Questioning the nature of our material world, artists from South Africa, Spain, Iran and Brazil invite conditional realities to ponder memory, history and the length of existence. Witness and wonder, prepare to confront the possible meaning of it all.
This short film program includes the following films:
A Bird Called Memory
Leonardo Martinelli, Brazil/United Kingdom (15 min)
Returning to MODES with his latest lyrical offering, Leonardo Martinelli (Fantasma Neon, VIFF ’21) explores the existential longing and interior world of Lua, a trans woman on a wistful search for a missing bird amidst the streets of Rio de Janeiro.
Mast-del
Maryam Tafakory, Iran/United Kingdom (18 min)
An intimate mid-night moment between two Iranian women, Mast-del explores threat posed to forbidden bodies and desires.
Loving In Between
Jyoti Mistry, South Africa/Austria (19 min)
Repurposed archival footage from the Eye Film Museum, and animation encapsulate a portrait of social norms, religious persuasions, and political interventions that dictate and punctuate how and who we love. Yet, emancipation is found in the erotic.
Aqueronte
Manuel Muñoz Rivas, Spain (27 min)
Passengers settle in for a reflective and contemplative voyage aboard a ferry from one port to another. Destination unknown. The journey seems to expand, as the impending and distant shore is postponed. Observations are sharp, yet the magnitude of space becomes blurred.
Series Media Partner
Community Partner
Various
Various
2023
MODES
Various with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
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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.
My Undesirable Friends: Part II — Exile
Julia Loktev's follow up to last year's film about dissident journalists in Moscow tracks the reporters as they are forced into exile across a four year period, but still striving to counterbalance state propaganda as Putin pursues the war in Ukraine.
Once Upon a Time in Harlem
Once Upon a Time in Harlem splices together footage shot by William Greaves in 1972 of a group of Harlem Renaissance luminaries in conversation at Duke Ellington’s townhouse. The film is a living archive of memory, disagreement, style, and Black genius.
Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie
Alex Gibney's doc relates the near-lethal attack on Salman Rushdie in 2022, the writer's painful rehab and recovery, and his reflections on life before, during and after the publication of The Satanic Verses.
Possible Love
Lee Chang-dong’s first film since Burning (2018) is a sardonic, slow-burning satire about two couples: a documentary filmmaker married to a wealthy businessman, and a working-class family struggling to make ends meet after the husband has been laid off.
You Had to Be There
In a strange quirk of fate, the legendary Toronto '72 production of the musical comedy Jesus hit Godspell launched a constellation of comedy stars, all unknown at the time but now known to us as Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas, Victor Garber, et al