Canadian Images

COMFORTING SKIN

Canada | Dir: Derek Franson | View Trailer

One night Koffie gets a tattoo—a last ditch attempt to imbue her life with excitement. But with the tattoo comes a mysterious connection that fills her life with taunting whispers and frantic desires. Director Derek Franson's debut is a dark, intriguing psychological drama.

DONOVAN'S ECHO

Canada | Dir: Jim Cliffe

Thirty years after a tragic accident, Donovan returns to his family home. Convinced history is repeating itself, he risks everything to save an unsuspecting family from the same fate. Directed by Jim Cliffe, Danny Glover adeptly brings a deeply conflicted character to the screen.

HAMLET

Canada | Dir: Bruce Ramsay | View Trailer

Director and star Bruce Ramsay offers a noirish adaptation of Shakespeare's classic, stripped for speed and steeped in claustrophobic angst. A subtle palette and superb 40s set design serve as the perfect backdrop to this tale of angst and internal conflict.

PASSIONFLOWER

Canada | Dir: Shelagh Carter | View Trailer

Shelagh Carter's touching and provocative story focuses on Sarah, a young woman nearing adolescence in early 1960s suburban Winnipeg, as she struggles to reconcile her mother's licentious example of female sexuality with her own quest for validation and control.

SUNFLOWER HOUR

Canada | Dir: Aaron Houston | View Trailer

Winner, Independent Camera Award, Karlovy Vary 2011.

The buzz is very strong for Aaron Houston's playful mockumentary about four puppeteers vying for one position on a hit children's television show. Following these social outcasts, we discover that perhaps they've got no business being near children in the first place...

WETLANDS

(Marecages)

Canada | Dir: Guy Édoin | View Trailer

This elemental drama, set on a small family farm in rural Quebec, introduces four characters struggling with their most basic, unchangeable desires. Director Guy Édoin lays out a seemingly insoluble conflict in this powerful film, consisting of beautiful but almost unbearable tension.

NUIT #1

Canada | Dir: Anne Émond

Clara and Nikolai meet at rave: the scene is set for a typical one-night-stand. But as the night progresses, they divulge their innermost secrets to one another. Director Anne Émond probes the possibilities of a fleeting encounter in this bold exploration of sex, intimacy and love.

40 DAYS AT BASE CAMP

Canada | Director: Dianne Whelan | View Trailer

With only half the level of oxygen we have at sea level, to be at base camp on Mt. Everest is to be dying a little bit every day. Director Dianne Whelan brings a photographer's eye and a storyteller's ear to this inhuman environment.

THE AILING QUEEN

Canada | Pascal Sanchez

Director Pascal Sanchez's examination of the worldwide efforts to battle bee-colony collapse concentrates on young, energetic beekeeper Anicet Desrochers. He is a pioneer of more ecological methods of managing bees—upon which the earth's entire agricultural production depends.

TO MAKE A FARM

Canada | Dir: Steve Suderman

Director Steve Suderman's documentary profiles small-scale organic farmers who set out to establish their own local-supply food sources using sustainable means. Exceptionally hopeful, this doc shows that positivity and practicality are closely linked.

SURVIVING PROGRESS

Canada | Dir: Mathieu Roy, Harold Crooks

Based on Ronald Wright's bestseller A Short History of Progress, this documentary provides a subversive diagnosis of mankind's unique abilities and the danger they've brought to the world. Directors Mathieu Roy and Harold Crooks probe the fundamental nature and effects of the human condition with disturbing precision.

WIEBO'S WAR

Canada | Dir: David York | View Trailer

The story of Wiebo Ludwig is familiar to most Canadians. In the 90s, he came into conflict with an oil and gas company doing extractions near his property. From director David York emerges an honest, but ambiguous portrait of both the industry and Wiebo himself.