Jerry Rothwell | UK
82 min | Feature | Partial Subtitles
Supported by Art Not Shame
Based on the best-selling book by Naoki Higashida, The Reason I Jump is an immersive cinematic exploration of neurodiversity through the experiences of nonspeaking autistic people from around the world. The film blends Higashida's revelatory insights into autism, written when he was just 13, with intimate portraits of five remarkable young people. It opens a window for audiences into an intense and overwhelming, but often joyful, sensory universe.
Mirjam Leuze | CANADA
101 min | Feature
In partnership with the Guelph Neighbourhood Support Coalition
On the otherwise uninhabited Gil Island, just off the northwest coast of British Columbia, the sound of waves lapping and ravens cawing is punctuated by the haunting whale calls emanating from a network of loudspeakers. The Whale and the Raven illuminates the many issues that have drawn whale researchers, the Gitga’at First Nation, and the Government of British Columbia into a complex conflict. As the people in the Great Bear Rainforest struggle to protect their territory against the pressure and promise of the gas industry, caught in between are the countless beings that call this place home.
Michèle Stephenson | CANADA / USA
95 min | Feature | Full Subtitles
In partnership with the Art Gallery of Guelph
In 1937, tens of thousands of Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent were exterminated by the Dominican army, based on anti-black hatred fomented by the Dominican government. Fast-forward to 2013, the Dominican Republic’s Supreme Court stripped the citizenship of anyone with Haitian parents rendering more than 200,000 people stateless. In this dangerous climate, a young attorney named Rosa Iris mounts a grassroots campaign, challenging electoral corruption and advocating for social justice.
Shalini Kantayya | US / UK / China
92 min | Feature | Partial Subtitles
In partnership with the Guelph Black Heritage Society
Following the fallout of MIT Media Lab researcher Joy Buolamwini’s startling discovery that most facial recognition software is biased and does not see dark-skinned faces or women with accuracy, director Shalini Kantayya begins to uncover what other types of bias are present in the machine learning algorithms that impact us all. Can the best of our humanity triumph over the worst of our human biases encoded into machines?
Maria Finitzo | USA
110 min | Feature
Presented by ArtsEverywhere Festival
Entertaining, thrilling and radical, The Dilemma of Desire explores the work of four women who are shattering myths and lies about female sexual desire, bodies and - ultimately - power. A powerful reminder that true equality will come only when we all arrive at a place of understanding and acknowledgement that women are sexual beings, entitled to live their lives fully within the expression of their desire.
David W. Craig | CANADA
52 min | Feature – Ontario Premiere
In partnership with the Art Gallery of Guelph
The divided community of Pictou County, Nova Scotia is facing a major turning point in the fifty-year old controversy surrounding the pulp mill located on the shores of Pictou Harbour. Will the mill, considered the dirtiest in Canada, finally clean up its act or will the Government of Nova Scotia permit a new plan to allow the mill to pipe its treated waste directly into the Northumberland Straight?
Kelly Wolfert | CANADA
106 min | Feature – Ontario Premiere
In partnership with Guelph Museums
Tragedy strikes, a superpower is revealed, and the hero must come to terms with their new abilities. It is the story arc of great comic book heroes, and the real-life journey of a 6-year-old cancer patient with a desire to help others.
Mia Donovan| CANADA
78 min | Feature
In partnership with Guelph Black Heritage Society
For over 50 years, alternative medicine practitioners have advocated the use of acupuncture as part of treatment for drug addiction. Radical politics meet community health when Dr. Mutulu Shakur (Tupac Shakur’s stepfather) long with fellow Black Panthers and the Young Lords create the first acupuncture detoxification program in America in 1973. Having viewed heroin and methadone rehab as "chemical warfare" on the poor, they build a visionary project eventually deemed too dangerous to exist in America.
Shelby Lisk | CANADA
6 min | Short
In partnership with OPIRG Guelph
This short film follows the creation of the "Passing the Seeds" wampum belt. Wampum belts, Quahog shell beads bound on strings, in intricate patterns, are used as a guide to narrate Haudenosaunee history, traditions, laws and treaties or agreements between groups.
Rebecca Thomassie | CANADA
5 min | Short | Full Subtitles
Follow Rebecca Thomassie, an Inuk woman, around Kangirsuk as she learns the 52 Inuktitut words for snow in this visually compelling short documentary.
Greta Riondato and Tobin J Stewart | Canada
14 min | Short | Full Subtitles – World Premiere
Ilario's existence is devoid of the riches most commonly associated with a successful life, yet the passion and love that compels him to work his farm every day, voluntarily, at the age of 81, is undeniable and contagious.
Slts’lani (Banchi Hanuse) | CANADA
5 min | Short | Partial Subtitles
In partnership with CFRU 93.3 FM
A day in the life of 91.1, Nuxalk Radio, a radio station built to help keep the Nuxalkmc language alive, broadcasting the laws of the lands and waters.
Sandi Rankaduwa | CANADA
15 min | Short
Josh Crooks is a young, gifted African-Canadian hockey player in an overwhelmingly white sport. In its intimate story of transgenerational identity, Ice Breakers reveals the buried history of how Black athletes helped pioneer modern hockey, as Crooks discovers that his passion is tied to a remarkable heritage.
Theola Ross | CANADA
11 min | Short | Partial Subtitles
In partnership with OPIRG Guelph
A Cree filmmaker and her white partner document their pregnancy and journey to parenthood. From the search for an Indigenous donor and midwife to their concerns about raising a child as an interracial queer couple, the joy of having a child together gives them the courage to overcome any obstacle.
Verena Fels & Marc Angele | GERMANY
8 min | Animated Short
You fly with no seat! That's the rule in the Turbobus. It's a hard day on the Turbobus for one young wolf pup on his turbo-journey to find real friendship.
Various Filmmakers | CANADA
Various lengths | Shorts
In partnership with Our Food Futures
In partnership with Our Food Future, Guelph-Wellington’s initiative to create Canada’s first circular food economy, we are proud to present a series of local-kid-made mini-documentaries about food (and other topics).
Sarah Wray & Ben Wilson | CANADA
12 min | Short
Canada’s native grasslands are disappearing at an alarming rate. In fact, they are one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world. Canada’s grasslands protect our soil and mitigate climate change by storing carbon. They are also complex ecosystems that support hundreds of species. Sustainable grazing is essential to the preservation of this ecosystem, with cattle replacing bison as the historic keystone species. Guardians of the Grasslands explores how cattle can create hope for these native grasslands and for the plants and animals that call them home.
Victoria Anderson-Gardner | CANADA
12 min | Short
In partnership with Guelph Museums
More than a year has passed since meeting at the Oceti Sakowin camp during the NoDAPL resistance movement at Standing Rock, when five Indigenous Water Protectors reunite in Toronto, Ontario to share in how the “spirit of the camp” created a family from shared passion and action. Brought together by a calling to protect and defend their first family—the land and water—the experience at Standing Rock has moved them to further elevate their voices in solidarity with the global Indigenous community, ultimately transforming their lives forever.
