Film Festival

Deep Rising
Deep Rising

Director: Matthieu Rytz Narration: Jason Momoa
10:00 AM – 85 min

This exquisite environmental documentary is also a gripping tale of geopolitical, scientific, and corporate intrigue. It exposes the destructive machinations of a secretive organization, the International Seabed Authority (ISA), empowered to greenlight massive extraction of metals from the deep seafloor.

Dancing in A-Yard
Dancing in A-Yard

Filmmaker: Manuela Dalle
2:45 PM – 72 min

In prisons ruled by toxic masculinity, dancing is an absolute taboo. But at Lancaster’s A-Yard, near Los Angeles, 10 young men are breaking this taboo by inviting French choreographer Dimitri to create a contemporary dance class, signaling a huge step towards their rehabilitation and hope for release back into society and ultimately creating a new prison culture.

Breaking the News
Breaking the News

Filmmakers: Heather Courtney, Princess Hairston, Chelsea Hernandez
4:10 PM – 99 min

Go behind the scenes at The 19th*, a digital news start-up led by a scrappy group of fearless women and LGBTQ+ journalists to buck status quo reporting by asking “who is omitted from the story and how can they be included?”

Common Ground
Common Ground

Directors: Josh Tickell & Rebecca Tickell
8 PM – 105 min

Fusing journalistic exposé with deeply personal stories from those on the front lines of the sustainable food movement, Common Ground unveils a dark web of money, power, and politics behind a broken food system. The film reveals how racist practices forged the current farm system in the US.

A Crack in the Mountain
A Crack in the Mountain

Director: Alistair Evans
7:30 PM – 100 min

Deep in the jungle of Central Vietnam, lies a magnificent underground kingdom. Hang Son Doòng which translates as “mountain river cave, is located in Quang Bình Province. In the middle of a UNESCO world heritage site, it is the largest cave passage in the world and a place of spectacular beauty.

Eating Up Easter – 10:00 am UNS 76 min.

Eating Up Easter – 10:00 am UNS 76 min.

  Eating Up Easter  Saturday Films 10:00 am UNS 76 min. 2019 Kartemquin Films & Plastic Oceans Int’l Director: Sergio M. Rapu    The iconic statues and sensationalized "mysteries" of Easter Island (Rapa Nui) have drawn the interest of the world for...

The Superfood Chain – 10:00 am LNS 70 min.

The Superfood Chain – 10:00 am LNS 70 min.

  The Superfood Chain  Saturday Films 10:00 am LNS 70 min. 2019 Fathom Film Group Director: Ann Shin  The Superfood Chain explores the story behind the rise of superfoods like quinoa, teff, coconuts, and wild salmon, revealing the ripple effect the superfood...

Up, Down, and Sideways – 10:00am FFR 83 min.

Up, Down, and Sideways – 10:00am FFR 83 min.

  Up, Down, and Sideways  Saturday Films 10:00 am FFR 83 min. 2017 Collective Eye Filmmaker: Anushka Meenakshi & Iswar Srikumar    Phek is a village in the Indian state of Nagaland near the border with Myanmar, with around 5,000 inhabitants, nearly all...

Five Acres – 11:30 am LNS 30 min.

Five Acres – 11:30 am LNS 30 min.

  Five Acres  Saturday Films 11:30 am LNS 30 min. 2019 Manly Media Filmmakers: Paul Manly & Laurie Mac Millan Filmmaker attendingThe Five Acre Farm in the Harewood area of Nanaimo has a long history of producing local food. It's one of the last intact farms in...

Hayashi Studio – 11:35 am FFR 25 min.

Hayashi Studio – 11:35 am FFR 25 min.

  Hayashi Studio  Saturday Films 11:35 am FFR 25 min. 2019 hayashistudio.com  Filmmaker: Hayley Gray Filmmaker will be in attendance.Hayashi Studio follows the diverse lives that came to Cumberland BC in the 1900s and Senjiro Hayashi, the Japanese photographer who...

Tree of Life and Its People – 12:10 pm UNS 25 min.

Tree of Life and Its People – 12:10 pm UNS 25 min.

  Tree of Life and Its People  Saturday Films 12:10 pm UNS 25 min. 2019 Spartan Media Group Filmmaker: Ria and Lee Milliken  Renowned First Nations carver and multimedia artist Rande Cook says “This story is about our land and all that comes from it... as...

Way of the Hunter – 12:15 pm LNS 17 min.

Way of the Hunter – 12:15 pm LNS 17 min.

  Way of the Hunter  Saturday Films 12:15 pm LNS 17 min. 2019 NFB Filmmaker: Robert Moberg  Deep in the Great Bear Rainforest, against the backdrop of British Columbia’s breathtaking wilderness, a former hunter comes to terms with his past and looks with hope...

Beauty – 12:15pm FFR 23 min.

Beauty – 12:15pm FFR 23 min.

  Beauty  Saturday Films 12:15 pm FFR 23 min. 2017 NFB Filmmaker: Christina Willings    Beauty explores the lives of five gender-creative kids, each uniquely engaged in shaping their own sense of what it means to be fully human. Whether it’s dealing with...

Family Films – 1:00pm Lower Sid

Family Films – 1:00pm Lower Sid

  Family Films 1:00pm – 2:30pm Lower SID (Fountain Area) Leon in Wintertime 27 min. By Pierre-Luc Granjon & Pascal Le Notre In this puppet animation we meet Léon, an 8-year-old adopted bear suffering from an identity crisis. The distraught cub runs away from home...

Nae Pasaran! – 1:00 pm SID 96 min.

Nae Pasaran! – 1:00 pm SID 96 min.

  Nae Parsaran!  Saturday Films 1:00 pm SID 96 min. 2018 Filmmaker: Felipe Bustos Sierra https://naepasaran.comNae Pasaran! reveals the incredible impact made by Scottish factory workers 40 years ago against the repressive dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.  In 1974,...

PUSH – 1:00 pm UNS 92 min.

PUSH – 1:00 pm UNS 92 min.

  PUSH  Saturday Films 1:00 pm UNS 92 min. 2019 Blue Ice Docs Filmmaker:  Fredrik Gertten  Housing prices are skyrocketing in cities around the world. Incomes are not. PUSH sheds light on a new kind of faceless landlord, our increasingly unlivable cities and an...