The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open

Directors Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers (Blackfoot/Sámi), Kathleen Hepburn
Year 2019
Run Time 105min
Genre Drama

Two Indigenous women from vastly different backgrounds find their worlds colliding on an East Vancouver sidewalk when domestic violence forces one of them, a pregnant teen named Rosie (Violet Nelson), to flee her home.

Àila (Tailfeathers) swiftly offers her shelter, and as their intimate yet challenging encounter develops, the women weave a fragile bond, and must face their own unique struggles with the complexities of motherhood, class, race, and the ongoing legacy of colonialism.

Directors

Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers (Blackfoot/Sámi), Kathleen Hepburn

Writers

Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers (Blackfoot/Sámi), Kathleen Hepburn

Cast

Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers (Blackfoot/Sámi), Violet Nelson (Kwakwakaʼwakw), Charlie Hannah

Producers

Alan Milligan, Tyler Hagan, Lori Lozinski

Genre

Drama

Interests

BIPOC Stories, Female Filmmaker, Indigenous Filmmaker, Strong Female Leads

Original Language

English

My American Cousin

Director Sandy Wilson
Year 1985
Run Time 90min
Genre Comedy, Drama

Sandy (Margaret Langrick) is a bored 12-year-old preparing for another long and uneventful summer in rural 1950s British Columbia, when her older cousin, Butch (John Wildman), arrives unexpectedly from California in a shiny red convertible.

Of course, the impressionable Sandy is immediately dazzled by Butch’s cool, rock’n’roll swagger, whose appearance seems to promise all the excitement that Sandy has been longing for.

Based on writer-director Sandy Wilson’s own memories, My American Cousin won six Genie Awards including Best Picture, Best Director (Wilson), Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor (Wildman), Best Actress (Langrick), and Best Film Editing. It remains one of Canada’s best loved coming-of-age films.

“The film works a gentle spell around its viewer, and ends up leaving an unexpected lasting impression.” – Dustin Putman, The Film File

Director

Sandy Wilson

Writer

Sandy Wilson

Cast

Margaret Langrick, John Wildman, Richard Donat

Producers

Sandy Wilson, Peter O'Brian

Genres

Comedy, Drama

Interests

Biography, Classics, Family Relationships, Female Filmmaker

Original Language

English

Kissed

Director Lynne Stopkewich
Year 1996
Run Time 78min
Genre Drama
Based on Barbara Gowdy’s short story "We So Seldom Look On Love", Kissed tells the offbeat and unlikely story of Sandra (Molly Parker, who won the Genie Award for best actress for the role), a young woman whose lifelong preoccupation with death leads her to study as an embalmer at a mortuary school, where her romantic feelings about death blossom into full-blown necrophilia.
 
A fellow student (Peter Outerbridge) develops feelings for Sandra, but struggles to cope with her unusual and disturbing sexual desires. Kissed is a rare film about sexual awakening that manages to be both profoundly subversive and extremely tender.
 
“Stopkewich has managed the unlikely feat of making a film about necrophilia that is neither a black comedy nor a horror outing. Rather, she has crafted a poetic, provocative love story about sex, romance and death that is surprisingly endearing.” – Brendan Kelly, Variety
 

Director

Lynne Stopkewich

Writers

Angus Fraser, Lynne Stopkewich

Cast

Molly Parker, Peter Outerbridge, Jay Brazeau

Genre

Drama

Interest

Female Filmmaker

Original Language

English

Meditation Park opens with Maria (Cheng Pei Pei), the matriarch of a Chinese-Canadian family, hosting a birthday celebration for her workaholic husband, Bing, (Tzi Ma), along with her similarly overworked daughter (Sandra Oh in a brilliant performance) and her own family.

Maria clearly reveres Bing and the sacrifices he has made for their family – so when she discovers another woman’s panties in his pocket, she's forced to confront the harsh reality that her world may not be what it seemed.

As Maria wrestles with what to do about her discovery, she befriends a group of local eccentrics and a grumpy neighbour (Don McKellar). Maria’s journey of self-discovery soon teaches her everyone’s lives are more complicated than she has been led to believe. 

“Shum mines her favourite theme – immigrant experience in Canada – in what seems at first to be a gentle slice of life but eventually develops a powerful emotional force.” – Susan G. Cole, NOW Magazine
 
 

Director

Mina Shum

Vancouver-based Shum is best known for her feature films Double Happiness and Meditation Park, both starring Sandra Oh. Her documentary Ninth Floor was on TIFF’s 2015 list of Canada’s top ten films. Other features include Long Life; Happiness and Prosperity; Drive She Said; and One (Nine). She has also directed episodes of Frankie Drake Mysteries, Murdoch Mysteries, The Good Doctor, and October Faction.

Writer

Mina Shum

Cast

Tzi Ma, Pei-Pei Cheng, Sandra Oh

Producers

Raymond Massey II, Mina Shum, Stephen Hegyes

Genre

Drama

Interests

Asian Filmmaker, BIPOC Stories, ESL, Female Filmmaker, Newcomer Stories, Strong Female Leads

Original Language

English

Anthropocene: The Human Epoch

Directors Jennifer Baichwal, Edward Burtynsky, Nicholas de Pencier
Year 2018
Run Time 87min
Genre Documentary

In 2016, scientists declared that the Earth has entered a new geological era, one that is entirely the consequence of humanity’s abuse of the planet. This documentary goes around the world illustrating the variety of ways that humanity has affected its environment.

In Kenya, authorities set fire to mounds of elephant tusks to protest the illegal ivory trade, resulting in a devastating display of the impact of poaching. In Russia and Germany, mining operations transform the land into an otherworldly wasteland. The unfathomable scale of the images created by these moments are equal parts beautiful and disturbing.

Following Manufactured Landscapes and Watermark, photographer Edward Burtynsky and filmmakers Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier conclude their award-winning trilogy with an urgent message to all the citizens of the world to see the consequences of our actions, before it’s too late.

Directors

Jennifer Baichwal

Baichwal is an award-winning director who frequently collaborates with her partner, producer and cinematographer Nicholas de Pencier, on documentaries such as the CSA-winning trilogy Manufactured Landscapes, Watermark and Anthropocene (with Edward Burtynsky). Their other credits include The True Meaning of Pictures: Shelby Lee Adams' Appalachia, Act of God, and Into the Weeds, among others. She has won 12 awards, including two CSAs.

Nicholas de Pencier

De Pencier is an award-winning documentary cinematographer and producer known for his work with director Jennifer Baichwal. They made the CSA-winning Manufactured Landscapes, Watermark and Anthropocene in collaboration with Edward Burtynsky. Their other documentary credits include The Holier it Gets, Payback, and Long Time Running, which won the DGC award for Excellence in Documentary. De Pencier also directed Black Code, and was cinematographer on The Colour of Ink, for which he won a CSA. 

Writer

Jennifer Baichwal

Cast

Alicia Vikander

Producer

Nicholas de Pencier

Genre

Documentary

Interests

Asian Filmmaker, Environment

Original Language

English

Because We Are Girls

Director Baljit Sangra
Year 2019
Run Time 85min
Genre Documentary

Three Punjabi-Canadian sisters await the verdict from the trial of the cousin charged with abusing them as children. In this heavy-hitting documentary, the sisters confront the culture that allowed the abuse to happen, including parents who encouraged their silence.

Director

Baljit Sangra

Writer

Baljit Sangra

Producer

Selwyn Jacob

Genre

Documentary

Interests

Asian Filmmaker, BIPOC Stories, Discrimination, Female Filmmaker

Original Language

English

Beeba Boys

Director Deepa Mehta
Year 2015
Run Time 103min
Genre Drama

Gang violence and a maelstrom of crime rock Vancouver in this flashy, dangerous thriller about the Indo-Canadian underworld. Starring Randeep Hooda and Ali Momen. 

Director

Deepa Mehta

An Officer of the Order of Canada, Mehta gained acclaim for her trilogy, Fire, Earth and the Oscar-nominated Water. Her adaptation of Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children was nominated for eight CSAs. She has also directed Bollywood/Hollywood, Beeba Boys, Anatomy of Violence, and many other films. Her film Funny Boy also won multiple awards, including the CSA for best direction. Her television credits include episodes of Leila, Yellowjackets, and Little America. She has numerous projects in development as a writer, director and producer. 

Writer

Deepa Mehta

Cast

Randeep Hooda, Ali Momen

Producer

David Hamilton

Genre

Drama

Interests

Asian Filmmaker, BIPOC Stories, Discrimination

Original Language

English

The Grey Fox

Director Phillip Borsos
Year 1982
Run Time 92min
Genre Action/Adventure, Drama

After going in and out of prison for over 30 years after a career of stagecoach robbing, Bill Miner is released in 1901 to a completely new reality. Lost about what to do next, Miner finds his inspiration for his next great adventure from the film The Great Train Robbery. His plan to commit the first ever train robbery leads to a thrilling heist and an intriguing tale full of twists and turns. 

Based on the true story of William Miner (nicknamed the Gentleman Bandit), The Grey Fox won 4 Genie Awards including Best Picture and has been included on TIFF’s top 10 list of the Best Canadian Films of All Time.

Director

Phillip Borsos

Borsos was a four-time Canadian Film Award and Genie Award winner, and an Oscar nominee for his short film Nails. His feature directorial debut, The Grey Fox, won 12 awards, including seven Genies, and was nominated for a Golden Globe. He also directed The Mean Season, One Magic Christmas, Bethune: The Making of a Hero and Far From Home: The Adventures of Yellow Dog, before his tragic death from leukemia in 1995.

 

Writer

John Hunter

Cast

Richard Farnsworth, Jackie Burroughs, Ken Pogue

Producers

David Brady, Peter O'Brian

Genres

Action/Adventure, Drama

Interests

Biography, Classics, History

Original Language

English

A Place Called Chiapas

Director Nettie Wild
Year 1998
Run Time 89min
Genre Documentary

Filmmaker Nettie Wild notes that in Canada, the North American Free Trade Agreement, which went into effect in 1994, was a matter for lively discussion and political debate. In Chiapas, one of the poorest states in Mexico, it provoked an actual revolution.


In this remarkably clear-eyed and vivid documentary, Wild follows the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) as they fight and evade the Mexican army. Wild takes viewers on a journey through fear and hope, telling a complex story of Indigenous rights and corporate interests in the wake of NAFTA.


The film won the Genie for Best Documentary, among several other awards.

Director

Nettie Wild

Writers

Manfred Becker, Nettie Wild

Cast

Rafael Sebastián Guillén Vicente, Samuel Ruiz García

Producers

Betsy Carson, Kirk Tougas, Nettie Wild

Genre

Documentary

Interests

Environment, Female Filmmaker, Global Experiences, Social Justice & Politics

Original Language

English

Eve and the Firehorse

Director Julia Kwan
Year 2005
Run Time 92min
Genre Drama
A precocious 9-year-old with a wild imagination grows up amid her traditional Chinese immigrant family in Vancouver.

Director

Julia Kwan

Writer

Julia Kwan

Genre

Drama

Interests

Asian Filmmaker, Female Filmmaker

Original Language

English