GENRE: DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE), DOCUMENTARY (SHORT)
TYPE: FILM | IN-PERSON
KEYWORDS: IMMIGRATION | TRAUMA | MOBILITY | MUTUAL AID | HEALING

Should we leave our origins behind or can we give them new meaning? This is the question posed by The Dependents, in which the filmmaker combs through decades of diary entries written by her father, a retired immigration officer, interrogating him as he did countless applicants who appeared before his desk in Canadian embassies across the globe. This work is a reflection on the right to mobility for some and not others and the discourses that justify this inequality. Sofia Brockenshire’s film merges the past and present in a bold and sonically rich family portrait about home, displacement, and current forced and voluntary migration movements. — Jason Fox (RIDM, Montreal)

Screening with Short Film

Neighbour Abdi | Douwe Dijkstra | The Netherlands | Doc | 2022 | 29 minutes | Somali and Dutch with English subtitles 

How can you understand a violent past? Somali-born Abdi reenacts his life, marked by war and criminality, with the help of his neighbour and filmmaker Douwe. Through playful reconstructions in a special effects studio, they embark on a candid and investigative journey through a painful history, focusing on the creative process throughout.

This 2.5-hour virtual workshop offers a space to share what has been arising for us during the festival and explore how this year’s festival theme, Mind the Gap, shows up in our lives.

Mind The Gap as a theme invites us to examine the systematic “gaps” people with lived experience of mental health and addiction, may fall through. In gathering as a community, we hope to create an alliance by healing together. 

The hosts and facilitators of The Gathering, Katt Topolniski, Ellen Snowball and Alys Sobool, will hold the space and gently guide the conversation. They will also share a brief introduction to somatic healing and facilitate a somatic grounding exercise and an embodied art activity.

About The Gathering 

The Gathering is a co-created, community-led, virtually held space for sharing circle-style conversations that aim to acknowledge we are relational beings who need connection. It is an offering that holds space for weaving our lived experiences, stories, and wisdom to foster desired insights, resources, and awareness in ways that support our individual and collective humanity. Lightly guided and gently held, The Gathering explores what it means to grow in a community.

Co-creators and hosts of The Gathering, Katt Topolniski, Ellen Snowball and Alys Sobool are collaborative and welcome creative collaborations

GENRE: VARIOUS
TYPE: FILM | IN-PERSON
KEYWORDS: AUTOBIOGRAPHY | EXPERIMENTAL | PETS & SERVICE ANIMALS | SPOKEN WORD

The short film program “Born To Be An Artist” explores different methodologies in filmmaking as a way to express something that is true or unique to the idea of self. Featured artists: Shabnam Sukhdev and Ishaa Chopra, Don Vaillancourt and Naomi Hendrickje Laufer, Emily Sweet, Shantell Powell, Dorothy Ogda Laxton, Amy Ness, Victoria Brecht and Gladys Lou  

Unfinished | Shabnam Sukhdev And Ishaa Chopra | 2021 | Doc | English, Hindi with open captions

Music Box | Don Vaillancourt and Naomi Hendrickje Laufer | 2023 | Experimental | English with open captions

Interspecies Antics | Emily Sweet | 2020 | Experimental | English with open captions

Chinchilla Theatre Episode 1 – The Director’s Cut | Shantell Powell | 2020 | Experimental 

The Reluctant Messenger  | Dorothy Ogda Laxton | 2023 | Spoken Word | English with open captions

Amys Fight | Amy Ness | Documentary | English with open captions

Coffee & a Smoke | Victoria Brecht | 2023 | Documentary | English with open captions

Breathe Easy | Gladys Lou | 2021 | Experimental/performance art | English with open captions