12:10 PM  (80 min)

Filmmaker: Jean-Philippe Marquis 

Set amongst the rugged forests and shorelines of British Columbia, Silvicola is a tableau of the complex web of cultural and economic forces which compel and constrain modern forestry practices. A story told through the eyes of an eclectic mix of characters whose lives and livelihoods are intimately entangled with the forest. Contemplative and visually immense, Silvicola embeds the viewer within remote spaces and worksites normally hidden from view. This is a film that compels us to rethink the divisions between natural and industrial worlds by spotlighting the hidden labour and logics of modern forestry.

1:40 PM  (17 min) 

Filmmaker: Ed Carswell

Coming Home to Grandmother’s Garden is a beautiful film about Garry Oak ecosystems
from a Cowichan First Nation perspective. Hul’q’umi’nim-speaking people have lived on southern Vancouver Island since time immemorial and have tended and maintained p’hwulhp (Garry Oak) ecosystems as critical food gardens and hunting grounds. As Sulatiye’ (Maiya Modeste) says “When you have a relationship with the land, there is more initiative and passion toward saving it.”

2:10 PM  (76 min)

Directors: Costa Boutsikaris & Anna Palmer

INHABITANTS follows five Native American communities as they restore their traditional land management practices in the face of a changing climate. For millennia Native Americans have successfully stewarded and shaped their landscapes, but centuries of colonization have disrupted their ability to maintain these processes. From deserts, coastlines, forests, mountains, and prairies, Native communities across the US are restoring their ancient relationships with the land. As the climate crisis escalates, these time-tested practices of North America’s original inhabitants are becoming increasingly essential in a rapidly changing world.

3:35 PM  (88 min)

Filmmaker: Leslie Shampaine

Manish is a young and talented street dancer from Mumbai who is struggling against his parents’ insistence that he follow a traditional path because they are counting on their only son to support them.