Canadian Premiere
From the 1990s, the Live-In Caregiver Program attracted thousands of Filipino women to Canada as migrant workers, enabling them to send money back home and gain permanent residency. In Inay (Tagalog for “Mama”), director Thea Loo and cinematographer Jeremiah Reyes (a husband and wife duo) turn the camera on themselves to explore the cultural and psychological impact on the children who were abandoned by their mothers out of economic necessity. With remarkable frankness, Jeremiah and their friend Shirley testify to similar narratives of secrets, anger, a lack of belonging, and the depression that results from intergenerational trauma, revealing that childhood wounds linger even into adulthood.
The documentary examines the repercussions of systemic policies and government legislation which are only now being felt and spoken about by generations of Filipino Canadians. Deeply personal and self-reflective, Inay reveals the hidden pain behind the lives of women who sacrificed themselves to take care of Canada’s children and elderly, and the loved ones they had to leave behind.
Oct 2 & 4: Q&A with director Thea Loo; cinematographers Jeremiah Reyes & Christian Jones; and executive producer Chelsea Birks
Presented by
Supported by
Media Partner
Thea Loo, Jeremiah Reyes, Shirley Lagman, Rowena Loo, Patrick Loo, Elvira Gangte
Canada/Philippines
2024
In English and Kapampangan with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Patrice Ramsay, Priscilla Galvez, Chelsea Birks
Producer
Thea Loo, Natalie Murao
Cinematography
Jeremiah Reyes, Christian Yves Jones
Editor
Anna Chiyeko Shannon
Original Music
Moses Caliboso, Jeremiah Reyes
Thea Loo
Thea Loo is a producer and director from Vancouver, BC. Her work has played at Sundance, Palm Springs ShortFest, CAAMFest and distributed on the digital TIFF Bell Lightbox. She is an alum of the Reelworld Producers Program and TIFF Series Accelerator. Her debut TV 1-hour documentary, Inay (Mama), will premiere in 2024.
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Buffalo '66
Vincent Gallo's directorial debut is an eccentric, provocative comedy which laces a poignant love story with both a sombre, washed-out naturalism and surreal musical vignettes. This one is something different...
Run Lola Run
In the hyper intense world of pre-millennial Berlin, Lola has just 20 minutes to come up with a 100,000 Deutchmarks or her boyfriend cops it. He's asking the right woman: Lola won't stop til she's saved the day... It's Speed, in the multiverse...
Saving Private Ryan
Steven Spielberg's gripping war movie was hailed as an instant classic in 1998, and he won his second Academy Award in five years for Best Director. Matt Damon takes the title role, Tom Hanks is charged with bringing him home from the front.
Palimpsest: The Story of a Name
Drawing on home movies and diaries from the 1930s, 40s, 50s and 60s, Canadian filmmaker Mary Stephen (Eric Rohmer's editor for many years) investigates the origins of her surname. After all, she was born in Hong Kong to Chinese parents. Or were they... ?
Searching for Satyrus
Award-winning filmmaker and photographer Rena Effendi embarks on a quest to track down the very rare Satyrus Effendi, a butterfly discovered by her father in the mountains of Aberbaijain. But what she finds is altogether more personal, and more upsetting.
