The personal is political. Poetry in motion. All the cliches in the world will never be enough -- so we dance. Forward. Together. One step at a time.

Piiksi / Huia
New Zealand • 8 minutes • Directed by Cian Elyse White & Joshua Manyheads

Huia dreams to be a principal ballerina for the country’s top academy. During her audition, an unexpected visitor shows up during her final bid to impress. This time, her ancestors are the audience.

 
Cian Elyse White is of Māori decent and worked with Joshua Manyheads as a cultural director on this film written, shot and edited in 24 hours as part of the Māoriland Film Festival.

Sons of Blackbird
New Zealand • 8 minutes • Directed by Onehou Strickland

A visual interpretation of a spoken word poem, this film explores the history of Blackbirding and how footsteps of the past reflect the walks of today. Tupou, a Pasifika elder, reflects on the hard life he's lived working at a factory. His health complications force him into retirement only to return to an empty house, longing for ‘home.’

Onehou Strickland has a deep love affair for poetry, and is a multi-platform storyteller who strives to weave poetic elements into all of her work. As a descendant of the Great Migration, born into a lower demographic, Onehou cares deeply about the places and people at the centre of who she is, aiming to make these spaces as beautiful and colourful as possible, even if the stories are sad.

Black & White
Oregon • 5 minutes • Directed by Edgar Garcia Chavez

Historically the meaning of the words black and white have been engrained with very specific connotations. The Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary define them as…

Edgar Garcia Chavez is a first generation Mexican-American creator that calls Oregon home. He loves how images can convey very strong messages and ideas without written explanations. For the past five years, he's been involved in the local film community as a director and editor his own productions, as well as helping other people realize their projects.

Turf Nation
California / Japan / Korea • 13 minutes • Directed by Jun Bae

Turfing is a dance form born in Oakland, California that combines roots in gang culture with elements of tutting, gliding and “bone breaking.” Turf Nation follows the street dancers performing on BART trains as they pave their own paths towards freedom and independence.

Jun Bae is a Tokyo-born Korean director. His award-winning films have screened in film festivals around the world. He holds an MFA in Documentary Film and Video from Stanford University, and is the founder of Prizm Vision, a creative studio promoting new talents in dance, music, and fashion. He is currently based in Los Angeles directing films, music videos, and commercials.

From the edges to the middle of the Pacific Ocean, these six films remind us of the role Indigenous peoples continue to hold as principal stewards of the land and water.

PLUS watch the Filmmaker Q&A
(recorded live on Wednesday May 12th @ 7:00pm PDT)

Watch the recording on YouTube

Now Is The Time
Haida Gwaii • 16 minutes • Directed by Christopher Auchter

When internationally renowned Haida carver Robert Davidson was only 22 years old, he carved the first new totem pole on British Columbia’s Haida Gwaii in almost a century. On the 50th anniversary of the pole’s raising, Haida filmmaker Christopher Auchter steps easily through history to revisit that day in August 1969, when the entire village of Old Massett gathered to celebrate the event that would signal the rebirth of the Haida spirit.

Christopher Auchter grew up roaming the beaches and forests of the Haida Gwaii archipelago off Canada’s West Coast, and his art is rooted in the land and stories of the Haida people. He studied media arts at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver and graduated with honours in computer animation from Sheridan College in Ontario. His goal is to create films that are as engaging and entertaining as the many people and environments that have inspired him, to help facilitate genuine contact between the Haida people and the global community. His previous projects include Daniel Janke’s How People Got Fire, Electronic Arts’ NHL Games and Nintendo’s Punch Out!, and he is a regular contributor to Loretta Todd’s TV series for children, such as Coyote Science and Tansi! Nehiyawetan.

Our Changing Worlds
Vancouver Island / Lək̓ʷəŋən Territory • 9 minutes • Directed by Steven Davies

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Tla'amin host Michelle Washington collects Indigenous wisdom and perspectives of pandemics via split screen video conferencing. We learn from four Indigenous leaders how Indigenous communities are responding to COVID-19, the social conditions that make Indigenous Peoples and communities particularly vulnerable, and what the current crisis tells us about our present and future as global citizens.

Steven Thomas Davies is a Coast Salish (Snuneymuxw/European-Canadian) filmmaker who was born and raised in the traditional territories of the Lekwungen speaking Peoples (now known as the Songhees and Esquimalt), W̱SÁNEĆ, and the Salish Sea. He makes films and media art that centre spiritual, cultural, and political themes, to reconnect with Indigenous histories and epistemologies to educate himself and share with others.

Finding The Balance
Vancouver Island / Penelakut Island • Directed by Steve Sxwithul'txw

First Nations on southern Vancouver Island are working to protect their territorial waters, and an energetic group of young divers are leading the way.

Steve Sxwithul’txw is from the Penelakut Tribe located just off Vancouver Island, Canada. He was raised in the Cowichan Valley by his mother along with five siblings. He has had a career of various backgrounds -- he went back to school in early 2003 to work as a journalist but found after a couple of years he wanted to tell stories of his own people. Steve's first short film was called Leave it on the Water, which screened at Short Circuit Pacific Rim Film Festival in 2019. He directed & produced his own series called Tribal Police Files which is now on its third season on APTN, and he is also the lead for the development of the Indigenous Walk of Fame which will honour excellence in the genres of TV, Film, Arts, Music and Sports and will be located in the City of Victoria.

I Matai (The Dead)
Guam • 10 minutes • Directed by Kyle Perron & Nico Serneo

A fallen warrior is honored by his family in an experimental take of an ancient Chamorro death ceremony.

Born and raised on the island of Guam, Kyle Perron and Nico Serneo are filmmakers currently residing between Guam and San Francisco. Before starting their production company Mighty Island in their homeland, Kyle has been a freelance editor since 2000 and worked on short films, documentaries, and music videos in the Bay Area. Nico works as freelance camera and steadicam operator while out in San Francisco. Both run a small production company in Guam that focuses on a cinematic approach for both corporate and narrative projects.

Standing Above The Clouds
Hawai'i • 15 minutes • Directed by Jalena Keane-Lee

A group of inter-generational women activists call themselves Ku Kia'i Mauna, or "guardians of the mountain." Three sets of mothers and daughters indigenous to the Big Island of Hawaii are at the forefront of the movement to protect their sacred mountain, Mauna Kea, from the construction of a Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). Explore the relationships between native Hawaiian mothers and daughters as they go from standing in ceremony, to standing on the mountain, to standing in the courtroom.

Jalena Keane-Lee is a filmmaker who explores intergenerational trauma and healing through an intersectional lens, subverting traditional narratives about the female Asian American Pacific Islander experience. Standing Above the Clouds has screened at over 30 film festivals, won best short documentary at LA Asian Pacific Film Festival, Special Jury Mention from the Center for Asian American Media, and is currently playing on the Criterion Collection. Jalena co-founded Breaktide Productions, an all women of color production company that has won two Cannes Lion awards for branded content. She’s produced commercials for Nike and Facebook, and won Tribeca Through Her Lens 2020.

This Is The Way We Rise
Hawai'i • 12 minutes • Directed by Ciara Lacey

An exploration into the creative process, following Native Hawaiian slam poet Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio as her calling to protect sacred sites atop Mauna Kea, Hawai`s highest peak, reinvigorates her art.

Ciara Lacy is a kanaka maoli (native Hawaiian) filmmaker, whose interest lies in crafting films that use strong characters and investigative journalism to challenge the creative and political status quo. Her work has shown at festivals around the world including Sundance and Berlinale as well as on Netflix, PBS, ABC, Al Jazeera, and the Criterion Collection. In the digital space, she has created content for the Guardian and the Atlantic Online. She was the inaugural Sundance Institute Merata Mita Fellow as well as part of the inaugural class of NATIVe Fellows at the European Film Market.

noun : a word used to identify any of a class of people, places, or things
This dictionary definition is precise, but says nothing of the importance, sentimentality, or meaning behind each of these items. Enjoy the building narrative across four films from the continents of Asia and Oceania.

Meet Munch Jr.
New Zealand • 8 minutes • Directed by Ali Cowley

Sixteen-year-old Nikau doesn’t see anyone who is quite like him. He has a unique view of the world; he also has Asperger Syndrome. Step into Nikau’s colourful world as he turns to his animator dad to help fulfill aspirations of bringing the character Munch Jr. to life.

Ali Cowley (Samoan) has worked in the creative industry for over 20 years specialising in illustration, storyboarding, production design and 2D animation. Ali was an animation director on the prime time animated show Bro’Town and is currently tutoring Art in the Gaming degree at Media Design School.

Drifting
China • 16 minutes • Directed by Hanxiong Bo

Disguised as a girl growing up during the time of one-child policy in China, Yan is confused about his gender identity and struggles with the conservative world around him. Drifting in his dad's old taxi becomes his way of expressing feelings. Tonight, he goes on a dreamy journey to find his missing sister.

Hanxiong Bo is a writer-director born and raised in Beijing, China, and currently based in both Beijing and Los Angeles. He is the recipient of the Jack Nicholson Distinguished Student Director Award in 2017 and the HFPA Directing Fellowship in 2018. His credits include projects with directors like Jennifer Reeder and Francis Ford Coppola. His most recent short film Drifting had its world premiere at the 67th San Sebastian International Film Festival. He received his Bachelor degree in film, media and animation from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Currently he is pursuing his MFA in film directing at the University of California, and developing his first feature film. 

Hello Ahma
Singapore • 15 minutes • Directed by Siyou Tan

For a curious eight-year-old adjusting to a new life with her parents in America, the passing of her beloved grandmother in Singapore yields first encounters with painful truths about life, death, and cultural dislocation.

Siyou Tan is a Singaporean filmmaker based in Los Angeles. An alumna of Busan IFF’s Asian Film Academy and a current fellow at the Universal Directors’ Initiative, she’s working on her first feature, AMOEBA, awarded the Most Promising Project at Singapore IFF’s Film Lab, and the Open-SEA Fund Award at SEAFIC (Thailand).

The Menu for Tomorrow
Japan • 20 minutes • Directed by Woody-Kazuhiro Kiuchi

Reiwa Wedding Hall is one of the popular wedding halls in Tokyo. Their new chef, Saki, is always busy planning new menus. But one day something unusual happens -- the manager and the master chef are puzzled by a request from the customers. It brings back memories of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Fukushima. After a lot of thought, Saki decides what to serve in the wedding party.

Kazuhiro Kiuchi was born in Tokyo, and started making films when he was in his 40s. While staying in Los Angeles for two and a half years on business, he learned architectural CAD software programs, three-dimensional computer graphics (3D-CG), and films in general. After coming back to Japan, he made his second short film Green Tea-r which depicted what his mother had experienced when the atomic bomb was dropped on the city. It won the grand prize in the Takarazuka Film Festival, was screened at film festivals in more than 10 countries including Berlin International Film Festival. His first feature-length film Sun Flower - Himawari was shot right after the Great East Japan Earthquake, screened at the Cannes Film Festival, and won the grand prize in the Kashikojima Film Festival.

Make yourself a bowl of popcorn and take a trip through the Strait of Georgia with this group of homegrown shorts-that-look-and-feel-like-features.

PLUS watch the Filmmaker Q&A
(recorded live on Monday May 17th @ 12:00pm PDT)

Watch the recording on YouTube >>

Ohrwurm (Earwig)
Victoria • 14 minutes • Directed by Connor Gaston & Vaughn Gaston

An ex-Stasi informant, holed up in her apartment, has her world upended when her estranged son arrives to give her a birthday present.

Vaughn and Connor Gaston are filmmakers from Victoria, BC. Their work has screened at film festivals around the world, including the Toronto International Film Festival.

Alone In The Arctic Skies
Vancouver • 10 minutes • Directed by Noah Penner

During the Cold War, a lone CF-104 "Starfighter" pilot over the Canadian Arctic is hit by a fierce storm, and left with only a small fuel supply and with no way to navigate home.

With roots in the Comox Valley, Noah Penner has settled in Vancouver to focus his career on the local film industry. He derives much of his inspiration from his love of history and outdoor adventure. He aims to continue building his storytelling repertoire as a screenwriter, director, and producer.

We Came From The Sea
Vancouver • 15 minutes • Directed by Jeremy Lutter

Einar is an addict, recently abandoned by his wife and five year-old daughter. As he fights to go clean in their oceanside home, he is haunted by an uninvited stranger.

Standing at 6’7” tall, Jeremy Lutter has been asked to play ‘the monster’ in so many people’s movies that he decided to start making his own. He is a genre director who tells stories with monsters, robots, and unique fantasy worlds. His work has played at over 100 festivals and won many awards.

Lucid
Salt Spring Island / Victoria • 16 minutes • Directed by Deanna Milligan
🏆 2019 CINE⚡SPARK Winning Pitch 🏆

A 1990s art student digs deep to find her true artistic voice, expressing it in a bizarre and gory way, shocking and delighting those who underestimated her talents.

Deanna Milligan is an award winning actress and filmmaker with over 25 years experience in the film industry. She produced the narrative short film Do We Leave This Here which screened at VIFF, NWFF, Glasgow Short Film Festival, Dead Centre. Her first short film Cascadia screened at the Lucid Dreams Festival and Sick Chicks Flicks. Deanna created the documentary web series Hands On which explores women artists who work with their hands. Her short film Snug premiered at the YIFF 2019.

While some settler nations and individuals begin to engage in truth, reconciliation, and decolonization, it is the youth who not only bear scars of ongoing generational trauma, but also provide a conduit for hope and healing.

PLUS watch the Filmmaker Q&A
(recorded live on Tuesday May 18th @ 12:00pm PDT)

Watch the recording on YouTube >>

My Name is Mudju
Australia • 14 minutes • Directed by Chantelle Murray

In 1950s Australia, born the wrong race, Mudju’s daughter has been stolen and placed in a mission "orphanage". For over ten years, through the fence of the mission under blanket of night, Mudju meets with her daughter. Mudju is subjected to repeated violence but she will not submit. A mother’s love will conquer all.

Proud Bardi woman, Chantelle Murray began her career as a performer in Queensland, but found her true passion offscreen as a writer & director, developing her own content with a focus on aboriginal history. Her debut directing piece My Name Is Mudju has been selected to screen at the Bronze Lens Film Festival, Melbourne International Film Festival, CinefestOZ, Winda and won best short at Rotorua International Film Festival. Her second film SHED opened the Sydney Film Festival and can be watched on abc iview. Chantelle has completed a third short, and is currently working on her first animated feature.

Elders
Australia • 10 minutes • Directed by Tony Briggs

Two elders feel that their grandson is old enough to start learning vitally important lessons that will equip him with the necessary tools to maintain the future survival of his culture. His classroom is the expansive country of his ancestors. But is he ready for the challenge that is placed before him, and will he know what to do when the time comes?

Tony is a Yorta Yorta/Wurundjeri (Woiwurrung) theatre & film practitioner (Actor, Writer, Director and Producer). He is the creator and writer of the feature film The Sapphires which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2012. He is co-originator, executive producer and writer of the eight-part TV series The Warriors’ As an actor of over 20 years he holds many credits to his name including feature roles in Cleverman, Broken Shore, Redfern Now and The Slap. Tony is the Artistic Director of Birrarangga Film Festival, showcasing Indigenous Films from across the globe to Melbourne audiences biannually.

Ani
New Zealand • 12 minutes • Directed by Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu

9-year-old Ani drifts into a land of play and make believe after her mother runs out on the family - leaving Ani and her father to fend for themselves.

Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu (Ngāpuhi/Te Rarawa) is an award winning NZ based writer and director. Her films have been selected to screen at top international film festivals including Berlinale and TIFF. In 2020 Josephine was selected for the TIFF Filmmakers Lab and awarded the Canada Goose Fellowship.

Liliu
New Zealand • 17 minutes • Directed by Jeremiah Tauamiti

A young ambitious court interpreter risks everything when Nua, a wrongfully imprisoned Chief, fights to get back to her stranded grandchildren. What follows is a tirade of verbal punches between Solo, Nua, and an old Judge hell-bent on Colonial rule in Samoa.

Jeremiah Tauamiti is a writer/director with a passion for Pacific stories. His first New Zealand Film Commission short, Maria, was accepted into many festivals including ImagineNative, Skábmagovat Film Festival, Hawaiian Film Festival, and won the Best Pasifika Short Award at the Wairoa Maori Film Festival. His short film Liliu was set and shot in Sāmoa, and had its World Premiere at the 2019 Berlinale. He was the Director of Photography for another short film, Toaipuapuaga, that was also selected at the Berlinale. Jeremiah holds the High-Chief titles Fa’alava’au and Nanai, bestowed from his father’s family in the district of Falelātai in Sāmoa.

Kii Nche Ndutsa (Time and the Seashell)
Mexico • 13 minutes • Directed by Itandehui Jansen

A young Indigenous boy imagines his future while listening to the sounds of a seashell. An Indigenous man recalls his past listening to the same shell. The man remembers birds and fireflies in his childhood, that are no longer there. The short film is invites an audience to consider past, present and future of a changing landscape and vanishing biodiversity.

Itandehui Jansen was born in Oaxaca, Mexico and studied film directing at the Netherlands Film Academy in Amsterdam. She has participated in international film programs such as Torino Film Lab and Berlinale Talents. Her documentaries and short films have screened at international festivals such as the IDFA International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, and the Morelia International Film Festival. Her short film The Last Council won several international awards and was nominated for the Mexican Film Critics Award Diosa de Plata. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Film Programme of the University of Edinburgh.

You'll find a little bit of everything in this colourful batch of hand-drawn, hand-processed, or otherwise hand-made works from Canada, USA, Fiji, and Korea.

PLUS watch the Filmmaker Q&A
(recorded live on Wednesday May 19th @ 12:00pm PDT)

Watch the recording on YouTube >>

The Coin
California • 7 minutes • Directed by Siqi Song

In Chinese New Year, finding the coin hidden inside a dumpling means having a blessed year ahead. Anan loses a jar on her journey to a new country, which contains the lucky coins she has been collecting growing up. Her new life begins with a search to find -- the coin.

Siqi Song is an Oscar-Nominated animation director from China. The films she has written and directed have screened internationally at many festivals including Sundance, SXSW, Annecy, Ottawa and more. She was nominated for an Oscar and an Annie Award for her short film SISTER, and she is an alumna of both the California Institute of the Arts and China Central Academy of Fine Arts.

Ben's Room
Richmond • 9 minutes • Directed by Conor Madill

A toy wanders a long-forgotten crawlspace in search of its missing piece.

Conor Madill is a 19-year-old filmmaker from Richmond, BC. Inspired by a wealth of film, literature and personal experience, he wrote and animated Ben’s Room during COVID-19 lockdown as a love letter and good-bye to childhood.

Old Dog
Vancouver • 3 minutes • Directed by Ann Marie Fleming

After losing his best friend, an elderly pug named Henry must depend on his owner for help in Ann Marie Fleming’s tender ode to aging.

Ann Marie Fleming is an award-winning Canadian writer, director, and animator. Her cross-platform work contends with themes of family and history through a variety of genres, including animation, documentary, and drama. She adapted her 2003 animated documentary, The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam, into an Eisner Award-nominated graphic novel in 2007, and has since created a number of acclaimed short films, including Big Trees, I Was a Child of Holocaust Survivors, and the animated web series My Place for Discovery USA’s Planetgreen.com. In 2016, Ann Marie’s animated feature Window Horses, about a young Canadian poet discovering her family history, screened around the world.

GREEN
Vancouver • 7 minutes • Directed by Glory Zhai & Herong Cube

An illustration student is striving to finish a drawing after the loss of her friend. In the journey of finding an inner settlement, the flashback memories have taken her back to the beginning of her tacit love.

Glory Zhai is a media artist currently living in Vancouver. She studied animation at Emily Carr and is an obsessive creator in ACG culture (Animation, Comic, Game). In the past few years, she worked internationally as a character designer, comic con organizer, and independent cartoonist. Known as “KnifeDragon” online, Glory has a growing fandom across major social media.

Herong Cube is Vancouver based media artist. She studied animation at Emily Carr and is a passionate storyteller. Each form of art to her is a unique way to reach out to her audience, as she diversifies her art practice into illustration, calligraphy, photography, performance, crafting, and novel writing.

You, the Choice of My Parents
Fiji • 4 minutes • Directed by Meli Tuqota Jr

Based on a poem by the prolific Konai Heli Thaman, one woman’s musings of her arranged marriage are laid bare over a series of traditional Tongan tapestries called Ngatu. Through a series of chapters, her life is animated by her inner turmoil as she struggles to find her place as a woman in a new world.

Meli Tuqota Jr’s father hails from Vanua Levu, Fiji and his mother is from Ha’apai, Tonga. He has over 15 years of experience with graphic design, motion design, 2D and 3D animation, filmmaking and drawing stick figures with both hands.

The Music Box
Vancouver • 12 minutes • Directed by Joe Chang

In China during the Cultural Revolution in 1967, a young boy Liang Liang and his family are suddenly taken to the countryside by Red Guards. He is able to grab the only thing he treasures -- a western style music box -- but he must be careful not to expose it to the guards. Based on a true story.

Joe Chang is an award-winning director, producer and animator. He studied at Lu-Xun Academy of Fine Arts in Shenyang, China and Tama Art University in Tokyo, Japan. The animated short Chinese Violin was his first animated film with the National Film Board of Canada. He currently works as an artist and independent filmmaker between British Columbia, Canada and Hangzhou, China.

Oneirologue
Victoria • 1 minute • Directed by Ailín Ó Dálaigh

A remembrance of a dream occurring in June of 2020, and composed of original footage and re-filmed found footage, Oneirologue presents the impression of a mind plagued by cinematic images and subconscious impulses.

Ailín Ó Dálaigh is a photographer/filmmaker located in Victoria, BC. A graduate student of Slavic Studies at the University of Victoria who researches early Soviet cinema, the aesthetics of Soviet film during the 1920s and 1930s inform his filmic style. He works primarily with 8mm/Super 8mm and 16mm film.

Rhino N' Bird
Washington • 5 minutes • Directed by Bradley Oliver Wilkinson-Vega & Tamir Rawlings

A symbiotic relationship between a parasitic bird and a grumpy rhino stuck together on Africa’s open plains. Their family kinships go back generations, bringing them to this modern-day discussion of family, grooming, disease, and survival. It's hard to decide if these two dudes hate each other or are truly in love.

Bradley Oliver Wilkinson-Vega grew up in South Texas, a son of a scrap metal entrepreneur. He has no formal training in animation and is completely self-taught, influenced by childhood post-it note flipbooks and stop-motion claymations made on his parents' video camera, he set out to Seattle to start his career as an animator. Bradley was highly inspired by Beavis and Butthead, Dr. Katz, Rocko’s Modern Life, MTV’s Liquid Television, Nickelodeon, and Adult Swim.

Tamir Rawlings was born and raised in northwestern Montana. He was brought up on a steady diet of sci-fi/fantasy/slasher films from the 70s and 80s, and forbidden late-night TV delights like Ren & Stimpy, South Park, Jackass and Wondershowzen. He now spends most of his time in New Mexico, where he teaches a high school film course and serves as the Director of Youth Programming at the Santa Fe Film Festival.

Bravas
Victoria • 3 minutes • Directed by Peter Sandmark & Trace Nelson

A short experimental film that began with images created by painting directly on 16mm celluloid, which were then transformed by editing and augmented by digitally modified sounds captured from the filmmakers' day to day lives.

The BIG TOP collective is Trace Nelson and Peter Sandmark. Their media art works combine gestural camera movements and hand painting on film, digitally transformed, layered and abstracted. Trace Nelson is a multidisciplinary artist who lives on the unceded territory of the Lekwungen peoples, creating works in visual art, media art and music. She's exhibited her work in Canada, the U.S. and Europe, and over the past 28 years, has taught at Concordia University, the Vancouver Island School of Art, and the University of Victoria. Peter Sandmark has been creating single channel experimental films since 1978, and has taught various filmmaking and film studies courses at Concordia University and the University of Victoria. Sandmark is currently Executive Director for the FLUX media gallery in Victoria.

Jesa
California / South Korea • 6 minutes • Directed by Kyungwon Song

Jesa is a Korean tradition honoring the ancestors. The filmmaker interviewed her parents about this ritual tradition of Korea -- however, the conversation goes down an unexpected path.

Kyungwon Song is a Korean-born independent animator currently based in Los Angeles. She is interested in non-fiction animation and her main medium is early film technique and stop-motion. Her films have shown internationally at numerous film festivals including Busan International Film Festival, Annecy, Ann Arbor, Visions du Réel, 25 FPS Festival, and more. She directed a PSA for the gender equality campaign of UN Women, HeForShe, and her latest film Jesa won Best Women Director at Argo Untold Stories Short Film Awards, Public Jury Prize at Inde-AniFest, and Best Documentary Shorts at Indie Memphis Film Festival. Kyungwon holds a BFA and MFA in Experimental Animation from California Institute of the Arts and a BFA in East Asian Traditional Painting from Hong-Ik University.

We've got so much homegrown talent here on Vancouver Island, every year we love to showcase local work alongside our international selections. These emerging filmmakers are leading a new wave of independent storytelling, emanating outward and taking over screens around the world. Keep an eye on these creators -- this is just the beginning.

PLUS watch the Filmmaker Q&A
(recorded live on Tuesday May 25th @ 12:00pm PDT)

Watch the recording on YouTube >>

Missing You
Vancouver Island (Courtenay) • 8 minutes • Directed by Stephanie Rossel

When Caitlyn's Mother calls Jessica to report her missing, Jessica drives home to help with the search. During the drive, she reflects on their friendship and the life choices made that sent them on very different paths.

Stephanie Rossel has been a filmmaker & script supervisor for over 34 years. Her credits include: Juno, 50/50, This Means War, The Baby Dance, When we Rise and Tully. She wrote & directed the short films Between Floors, Missing You, and Truth Bomb.

Jack Be Quick
Vancouver Island (Victoria) • 4 minutes • Directed by Sarah Nicole Faucher

A hired killer waits to meet his client for an assignment only to discover, too late, that he is the intended target for past wrongs.

As a hearing-impaired child, Sarah Nicole Faucher gained invaluable insights into the human condition as she lip-read her parents’ conversations who were involved with Canadian Military Intelligence during the Cold War. This is her very first short film.

Homestay
Vancouver Island (Courtenay) • 20 minutes • Directed by Chukwumuobi Obasi

When an African international student in Canada loses his source of financial sponsorship, he must figure out a way to pay his next year's tuition in order to avoid deportation.

Chukwumuobi Obasi is a writer, director and producer. He has attended acting class with acting coach and casting director Jacqui Kaese, and language coach Tony Alcantar. He has received online training in scriptwriting and directing from industry renowned writers and directors, and in the last three years he has written, directed, and produced four short films, a Telus-funded web series pilot, and one documentary. His goal is to continue improving his craft and create compelling feature films and documentaries.

In The End
Vancouver Island (Victoria) • 10 minutes • Directed by Susan Ko

Debra is a hard working daughter who has struggled with her relationship with her mother her entire life. Her mother, a sharp tongued Englishwoman, deteriorates with dementia. As Debra delivers her mothers eulogy, we see clips from the past, revealing a family secret that has unwittingly tainted Debra’s entire life.

Susan Ko has a degree from the University College Drama Program at U of T. After a career in social work, she resumed acting, and shortly after discovered that she enjoyed making short films. Her first, Dejalo Ser, premiered at the Five Minute Film Festival in 2018 in Victoria. Since then she has done two other shorts which were submitted to local festivals. In The End is Susan’s first attempt at a dramatic short film. It is autobiographical in nature, and very close to her heart.

Five cutting-edge documentaries from home and abroad show new perspectives on how humans interact with each other, and with all the other "vegetable, animal, and mineral" elements of the Earth.

PLUS watch the Filmmaker Q&A
(recorded live on Wednesday May 26th @ 12:00pm PDT)

Watch the recording on YouTube >>

Vala North
Oregon / Papua New Guinea • 12 minutes • Directed by Stephani Gordon

In the far northern atolls of Papua New Guinea, scientist chieftain and visionary John Aini resurrects old secret ways and melds them with what he and his fellow chieftains and their people know of the coral reefs they rely on. Vala North is a story of a thin thread of hope in a changing world, hope for coral reefs around these islands, and hope for the communities that rely on them.

Stephani Gordon is a field biologist turned filmmaker and has spent thousands of days in remote places filming for National Geographic, National Science Foundation projects, United Nations funded work, and for many other organizations. Her focus is to help share the stories of rugged ocean coastlines, rivers, mountains, islands, and their people with others who are curious about our wild world. Filming in Papua New Guinea was a life changing experience for her; the people she worked alongside are so full of beauty, ingenuity, and resourcefulness, with amazing resilience and optimism even in the face of climate-related struggles.

The Return
Vancouver • 20 minutes • Directed by Marina Dodis

There is something astonishing happening in the city of Vancouver. Largely unnoticed amidst vehicle traffic, industrial sites and construction, wild salmon are returning to their ancient spawning grounds. After disappearing for 80 years, people can now witness the autumn spectacle of these powerful swimmers fighting to reach the streams they hatched in. To have a salmon run taking place within city limits is almost completely unique in a metropolis of this size. Filmed with a quiet, observing lens over many years, The Return takes us into hidden enclaves of wilderness within the city, where tiny salmon smolts shimmer beneath the water's surface. Their future is now in our hands.

Marina Dodis is a documentary filmmaker studying at Capilano University, with an extensive background in commercial and editorial photography. She has worked for a wide range of organizations, corporate clients and magazines, making more than 15 short films. She has created videos with First Nations organizations and bands, ranging from elders circles to potlatch celebrations. Her interest in film is centred on revealing people’s rich stories in a visually compelling manner. Recent work includes creating short pieces for the Vancouver Foundation on Downtown Eastside art grant recipients, as well as a short film to accompany an exhibit of Northwest Coast Indigenous art at the Bard Graduate Center in NYC.

Keepers of the Shy Place
Alaska • 15 minutes • Produced by Gianna Savoie

On the tiny island of St. Paul, Alaska, marine debris is taking its toll on the ecosystem and wildlife -- especially the northern fur seal, a species of enormous cultural significance to the Unungan people who call this place home. Join the members of this resilient community as they confront this challenge with action and profound wisdom in order to protect the vast ocean wilderness that defines them, feeds them, and is quickly and irrefutably changing.

Gianna Savoie is an Emmy-nominated documentary producer and writer whose work has been featured on PBS, National Geographic, Discovery, and BBC. She founded and directs the Ocean Media Institute, a non-profit that serves to expand the public's engagement in ocean science and conservation through innovative and inclusive media.

Exercises in Being Close to You: A Story for the Arctic Refuge
Yukon • 15 minutes • Directed by Krista Davis

A group of hikers travel through Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in hopes of intercepting the Porcupine Caribou migration. The film uses documentary footage of the two-week expedition intercut with experimental vignettes — exercises to rethink our relationship to the land and the animals we hope to protect.

Krista Davis is a visual artist and filmmaker based in Yukon, Canada. Through video, animation, performance, and installation, she looks for creative and sometimes fantastical strategies to shift human and non-human relationships towards a more ecologically just world. She received her BFA from Nova Scotia College of Art & Design and MFA from Arizona State University.

Herselves
California • 9 minutes • Directed by Kristy Choi

Who were our mothers before they became our mothers? A tribute to immigrant parents and children of diaspora, this personal hybrid documentary explores the relationship between a Korean-American filmmaker and her mother, asking questions about freedom, memory, and responsibility in the process.

Kristy Choi is a Korean-American filmmaker whose work has screened across the United States and has been featured in PBS NewsHour, Teen Vogue, and more. She was a 2019 Southern Exposure Directing Fellow, a 2019 North Star Fellow at the Points North Institute, and a 2020 Armed with a Camera Directing Fellow at Visual Communications in Los Angeles. Her work explores themes of power, womanhood, and (un)belonging. She received a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University and completed a DAAD Post-Graduate Fellowship at Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany. In addition to independent filmmaking, Kristy works as a video producer and cinematographer for National Nurses United, the country's largest union of registered nurses.

You've been warned. There will be blood. Hold on to your butts. This is it -- don't get scared now. 

PLUS watch the Filmmaker Q&A
(recorded live on Monday May 31st @ 12:00pm PDT)

Watch the recording on YouTube >>

Ballistic
Hawai'i • 13 minutes • Directed by Zack Harris

Ryan Watanabe, a local Japanese American skateboarder working at a Waikiki hotel, receives notice of a ballistic missile inbound for Hawai'i. Ryan must lead his persistent mother Michi and terrified sister Jazmine to a safety bunker in Diamond Head within twenty minutes, overcoming disparity and the erupting cultural tension of a paradise in turmoil.

Zack Harris is a mixed Asian American actor, writer, and director. As a dual citizen of New Zealand, he's produced works worldwide including his short film ADAH AND STEVE and his latest short BALLISTIC, selected for various festivals including the Los Angeles Asian Film Festival. Zack's formal acting training started in film school in New Zealand, and he is continuing his studies exploring improv with the UCB Training Center. Currently Zack is developing an island-based episodic series and has a recurring role on CBS Magnum P.I. Season 3.

Itsy Bitsy Spider
North Vancouver • 18 minutes • Directed by Brodi-Jo Scalise

A man struggles to maintain his sanity after discovering a menacing spider in his boyfriend’s apartment.

Brodi-Jo Scalise is a graduate of Capilano University’s Bachelor of Motion Picture Arts degree program. He has garnered a wealth of experience in the production setting in Vancouver, performing in roles from Production Coordinator to Production Executive. In 2020 Brodi wrote & directed ITSY BITSY SPIDER as part of the Crazy 8s competition in Vancouver, which had its world premiere at the Salem Horror Fest and has since been acquired by CBC Reflections for a Fall 2021 airdate.

We All Dream
Prince George • 7 minutes • Directed by Daniel Stark

A melancholy horror short film about a sleepwalking girl, a midnight mission for ice cream, and the chilling cost of growing up in a jaded world.

Daniel Stark is a filmmaker living and working in Prince George, British Columbia, Canada. With the rest of the team at 6ix Sigma Productions, their goal is to surprise audiences with imaginative stories that defy the expectations for what is possible in rural northern communities.

Harana (Serenade)
Philippines / California • 17 minutes • Directed by Marie Jamora

Maya is a cover band singer in a Las Vegas casino-hotel lounge, trying to connect with her daughter who is growing up in the Philippines without her. Wrestling between her passion for songwriting and becoming a pop-culture photocopy for an un-listening audience, she realizes that music -- the one thing that keeps them distant – can also bring them closer together.

Marie Jamora was born and raised in Manila, Philippines, and was recently named one of the “Five Visionary Asian-American Female Filmmakers” in Kore Magazine's 'New Hollywood' issue. Her short film, FLIP THE RECORD screened at over thirty festivals worldwide, winning the Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Short at Urbanworld, and her first feature WHAT ISN’T THERE (ANG NAWAWALA) premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival. After graduating from Columbia University with an MFA in Film, she returned to Manila to direct commercials and television. With a desire to amplify Filipino stories and as a champion of Philippine cinema, Marie founded CINEMA SALA, a screening and workshop series for Filipinx artists in the film and performing arts industries. Marie became the first Filipinx director to be accepted into AFI's Directing Workshop for Women, where she wrote and directed HARANA, a proof of concept for her next feature film.

Watershed
Vancouver • 14 minutes • Directed by Maxime Beauchamp

While scavenging around an empty city after a water-borne virus has killed off most of the Earth’s population, a lone survivor finds a sliver of hope when she encounters a young Mandarin girl who may be able to chemically manufacture clean water.

Maxime Beauchamp is an award winning French-Canadian LGBTQ Writer/Director and co-owner of Aimer Films, creator of films such as 2018 Crazy8s Finalist SMALL FISH. In the following year he is slated to direct a factual series with OutTV; Cross-Country Baby which was chosen for the Netflix-Banff Diversity of Voices Program and Whistler Film Festival Power Pitch Competition; Irisation, a French-Canadian feature film supported by the ÉLAN programme in partnership with Netflix, Téléfilm, and more.

This screening program is included with all Admit One and Festival Pass ticket sales, but will be geo-blocked for our Canadian viewers only. Enjoy two shorts from BC and one from Cambodia -- films so compelling in their storytelling and successful in their audience building that they have garnered broadcast licenses around the world!

Begins streaming:
Wednesday May 12th 2021
▶️
Hosted on the VUCAVU platform

PLUS watch the Filmmaker Q&A
(recorded live on Tuesday May 25th @ 7:00pm PDT)

Watch the recording on YouTube >>

Highway to Heaven
Richmond • 17 minutes • Directed by Sandra Ignani

A short symphonic documentary offering a glimpse into the unique religious co-existence found along No. 5 Road in Richmond, British Columbia.

Sandra Ignagni trained in film production at Maine Media and is an alumnus of the Summer Intensive program at the UnionDocs Center for Documentary Art. She holds a PhD in Political Science and a Master of Arts in Indigenous & Canadian Studies. Her short films have screened at festivals around the world. Ranger was acquired by CBC Canadian Reflections and won the Matrix Award for Outstanding Achievement at the 2017 Vancouver International Women in Film Festival. Sandra works at the International Documentary Association and is a regular contributor to Documentary Magazine.

Sombrio Surf
Vancouver Island • 3 minutes • Directed by Tara-Lee Novak

Born and raised as a squatter on Sombrio Beach on Vancouver Island, Leah Oke overcame great tragedy to become one of Canada's first professional surfers.

Tara-Lee Novak is a professional producer and director with a decade of experience telling stories that matter. She's created over 100 hours of primetime television for Canada's top networks including CBC, Shaw Media, APTN, Corus Entertainment, and the Knowledge Network.

California Dreaming
Cambodia • 16 minutes • Directed by Sreylin Meas

Two women from different backgrounds encounter one another at an oceanfront resort and discover a hidden bond that ties them together, allowing them to escape from their realities.

Sreylin Meas has worked in film and television for both local (Cambodian) and international productions since 2009. She has worked closely with Anti-Archive as assistant director on multiple films since 2015. California Dreaming is her first short film as a director.