Grade: Grade 9
The Cuban
The Cuban is a touching story about friendship, love and of course, beautiful music. Mina (Golga), an Afghani-Canadian pre-med student in her first placement at a long-term care home, meets Luis (Gossett Jr.) an elderly musician whose dementia has deprived him of many of the memories of his youth in Cuba. When Mina finds a way to reignite his memory using music and food from his past, the two enter on an inspiring journey of self-discovery that reawakens Mina’s love of music, and changes both of their lives.
Featuring a stellar cast and beautiful original music, The Cuban is a heartwarming cross-cultural story that received 3 Canadian Screen Award nominations.
“As a story of the curative power of music, it works, has a good beat and you can dance to it.” - Richard Crouse, film critic
Director
Sergio Navarretta
Navarretta is an award-winning director whose credits include the shorts Serena DeBergerac, and The Fortune Cookie, and the features Looking for Angelina and The Colossal Failure of the Modern Relationship. Most recently, he executive produced Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend. Next, he will be directing the feature The Last Palikári, and he will be working with Louis Gosset Jr. again on his next film, Elephants in the Room.
Writer
Alessandra Piccione
Cast
Ana Golja, Louis Gossett Jr., Shohreh Aghdashloo
Producers
Alessandra Piccione, Taras Koltun, Ana Golja
Genre
Drama
Interests
Arts and Culture, BIPOC Stories, ESL, Family Relationships, Newcomer Stories, Strong Female Leads
Original Language
English
The New Corporation
Following the example of their critically-acclaimed first documentary, The New Corporation delves even deeper into the absolute and far-reaching power that corporations have gained, and the future that awaits us if that power remains unchecked.
“What you want from a film like this one is for it to touch the metaphysics of how corporations now work. The New Corporation does that. It shakes up your perceptions. And it makes you suck in your breath.” — Owen Glieberman, Variety
Directors
Joel Bakan
Bakan is a writer, filmmaker and law professor who wrote the books The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power, and The New Corporation: How "Good" Corporations Are Bad for Democracy. He co-wrote and produced the documentary The Corporation, and co-wrote, co-directed and produced its sequel, The New Corporation: The Unfortunately Necessary Sequel.
Jennifer Abbott
Abbott is a Genie Award-winning documentary filmmaker, writer, editor, and producer. She directed A Cow at My Table, The Film That Buys the Cinema, Us and Them, and The Magnitude of All Things, and co-directed The Corporation and its follow-up The New Corporation. She edited Let It Ride, Under the Poison Tree, and I Am, and co-wrote and directed the documentary Bif Naked: One of a Kind.
Writer
Joel Bakan
Producers
Trish Dolman, Betsy Carson
Genre
Documentary
Interests
Environment, Female Filmmaker, Social Justice & Politics
Original Language
English
Un sac de billes (A Bag of Marbles)
“Makes such a barbaric and bewildering chapter in human history comprehensible for young audiences.” – Matt Fagerholm, RogerEbert.com
Director
Christian Duguay
Duguay is a film director, cinematographer, and producer renowned for his work in action films and historical television miniseries. He directed numerous thrillers, including Scanners II: The New Order, Scanners III: The Takeover, Live Wire, The Art of War, and the mini-series Human Trafficking, starring Donald Sutherland. He has also directed episodes of Anna Karenina and Medici and the feature films Un sac de billes (A Bag of Marbles), and Tempête (Ride Above).
Writers
Jonathan Allouche, Alexandra Geismar, Joseph Joffo, Christian Duguay
Cast
Batyste Fleurial, Dorian Le Clech, Patrick Bruel, Elsa Zylberstein
Producers
Nicolas Duval-Adassovsky, Laurent Zeitoun, Yann Zenou, Joe Iacono
Genre
Drama
Interests
Discrimination, Family Relationships, Global Experiences, History, Literary Adaptation, Social Justice & Politics
Original Language
French
Our Man in Tehran
These events were fictionalized in the Hollywood film Argo, but this fascinating doc sets the record straight through archival footage and the words of those who experienced it, all culminating in the fantastical plan devised to smuggle the fugitives out.
“Sometimes, the truth can be more entertaining than fiction. If Argo was a high-stakes political thriller…it was also a simplistic and escapist escape movie about the power of Hollywood to defeat evil. So now…we Canadians respond with a documentary to reclaim our true story.” — Simon Houpt, The Globe and Mail
Directors
Larry Weinstein
Weinstein has received three Gemini awards for his work, including Best Direction for Beethoven’s Hair. Weinstein also directed the docs Mulroney: The Opera, The Devil’s Horn, Leslie Caron: The Reluctant Star, and Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas, and co-directed Our Man In Tehran. His latest, Propaganda: The Art of Selling Lies, premiered at Hot Docs 2019.
Drew Taylor
Our Man in Tehran was Taylor’s first film after careers in baseball and bio-engineering. He has also directed Lost and Found.
Writers
Drew Taylor, Robert Wright
Producers
Niv Fichman, Larry Weinstein, Drew Taylor
Genre
Documentary
Interests
Biography, Global Experiences, History, Literary Adaptation, Social Justice & Politics
Original Language
English
Mon Cirque à Moi (My Very Own Circus)
While some children may want to run away and join the circus, Laura (Jasmine Lemée) has grown up in a travelling circus and desperately wants a normal life. Her father (Patrick Huard) is a professional clown and can't understand the need for a conventional life, believing that learning happens on the road. As their differences become more apparent, he must accept the fact that his teenage daughter may not want to follow in his footsteps, and he may have to let her find her own path.
Directors
Miryam Bouchard
Bouchard is an award-winning writer and director who started her career in music videos, and has directed numerous shorts, including La cérémonie, Couleur Wolfe and Roastbeef, and TV series such as La guerre des sexes, Mon ex à moi, L'Échappée, M’entends-tu?, and Mea culpa, among others. Her feature directorial credits include Mon Cirque à Moi, Lignes de fuite, and 23 décembre.
Miryam Bouchard
Bouchard is an award-winning writer and director who started her career in music videos, and has directed numerous shorts, including La cérémonie, Couleur Wolfe, and Roastbeef, and TV series such as La guerre des sexes, Mon ex à moi, L'Échappée, M’entends-tu?, and Mea culpa, among others. Her feature directorial credits include Mon cirque à moi, Lignes de fuite, and 23 décembre.
Writers
Miryam Bouchard, Martin Forget
Cast
Patrick Huard, Jasmine Lemée, Sophie Lorain, Robin Aubert
Producer
Antonella Cozzolino Giorlando
Genre
Comedy
Interests
Family Relationships, Female Filmmaker, Strong Female Leads
Original Language
French
When she receives an invitation to a poetry festival in Shiraz, Iran, Rosie embarks on a journey that unravels a personal mystery and brings her closer to her Persian roots.
Voiced by an all-star cast including Sandra Oh, Elliot Page and Don McKellar, Window Horses is a beautiful and poignant story about family, imagination, culture and finding your own voice.
"This is not just a visual treat, it's a rewarding and unexpectedly engrossing piece of female-led storytelling." - Wendy Ide, Screen International
Director
Ann Marie Fleming
Fleming is a visual artist, filmmaker and writer who has animated over 20 films, including the shorts Stories Sarah Tells, Big Trees, A Short Film About Tegan & Sara, Question Period, and Old Dog. Her features include New Shoes, The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam, The French Guy, and Can I Get a Witness, which premiered at TIFF 2024. Fleming has won nearly 20 awards and nominations for her films, including 15 for Window Horses.
Writer
Ann Marie Fleming
Cast
Shohreh Aghdashloo, Sandra Oh, Nancy Kwan, Don McKellar, Elliot Page
Producers
Michael Fukushima, Shirley Vercruysse, Ann Marie Fleming, Sandra Oh
Genres
Action/Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family
Interests
Arts and Culture, Asian Filmmaker, BIPOC Stories, ESL, Family Relationships, Female Filmmaker, Global Experiences, Literary Adaptation, Strong Female Leads
Original Language
English
4 AM
Director
Janine Fung
Writer
Muhammad Muwakil
Cast
Muhammad Muwakil
Producer
Janine Fung
Genre
Drama
Interests
Arts and Culture, BIPOC Stories, Female Filmmaker, Global Experiences
Original Language
English
5:1
Filmmaker Ben-Saud takes us into her family home, where she was confined with her parents and adult brother and sister during the early months of the lockdown, to experience the sometimes funny and sometimes challenging realities of pandemic coexistence.
Director
Sara Ben-Saud
Writer
Sara Ben-Saud
Producer
Sara Ben-Saud
Genres
Documentary, Family
Interests
Family Relationships, Female Filmmaker, Global Experiences
Original Language
French
7A
Director
Zachary Russell
Writers
Zachary Russell, Kayla Lorette
Cast
Tom Rooney, Kayla Lorette
Producers
William Goldbloom, Marianna Khoury
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
7h59, Mile End
Director
Mattias Graham
Writer
Mattias Graham
Producer
Sharon Corder
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
French