature inclines three siblings to critically consider mortality on a hot summer day.

Three Things We Won’t Talk About

DIR. JESSIE CRAIG ROCHE, 2022, CA | 9 MIN

A comical morbid glimpse into the filth and fortitude that underscores intimacy through unspoken nuisances.

Scaring Women at Night

DIR. KARIMAH ZAKIA ISSA, 2022, CA | 10 MIN

Fear is instinct as Ella finds herself the sole traveler down an empty street with a man who follows too close behind.

Very Present

DIR. CONOR MCNALLY, 2020, CA | 5 MIN

As Riley adjusts to a new place and schedule, we see how confinement alters our perceptions of time.

The Chase

DIR. GURJEET KAUR BASSI, 2022, CA | 11 MIN

A couple of Punjabi labourers shift gears against their wrongdoers.

Lay Me by the Shore

DIR. DAVID FINDLAY, 2022, CA | 19 MIN

Sunny days are overshadowed by a specter of those who were loved and lost. Life is precarious with no guarantees. The only thing Noah can count on is unvarying anguish in bereavement.

Content advisory: strong language and mature themes in this program.

ALFF SHORT WORKS 4: HIDDEN HISTORIES

ALFF SHORT WORKS 5: MUNICIPAL RELAXATION MODE

Tibi

DIR. TWOYOUNGMEN JARRET, 2022, AB | 13 MIN

A tipi wonders about its purpose in modern life, and shows that as a home, it is the heart of its community.

Kokum with Love

DIR. KIM STADFELD, 2022, MB | 11 MIN

Flora Bear’s youngest granddaughter searches for truth and answers about her Indigenous grandmother’s life. Filmmakers in attendance.

Tiny

DIR. RYAN HACHÉ AND RITCHIE HEMPHILL, 2022, BC | 16 MIN

’Nakwaxda’xw Elder Colleen Hemphill tells the story of her life as a youth growing up in a float house.

Imalijirit

DIR. TIM ANAVIAPIK SOUCIE AND VINCENT

L’HÉRAULT, 2022, NU | 27 MIN

This film brings human faces to the much reported issue of problems with drinking water for Indigenous communities. In this, a young father in Pond Inlet, near the north end of Baffin Island, sets out to take matters into his own community’s hands. A fascinating overview of a multi-faceted co-operative project that involves educating fellow Inuit, gathering historical evidence from elders, and a large degree of training and co-operation with academic institutions in the south. Inspiring and a great look into life in Pond Inlet, Nunavut.

Rumination

DIR. ASHLEIGH VALLANCOURT, 2022, CA | 4 MIN

At night, a woman’s mind wanders as she chops firewood.

Chasing Birds

DIR. UNA LORENZEN, 2022, CA | 8 MIN

A hand-drawn animation of parallel universes in which strangers, unaware of each other’s presence, share the use of a long table as their worlds gradually merge.

Wherever You Are, Wherever I Am

DIR. KAY CHAN, 2022, BC | 2 MIN

This film follows a pair of Two-Spirit Métis-Chinese youth softening a deer hide together. An experimental film about belonging and honouring your full self and ancestry, no matter where you are.

Red House

DIR. BARRY DOUPÉ, 2022, CA | 3 MIN

Red House is an animation that playfully explores metamorphosis in relation to the stability and structure of housing. Created using the AMIGA computer console and Deluxe Paint IV software, hand drawn sequences delight in the constant reconfiguration of images, characters and forms.

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Municipal Relaxation Module

DIR. MATTHEW RANKIN, QC | 6 MIN

Ken has a perfect spot for a city bench, and is calling the city to share his idea.

Alambic: By Winds and Tides

DIR. BOGDAN ANIFRANI-FEDACH, CA | 2 MIN

Exploring the conscious, the unconscious and the self, By Winds and Tides takes a deep experimental dive into the birth of an idea—how it takes shape, how it is released. An allegorical quest, the film combines images and words into a singular sigh.

Hotel

DIR. DAVID CURTIS, 2022, YT | 5 MIN

During a two-week stay in a nearly vacant hotel, filmmaker Curtis developed an intimate relationship with his room and the hotel’s architecture and décor.

Living with Ataxia

DIR. ANNIE MAHEUX,2022, QC | 10 MIN

Based on an original idea by Magdalena Guzman and coordinated by Annie Maheux, Vivre avec Ataxie (Living with Ataxia) deals with the fundamental intersections between desire and disability, through video and Virtual Reality research.

I Thought the World of You

DIR. KURT WALKER, 2022, BC | 17 MIN

The speculative tale of Canadian outsider musician Lewis, his 1983 album L’Amour, and its belated discovery. A love story composed in myth and song.

ALFF SHORT WORKS 6: YUKON LIGHT

FILMMAKERS IN ATTENDANCE

Blur

DIR. EMILY SHEFF, MARIE HAMMJE, 2022, YT | 4 MIN

Whitehorse jury award-winner of the Yukon48 Filmmaking Challenge. Content advisory for disturbing scenes.

Don’t Bring Lulu

DIR. LULU KEATING, 2022, YT | 4 MIN

The invitation to the party comes with a stipulation: don’t bring Lulu. However, Lulu has ideas of her own.

Snow Bear

DIR. IANTHA GREER, 2022, YT | 8 MIN

In this gentle animation, Ali’s twin sister Dea passes away, her spirit returns from the northern lights in the form of a snow bear to console Ali and her family and play an important role in the family’s survival.

Please Cheese Please Me

DIR. ZACH MCCANN, CHELSEA JEFFREY, 2022, YT | 3 MIN

Audience award-winner of the Yukon48 Filmmaking Challenge!

Hello World

DIR. J/KLYNK, 2022, YT | 4 MIN

Dawson jury award-winner of Yukon48 Filmmaking Challenge.

Tlingit Samurai

DIR. DOUGLAS JOE, 2022, YT | 4 MIN

Haa Kusteeyí meets the katana.

Sorry Folks

DIR. AUBYN O’GRADY, 2022, YT | 3 MIN

It’s probably the dongle.

Ablation

DIR. CUD EASTBOUND, 2022, YT | 4 MIN

Don’t go down there!

Hiking

DIR. FLORIAN BOSC, 2022, YT | 5 MIN

Two hikers walk on a trail in the mountains. After many kilometers, one of them injures their ankle and needs emergency help.

Parental guidance advised.

The Fire Dancer

DIR. LANCELOT BURTON, AGNIESZKA PAJOR, 2022, YT | 3 MIN

Audrey Gallibois transforms into a fearless fire deity, delicately balancing the dangerous art of flowing fire just a hair’s breadth away from what most people would consider safe.

Senior Year

DIR. THOMAS BULLEN, 2021, YT | 25 MIN

Senior Year is a visual album, consisting of music by the Yukon band, Soda Pony. The six songs of the album, which embody the iconic musical style of garage rock duo Aiden Tentrees and Patrick Hamilton, guide a visual narrative which explores the many trials and tribulations of young adulthood against the backdrop of Yukon life. Youthful naiveté, awkward first dates, lessons gained and love lost, are all on the menu in this coming-of-age tale; with a generous side of fries. Whitehorse actors Daniel Little and Julie Laliberté star as the (almost) high school sweethearts in a narrative that roams wildly between hopeful, awkward, intense, and utterly unrequited. Senior Year was produced by Yukon filmmakers Thomas and Gabriel Bullen on a shoestring budget and serves as a love letter to the real and imagined world of Whitehorse teenage-dom in the days before everyone had a smartphone in their pocket.