VIFF Short Forum: Program 5

Cosmological, geological, and speculative potentials provide hope in periods of doubt and hardship.

October 6 & 7: Q&A with the film teams

This short film program includes the following films:

Baigal Nuur – Lake Baikal
Alisi Telengut, QC (9 min)

North of the Mongolian border, the ancient Siberian Lake Baikal is reimagined through hand-made animation, featuring the voice of a Buryat woman speaking in her endangered Buryat-Mongolian language.

Gentle Hum of Spring
Simon Garez, SK (10 min)

As the spring thaw approaches in Saskatchewan, a young beekeeper struggles to maintain his bee colonies.

My Tomato Heart
Benoît Le Rouzès Ménard, QC (15 min)

Due to a serious heart condition, Madeleine is forced to retire from her beloved job at the neighbourhood grocery store. How will her last day end?

Take Care
Tony Massil, BC (19 min)

A recently divorced and deflated James moves in with his grandmother Patty, a fiercely independent octogenarian. Despite Patty’s declining physical abilities, she is reluctant to give up her autonomy.

Return to Ombabika
Ma-Nee Chacaby, Zoe Gordon, Shayne Ehman, ON (22 min)

Two spirit Oji-Cree elder, activist and artist Ma-Nee Chacaby journeys home to Ombabika, Ontario. She reflects on the land, her personal healing and the impacts of colonization.

Defining Human
Daniel Code, BC (15 min)

As Earth reaches its environmental breaking point, Mia, a talented black astronaut, must make a difficult decision: to stay with her ailing father, or leave for the unknown potentials of space exploration.

Soleil de Nuit
Fernando Lopez Escriva, Maria Camila Arias, QC (13 min)

During a training exercise in an abandoned open-pit mine, a crew of Canadian astronauts are interrupted by an Atikamekw elder, who asks them to deliver an important message to the spirit of his community on the moon.

Dickinsonia
Charline Dally, QC (17 min)

This speculative investigation of the titular 500-million-year-old ocean species is an invitation for embodied listening — to open one’s unconscious in order to find what is embedded deep within our memories.

Supported by

Community Partner