Fri Oct 3 | 9 PM
Rachel Browne Theatre
211 Bannatyne Ave, 2nd floor
In the same building as the Across the Board Game Cafe
Program duration: 62 mins
Followed by a filmmaker Q&A
Open Call 2: There is Something Wrong Here
★ Mature Subject Matter
A strange sound is heard after dark. It is uncomfortable yet alluring. A slow midnight drive, a masked party with no invitation, a true slice of toilet cinema. Here are films that force us to look where we want not to, with strange and delightful results.
Taking the Piss
Christina Dovolis, Tavis Putnam | Manitoba / Ontario
6:06 mins, digital file, 2005
⇥ MANITOBA PREMIERE
Despite their pervading image as a bastion of utter grotesqueness, public bathrooms are a necessary community space. In theory, at least, they are a place for everyone. Taking the Piss celebrates—in equal measure—the shared horror, refuge (and dare we say ecstasy?) of the public bathroom.
Cut
Hussein Juma | Alberta
4:18 mins, digital file, 2024
⇥ WORLD PREMIERE
A woman develops an unhealthy relationship with a laceration on her hand.
Handsome Devil
Daniel Barrow | Quebec
4:53 mins, digital file, 2025
⇥ MANITOBA PREMIERE
The filmmaker uses 1980s Amiga software to create this animated story of a “sissy devil” who probes the depths of internet intelligence, composing an “advanced search” on an antiquated search engine, in an effort to find his paramour.
Father Alphonse and the Fight Between Carnival and Lent
Diana Thorneycroft | Manitoba
9:33 mins, digital file, 2025
⇥ WORLD PREMIERE
Alphonse has always lived in the shadow of his overbearing father. His decision to become a priest was based on his belief that it would keep him from committing the sins his father feared he would commit. Fresh out of seminary school and new to the village, Alphonse must get from his apartment to the church during the last hour of Mardi Gras.
She Culls Seagulls
Will De Ritter | UK
3:00 mins, digital file, 2025
⇥ WORLD PREMIERE
A meditation on coastal erosion; shot on expired Super 8 and utilising several experimental analogue processes, this short showcases a much-maligned bird whose numbers are in decline, in deprived British coastal towns, on film long past its use-by date.
A Poem
Vasilios Papaioannu | USA
2:42 mins, digital file, 2025
⇥ REGIONAL PREMIERE
In an underground garage, a voice message becomes the testament of a love left in limbo, while fleeting images allude to the moment that led to it.
Little balls of mercury
Andrea Marquez | Argentina
8:04 mins, digital file, 2025
⇥ CANADIAN PREMIERE
Through the recounting of a dream Little balls of mercury (Unas bolitas de mercurio) dissects and displays the very materials it’s made of, including photographs, moving image and narration, as if these elements were housed in a museum showcase, transforming them into an exploration of what is preserved and what is lost.
Placeholder
Alex Schuurbiers | Netherlands
7:46 mins, digital file, 2025
⇥ CANADIAN PREMIERE
Placeholder is an attempt at holding it together in the face of absence; of a mother, of a memory, of something tangible. Hands holding rocks, hands gripping other hands. Images oscillate between dreams and recollection, distorted and transformed over time.
Mundial
Juan Desteract | France
3:20 mins, digital file, 2025
⇥ WORLD PREMIERE
Mundial takes as its starting point the deconstruction of live television broadcasts during a men’s world soccer championship. The quasi-scientific dissection and reconstruction of motion harks back to the origins of primitive cinema and its inherent artifice.
With Veiled Intent
Laurence Olivier | BC
14:00 mins, digital file, 2024
⇥ MANITOBA PREMIERE
On a freezing winter night, in a small, isolated village, masked figures prowl. The monsters lurk by the houses, knock on doors. With Veiled Intent brings to life an endangered tradition: Mi-Carême (Mid-Lent), as it is celebrated in Natashquan. Welcome to the monster ball.