2021 FeFF
7PM, Friday, March 6, 2020
INDIGENOUS FEATURE DOCUMENTARY
Program Host, Martin Harbury, FeFF Board, Writer, Programmer & FeFF Talent To Watch Jury
THROUGH HER EYES: A HERSTORY OF THE FEMALE EYE FILM FESTIVAL
directed by Lara Cordiano
In this documentary, we join FeFF founder and executive director Leslie Ann Coles as the nomadic festival transitions into its new home at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.
(WP, Documentary, 12:00, 2020, Canada)
THE CONDOR AND THE EAGLE
directed by Sophie and Clément Guerra
Four Indigenous leaders embark on an extraordinary transcontinental adventure, from the Canadian boreal forests to deep into the heart of the Amazonian jungle, to unite the peoples of North and South America and deepen the meaning of climate justice. This documentary offers a glimpse into a developing spiritual renaissance as the film's four protagonists learn from each other's long legacy of resistance to colonialism and its extractive economy. Their path through the jungle takes them on a challenging and liberating journey that will forever change their attachment to the Earth and one another. (TP, Documentary, 82:00, 2019, USA)
Total running time: 94 minutes. Audience Q&A with filmmakers follows screening.
Program Host, Martin Harbury, FeFF Board, Writer, Programmer and FeFF Talent To Watch Jury
IN HER BOOTS
directed by Kathrin Steinbacher
Hedi is experiencing strange things. While her granddaughter is visiting, she suddenly embarks on a hiking journey to the deepest parts of the Alps, revealing the reason for her devoted attachment to her hiking shoes. (OP, Animation, 6:03, 2019, UK)
WE CHOOSE TO GO
directed by Marlene Emilia Rios
After an astronaut's mission to explore deep space critically fails, she begins to reconsider the life she left on Earth. (WP, Drama, 14:45, 2020, UK)
THROW LIKE A GIRL
directed by Seri DeYoung
Despite the odds, Tanya Benter dreams of playing Major League Baseball. Her brother Brian has helped her become one of her high school's best players. (CP, Drama, 14:55, 2019, USA)
MYRTLE SIMPSON: A LIFE ON ICE
directed by Leigh Anne Sides
In 2017, more than 50 years after Myrtle Simpson became the first woman to cross the polar ice cap of Greenland, Queen Elizabeth II awarded her the Polar Medal for services in the Arctic. Named by National Geographic as one of four pioneering women who defied expectations and smashed stereotypes, Simpson has travelled the globe, from Spitsbergen to Greenland, from the Scottish Highlands to New Zealand, from the high Arctic to Peru. She has blazed her own unique trail as an explorer, a scientist, a mother of four, and the author of 13 books. (OP, Documentary, 34:00, 2019, UK)
FOREIGN SHORT DOCUMENTARIES
Program Host, Naomi McCormack, Programmer and Media Artist
NO DISTANCE BETWEEN US
directed by Vera Hong
How do contemporary First Nations people identify with a 20,000-year-old collection of footprints? Told through the voices of the traditional custodians of Australia's Willandra Lakes Region, the Mutthi Mutthi, Barkandji and Ngiyampaa people, and filmed in the window of time before the largest human fossil trackway in the world was covered in tons of sand for conservation, No Distance Between Us explores the ancient connection to country experienced by Australia's First Nations people and their struggle for recognition of traditional Indigenous knowledge. Shot on location in the beautiful Willandra Lakes Region World Heritage Site. (CP, Documentary, 11:43, 2019, Australia)
RECIPE IN EXILE
directed by Chantal Kassarijan
Recipe in Exile tackles a very personal yet universal story about tradition, family heritage and adaptability. It is a story that spans a hundred years, juxtaposing the lives of two immigrant women and linking them through a traditional family recipe being passed on from generation to generation. The story is inspired by the Syrian refugee crisis in the context of the Armenian diaspora, highlighting the importance of holding on to our cultural heritage in order to stay connected to our roots. (CP, Animation, 4:30, 2019, Lebanon/USA)
PASSAGE TO WOMANHOOOD
directed by Inaya Yusuf
A group of Muslim trans women navigate their lives amidst the heated political landscape of "secular" Malaysia. Standing against the tide on their principles, they find unlikely opportunities in an otherwise adversarial system of justice. Passage to Womanhood is a rare portrait of three trailblazers painting their own portrayal of womanhood and redefining femininity in Islam. (CP, Documentary, 30:00, 2018, Malaysia)
directed by Marlies Smeenge
In a large Belgian monastery where nearly a hundred Sisters Norbertienen used to reside, now just three continue to live. Cracking a beer during their lunch or watching a sitcom on the telly are as ordinary for these retired ladies as praying or reading The Bible. As best they can, they get ready for the festive season. They entertain their families over Christmas, bring out baby Jesus' manger and toast their Champagne glasses on New Year's Eve. A lighthearted, observational portrait of these ladies and their hyperactive Pomeranian, Skippy. How many glasses of Champagne will be on the table next year? (NAP, Documentary, 29:06 min, 2019, Netherlands)
SOCIO-POLITICAL SHORTS
Program Host, Jinder Chalmers, Writer, Programmer & FeFF Telefilm Talent to Watch Jury
THE FORGOTTEN ONES
directed by Tracii McGregor
This is the story of one man's struggle with and ultimate triumph over his 40-year battle with addiction and homelessness.
(CP, Documentary, 7:07, 2020, USA)
CRANBERRY NIGHTS
directed by Sara Robin
BABA'S NEXT CHAPTER
directed by Jamie C.X. Wang. J
Jamie is a Chinese film student studying abroad, and her father is a philosophy professor living alone in China. Once a rebellious youth, Baba abandoned his artistic pursuits because of social and family pressures. The only creative passion he retained was writing novels. But he stops sending Jamie new stories as his retirement approaches, leading her to hatch a plan to inspire him to keep writing. During a video chat, Jamie tells Baba she wants to adapt one of his stories into a short film, and they begin collaborating, not knowing what awaits. (CP, Documentary, 9:42, 2018, China/USA)
Behind her mother's back, 16-year-old Juana sneaks out to a party to get closer to her crush, Robin. She never suspects that her best friend, Kelly, will risk Juana's life with a drunken slip of the tongue. (WP, Drama, 15:53, 2020, USA)
TOUCHING AN ELEPHANT
directed by Lara Brose
What if someone asked you to prove your sexual orientation? What if your life depended on the evidence? Tens of thousands of people are asked to prove their sexual orientation when dealing with Germany's federal ministry for migration and refugees. It is fortuitous when staff members decide to believe someone is gay; usually they don't. (CP, Documentary, 14:33 min, 2019, Germany)
directed by Jenna Ruiz
In May 2007, Gurinder Singh Khalsa (a Sikh man who wears a turban) is barred from boarding an airplane unless he removes his turban for further inspection by TSA agents. He is made to choose between his religious beliefs and his desire to visit his dying mother in her last days. (TP, Drama, 17:59, 2019, USA)
OPENING GALA FEATURE, American Woman
written and directed by Semi Chellas
Program Hosts, Angela Argento, FeFF Chair, and Leslie Ann Coles, Programmer, Founder & Artistic Director
LANCASTER PARK
directed by Lynda Reiss
In a dusty trailer park in the high desert of California, a body is discovered bludgeoned to death. No one has any idea who he is or who might have been responsible, but it has been noted that a group of teens were seen near the site. A single mom assumes the worst of her daughter when she finds a hidden shirt covered in blood. After destroying what she believes is incriminating evidence, she becomes lost in the desert, where she learns that not everyone is what they seem. (CP, Drama, 17:06, 2019, USA)
Gala Feature: AMERICAN WOMAN
written and directed Semi Chellas
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