Film Festival
33rd World Community Film Festival – Feb 2nd & 3rd, 2024.
A Hybrid Festival (in-person or virtual).
Friday & Saturday night screenings at Sid Williams Theatre.
Saturday screenings:
- 10 am – 5:45 pm at the Sid and Florence Filberg, Rotary Room.
- Family Venue: 1 pm – 2:30 pm (Lower Sid Williams Theatre – Free for children accompanied by an adult with a ticket).
- Delicious food available until 3:30 pm in the Evergreen Lounge.
- Dinner Saturday night at the Upper Native Sons Hall (limited tickets).
Virtual Film Festival with some of the daytime films will take place Feb 15 – 18. Tickets and information will be available on Feb. 4th
Friday, February 2 – 730pm – Sid Williams Theatre
Tiny
Filmmakers: Ritchie Hemphill and Ryan Haché
7:30 PM – 15 min
Tiny is a stop-motion animation highlighting the life of ‘Nakwaxda’xw Elder Colleen Hemphill and her experiences growing up on a float house near Alert Bay. Colleen is featured telling stories about her relationships with family, the community and nature.
Saturday, Feb. 3 – Sid Williams Theatre (SID)
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.
Not Quite That
Filmmaker: Ali Grant
11:45 AM – 47 min
Might a genetic mutation be the very thing that allows this nice Jewish butch lesbian to be fully seen at last? Meet Sarah, 57. Lesbian? For sure. Jewish? Yes and no. Mother? In all but one sense. Trans? No, just often mistaken as such. Breast cancer survivor? Well, that’s the plan, the survival bit, but without the cancer or the breasts. Not Quite That is an intimate and insightful exploration of how we are seen, how we see ourselves, and why it matters.
The Judge
Director: Erika Cohn
1:10 PM – 81 min
When she was a young lawyer, Kholoud Al-Faqih walked into the office of Palestine’s Chief Justice and announced she wanted to join the bench. He laughed at her. A few years later, Kholoud became the first woman judge to be appointed to the Middle East’s Shari’a (Islamic law) courts.
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
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?”
Saturday, Feb. 3 – Florence Filberg Rotary Room (FFR)
Long Distance Swimmer
Director: Charly Wai Feldman
10:00 AM – 90 min
Syrian refugee Sara Mardini, along with her sister Yusra, pulled the sinking boat that carried them and another 18 refugees to safety in Greece. She now copes with the consequences of her ongoing activism. After volunteering as a lifeguard with Emergency Response Center International, Sara was arrested by Greek authorities on a variety of counts, including people trafficking.
Not Your Model Minority
Filmmaker: Jon Osaki
11:50 AM – 31 min
Not Your Model Minority explores the myth and the intersections with past and present anti-Asian violence. The film reveals the ways the model minority myth has been used to create a wedge between communities of colour, while also examining opportunities to address systemic racism.
Manufacturing the Threat
Filmmaker: Amy Miller
1:05 PM – 84 min
Manufacturing the Threat examines the issue of agent provocateurs and entrapment in Canada’s national security apparatus. This is an action-packed and emotional film which looks at a deeply disturbing episode in recent Canadian history, when an impoverished couple was coerced by undercover law enforcement agents into carrying
out a terrorist bombing in Victoria, BC.
Tsunami: 11th Relative
Filmmaker: Pieter Romer
2:50 PM – 27 min
Learn about the rich history of tsunami resilience on the Pacific west coast, and how combining traditional Indigenous knowledge with ocean science can better prepare communities for the next “big one”.
Hebron Relocation
Filmmaker: Holly Andersen
3:30 PM – 15 min
In Hebron Relocation, Holly Andersen explores what makes a place a home as she learns more about her community’s connection to generations of displaced northern Labrador Inuit.
Saturday, February 3 – 8pm – Sid Williams Theatre
