Official Selections Archive

Dir. Juliette Poitras

Fanny keeps quiet : she does not want to be a bother.

Dir.​ Kyath Battie

Lingering somewhere between fantasy and realism, this futuristic documentary underscores atmospheric phenomenon within mysterious environmental incongruence.

Dir. James Michael Chiang

In his efforts to connect with his Chinese heritage, a biracial man discovers challenges and complexities he may not have expected in James Michael Chiang’s remarkably deft blending of drama and comedy.

Dir. Ayo Tsalithaba

A restless spirit returns home through time, space, and memory.

Dir. Will Niava & Latigone N'Goma

Struggling to make a living in the markets of Abidjan, a group of young delinquents try to find new ways to make a living, but at what cost?

Dir. Maziyar Khatam

Pressured into giving away his clothes, an emasculated young man obsessively attempts to reclaim his cherished sweater before it vanishes into the donation abyss.

Dir. Fateema Al-Hamaydeh Miller

A closeted Arab wholesale perfume seller, attempting to mask his identity with excessive amounts of Polo Sport adjacent cologne, is knocked off centre when a charming customer sees through his act.

Dir. Evan Gareth Hoffman

Ex-Nortel CEO Frank Dunn tries to navigate the modern world after experiencing a classic case of “tech-boom-rise-fall”

Dir. Noah Nicholson

10-year-old Alex struggles to be taken seriously by his older brother Quinn. When an everyday fight between the two takes a serious turn, Alex is pushed to his limit.

Dir. Razan AlSalah

Canada Park is an experimental video poem exploring the politics of dis/appearance of Palestine as narrativized, mapped and imaged in Google Streetview and early 20th century colonial landscape photography of the ‘Holy Land’, namely at the site of the village of Imwas which is theologically conflated with Emmaus, a village cited in the bible. Imwas is erased and Emmaus marked a religious touristic site in the park, a self-fulfilled scriptural and algorithmic prophecy.

Dir. Ginger Le Pêcheur

On a summer morning, Chichou, a six-year-old girl, invite us to discover what her daily life is made of. Perhaps at the cost of what childhood should normally look like.

Dir.​ Genviéve Albert

Noémie (15), an impetuous but endearing teenager, has been living in a youth center for three years. When she loses all hope of being taken back by her mother, Noémie runs away from the center in search of her bearings and freedom. She meets Zach, who encourages Noémie to become a prostitute. Reluctant at first, Noémie "says yes" and falls overnight into the life of an escort.

Dir. Kurt Walker

The speculative tale of Canadian outsider musician Lewis and the belated discovery of his 1983 album “L’Amour”. A love story composed in myth and song.

Dir. Charlie Marois

Filmed frame by frame, the landscape is deconstructed in a way that makes us lose our sense of reality and continuity. The horizon line becomes our only reference point to create a new motif that is both irrational and contemplative.

Dir. Ryan Steel

A mute loner encounters ambivalent feelings, first loves, and the heart break of pre-adolescence at a haunted summer camp.

Dir. Natalie Murao

A filmmaker asks her mother, "Why have I never liked tomatoes?"

Blue Garden is a hybrid-doc-animation that retells the history of a Japanese Canadian fisherman during the WW2 internment. The film explores how trauma can fester and family stories can remain unspoken for generations. However, through the participatory nature of filmmaking, the younger generation is able to reconcile their grief and feel empowered to tell their family history.

Dir. Farhad Pakdel

Amid the outbreak of the pandemic in Montreal, a young drama teacher who has been keeping a secret from her family finds herself in a predicament after her father falls ill and she is called back home in the Middle East.

Dir. MJ Tremblay

Living with the consequences of rape.

Dir. Suzannah Moore

A suspicious neighbour presses her way into the kitchen of a private new mother.

Dir. Katie Matthews & Jess Shane

What are the sounds of Guantánamo Bay Detention Center? In 2015, poet Jordan Scott set out to record the ambient sounds of the prison as a means of bypassing its strict media censorship rules. Today, former detainee, Mansoor Adayfi, recalls how sound shaped his experiences there— both of torture and of hope. 20 years after the founding of the prison, Scott’s field recordings and Adayfi’s memories come together to create a visceral new landscape of this notoriously secret place.

Dir. Marilyn Cooke

Medical student Keity wants to become a surgeon like her mother and grandmother. But after her first operation takes a dramatic turn, she has to accept an internship at the morgue. Between her dead patients, her unconventional colleagues and seeing her grandmother’s spirit, she tries to tough it out.

Dir. ​Richard Reeves

Two abstract energies fall in love, unite as one then disappear into a vanishing point.

Cameraless handmade film with handmade optical soundtrack.

Dir. Haya Waseem

A young Pakistani-born woman navigates her coming-of-age story while being a new comer to Canada.

Dir.​ Rebeca Ortiz

Left to spend the day alone together, a young girl and her visiting grandmother must find a way to connect, despite the language barrier that separates them.

Dir. Rebeccah Love

A woman in crisis is led to the Hospital by her neighbours.

Dir. Simon Ruscinski

Edgar Lewis is in trouble. He’s a Catholic school boy, trying to understand his own budding sexuality, but he is caught masturbating in class and is promptly expelled. After a month of intense reflection, Edgar creates a multimedia presentation to prove to the school board that he’s mentally and physically fit to return to school.

Dir. David Gaudette

A young girl is left to herself while her grandfather takes a long sleep. She resolves to offer him eternal comfort in her last moment with him.

Dir. Nicolas Renaud

A young Inuk woman living in Montréal reflects on the construction of her identity across different worlds she has lived in. She had to leave Nunavik at the age of 8, in the aftermath of tragic events. Today, she decides to ink on her skin an image that marks a new stage in her transformations, on her way to make peace with the past.

Dir. Andrea Nirmala Widjajanto

17-year-old Anjani is still grieving the death of her father, while simultaneously trying to save his shadow puppet studio from being sold by her mother.

Dir. Christina Hajjar

A phone conversation sets the diasporic table as a disembodied figure prepares Qahwah Arabi / Arabic Coffee. Here, the contradictions inherent in Google Translate’s instant camera feature are made visible through glitched mistranslations. Using these flaws as a prompt, the communication between a mother and a daughter considers ambiguity as a source of embodied knowledge.

Co-Dir. Jesse Gouchey Co-Dir. Xstine Cook

A graffiti-animated story of a modern-day warrior’s journey through the justice system to return to his son.

Dir. Wen Yi (Wendy) Xu

In the face of uncontrollable sorrow, an emotionally-constipated father desperately suppresses a "grief flower" sprouting from his face before his big speech at his own father's funeral.

Dir. Maziyar Khatam

Tensions rise on the sidewalk after an unfortunate incident.

Dir. ​Miryam Charles

Following the disappearance of a man in Scotland, his daughter recalls words chanted before nightfall.

Dir. Kijâtai-Alexandra Veillette-Cheezo

Odehimin is reconnecting with yourself and learning to love yourself.

Dir. Emily Pelstring

This hand-processed 16mm film reflects on botanical animism. It is a song written for night-crawlers, compost, and shadows, inspired by human flower-lust. Water, fire, earth and air are interwoven with the garden's creature crew. The work draws a parallel between the photographic alchemy of cinematic experiments and the photosynthetic processes of plants.

Dir. Jess X. Snow

Haunted by their childhood memories, Chinese American drag sensation Sky returns to their hometown to confront their estranged father

Dir.Barry Bilinsky

On the eve of the signing of Treaty 6, a Cree Elder has a premonition about the future.

Dir. Kitra Cahana

Cut off from his loved ones due to the pandemic lockdown, a quadriplegic rabbi in a long-term-care facility is filmed remotely by his daughter. Offering powerful meditations on love and hope, Perfecting the Art of Longing shows us what it means to be alive in a state of profound isolation.

Dir. Elian Mikkola

A single window frame; a portal. As the circular nature of time begins to reveal itself, a new decade begins. A single window frame; a portal. As the circular nature of time begins to reveal itself, a new decade begins.

Dir.​ Aziz Zoromba

After being estranged from his family for his homosexuality, we observe a young Arab man over four seasons and from far away as he navigates his solitude - all the while attempting to reconnect with his mother.

Dir. Anya Chirkova

As August creeps in, Nav forms an intimate bond with an audacious painter and a middle-aged laser tag owner. Just as he begins to find himself, summer inescapably comes to an end.

Dir. Simon Ruscinski

A diary film about produce, nervous ticks, and the moment you realize you can't go home again.

Dir. Ella Morton

Kajanaqtuq Inuk elder Naulaq LeDrew reflects on her home in Nunavut, Canada.

Dir. Callahan Bracken

Through a patchwork of digital and traditional animation techniques, My Head Aches When I Look Too Long follows a teenage boy as he confronts the implications of modern technology on his queerness.

Dir. Rebeccah Love

An overworked lawyer attempts to care for his partner while she descends into a climate-change-anxiety fuelled manic episode.

Dir. Max Shoham

Sophie and Jacob Inspired by the true story of family, and finding home, no matter the circumstance. Sometimes home cannot be a place, and becomes simply a memory, a mindset.

Dir. Qiuli Wu

Sunken Cave and a Migrating Bird Between a dilapidated building and a zoo, humans and animals are trapped. Out of boredom, two siblings decide to steal a fish from the artificial lake. Wandering about, they gradually realize their surroundings seem to echo mysteriously with the past of the land.

Dir. Nisha Platzer

This prosaic title serves as a jumping off point for the viewer to reflect on personal associations that arise, guiding reflection and interpretation of both artist and viewer, weaving notions of wandering, retreat, and exploration through cycles of pain and beauty.​ ​

Dir. Bruna Arbex

Thirteen-year-old Riley is about to face the most terrifying moment of her life. She gets her period for the first time.

Dir. ​Kourtney Jackson

As they get ready for the day, three young Black women discuss the public perception of their Blackness in relation to their cultivation of a strong sense of self. Wash Day is an intimate exploration into how private, domestic acts such as washing your hair or putting on makeup become a significant re-acquaintance with the body, before and after navigating the politics of one's outwardly appearance.

Dir. Alicia Eisen | Best Director

What is the meaning of a life well lived? In this dark comedy the titular character is granted an opportunity to reflect on his own life through an unexpected vantage.

Dir. Scott Fitzpatrick

A memoir of tenderness hazarded, muted ache, and a fiberglass cast.

Dir. Wang Weibin | Best Cinematography

A roll of super 8 film slowed down to 8 frames per second, an elusive narration read by the filmmaker's maternal grandmother, who owns the truth?

Dir. Carol Nguyen | Best Film

Filmmaker Carol Nguyen interviews her family to craft a portrait of love, grief and intergenerational trauma.

Dir. Rebecca Love & Conor Casey

A woman must decide between having a kid or her dream job, after a medical diagnosis gives her partner a small amount of time before he is infertile.

Dir. Simon Ruscinski | People’s Choice & Best Screenplay

After wiping out the male population, a very lucky extraterrestrial is given the opportunity to observe a real-life human being!

Dir. ​March Mercanti | Best Picture Editing

The legacy of a run-down hockey arena is at stake as peculiar events unravel.

Dir. Sophy Romvari

Filmmaker Sophy Romvari takes us on a journey with a film that seeks ellipticity in attempts to reconcile lost familial ties. By framing photos against their real-time settings, we are confronted with a death in the once dwelling life, which thrived in experience and rootedness.

Dir. Emilie Mannering & Carmine Pierre-Dufour | Best Director

Mahalia, a timid 9-year-old black girl, feels different from the other girls in her ballet class. Hoping to boost her confidence, her mother brings her to the hair salon to get her hair straightened for the very first time.

Dir. Callahan Bracken

Following a boy as he fails to communicate with the world around him, "u really hurt me" is an meditation on misguided healing in a surreal, animated self portrait.

Dir. Ethan Godel | People’s Choice

Dir.​ Kalil Haddad

Through a collage of found footage, reenactments, and digital manipulation the intersection between queerness and age is explored through a reflection of youthful regrets.

Dir. Meredith Hama-Brown | Jury’s Choice

Sam, a late-blooming twelve-year-old girl, encounters a brutally injured bunny near her home. This sends her on a mission to help save it, yet she must first navigate through a stream of complex obstacles. Through her demanding pursuit to save the rabbit, she finds that her moral compass and also her perspective on mortality are challenged.

Dir. Sofia Bohdanowicz

Sofia Bohdanowicz explores the Roy Thomson Hall through silent reflections on memories of her grandfather, playing in the orchestra on stage. She remembers him looking at her, where she was sitting, the route to that seat - these fleeting details that reinterpret the emotional resonances of the past.

Dir. Max Shoham

It’s a time of crisis between Oscar and his older, best friend, Anthony. Anthony, feeling distraught and out of place in this life, has decided to leave his home, abandoning friends and family, in search of “his kingdom”. Oscar doesn’t understand, decides it’s his duty to chase Anthony in the hopes of either convincing him to stay, or perhaps even embarking on the journey with him.

Dir. Tessa Hill

Through scanned photographs and drawings, the filmmaker immerses herself in the process of understanding her mother and, in turn, herself through the eyes of her future daughter.

Dir. Kyle Reaume | Best Screenplay

Dave and Andrew reach a new level of closeness in their relationship when they share their personal experiences with self-harm. Inspired by true events, Vertical Lines explores the path from personal trauma in this intimate conversational piece.

Dir. Brendan Prost | Best Production Design

On a languid summer day's in Toronto, a young woman cycles between increasingly intimate encounters with three discrete relations, trapped in a pattern of insatiable longing.

Dir. Sophie Jarvis | Best Cinematography

A struggling actor abandons all logic when she finds a stranger unconscious in her laundry room.

Dir. Callahan Bracken

In recontextualizing archival footage from the 20th century, Boys Beware aims to explore trends within hyper-masculine relationships, and how these trends alienate queer youth.

Dir. ​Florence B. Azar | People's Choice & Jury's Choise

After his friend leaves him stranded with a couch he bought online, Lewis is forced to drag it home across the entire city.

Dir. Alice Liu

A short film following 16-year-old Ninghai, navigating her school life and her home life.

Dir. Shervin Kermani | Best Cinematography

One Spot. One Thousand Years.

Dir. Annie Amaya

Rose, a 10-year-old-girl, gives flowers to her mother from her own garden and begins to question why people give flowers as gifts when her own start to die.

Dir. Sophy Romvari & Deragh Campbell

A young woman spending christmas alone after a breakup is visited by her friend.

Dir. Ray Savaya | Best Picture Editing

After having their first born, a couple is left to question their identity.

Dir. Alicia K. Harris

An incident between two people is examined through the exploration of rooms.

Dir. Alexander Granger

Saudade documents a filmmakers relentless pursuit for closure and understanding fumbled through fragmented narratives of grief and memory. A visceral investigation into the mental paradoxes of addiction and compulsion, Saudade is an organic and personal journey for reconciliation.

Dir. Aaron Fauteux

In a journey through the director’s subconscious, Sleep of Reason attempts to recreate actual nightmares in order to place the viewer in the position of the dreamer. Various film techniques come together to translate both the look and feel of being in these nightmares— including stop-motion animation, hand-scratching on film stock, lens whacking, and matte painting.

Dir. Emma Seligman | Best Sound Design

A young woman’s crush on a boy in her class is interfered by her dependance on porn.

Dir. Jessie Posthumus | Best Director

After the mysterious disappearance of her best friend, a young woman starts a podcast to take the investigation into her own hands.

Dir. Callahan Bracken

A man finds himself abandoned on a post-apocalyptic Earth, where he must find the fastest way to evacuate.

Dir. Kristina Mileska

A young girl's fantasy adventure with her grandfather helps her come to terms with his illness.

Dir. Kejd Kuqo | People's Choice

16-year-old Nadzija is forced to the limits of her humanity in order to survive the Bosnian War. She is accompanied by Vesna, a widowed mother of an infant boy, as they attempt to reach a refugee camp together. The consequences of their actions continue to haunt them decades later.

Dir. Jessie Posthumus

Michael Hackenberger, owner of the Bowmanville Zoo has had his share of controversy in the media. When PETA uploaded a video that allegedly showed Hackenberger whipping a tiger nineteen times during a training session, his reputation suffered. In this film, a group of student filmmakers agree to help the controversial zookeeper take back control of his reputation within his community.

Dir. Kyle Reaume

He would do anything to be touched by his former lover once more.

Dir. Federica Foglia

A short documentary shot in Idomeni, the makeshift refugee camp (Greek/Macedonian border) in April 2016. Over 11,000 refugees from Syria, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and other countries lived for months in dismal conditions hoping for the borders to open, and to continue their journey through the Balkan route.

Dir. Christina Ienna | Best Cinematography

The art of handmade film. Lindsay McIntyre spends three days making the emulsion she shoots on then develops herself.

Dir. Alicia K. Harris

An 80s coming-of-age tale about three young girls who acquire a Playgirl magazine, and are trying to decide whether or not they are ready to look at a naked man for the first time.

Dir. Lina Evans

With no potable water in Villa Rica, Jota tries to open access to the Colombian town’s single water source.

Dir. Nicolas Legendre | Jury's Choice & Best Sound Design & Best Picture Editing

After a big day of work at the factory, Jason is practicing for his "rap battle" of tomorrow, under the scrutiny of his colleague Max. He will have to learn to confront all kinds of opponents ... Even those who have nothing to lose.

Dir. Raey Ang

An alternate dimension explored through symmetry. (What happens when you are the only fixed point in this world?)

Dir. Kelsey Ryan

A little bat tries to fall asleep in the forest at sunrise.

Dir. Maria De Sanctis

The typical story of boy meets girl, except the boy is a magical figure sent from the above and a complete f****** baby.

Dir. Morgana Mckenzie

Desparate Measures are taken to escape a violent world concealed within an isolated cottage

Dir. Maisie Jacobson

Two best friends figure out who they are and who they want to be, in real time, in front of the bathroom mirror.

Dir. Kevin Saychareun​

A man searches for his family in a forest after a deeply traumatic event separates them.

Dir. Christopher Beaulieu

A young woman in Toronto waits outside of a subway station to meet her blind date. Despite sending some messages back-and-forth, he fails to show up. After he finally sends a message saying that he can’t make it, she returns home on the subway, considering the loneliness in her life.

Dir. Andrew Ahmed

“Take from the rich. Keep for the poor. That’s what we’re here for.“ Raffey and Samar are two orphaned pickpocket brothers from Delhi, India. When a heist goes wrong, tragedy leaves one boy seeking retribution.

Dir. Aaron Fauteux

Two roadkill removers, Oscar and Todd, come across what May or may not be an alien on the side of a rural Ontario Road.

Dir. Annie Amaya

Based on the Japanese legend, Tanabata, two star-crossed lovers unite once a year on July 7th.

Dir. Kyle Heller

Blame! Revenge! Suicide! Cake! Things started pink and purpled out from there for young Chair-Drager, who has the end of his rope tied to the heavens and a stool beneath both feet for the kicking. But this big fix for the Big Fix is interrupted by a silver-tongued stranger who has other designs.

Dir. Jessie Posthumus

Inspired by the animation of Jonas Odell, this raw and confessional documentary explores the ease with which somebody can slip into addiction, their desperation when they hit bottom, and the determination it takes to dig ones self, slowly and grinly, back to real life.

Dir. Steven Woloshen

Made entirely in the front seat of a car with simple art tools, this short hand-made film celebrates the joy of road maps, travel and jazz music.

Dir. Adam Schurman

A Friend of the Bears is a documentary about Bears, and where they stand in today's world in response to humans.

Dir. Mel Oates

Tommy volunteers to be Amelia’s bait boyfriend, but in the game they’re playing it’s not so clear who the bait really is and who they’re actually trying to catch.

Dir. Elaine Poon & Adrien Alexander Benson

A short film about rhythm, two people on a train, and a reminder that our need for connection is never lost, only sometimes forgotten.

Dir. Frédéric Lefebvre

Ben Wilson is an old tired man living a routine relationship with a loving wife. One night, he finds himself alone in bed. He goes outside his bedroom to look for his wife and ends up lost in a black nightmarish labyrinth. Searching desperately for his wife, he finds himself facing a black corridor of floating doors all the while being chased by gruesome creatures. His journey will lead to a rediscovery of his identity.

Dir. David Bouhs

A short film about a happy-go-lucky lumberjack.

Dir. Jean-Marc E. Roy

1994. A motel. An event. Kurt Cobain.

Dir. Aaron Fauteux

A documentary about a family dealing with a debilitating disease.

Dir. Zachary Ramelan

Caught unprepared during a romantic interlude, Clive sets out for some protection; but before the night is through his past catches up with him making him question, what protection does he really need?

Dir. Tom Masterman

A comedic film with a fantasy twist about live action role play enthusiasts and real life goblins.

Dir. Ava Young

The fear of being exposed creates boundaries between ourselves and the rest of the world.

Dir. Jesse Harley

A romantic comedy about two love-lost hypochondriacs who discover that no matter how much they exercise and self-medicate - life is still terminal!

Dir. Rodrick Van Den Enden

Dir. Shady Hanna & Oliver Whitfield Smith & Conner Emans

Dir. Andrew Arnill

Dir. Tamara Moos

Dir. Shant Joshi

Dir. Nicole Zimmer & Katie Thurman