FILM
curated by Cassandra Paige Johnston
Nancy Power Theatre @ The Roxy
Sunday, June 8 at 1:00 pm
The Nextfest Film Showcase will be offered with open captions. Open captions are visible to all audience members.
Sandman
A film by Nina Criswell
In the photo-film Sandman, the narrator wakes beside a stranger as sunlight spills into her room—an anomaly in a world where the weather is programmed. As they step into the empty city, searching for answers, their quiet morning transforms into a surreal journey through an abandoned city frozen in time and a hidden beach where reality begins to dissolve.
Sandman emerged from a discovery of a forgotten roll of black-and-white film shot during the summer of 2020, capturing a single day in San Francisco with someone who was once close but has since drifted away. Revisiting these images, I felt compelled to reimagine their story on her own terms—honoring the fleeting intimacy of the moment captured on film while embracing the mystery created by time and distance. Blurring the line between memory and fiction, Sandman transforms both the isolation and companionship she experienced during the pandemic into a fantastical reflection on impermanence, nostalgia, and the quiet beauty of connection in uncertain times.
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Say You Love Me
a music video by Hometime
Say You Love Me is the third song on HOMETIME’s EP “New Dimension, New Me”, covering the fears and regrets of an ending relationship. The music video illuminates our main character’s past memories, while maintaining a light hearted approach to recovering from heartbreak. Ultimately, HOMETIME hope you draw your own meaning as you watch and listen.
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Stitching Change
a film by Kaili Che
STITCHING CHANGE is a dance short film that unravels the intricate systems of overconsumption and environmental impact within the textile industry. It invites audiences to reflect on the choices that shape our world and envision new ways of coexisting with the land and each other.
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Vulnerability
a film by Sydney Boyce
Vulnerability is a short film that is part 4 of a 4 part visual exploration into what it means to be “just human”. It follows Brett Nickel as he attempts to define what vulnerability means to him. The first line is “I looked up the definition last night… and it gave me nothing”. This line leads into the concept of subjectivity. It emphasizes that there is no right answer, no-one single way to define vulnerability. As the film continues Brett goes into a monologue that describes one specific aspect of vulnerability. Its ability to cause a reaction, and how that reaction is not necessarily a reflection of one’s character, but rather is a snapshot of them in a specific moment. A moment that is completely focused on that one individual. He describes how that is why vulnerability is so scary “because it is only about you”. Brett’s dialogue then eventually ends with the statement “I think my opinion is probably going to change in like two minutes too,”. This sentence reinforces the opening statement. It bookends the narrative with uncertainty. Further pushing the idea that vulnerability is not able to be defined – it is completely subjective. It may be easy to distinguish in a moment that it is happening, however, every moment of vulnerability looks very different. The only thing that seems to connect moments of vulnerability is that we all experience it.
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A Thousand Gestures
a film by Miriam Poletti
A Thousand Gestures consists of a video and a series of soft sculptures. The pieces, conceived as a place of interaction and contact, were created in close collaboration with the artists-in-residence at GlogauAIR in Berlin between January and March 2024.
The video explores the theme of human connection and collective creation through a series of intimate interviews with the artists.
Interwoven with footage from the sewing workshops that brought the sculptures to life, the video captures moments of shared creativity and connection, highlighting the collaborative process behind the work. Through personal reflections, the artists discuss the significance of physical contact both in their personal lives and in their artistic practices. Combining these narratives with visual documentation of the workshops, the video invites viewers to consider the ways in which touch shapes our relationships and sense of belonging to a community.
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BLACK MOLD
a music video by Winona Julian
BLACK MOLD was one of Wants first released singles with a music video directed and edited by Winona Julian. Wants is the brainchild of Jeebs Nabil – a Malaysian-born, veteran Calgary musician and one of the founding members of retro synth-pop trio Melted Mirror. Wants are purveyors of dark, brooding goth rock that could score a night-time car chase in a Michael Mann film.
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Venom Gaze
a film by Winona Julian
Venom Gaze combines the mythology surrounding the Greek gorgon known as Medusa with a powerful poem by Erica Jong which condemns the persecution of women throughout history, particularly the horrors faced by witches. It is said
within Greek mythology that Medusa was persecuted by Poseidon and abandoned by the Goddess that gave her demi-god status for her otherworldly beauty. After living in isolation as a woman turned gorgon, Medusa was killed by Perseus. Pegasus was then born from her wounds.
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The Heart is an Organ That Pumps Blood
a film by Laura Paolini
The Heart Is An Organ That Pumps Blood is a single-channel video that uses a split screen, which depicts me in different emotional states. Text appears in the lower third of the video, functioning like film subtitles.
The text describes the administrative procedures of patient intake at a dental hygienist school. A student reads my pulse using a stethoscope and their fingers on my wrist. The pause and “transactional intimacy” of this moment is jarring yet becomes almost transcendental when the Madonna song “Like A Prayer” begins playing. The awareness here brought to my body and my state of mind was evoked by a stranger who must touch me for labour and wages, yet also show empathy and care.
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delilah
a film by Mickey Neal
A girl hears something strange alone in her bedroom at night
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Game Over
a film by Sahar Bacchus
A commentary on the Madonna whore complex in a gamified look
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Zombie
a music video by Ryan Leedu
Numb to the world and moving at a zombified pace, Victoria gets ready for a date with Death.
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Lost Paradise
a film by Satya Maria
Lost Paradise is at home and out of time. It explores the dynamics of three different maternal relationships through familiar, unusual, and sticky states.
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Sad Oedipus
a film by Dina Gimadieva
The figure of the fisherman has always seemed somewhat mystical to me. This video is about fishermen. It’s also about waiting, about stillness, about dissolving into nature and plants. Fishermen at the abandoned ponds of a fish factory transform into strange, solitary, magical but humorous beings.
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Puplees Puppy Art Showcase
a film by Leviathan Isaiah
A short video project featuring an archive of art pieces created by the artist over the last few years.
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A Ritual Called Change
film by Katie Hartwig
A Ritual Called Change is a silent stop-motion short film by multimedia Métis artist Katie Hartwig. Inspired by the contrasts and connections between her own home, Edmonton House, and the former residence of her great-great-great-great-great uncle, Peter Erasmus Jr., the work reflects on layered histories. Erasmus served as Chief Interpreter and Advisor for the nêhiyawi during the Treaty 6 negotiations. This short film captures the ritual of change—tracing the feeling of returning home across two deeply intertwined spaces and moments in time.