In Bulles (Bubbles), a group of neurodivergent teenagers work together to put on a live show that brings their unique imaginary worlds to life. Directors Mélissa Lefebvre and Paul Tom spend time with teenagers living on the autism spectrum to understand their discomfort with how their lives have been labelled and stigmatized. They use their art as a bridge between their inner lives and the outside world, sharing the most authentic version of themselves while challenging the clichés that come with their diagnosis.

Joyful, compassionate, and at times surreal, Bulles speaks to the challenges faced by anyone living with some type of stigma. Lefebvre and Tom’s empowering documentary celebrates how finding a community can give unheard voices the power to amplify their message and reshape public perception. This insightful and compassionate film is a love letter to self-acceptance, challenging us all to live each day as the truest version of ourselves — without shame, hesitation, or apology.

CONTENT WARNING: Drug usage

Tight Lettuce is a rare look at the darkly comic side of drug addiction and the toll it takes on everyone involved. The film follows Joel (Dakota Daulby) as he attempts to balance life with his partner (Christie Burke), his mother (Maxim Roy), his grandmother (France Castel), and his father, Bodo (Emmanuel Bilodeau).

Bodo has been struggling with an opioid addiction for most of his son’s life, and hasn’t been able to hold down a job or a place to live. Based on a true story, the film flips the script on the usual story of parents caring for children in the throes of addiction. Despite relying on Joel for his stability and support, Bodo’s relationship with his son is filled with real love and affection, and Joel never stops believing he can get his father’s life back on track.

The beauty of Harrison Houde’s debut feature (co-written by Daulby) is that, while Joel may think love is enough, it’s clear the situation isn’t quite that simple or clean-cut. With charismatic performances from its two leads, Tight Lettuce is an unvarnished look at what addiction can do, and how life rarely offers easy answers or simple cures.

Canadian filmmaker Tasha Hubbard makes her narrative film debut with an intimate family drama about the damaging legacy of the Sixties Scoop. Based on her documentary Birth of a Family, the film focuses on four siblings (Michael Greyeyes, Michelle Thrush, Carmen Moore, and Alex Rice) as they reunite over a weekend in Banff. Through serious conversations around unburied secrets and emotionally resonant experiences, each are given time and space to reconnect and build something tenuous and beautiful out of their traumatic past.

The film, along with Hubbard’s screenplay (co-written with Emil Sher) expertly positions the stunning beauty of The Rockies alongside a quiet regeneration of hope and a deeper understanding of the important work still to be done in the area of reflection and reconciliation with Canada’s Indigenous communities

CONTENT WARNING: Domestic Violence

Feeling crushed beneath the weight of her work, relationship, and family obligations, Naomi (Andrea Bang), a young Asian American woman, seeks escape through the thrill of gambling. Although hitting the blackjack tables may provide temporary respite from her problems, the sense of relief is fleeting, only compounding her worries. Her gambling prowess could provide her with the money she needs to help cover her mother’s finances and support her grandmother, whose dementia is slowly worsening—though it could also drive Naomi into debilitating debt.

Writer-director Jess Dang uses gambling addiction as a doorway to explore anxiety, PTSD, dementia, and the courage required to defy cultural norms. Surrender deftly conveys how addiction can function as a band-aid solution to deeply entrenched emotional wounds. Naomi’s gambling becomes a security blanket, tied to her childhood memories — a source of comfort and support when her lover, overbearing mother, and work-life balance become overwhelming.

With touching performances, a resonant score, and inviting cinematography, Surrender provides a thoughtful and emotionally fraught exploration of the thin line between pleasure and pain.

Award-winning short film director Carol Nguyen makes her feature documentary debut with a deeply affecting and personal documentary about family secrets and healing. With a pointed but sensitive lens, Nguyen speaks with her father, aunt and cousins to explore her paternal uncle Thach’s tragic death a decade ago.

The director deftly shines a light on how different generations and cultures deal with loss and grief, and how much has changed in our understanding of mental health in the intervening years. As the extended family travels back to Vietnam to say a bittersweet and ceremonial goodbye to Thach and both of his parents, they all begin to open up and come together with a newfound honesty and affection. Still Night, Burning House is a beautiful and visually stunning ode to the rebirth and renewal of one family, but it transcends that specificity to give an all-encompassing sense of forward momentum and hope for the future.

Each weekend, fine-art photographer Travis Huggett takes his son Orson railfanning. His son’s love of the New York City subway system knows no bounds, so together they ride the rails, chasing Orson’s bliss. As Travis recognized that other children at his son’s special needs school shared this fascination, he began documenting the phenomenon through his photography, taking portraits of the children along their most beloved subway routes.

Railfan tells an inspiring story about embracing joy, no matter where you find it. It’s a story about appreciating what makes us unique, and how our passions give us the resilience to ride out life’s turbulence. For children on the autism spectrum, life can be uniquely challenging, and the freedom of railfanning allows a space to feel liberated from their struggles — and the independence to be their most authentic selves. Filled with beautiful photography and charming subjects who light up the screen, Railfan offers an eye-opening look at an underground culture that takes its devotees to a higher plane.