World Premiere
In 1999, 11-year-old Nisha Platzer lost her older brother, Josh, to suicide. Twenty years later, her search for a specialized medical treatment leads her to the door of someone who was once exceptionally close to Josh. And so it is that she finally has the chance to truly know her brother through his chosen family. Captured over five years in which synchronicities continually manifested, Platzer’s documentation of these encounters gently asserts that both grieving and healing are meant to be communal experiences.
The resulting back home includes candid interviews, lyrical visuals, evocative motifs, and segments in which filmstock has been hand-processed in seawater, plants, soil, and Josh’s ashes. Eloquently edited, the film establishes a meditative pace that allows a viewer space to reflect upon what’s being imparted and draw parallels to their own experiences. And, as it builds to a quietly staggering close, Platzer’s film instills in a viewer a desire to connect with those they hold dear.
Q&A Sept 30 & Oct 2
Presented by
Media Partner
Nisha Platzer, Swan, Sara Kendall, Sam Bligh, Zac Bligh, Rebecca Bligh
Canada/Cuba
2022
English
Self Harm, Flashing strobe lights
Book Tickets
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
The Art of Adventure
The unbelievable adventure story of how painter Robert Bateman and ecologist Bristol Foster drove a Land Rover from Africa to Australia in 1957, developing a love of nature to last a lifetime. An inspirational love letter to the adventure of life itself.
Chasing Ice
This visually stunning film follows renowned National Geographic photographer James Balog on a harsh Arctic expedition where he captures a multi-year record of the world's changing glaciers — undeniable evidence that our planet is in crisis. The screening will be introduced by James Balog.
Dead Lover
A foul-smelling gravedigger's romance ends in tragedy, spurring her to attempt a resurrection through a madcap series of science experiments. Grace Glowicki and Ben Petrie’s film is a zany DIY horror that zaps fresh life into Mary Shelley's classic.
Calle Málaga
Seventy-nine-year-old María Ángeles lives independently in Tangier's Spanish quarter. When her daughter pressures her into selling her apartment, she refuses to give in, finding in her old age a new resilience and an unexpected romantic connection.
Sansho the Bailiff
The third of the great Japanese masters (with Ozu and Kurosawa), Mizoguchi is a poet of suffering. There's plenty of that here in his exquisite telling of an ancient folktale about the enslavement of a woman and her two children.
Credits
Executive Producer
John Bolton
Producer
Joella Cabalu, Nisha Platzer
Screenwriter
Nisha Platzer, Jenn Strom
Cinematography
Suzanne Friesen, Flávio Rebouças
Editor
Jenn Strom, Milena Salazar
Production Design
Alexander Nolan
Original Music
Todd Macdonald – Norvaiza
Director
Photo by Erika Lind
Nisha Platzer
Nisha Platzer (she/her) is a queer artist and filmmaker from Vancouver, Canada. Her last short film, Vaivén (2020) won the Best Film Award at aluCine Latin Film & Media Arts Festival and competed at Raindance Film Festival, Festival du Nouveau Cinéma, International Documentary Film Festival of Buenos Aires (FIDBA), and Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival. Platzer studied at the Escuela Internacional de Cine y Televisión (EICTV) in Cuba. She teaches handmade film workshops and is a member of Iris Film Collective. back home, her first feature documentary, was recently presented at the Canadian Docs-in-Progress Showcase at Cannes Docs.