Jennifer Abbott | Canada | 2020
85 min | CC Available
SPOTLIGHT EVENT: OPENING FILM
Co-presented by Telefilm Canada
In partnership with ReSurge Film Festival

Personal and profound loss merge in this exploration of grief as a call to action for the planet. Grief on this scale touches everything. But coming to terms with the brutal reality of climate breakdown requires more than empty words and gestures. When hope is lost, the real work begins.

Wayne Blair & Nel Minchin | Australia | 2020
96 min | Partial Subtitles
Supported by Guelph Dance

The story of how three young Aboriginal brothers turned a dance group into a First Nations cultural powerhouse, while exploring the loss and reclaiming of culture, the burden of intergenerational trauma, and – crucially – the power of art as a messenger for social change and healing.

Franz Böhm | Germany, UK, Austria | 2021
89 min | Partial Subtitles
Co-presented by Hot Docs

With global protests on the rise, a new generation is at the heart of these political shifts. Rayen protests for social justice in Chile, Pepper fights for democracy in Hong Kong, and Hilda addresses climate change in Uganda, all while coping with the personal impact of their activism.

Celina Escher | Sweden & El Salvador | 2021
89 min | Full Subtitles
In partnership with OPIRG Guelph

Teodora Vásquez and The Seventeen are the women accused of aggravated homicide in El Salvador because of having a miscarriage or a stillbirth. Their testimonies are evidence of the State’s violence against women, but also their fight for collective resilience, solidarity, and sisterhood.

Chris J. Russo | USA | 2021
96 min | CC Available
SPOTLIGHT EVENT: CLOSING FILM
Co-presented by Guelph Black Heritage Society
Supported by Ronin Cannabis

Following the widely praised decision in 2016 to legalize cannabis in California, six courageous women emerge from the shadows to enter the new commercial industry. At every turn these trailblazers defy stereotypes, while revealing that cannabis is much more than a plant. It’s a community.

Coraci Ruiz | Brazil | 2020
77 min | Full Subtitles
Co-presented by Hot Docs

A poetic autobiographical documentary made by mother and filmmaker Coraci Ruiz as she follows the gender transition of her adolescent son. Through intimate conversations they address the conflicts, certainties, and uncertainties that are found in a deep search for identity.

Everett Bumstead | Canada | 2020
44 min

What does it take to plant? It is more complex than it seems, both environmentally and socially. Every spring, thousands of Canadians leave the comfort of their homes to live rough in remote bush camps planting hundreds of millions of trees collectively. This is their journey.

Sean Horlor & Steve J. Adams | Canada | 2021
80 min | CC Available
Co-presented by ArtsEverywhere Festival

When a queer group of strangers are tasked with supporting Drake, a gay Ugandan man seeking asylum in Canada, unexpected challenges lead them down an emotional road, revealing how in a world where one must constantly fight for the right to exist, survival itself becomes a victory.

Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers | Canada | 2021
124 min | Partial Subtitles | CC Available
Supported by Wellington Guelph Drug Strategy

Filmmaker Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers creates an intimate portrait of her community and the impacts of the substance use and overdose epidemic. Witness the change brought by community members, first responders and medical professionals as they strive for harm reduction in the Kainai First Nation.

William Johansson Kalén & Lars Edman | Sweden & Chile | 2020
95 min | Partial Subtitles
CANADIAN PREMIER

Toxic Colonialism - the export of waste material from rich to poor countries - is on trial, when a Swedish mining company is taken to trial for the toxic waste dumped in the Chilean desert town of Arica. This is the story of an afflicted community fighting for justice.

Nays Baghai | Australia | 2020 | Partial Subtitles | CC Available
66 min

Kiki Bosch is a professional free diver who plunges into the world's most freezing waters on a single breath, without a wetsuit, challenging herself to face the cold as a way to heal from trauma.

Tanya Talaga & Michelle Derosier | Canada | 2021
46 min | Partial Subtitles | CC Available
Co-presented by CFRU 93.3 FM

In the wake of an inquest into the mysterious deaths of seven First Nations high school students in Thunder Bay, Ont., Anishinaabekwe journalist Tanya Talaga returns to examine what — if anything — has changed since they died. Racism kills, especially when it presents itself as indifference.

Sheona McDonald | Canada | 2021
19 min | CC Available
Co-presented by Hot Docs

When a child reveals who they truly are on the inside, how does a parent set aside their own expectations to help them become their most authentic self?

Elizabeth Miller-Derstine | USA | 2021
20 min

The Disdress Dolls push the limits of art, vulnerability, and radical acceptance, as they dive into the societal rules around how women celebrate their bodies and use them to show love and power.

Oliver Sutro | USA | 2020
12 min

James Sampsel, a plein air painter and fly-fishing guide, comes to terms with his past and a bi-polar diagnosis that hangs over his future.

Jeffrey Garriock | Canada | 2020
31 min | CC Available

In the Galapagos Islands, a group of scientists works to understand the movements of the world's largest fish - the whale shark.

Leigh Joseph & Trevor Dixon Bennett | Canada | 2020
23 min
Co-presented by Hot Docs
SPOTLIGHT EVENT

Styawat/Leigh Joseph is a Sḵwxw̱ú7mesh Nation ethnobotanist who grew up away from her traditional territory of Squamish, B.C. Joseph navigates walking between academic and cultural worlds, as she contemplates her relationship with plants and their role as teachers.

Anne Lewis | USA ∙ 2019
12 min | Partial Subtitles | CC Available

A family doc that takes three girls through Emma’s history. Together they uncover memories of struggle, pride, and the power of labour and liberation.

Julia Morgan | Canada | 2020
15 min | CC Available

The story of multi-sport champion Nora Young, and a barrier-braking 1936 bike race, giving a nearly forgotten athletic hero her rightful place in history.

Beth Warrian | Canada | 2021
5 min | Partial Subtitles
Co-presented by Hillside Festival

Shari Kasman’s quirky public art phenomenon of the same name offers a springboard for larger issues of public space, community identity, and the Toronto housing crisis.

Shenny De Los Angeles & Maria Marrone | USA | 2020
14 min | Partial Subtitles

By conjuring the magic of water and the power of her ancestors, a daughter uses spoken word poetry as an incantation to break the generational curse that has blocked the women in her family from locating where joy lives inside the body.

Erik O'Neill, Amy Smoke & Bangishimo Johnston | Canada | 2021
26 min
SPOTLIGHT EVENT

On Indigenous peoples’ day a large tepee was erected with the intentions of asserting an Indigenous presence. Over 100 days later, the tepee remained standing, with the space around it transformed into a camp of queer, Two Spirit, trans, and/or non-binary youth practicing their Indigenous cultural heritages and demanding Land Back.

Various Local Directors ∙ Guelph ∙ Collection of Short Docs
In partnership with Guelph Neighbourhood Support Coalition

A series of micro-documentaries about Guelph made by local filmmakers.

Kaitlyn Schwalje & Alex Wolf Lewis | USA | 2020
13 min | CC Available

A four-inch-long pet turtle has lived an isolated life in the family basement. With help from a team of experts and his caretaker, Uncle Larry, can Snowy be happy?

Jamie Miller | Canada | 2020
19 min | CC Available

B’ys means buddies in Newfoundland. MerB’ys however, means men in sparkly mermaid tails trying to do something good in their community.