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Mariposa film image, co-directors John Greyson, Bongani Ndodana-Breen

Mariposa

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

Director
Cast

Chantelle Grant, Vanya Abrahams, Ray McKenna

Credits
Country of Origin

Canada

Year

2022

Language

English

Film Contact
Content Warning

Sexual Violence

G
6 min

Featured in:

From Chile to Canada film image

VIFF Short Forum: Program 1

What kind of alchemy occurs to transform hardship into fortune? Here, the extraordinary burn brightly.

 

MORE INFO

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Love Lies Bleeding

A pumped Kristen Stewart is our touchstone in this sexily sinister queer neo noir from Rose Glass (Saint Maud).

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Drive-Away Dolls

Lesbian lovers Jamie and Marian (Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathen) take off on a roadtrip to Tallahassee, only to find a suitcase full of trouble in the back of their rental car... Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke queer the caper comedy.

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Remembering Gene Wilder

An affectionate reminder of the singular comic actor who registered a string of hits between The Producers in 1967 and Silver Streak ten years later, including Willy Wonka, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein.

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Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus

Filmed across a week at his home just a few months before he died from cancer, this simple, pensive, poignant concert film comprises 20 pieces selected and performed by Ryuichi Sakamoto, and spans a lifetime of composition and artistry.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Perfect Days

Widely acclaimed as Wim Wenders' best (fiction) film since his glory days in the 1980s, Perfect Days is a humanist character study, steeped in the director's admiration for the cinema of Yasujiro Ozu.

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I Don't Know Who You Are

Sexually assaulted one night, gay Toronto musician Benjamin has just 72 hours to take HIV-preventative meds... But first he'll need to rustle up hundreds of dollars to pay for them, even as he processes this trauma.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Credits

Screenwriter

John Greyson

Cinematography

John Greyson

Editor

Nick White

Original Music

Bongani Ndodana-Breen

Directors

John Greyson headshot, Mariposa co-director

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 headshot, Mariposa co-director

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.