THE FESTIVAL | 2020
All screenings will be held online this year due to COVID-19. Please check back soon for information on how to watch the official selection!
DATES & TIMES
FEATURE FILMS
2020
BY LIGHT OF DESERT NIGHT | Feature Film
Director: David Stuart Snell
When three best friends head into the desert on a bachelorette camping adventure, they have no idea that their darkest secrets are about to be revealed and thus set in motion a chaotic series of events that will change their lives forever.
CELESTE | Feature Film
Director: Ben Hackworth
Hidden from the world at a crumbling estate in lush tropical Far North Queensland, Celeste anxiously reaches out to Jack, her late husband’s son, inviting him to return to the languid, sprawling family home for her much-anticipated recital. Jack’s reappearance after a long absence stirs up unsettling memories, pulling them both into a mutually precarious orbit.
MY FARMLAND | Feature Documentary
Director: Diana Dai
My Farmland explores how Chinese national and Chinese immigrants' investments are affecting traditional Canada’s agricultural sector by following three families: two in tiny Saskatchewan farming communities, the other in the wine-making region of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. The film tells a very human story of how communities react to an influx of people from a different culture who hope for a better life by working the land.
SHORT FILMS
2020
2 IN A MILLION
Director: J. A. Moreno
Another Place is a surrealist music video directed by Anna Radchenko & Jeremy Schaulin-Rioux for English alternative rock band Bastille, featuring Canadian singer, songwriter Alessia Cara. The video sees Bastille frontman Dan Smith as he struggles to keep his home from falling apart. All the while, a giant version of Alessia Cara looks through and taps on the windows sending shockwaves throughout the building. Another Place stands as an evocative representation of a person’s distress caused by a breakup, seeking to keep one's inner sanctuary intact by shutting off painful memories trying to make their way in.
A CLOUD ON FIRE
Director: Julie Gaston
Anxiety is keenly felt within today’s hyperreal world. Increasingly, humans are disconnected. A Cloud On Fire is an experimental reflection on the subjective sensation of anxiety, its different dimensions, and absurd proportions.
A GLIMPSE
Director: Tom Turner
A blossoming relationship unfolds when two strangers have a chance encounter in a London cafe.
AMONG THE ALMOND TREES
Director: Marie le Floc'h
Today, Maysan has a very important administrative appointment for her family. But Iyad, her husband, has a question she is not ready to hear.
ANNA
Director: Dekel Berenson
Living in war-torn Eastern Ukraine, Anna is an aging single mother who is desperate for a change. Lured by a radio advertisement, she goes to party with a group of American men who are touring the country, searching for love.
ANOTHER PLACE
Directors: Anna Radchenko & Jeremy
Schaulin-Rioux
2 in a Million (Director’s Cut) is J.A. Moreno’s personal take on the official music video he directed for twice- Grammy-nominated DJ/Producer Steve Aoki, multi-award winning musician Sting, and platinum-selling trio SHAED. The video follows two dancers in one long shot, as they relay the feeling of falling in love and being soulmates. Filmed in just thirty minutes at the end of the official shoot, Moreno’s cut focuses on the dancers, seen only as silhouettes in the official version, and highlights their outstanding technical skills and chemistry.
CAGNOLINO
Director: Hugo Diego Garcia
One summer night, a group of dropout hoodlums goes looking to make easy money, driving around in search of prey. When they come across four rich kids, things take an unexpected turn for the worse.
CHATEAU SAUVIGNON: TERROIR
Director: D.M. Night Maire
Chateau Sauvignon: Terroir follows the isolated adolescent son of a storied vintner family who finds himself torn between obeying his father’s callous restrictions and preventing his ailing mother from deteriorating further. When a doting woman and her indifferent son arrive seeking a tasting and tour of the winery, Nicolas sees an opportunity to help care for his mother, as well as prove his worth to his choleric father. However, his wayward plan quickly takes a turn for the worse, and his missteps puts his family’s secretive murderous ways in peril of being unearthed.
DINNER WITH MUM
Director: Daniel Harding
Ruby has been invited to dinner by her mum, but things quickly go down hill.
GROOM. BRIDE. HERRING.
Director: Dmitriy Endaltsev
Even back in the hometown you’re not safe from condemnation, assumption and punishment.
LITTLE VENICE
Director: Harald Goplen Haug
Two struggling musicians, living together on a canal boat in London are looking to get their first career break. However, it comes at a cost.
NICE SHOES
Director: Jonathan Lawrence
A sci-fi extravaganza that is as pointless as the lyrics. Over 40 classic movie references are featured in this epic music video.
OSLO
Director: Shady Srour
Ziad, a Palestinian day laborer, is denied entry into Israel for work that day. Not wanting to return home empty handed after promising his daughter meat for dinner, he needs to get creative. A poetic and tragic reflection on the everyday struggle of Palestinian breadwinners.
POWERLESS
Director: Nicole Pott
A young female boxer on the run up to her most pivotal fight, is struck by tragedy and has to come to terms with her loss.
RECLAIMING THE NEGATIVE
Director: Mike Beech
Since the end of the Korean War in 1953, roughly 31,000 North Koreans have defected from their home country to South Korea. In 2018, photographer Tim Franco began shooting a series of large format portraits using an unusual technique for a book detailing some of their experiences.
SAINT-TITE
Director: Dmitriy Endaltsev
Saint-Tite tells the story of a family living their last weekend together at the rodeos of the Festival Western de Saint-Tite.
SHORT CALF MUSCLE
Director: Harald Goplen Haug
Short Calf Muscle is an absurdist black comedy about Anders. And Anders is different. But he doesn’t know that. Yes, he’s also gay, but that’s not the point here. There is also this thing that others see but he doesn’t.
THE DAY YOU LONG FOR
Director: Jonathan Lawrence
A surreal drama set on Christmas Day. Sebastian spends this festive season in the hospital after being involved in a car accident. He tortures his mind and soul by reliving the moments that led him down the path of self-destruction to the present moment. Sebastian ventures on a psychedelic journey to seek redemption by entering the world of his subconscious, reliving his memories within his dreams in order to find a way to forgive himself for the mistakes he made and move on.
THE REVEAL
Director: Ehsan Mokhtari
In order to keep themselves hidden from some intruders, two brothers have been imprisoned in their own house.
THE SHADOW OF THE SUN
Director: Ido Hartmann
Hidden from the world at a crumbling estate in lush tropical Far North Queensland, Celeste anxiously reaches out to Jack, her late husband’s son, inviting him to return to the languid, sprawling family home for her much-anticipated recital. Jack’s reappearance after a long absence stirs up unsettling memories, pulling them both into a mutually precarious orbit.
UNEXPLAINABLE SUBSTANCE
Director: Maksym Kotskyi
Mister Governor couldn’t even imagine how thoroughly she has been preparing for him to pay a visit. A total reimagining of Franz Kafka’s creation “The Metamorphosis”, inspired by the music of Gibkiy Chaplin.
VIEWING
Director: Finn Szumlas
In the week between a former fashion model's suicide and her burial, everyone has his own way of apprehending the image of her lifeless body.
THE NOMINEES
NOMINATIONS COMING SOON
BEST FEATURE FILM
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BEST SHORT FILM
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BEST STUDENT FILM
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BEST MUSIC VIDEO
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BEST DOCUMENTARY
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BEST DIRECTOR
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BEST ACTOR
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BEST ACTRESS
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RISING STAR AWARD
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BEST UNPRODUCED SCREENPLAY
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*WINNERS WILL BE DENOTED WITH ASTEREKS*