Recovering from a suicide attempt in a Cape Breton hospital, Star (Sarah Walker), a neurodiverse teen, is drawn into the orbit of An (Ziyin Zheng), a genderqueer volunteer. Despite their disparate backgrounds (An has recently arrived from Shanghai), the pair operate on identical idiosyncratic frequencies, fortifying their bond through a flurry of text messages and unguarded declarations. After disclosing her aspiration of becoming a trophy wife to An, Star incants, “You’re sinning… making me evil.”
In reality, there’s nothing sinister afoot in Ashley McKenzie’s (Werewolf, 2016) extraordinary sophomore feature. Rather, it’s a disarmingly open-hearted, formally exhilarating ode to a fairy tale friendship. A heady mix of unvarnished-yet-eloquent dialogue, transportive electronic compositions by Yu Su and Cecile Believe, and visual flourishes that meld social media, animation, and VR, the film sees McKenzie adhering to her social realist principles while exploring a more expansive, sensorially rich brand of cinema. Unfolding in society’s margins, Queens of the Qing Dynasty burns as incandescently as its two stars.
Q&A Oct 5 & Oct 7
Sarah Walker, Ziyin Zheng, Wendy Wishart, Jana Reddick, Yao Xue, Cherlena Brake
Canada
2022
In English, Mandarin, and Russian with English subtitles
Self Harm
Book Tickets
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Short Forum 2: Anthropomaxx
Dogs, frogs, hogs, and more!
The Liberation
Haunted by her past, Rita (a magnificent Carrie Coon) is lured to an all-female commune by a magnetic, manipulative spiritual leader (Lily James). An unsettling yet deeply empathetic exploration of personal freedom, devotion, and control.
Image: © Bleecker Street
Tender Loving Care
Mike Leigh’s film depicts the lives of Amy and Rosie, best friends and fellow social workers, who care for the dispossessed with all the strength they have. Sometimes it's funny, tragic, and often it's balancing both, this is a work of humble compassion.
The Story of Documentary Film – The 2010s & 2020s
In The Story of Documentary Film – The 2010s & 2020s, Mark Cousins follows nonfiction into phones, GoPros, YouTube, TikTok, live streams, and feeds to look at bodily autonomy, surveillance, racism, borders, and truth after vérité.
Image: © Fire of Love, 2022, dir. Sara Dosa, Canada, USA, Sandbox Films, Cottage M, Intuitive Pictures, National Geographic Documentary Films
A Girl Unknown
In this tender, compassionate drama, we see the hardships endured by a young girl adopted in the early 1980s during China’s one-child policy. As a teenager in the 90s, she’s still fighting to find a sense of belonging and assert her worth.
Concrete Land
Filmed over eight years, Concrete Land follows the Najar family, one of Jordan’s last Afro-Palestinian-Bedouin families, as luxury villas close in on their grazing space outside Amman. Asmahan Bkerat preserves their way of life in the face of erasure.
Credits
Producer
Ashley McKenzie, Britt Kerr, Nelson MacDonald
Screenwriter
Ashley McKenzie
Cinematography
Scott Moore
Editor
Ashley McKenzie, Scott Moore
Production Design
Michael Pierson
Original Music
Yu Su, Cecile Believe
Director
Ashley McKenzie
Ashley McKenzie (she/they) is a filmmaker based in Unama’ki (Cape Breton Island). Her debut feature Werewolf (2016) won the Rogers Best Canadian Film Award from the Toronto Film Critics Association in 2017. Film Comment called Werewolf “an austere, marvelously focused debut feature,” while The New Yorker named it to their Best Movies of 2018 list. Ashley’s films have screened at the Berlinale, Toronto International Film Festival, Maryland Film Festival, and Sydney Film Festival, and have been curated by the Criterion Channel, MUBI, and Anthology Film Archives.
Filmography: Werewolf (2016)