FORT YORK

SUNDAY, AUGUST 15, 2021

BFF SHORTS PROGRAMME

GUEST CURATED BY

breakthroughs film festival

This year is Breakthroughs Film Festival's 10th anniversary, and we're so proud to have achieved this milestone. As we operate on stolen Indigenous lands, we acknowledge, most of us as settlers, that we benefit from a history of broken treaties by the Canadian government. We reckon with our responsibilities as settler-immigrants to this land and its original stewards, naming the ways we are complicit in structures of white supremacy and acts of genocide.

In light of this, Breakthroughs’ shorts programme intentionally centres five films by Indigenous filmmakers who screened their works in the org’s 2021 festival program.

Starting with an exploration of contemporary Indigenous protest and rebellion with Natalie King’s Activate NDN Consciousness, we witness the creation of a meticulously crafted wampum belt, which is also a symbol of agreement and exchange in Shelby Lisk’s Rematriate: Passing the seeds. In Ulivia Uviluk’s Inuit Languages in the 21st Century, we journey with Indigenous youth on a quest to preserve their native tongue through technology. Kijâtai-Alexandra Veillette-Cheezo’s Odehimin is an intimate look into loving and reconnecting with oneself, while Theola Ross’ êmîcêtôsêt: Many Bloodlines follows the journey of a Cree filmmaker and her partner as they reflect on love, parenthood, and family.

This screening is guest curated by Aashna Thakkar, Breakthroughs Film Festival’s 2021 Lead Programmer.

Breakthroughs Film Festival is the only festival in Canada devoted exclusively to short films made by emerging women and non-binary directors.