Hungry for imagineNATIVE films? In this third instalment of Programming-Team-picks, I invite you to a sampling of the smorgasbord of 2012 imagineNATIVE programming that I have personally taste-tested for you. Like food free-for-alls, I have trouble controlling myself, so please stuff your plate with these scrumptious treats!
Fighting Chance
Thursday’s delights include the amazingly graphic-novel inspired and hard-hitting animated film Fighting Chance as part of the Tweet This! Youth Shorts Program. The artistic treatment of this challenging piece is bound to resonate with our youth viewers.
Friday, I insist on taking a full heap of UNSETTLING SEX , the Vtape presented curatorial talk and screening by John G. Hampton, which challenges sexual norms and perceptions in a tantalizing collection of dark, devious and daring works by Festival favourite filmmakers Kent Monkman, Ariel Smith, James Diamond and Marnie Parrell.
Grandmother's House Away From Home
I also must insist on spending a lot of time savouring the flavour found in The Grandmother’s House Away from Home. Part of our first film-foray into China, this incredible story plays out like a dramatic feature (seriously, someone should option this!), rife with layers of rich characters. See the cultural and societal challenges when a son takes his familial history in his hands by selling his family Yimi (home) to Western museum curators, a first in Mosuo people’s history.
Side samplers of our commissioned works are sure to leave you happy. Check out the following:
- Jules Koostachin’s pshychological Niipii (Water), part of our annual tantalizer, The Witching Hour Late-Night Shorts Program (Free!), and the result of the imagineNATIVE/Charles Street Video Residency work
- Tyler Hagan’s visual essay Estuary as part of our Water Journey screening and the result of the imagineNATIVE/LIFT Mentorship
- The world premiere and national presentation of THE STOLEN SISTERS DIGITIAL INITIATIVE playing on-screen Saturday Oct 20 at 10:30am and across TTC Monitors and Mall network displays of Pattison Onestop.
Take a picture of the displays and post to our Facebook page!
Finish Sunday off with a cool, refreshing, yet disturbing and multi-faceted feature - My Louisiana Love. The documentary follows Cajun Indigenous people as they fight against environmental changes and the challenges of their homeland.
Please enjoy this first plate in a festival of overindulgence. I hope you enjoy every mind-watering morcel the festival has to offer.
See you at iN!
Daniel
