Spotlight Sublist: 2023 - 2 - Food For Thought
- Own Voice
Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance
This powerful documentary takes you right to the heart of the action, painting a sensitive and deeply affecting portrait of the people behind the barricades.
Winner of the Toronto International Film Festival’s Best Canadian Feature Film prize.
Director
Alanis Obomsawin (Abenaki)
Legendary Abenaki filmmaker Obomsawin has made over 50 documentaries on issues affecting Indigenous peoples in Canada, including Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance, Trick or Treaty?, Is the Crown at War with Us?, Our People Will Be Healed and Jordan River Anderson, The Messenger. Her most recent film is the short documentary Honour to Senator Murray Sinclair. Next, she is set to appear in an episode of Marie Clements’ Bones of Crows: The Series.
Writer
Alanis Obomsawin (Abenaki)
Producers
Wolf Koenig, Colin Neale, Alanis Obomsawin (Abenaki)
Genre
Documentary
Interests
BIPOC Stories, Classics, Environment, Female Filmmaker, History, Indigenous Filmmaker, Social Justice & Politics
Original Language
English
Language Versions
EN CC, EN Subtitles, FR CC, FR Dub, FR Subtitles
Canadian Distributor
National Film Board (NFB)
The Boys of St. Vincent
At the heart of this powerful film is a remarkable performance by Henry Czerny as Brother Peter Lavin, who transformed his own difficult childhood into a cycle of abuse and pain for others in his charge. Director John N. Smith grapples with this difficult subject with remarkable sensitivity and honesty, turning a dark chapter in Canada’s history into a thoughtful and affecting docudrama.
Director
John N. Smith
Smith’s credits include award-winning TV docudramas such as The Boys of St. Vincent, Dieppe and Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story, as well as numerous feature films, including Dangerous Minds, A Cool Dry Place, Geraldine’s Fortune and Love & Savagery among others. Sitting in Limbo won the Best Canadian Feature Film award at TIFF 1986.
Writers
Sam Grana, John N. Smith, Des Walsh
Cast
Henry Czerny, Johnny Morina, Brian Dooley
Producers
Claudio Luca, Sam Grana
Genre
Drama
Interests
Classics, History, Social Justice & Politics
Original Language
English
Language Version
EN CC
Canadian Distributor
eOne
Crash
After hitting Dr. Helen Remington (Hunter)’s vehicle in a critical car accident, film producer James Ballard (Spader), a man in an open marriage, and Remington, whose husband died in the crash, begin an unlikely affair that seems to take place exclusively in and around automobiles. While he is recovering, Ballard meets Vaughan (Koteas), a man who leads a bizarre subculture of people who fetishize car crashes, car safety tests and traffic accidents in general. As Vaughan’s unusual cult meetings intersect with their lives, Ballard finds deeper meaning not just in his marriage, but in mankind’s increasingly intertwined and disturbing relationship to technology.
Director
David Cronenberg
Writer
David Cronenberg
Cast
James Spader, Holly Hunter, Elias Koteas, Deborah Unger
Producers
David Cronenberg, Robert Lantos, Jeremy Thomas
Genres
Drama, Horror, Romance, Thriller
Interest
Cult & Offbeat Cinema
Original Language
English
Language Version
FR Subtitles
Canadian Distributor
eOne/Criterion
Les ordres (Orders)
Following five individuals over those harrowing days, the film uses colour and black-and-white cinematography to blur the lines between fact and fiction. Brault’s masterful film treats the difficult subject with sensitivity and care.
This film won Brault the Cannes Film Festival’s Best Director prize and he remains the only Canadian filmmaker to achieve that distinction.
Director
Michel Brault
Writer
Michel Brault
Cast
Hélène Loiselle, Jean Lapointe, Guy Provost, Louise Forestier, Claude Gauthier
Producer
Bernard Lalonde
Genre
Drama
Interests
Classics, History, Social Justice & Politics
Original Language
French
Language Version
EN Subtitles
Canadian Distributor
Filmoption International/Criterion
Anthropocene: The Human Epoch
In 2016, scientists declared that the Earth has entered a new geological era, one that is entirely the consequence of humanity’s abuse of the planet. This documentary goes around the world illustrating the variety of ways that humanity has affected its environment.
In Kenya, authorities set fire to mounds of elephant tusks to protest the illegal ivory trade, resulting in a devastating display of the impact of poaching. In Russia and Germany, mining operations transform the land into an otherworldly wasteland. The unfathomable scale of the images created by these moments are equal parts beautiful and disturbing.
Following Manufactured Landscapes and Watermark, photographer Edward Burtynsky and filmmakers Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier conclude their award-winning trilogy with an urgent message to all the citizens of the world to see the consequences of our actions, before it’s too late.
Directors
Jennifer Baichwal
Baichwal and de Pencier are known for their CSA-winning docs, Manufactured Landscapes, Watermark and Anthropocene. They are frequent collaborators, with Baichwal directing and de Pencier as her cinematographer and producer. Their credits include The Holier it Gets, Act of God and Payback, and their newest film together, Into the Weeds.
Nicholas de Pencier
Baichwal and de Pencier are known for their CSA-winning docs, Manufactured Landscapes, Watermark and Anthropocene. They are frequent collaborators, with Baichwal directing and de Pencier as her cinematographer and producer. Their credits include The Holier it Gets, Act of God and Payback, and their newest film together, Into the Weeds.
Writer
Jennifer Baichwal
Cast
Alicia Vikander
Producer
Nicholas de Pencier
Genre
Documentary
Interest
Environment
Original Language
English
Canadian Distributor
Mongrel Media/Criterion
- Own Voice
No Ordinary Man
Billy Tipton, a 20th Century jazz musician became a trans icon after his death, and his legacy continues to be carried forward by trans artists to this day. Featuring a unique documentary structure, the film uses an audition session for a proposed biopic about Tipton as a jumping off point for a group of contemporary trans artists to explore what Tipton has meant to them, and to share stories about their own lives and experiences.
Also featuring interviews with Tipton’s family, Aisling Chin-Yee and Chase Joynt’s remarkable tribute to a misunderstood artist was named one of Canada’s Top 10 in 2020.
"Approaching Tipton’s story with the free hand of an improvised jazz set, No Ordinary Man is an elegant riff on a classic progression that arrives at something transcendent." - Jude Dry, Indiewire
Directors
Aisling Chin-Yee
Chin-Yee is an award-winning producer, writer and director. She has directed the shorts Sound Asleep and Synesthesia. Her feature directorial debut, The Rest of Us, premiered at TIFF 2019 and she is currently directing the series Plan B.
Chase Joynt
Joynt is an award-winning director and writer. His first book, You Only Live Twice, was a Lambda Literary Award Finalist. He recently directed Framing Agnes, which played at Sundance and Hot Docs, and he is starring in John Greyson’s upcoming film, Door Prize.
Writers
Aisling Chin-Yee, Amos Mac
Cast
Billy Tipton Jr.
Producer
Sarah Spring
Genre
Documentary
Interests
Arts and Culture, Biography, Female Filmmaker, History, LGBTQ2S+, Social Justice & Politics
Original Language
English
Canadian Distributor
levelFILM
Incendies
Incendies is the kind of film you’ll want to watch more than once. With intricate timelines and a family drama spanning two very different continents, the twists and turns of Denis Villeneuve’s celebrated adaptation of Wajdi Mouawad’s award-winning play are explosive, frightening and emotionally intense.
Winner of eight Genie Awards and nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
Director
Denis Villeneuve
Writer
Denis Villeneuve
Cast
Lubna Azabal, Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin, Maxim Gaudette, Rémy Girard
Producers
Luc Déry, Kim McCraw
Genre
Thriller
Interests
BIPOC Stories, Global Experiences
Original Language
French
Language Version
EN Subtitles
Canadian Distributor
eOne/Criterion
- Own Voice
Subjects of Desire
In this powerful documentary, filmmaker Jennifer Holness takes an incisive look at why our society enforces such impossible and conflicting beauty standards on Black women. The treatment of Black Women in our culture is rarely given the attention it deserves, but Holness uses the 50th anniversary of the Miss Black America pageant as a jumping off point to explore everything from the media’s continued reinforcement of damaging and reductive archetypes to the recent explosion of cultural appropriation trends.
Featuring a variety of interviews with beauty experts, prominent Black women in the media, pageant contestants and more, Holness doesn’t hold back from exposing the harsh truths about the world we live in.
“Both critical and celebratory, Jennifer Holness’ packed and penetrating documentary Subjects of Desire provides a superb overview of how Black culture has influenced, and been influenced by, contemporary beauty ideals from Civil War times to #BlackGirlMagic and beyond.” – Jessica Kiang, Variety
Director
Jennifer Holness
Holness is a director, writer, and producer whose producing credits include award-winning films Stateless, Guns, and Love, Sex, and Eating the Bones, and series like She’s the Mayor and Shoot the Messenger. She wrote and directed Subjects of Desire and recently received the Canadian Media Producers Association’s Established Producer Award, and directed an episode of the series BLK: An Origin Story. Next, she is producing the feature Rip Tide.
Writer
Jennifer Holness
Cast
India Arie, Jully Black, Alexandra Germain
Producers
Jennifer Holness, Sudz Sutherland
Genre
Documentary
Interests
Arts and Culture, BIPOC Stories, Discrimination, Female Filmmaker, History, Social Justice & Politics, Strong Female Leads
Original Language
English
Canadian Distributor
INDIECAN ENTERTAINMENT INC
- Own Voice
Outrageous!
This cult classic was nominated for five Genie awards including Best Picture and Best Actor for Russell, who also won a Silver Bear at the Berlin festival for his performance.
Director
Richard Benner
Writers
Richard Benner, Margaret Gibson
Cast
Craig Russell, Hollis McLaren
Producers
William Marshall, Hend.rik van der Kolk
Genre
Comedy
Interests
Classics, LGBTQ2S+
Original Language
English
Canadian Distributor
eOne
- Own Voice
Angry Inuk
The seal hunt is not exactly a laughing matter, but humour and technical savvy go a long way to debunk certain claims. Wryly tackling both misinformation and aggressive appeals to emotion, Inuk filmmaker Arnaquq-Baril equips herself and her community with the powers of social media — and yes, #sealfies — to reframe a controversial topic as a cultural issue in this 2016 Audience Award–winning Hot Docs hit.
“Angry Inuk delivers important information about an issue we tend to think we know everything about, and delivers a powerful emotional punch.”
—Susan G. Cole, NOW Magazine
Director
Alethea Arnaquq-Baril (Inuk)
Arnaquq-Baril is an award-winning Inuk filmmaker whose work has screened on CBC, APTN, and at festivals like Hot Docs, imagineNATIVE, TIFF and many others. Her credits include the award-winning doc Angry Inuk, Aviliaq, Inuit High Kick, Tunniit: Retracing the Lines of Inuit Tattoos and The Embargo Project. She also produced the award winning film The Grizzlies, the 2022 film Slash/Back, and co-founded the Inuit production company Red Marrow Media. She is currently producing the documentary Twice Colonized.
Writer
Alethea Arnaquq-Baril (Inuk)
Producers
Alethea Arnaquq-Baril (Inuk), Bonnie Thompson
Genre
Documentary
Interests
BIPOC Stories, Environment, ESL, Female Filmmaker, History, Indigenous Filmmaker, Social Justice & Politics, Strong Female Leads
Original Languages
English, Inuktitut
Language Versions
EN CC, FR CC
Canadian Distributor
National Film Board (NFB)