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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.