Kiawentiio, Emilie Bierre, Isla Grant, Aiden Howard, Riley Davis
Canada
2021
English
Coarse language
Featured in:
VIFF Short Forum: Program 6
Cinematic form is given to life’s big mysteries: luck and fate, love and loss, and the spiritual supernatural.
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Memory of Princess Mumbi
In 2093, a filmmaker arrives in the African village of Umata, where he meets Princess Mumbi, a woman torn between love, legacy, and the future of storytelling. It's a fabulous genre-blending fable about memory, invention and cinematic resistance.
Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai
Ghost Dog (Forest Whitaker) is an assassin, but he's also an existential loner who adheres to his personal code. Despite the thriller trappings, this is really a lampoon of that genre, and a melancholy reverie for the cultural melting pot we call home.
The Straight Story
David Lynch goes a different direction in this linear Midwestern about a septuagenarian (Richard Farnsworth) who drives nearly 400km on a lawnmower to visit his ailing brother (Harry Dean Stanton).
Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World
Sasha Waters' documentary takes us through the life of America's best-selling late twentieth century poet, a private woman who shared her innermost thoughts and made them indispensable.
Franz
Veteran Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland takes the bull by the horns to craft a Kafka biopic that's Kafkaesque and then some, artfully layering scenes from Kafka's life and works along with ironic present-day footage for a truly surreal counterpoint.
American Doctor
One of the most powerful documentaries of the year, this puts us smack in the open wound that is Gaza, filtered through the eyes of three American surgeons (of Palestinian, Jewish and Zoroastrian backgrounds) compelled to do their utmost to alleviate harm.
Credits
Producer
Mike Johnston
Screenwriter
Asia Youngman
Cinematography
Alfonso Chin
Editor
Sarah Hedar
Production Design
Amanda Christmas
Asia Youngman
Asia Youngman is a director and screenwriter based in Vancouver. Asia wrote and directed the short film Hatha (2021) and her short documentary This Ink Runs Deep (2019) had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. Most recently, she was the recipient of the Directors Guild of Canada BC Emerging Greenlight with her latest short film N’xaxaitkw (2022), which was nominated for five Leo Awards. Asia’s television credits include Odd Squad Mobile Unit (PBS, TVO) and Amplify (APTN). She is currently in post-production on a feature documentary with ESPN.



