Two strangers walking alone at night in the same direction notice each other. While one becomes increasingly afraid, the other tries—unsuccessfully—to appear less threatening.
Supported by
Community Broadcast Partner
Community Partner
Izaiah Dockery, Kavita Musty, Dashawn Blackwood
Canada
2022
English
Sexual Violence; coarse language
Featured in:
VIFF Short Forum: Program 2
Fear, doubt, and loneliness give way to pleasure, empowerment, and reclamation—or, is it the other way around?
Missing VIFF? Check Out What's Playing at the VIFF Centre
Akashi
In Mayumi Yoshida’s tender drama, struggling artist Kana journeys to Tokyo to attend her grandmother’s funeral. While there, she reconnects with her childhood love and stumbles across a family secret that prompts her to reconsider her place in the world.
The History of Concrete
After attending a workshop on pitching saccharine Hallmark movies, John Wilson tries to apply all the same best practices to his documentary about concrete. Frequently absurd and endlessly entertaining detours, asides, and digressions ensue.
NAZA
NAZA is a codeword euphemistically used by Israeli intelligence to indicate the number of civilians it expects will be killed in an airstrike. This chilling documentary exposes the policy and process of state-sanctioned mass killings.
I Am Not a Witch
Rungano Nyoni's acclaimed debut feature is a visually striking satire about a 9-year-old orphan accused of witchcraft in contemporary Zambia. Screening in the latest African Cinema Now! series, The Witch at the Edge of the Screen.
Queen at Sea
An academic is pitted against her stepfather in a moral crisis over the care of her mother, who lives with dementia. Winner of the Silver Bear Jury Prize and Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance at the 2026 Berlinale.
Image: © Seafaring
Credits
Executive Producer
Shant Joshi
Producer
Lindsay Blair Goeldner, Rosalind Goodwin
Screenwriter
Ace Clamber
Cinematography
Ashley Iris Gill
Editor
Nicole Sison
Production Design
Chelsy Althea
Art Director
Krista Barleta
Director
Karimah Zakia Issa
Karimah Zakia Issa is a Montreal native and London and Toronto-based filmmaker whose work is centred around crafting stories that dive into themes of overcoming and succumbing to social expectations, how self-worth is built and broken, and the dark truths that live within us all. Her project Lanes (2020) is an educational narrative dance piece that explores responsibility and participation in present-day social justice movements. Alongside her co-writer Ace Clamber, she’s developing a feature that explores a son’s journey of reconnecting with his estranged father online.