The Pā Boys
Himiona Grace’s exploration of masculinity and Māori identity in THE PĀ BOYS is full of passion, creativity and anguish. The film follows a fictional Reggae band as it tours Aotearoa from Wellington to Cape Reinga, struggling to keep cohesion and community among its members. At the heart of this dramatic feature (which has its share […]
O Tamaiti
Seen through the eyes of 11 year old Tino, the eldest of five children in a Samoan family, the film opens with the birth of yet another baby, and Tino must cope with the added pressures and responsibilities expected of him as the eldest. With mother and father figures who are heard but not seen, […]
Two Cars, One Night
Set in the carpark of a rural pub in Tek Kaha, New Zealand, this award-winning short comedy from Taika Waititi tells the story of two brothers, Romeo and Ed, who wait in the car while their parents are inside drinking. Romeo spots Polly, an eleven-year-old girl who is also waiting for her parents in their […]
Tama Tū
Every culture has its stories and its heroes. For the Māori, the men of the 28th Battalion are legendary. These were soldiers who owed no allegiance to a national flag, but fought and died in the thousands amid the Second World War because they were warriors at heart. Numerous books and films have been made […]
Illusions of Control
Taking inspiration from the late cultural theorist Lauren Berlant’s influential scholarly work Cruel Optimism, Vancouver-based director Shannon Walsh delivers a philosophical portrait of five women’s stories of survival and transformation on a global scale. A compelling meditation on resilience in the face of disaster, ILLUSIONS OF CONTROL unfolds in landscapes that are irrevocably shaped by […]
Bikes vs Cars
The bicycle, an amazing tool for change. Activists and cities all over the world are moving towards a new system. But will the economic powers allow it? Bikes vs Cars, a new film project from BANANAS!* and Big Boys Gone Bananas!* director Fredrik Gertten, looks into and investigates the daily global drama in traffic around […]
Kivitoo: What They Thought of Us
In 1962 three men died in a tragic accident in the Inuit community of Kivitoo. Only three days after their burial – when the community was still in deep mourning – the RCMP arrived and forced everyone to move to a camp in Qikittajuaaq. The RCMP promised that the community would be allowed to return […]
Protect Our Future Daughters
Narrated by Maryanne Junta, a young artist and activist sharing the name of a missing Indigenous woman, PROTECT OUR FUTURE DAUGHTERS is a short docu-dram which aims to educate viewers about the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women of Canada and the Red Dress Project, an aesthetic response to the issue initiated by Jaime Black. Using […]
Sea of Life
With access to renowned environmental experts and breathtaking underwater cinematography, award-winning filmmaker Julia Barnes takes audiences on a provocative journey, through the most stunning and threatened ecosystems on the planet and the rallying movement to save them, leaving audiences around the world inspired to fight for our oceans – and our future. Believing that people […]
White Van Stories
WHITE VAN STORIES covers a gamut of provinces and ethnicities (Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities) in its coverage of the tragic unexplained disappearances of civilians in post-war Sri Lanka. It shines a light on the resilience and courage that many have adopted to find the disappeared as part of their continued fight for justice. The […]
Gritos del Silencio (Silent Screams)
GRITOS DEL SILENCIO, investigates the issue of gender violence, also known as “Feminicidio”, in El Salvador. Centered around the story of Lazaro Moran, a man seeking refugee status in Canada after his wife is brutally murdered by their godson and his friend, both gang members. Lazaro, and his daughter America, share their story as the […]
Upstream, the Stewards of the Land
Along the proposed pipeline route that is planned to connect the fracked gas wells in North Eastern British Columbia with the Pacific coast, like in the famous Standing Rock camp which was internationally in the headlines for months, Indigenous Peoples are reaffirming their title and going back to the land. During three months in Summer […]
Our People Will Be Healed
Education is key to the future of any nation. Distinguished director Alanis Obomsawin visits a Cree community in Manitoba that’s putting this principle into practice in OUR PEOPLE WILL BE HEALED, her 50th film. The community of Norway House lies 800 kilometres north of Winnipeg, on the shores of Playgreen Lake. The Helen Betty Osborne Ininiw […]
Honey at the Top
HONEY AT THE TOP is a film about the Sengwer forest people of the Cherangani Hills, Kenya, being evicted from their ancestral land in the name of conservation. Facing international pressure from organisations like the World Bank, a corrupt Kenya Forest Service who are burning their houses, and attempts to turn the forest into a […]
Reflections: Art for an Oil-Free Coast
In the summer of 2011, fifty of BCs most celebrated artists took a journey up the coast, into the heart of the Great Bear Rainforest. Five-hundred kilometres north of Vancouver is a wild coastline: home to the Spirit Bear and whales, wolf packs and grizzlies, First Nations and coastal communities. With the looming threat of […]
Island Earth
A rich and complex tale of a young indigenous scientist’s journey through the corn fields of GMO companies and loi patches of traditional Hawaiian elders reveals modern truths and ancient values that can save our food future. To feed all the humans on the planet, we are going to have to grow as much food […]