2020 Short Films
All screenings take place at Vancity Theatre
*Filmmaker in attendance
**Filmmaker & special guests in attendance
Shorts Program: In Search of Self and Home
Throat Singing in Kangirsuk (Katatjatuuk Kangirsumi) (4 min)
Directed by: Manon Chamberland & Eva Kaukai, Canada
Wednesday, March 4th at 1:00pm
Eva Kaukai and Manon Chamberland practice the Inuk art of throat singing in their small village of Kangirsuk. Their mesmerizing voices carry through the four seasons of their Arctic land.
Book Tickets
Wamin (The Apple) (3 min)
Directed by: Katherine Nequado, Canada
Wednesday, March 4th at 1:00pm
Wamin, means apple in Atikamekw, and is used to insult those who leave their communities to go and live in the city: red on the outside, but white on the inside. A young Atikamekw woman demonstrates how she feels about this insult.
Book Tickets
White Noise (6 min)
[Local Filmmaker]
Directed by: Joleen Mitton, Canada*
Wednesday, March 4th at 1:00pm
Two Indigenous youths are subjected to the threat and dangers of colonization. A ceremonial cleansing of white influence is followed by a return to the land where the elders embody knowledge and protection. Inspired by an original performance piece by local director Joleen Mitton.
Book Tickets
Who Am I (20 min)
[Local Filmmaker]
Directed by: Adhel Arop*
Wednesday, March 4th at 1:00pm
Who Am I tells the story of Adhel’s quest for identity as she reconciles with her mother’s past as a child soldier in South Sudan. War displacement, and trauma have affected both women’s lives and their relationship with each other.
Book Tickets
Daughter (15 min)
BC Premiere
Directed by: Daria Kashcheeva, Czech Republic
Wednesday, March 4th at 1:00pm
A woman stands at a window in her father’s hospital room when a small bird breaks the pane. She remembers the moment of misunderstanding between her and her father and the lost embrace that has stretched all the way to where she now stands.
Book Tickets
Micky (13 min)
World Premiere
Directed by: Aimee Hoffman, United States/Canada*
Wednesday, March 4th at 1:00pm
In San Francisco where homelessness is rapidly growing, a young woman travels the streets in search of a home and independence and discovers that home is not always a place.
Book Tickets
The Juggler (12 min)
Vancouver Premiere
Directed by: Skirmanta Jakaitė, Lithuania
Wednesday, March 4th at 1:00pm
When someone juggles it seems that flying objects are connected by an invisible thread as are the stories in this sort animation – strands that are mysterious, uncanny, insane and mundane, but nonetheless, strands that connect us to each other.
Book Tickets
Shorts Program: Claiming A Natural Order
Now is the Time (17 min)
[Local Filmmaker]
Directed by: Christopher Auchter, Canada*
Thursday, March 5th at 3:30pm
Robert Davidson was only 22 when he carved the first new totem pole on BC’s Haida Gwaii in almost a century. On the 50th anniversary of the pole’s raising, Haida filmmaker Christopher Auchter steps through history to revisit that day in 1969, when the village of Old Massett gathered to celebrate the event and signal the rebirth of the Haida spirit.
Book Tickets
Biskawbiyng: The Return (16 min)
BC Premiere
Directed by: Sage Petahtegoose, Canada
Thursday, March 5th at 3:30pm
Shelley Charles, an Elder, and Nicholas Deleary, a pipe Chief dedicated to the repatriation of sacred objects and Anishinaabe culture, tell the stories of sacred objects and relay the importance of returning these objects to the First Nations communities from which they derived.
Book Tickets
Cedar Tree of Life (11 min)
[Local Filmmaker]
Directed by: Odessa Shuquaya, Canada*
Thursday, March 5th at 3:30pm
Three Indigenous women commune with the sacred Cedar, practising and sharing their culture and art using knowledge passed down from their mothers and grandmothers. From garments to homes to burial material for those who have passed on, Cedar is inextricably linked to all aspects of life for Salish peoples.
Book Tickets
The Evening Thread (11 min)
[Local Filmmaker]
Directed by: Iris Moore, Canada*
Thursday, March 5th at 3:30pm
An old woman prepares to die. Accompanied by her granddaughter, she reflects on the memories of her life, and on the profound experience of being human. And then she steps into the unknown.
Book Tickets
She Who Wears the Rain (17 min)
BC Premiere
Directed by: Arianne Métivier, Canada
Thursday, March 5th at 3:30pm
Immersed in a world that wavers between reality and dream, a young woman must confront her mourning.
Book Tickets
elephantfish (28 min)
Canadian Premiere
Directed by: Meltse van Coillie, Belgium
Thursday, March 5th at 3:30pm
Aboard a cargo ship, drifting in an endless sea, the sailors find ways to cope with the vast emptiness in time and space, but imagination rises from beneath the surface and gradually takes the helm.
Book Tickets
Shorts Program: Confusing Continuums
A Typical Fairytale (11 min)
[Local Filmmaker]
Directed by: Annette Reilly, Canada*
Friday, March 6th at 3:00pm
A fairy book romance, told entirely in rhyme, until a fairy godmother, or is it a crazed woman, predicts the birth of a boy and things are not what they had seemed to be. Can there still be a happy ending?
Book Tickets
Il fagotto (The Load) (15 min)
Canadian Premiere
Directed by: Giulia Giapponesi, Italy
Friday, March 6th at 3:00pm
In a dystopian future where the birth rate is in decline, the government applies harsh measures to women who don’t do their part to increase the population. At the annual declaration, where women must explain why they haven’t yet given birth, two women meet and are instantly driven to make a choice that could radically change their destiny.
Book Tickets
Odd Girl (13 min)
[Local Filmmaker]
Directed by: Rami Kahlon, Canada*
Friday, March 6th at 3:00pm
A charismatic high school student, Dylan, finds his perfect existence compromised by the unwelcome attentions of a lonely outcast. But when his best friend takes pity on her and begins to express abnormal behaviour, Dylan discovers a supernatural force that turns his world upside down.
Book Tickets
The Boogeywoman (17 min)
BC Premiere
Directed by: Erica Scoggins, USA
Friday, March 6th at 3:00pm
A late-blooming teenager is haunted by her small town’s local legend, only to find that the “Boogeywoman” is her own flesh and blood.
Book Tickets
Ave Eva (13 min)
Canadian Premiere
Directed by: Oliwia Tado (Twardowska), Greece
Friday, March 6th at 3:00pm
What happens in the mind of seven year old Eva when she witnesses something she’s not supposed to see.
Book Tickets
Down the Rabbit Hole (11 min)
BC Premiere [Local Filmmaker]
Directed by: Ali Froggatt*
Friday, March 6th at 3:00pm
By seducing her victims into sedation, a young woman attempts to take back what was once stolen from her.
Book Tickets
Sentiments Distingués (Distinguished Feelings) (12 min)
Canadian Premiere
Directed by: Keren Marciano
Friday, March 6th at 3:00pm
When Elena tries to test her husband’s fidelity by hiring an actor to seduce him, she becomes the victim of her own trap.
Book Tickets
Bloeistraat 11 (10 min)
Directed by: Nienke Deutz, Belgium
Friday, March 6th at 3:00pm
Can the close bond between two childhood friends remain as they enter their teens and begin to broaden their horizons?
Book Tickets
Shorts Program: Staring Down the Stillness
Am Himmel (Heaven’s Meadow) (29 min)
Canadian Premiere
Directed by: Magdalena Chmielewska, Austria
Saturday, March 7th at 1:20pm
Maya’s emotional trauma takes much longer to heal than the physical injuries she experienced as the result of an assault. As she tries to regain control of her life will she heal or render another victim?
Book Now
The Hunger and the City (11 min)
World Premiere
Directed by: Whitehall, Canada*
Saturday, March 7th at 1:20pm
A climate catastrophe topples the daily operations of a metropolis and turmoil envelopes the city. Amidst this chaos, a woman makes her way through the dangerous streets to find supplies and confronts the threats of a fallen society.
Book Now
Border Crossing (15 min)
BC Premiere
Directed by: Agnieszka Chmura, Poland
Saturday, March 7th at 1:20pm
In the sweltering heat during the summer of 1989, the last year of Communism in Eastern Europe, a family waits in a long line at the Czechoslovakian-Polish border. As they inch closer to the guards and tensions mount, release finally comes from an unexpected moment of humanity.
Book Now
Last Stand to Nowhere (15 min)
[Local Filmmaker]
Directed by: Michelle Muldoon, Canada*
Saturday, March 7th at 1:20pm
The Clantons are a family of thieves who believe that the town’s fortunes are theirs for the taking. The Earps are the strong arm of justice. The film is an all-female re-imagining of the most famous gunfight in the history of the West; the ultimate family feud that finds its resolution at the end of a gun barrel at the OK Corral.
Book Now
Amalgama (13 min)
Canadian Premiere
Directed by: Alejandra Wills, Colombia
Saturday, March 7th at 1:20pm
A shared grief makes it painful for two Colombian peasants to spend time with each other as they are a constant reminder of one another’s loss. This gives birth to a complex bond that fosters acceptance.
Book Now
Dorotchka (27 min)
Canadian Premiere
Directed by: Olga Delane, Russia
Saturday, March 7th at 1:20pm
In the Siberian countryside, marriage is traditionally seen as the greatest achievable happiness for a woman. But the 80-year-old Dorotchka, an archetypal babushka, has always remained alone.
Book Tickets
Single Short- Screens with Feature Heavy Craving
Egg (13 min)
Directed by Martina Scarpelli, France
Friday, March 6th at 5:45pm
Egg tells the story of woman locked in her home with an egg that she is both obsessed with and terrified by. This animation is a seductive contradiction—simultaneously beautiful and grotesque, soothing and brutal, filling you with dread and leaving you hungry for more.
Book Tickets