New to town, Zaraya befriends her next-door neighbour, who invites her to go on a search for the legendary lake monster, N’xaxaitkw—known to settlers as Ogopogo.
Supported by
Media Partner
Community Broadcast Partner
Community Partner
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.
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The Blue Trail
77-year-old Tereza makes a break for the Brazilian jungle in this trippy septuagenarian fantasy, the latest from Brazilian director Gabriel Mascaro is a quirky picaresque, lushly photographed and filled with mordant humour.
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.
Streetwalker
Middle class and married, Elena (Miroslava Stern) has been seduced by an unscrupulous swindler, who turns out to be the pimp of Maria (Elda Peralta), a prostitute and Elena's estranged sister. But are they really so different under the skin?
Two Prosecutors
In the midst of Stalin’s purges, a naïve prosecutor sets out to investigate a prisoner’s innocence, unaware of the labyrinthine bureaucracy awaiting him. A Kafkaesque procedural thriller about the pursuit of justice in the face of corruption.
Image: © SBS Productions
Salón México
Cheated by her pimp, Mercedes recklessly steals his wallet and is only saved from a severe beating by the intervention of a kindly policeman. Hard-hitting social realism sits beside patriotic sentimentality and multiple red hot dance sequences.
The Kneeling Goddess
In which wealthy industrialist Arturo de Cordova purchases the titular nude sculpture of his lover (María Félix) as an anniversary gift for his innocent, adoring wife. Soon enough the wife is dead, though untangling just how and why is part of the fun.
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.