An operatic cine-poem weaving together the stories of African-Canadian singer Portia White, South African chef Phelokazi Ndlwana, and the Free Gender activist group—a Black lesbian organization based in Khayelitsha, a township on the outskirts of Cape Town.
Supported by
Community Broadcast Partner
Community Partner
Chantelle Grant, Vanya Abrahams, Ray McKenna
Canada
2022
English
Sexual Violence
Featured in:
VIFF Short Forum: Program 1
What kind of alchemy occurs to transform hardship into fortune? Here, the extraordinary burn brightly.
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Silence
This sober, probing examination of faith, ego, cruelty and compassion is the most underrated film from the often under-valued latter half of Martin Scorsese's brilliant career; a passion project, about Catholic missionaries in 17th Century Japan.
Souleymane's Story
Exhausted by the grueling grind of the Parisian gig economy and hopping between homeless shelters, Guinean immigrant Souleymane races against time to prepare for his asylum interview. An angry, tender film which is as gripping as any thriller.
Hard Eight
Anderson's debut is a deceptively modest character piece about a veteran gambler (Philip Baker Hall) who takes a much younger man under his wing and teaches him how to play the system and win. Until things take a darker turn...
The Last Class
Economist and former US Secretary of Labor Robert Reich embarks on what will be his last year teaching at Berkeley. What can he impart to the latest generation to inspire and empower them for the grievous challenges ahead?
Credits
Screenwriter
John Greyson
Cinematography
John Greyson
Editor
Nick White
Original Music
Bongani Ndodana-Breen
Directors
John Greyson
John Greyson is a Toronto filmmaker whose features, shorts, and new media works include Photo Booth (2022), Lilies (1996), Zero Patience (1993), Fig Trees (2009), and International Dawn Chorus Day (2021). A pioneer of the new Queer Cinema, his films have won four Berlin Teddies, five Canadian Screen Awards, and more than 50 Best Film prizes at festivals, including TIFF, Frameline, Inside Out, Locarno, Berlin, and Torino.
Selected Filmography: The Law of Enclosures (2000); Proteus (2003); Fig Trees (2009); Photo Booth (2022)
Bongani Ndodana-Breen
Bongani Ndodana-Breen is an award-winning South African composer whose operas and symphonic work include Winnie: The Opera, Orange Clouds, and Harmonia Ubuntu. He was awarded the Standard Bank Young Artist Award in 1998, holds a PhD in Composition from Rhodes University, and currently teaches music at Yale University.