HIFF Newsletter • November 5, 2020
OFFICIAL SELECTIONS
THIS IS NOT A BURIAL,
IT’S A RESURRECTION
dir. Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese
November 14 • 9 PM • Available in Nova Scotia
On November 14, HIFF is proud to present This Is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection, the spellbinding new feature from Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese that took home Sundance's Special Jury Award for Visionary Filmmaking.
The film is a bold and uncompromising vision that weaves South African folklore into social-realist drama to tell a story of identity, colonial legacy, and the power of resilience. With his third feature, Mosese has crafted an ethereal and elemental parable told with exquisitely constructed images that will sear themselves indelibly into your conscience.
Reserve your free ticket here.
"This Is Not A Burial, It’s A Resurrection offers a vivid, beautifully crafted reflection on identity, community and the tension between respecting age-old traditions and accepting the seemingly unstoppable march of progress ... [marking] Mosese as a notable new voice in African cinema."—Allan Hunter, Screen Daily
Check out the trailer below:
BELONGING
dir. Burak Çevik
November 15 • 9 PM • Available in Nova Scotia
In Belonging, Burak Çevik's sophomore feature, an unblinking eye is fixed on the people and places of his family’s trauma.
Inspired by the violent death of Çevik’s grandmother at the hands of his aunt and her lover, Belonging upsets the expectations of the true crime genre by observing the story from two unorthodox perspectives. In the film’s first half, a cold reading of the police report plays out over searing tableaus of empty Turkish cityscapes, paying homage to the emotive vistas of James Benning’s Landscape Suicide. The second half lets us in on the warm moments of the couple’s first meeting, challenging viewers to psychoanalyze and seek answers in an encounter that may have none.
Part austere crime procedural, part elliptical character drama, Belonging reimagines the possibilities of narrative non-fiction, and its audaciously disparate halves combine to perform something like an exorcism on his family’s haunted past.
Following the screening, we'll welcome director Burak Çevik for a Q&A.
Reserve your free ticket here.
"Like many a great film, Belonging is simultaneously simple in its complexity and complex in its simplicity, and its particular qualities are ones that offer a great deal to ponder both during and after viewing." —Ryan Swen, The Film Stage
Watch the trailer here:
CANADIAN SHORTS PROGRAM
November 14 • 2 PM • Available across Canada
On November 14, HIFF will celebrate the staggering talent in contemporary Canadian cinema with a lineup of short films from across the country, including electrifying work from Brandon Cronenberg, an intimate, domestic doc from Carol Nguyen, and an enchanting journey north with throat singers Eva Kaukai and Manon Chamberland.
Featured shorts:
Throat Singing in Kangirsuk • Eva Kaukai, Manon Chamberland
I Am in the World As Free and Slender As a Deer on a Plain • Sofia Banzhaf
I’ll End Up in Jail • Alexandre Dostie
I Must Be Going • Jack Pocaluyko
No Crying at the Dinner Table • Carol Nguyen
Please Speak Continuously... • Brandon Cronenberg
Reserve your free ticket here.
EMERGING LENS
10-YEAR RETROSPECTIVE
November 15 • 7 PM
This year at HIFF, we're thrilled to bring you the Emerging Lens 10-Year Retrospective, a lineup of remarkable shorts from the Emerging Lens Cultural Film Festival's first decade.
Founded in 2010, The Emerging Lens Film Festival is a production of The Charles Taylor Theatre and Media Arts Association. The mandate of the association is to educate, empower and inspire by honouring the influence of African Canadian and other cultural filmmakers and to bring recognition to their work.
Featured works:
Righteous • Cory Bowles
Stroll • Ann Verrall
Carry the Cross • Jarrett Shaw
Excuse Me, May I Touch Your Skin? • Asna Adhami
Hustle and Heart • Koumbie
APPLICATION DEADLINE: NOVEMBER 9, 2020
Every year, HIFF brings programmers from prestigious Canadian and international festivals to Halifax to take part in the festival, watch local shorts and host one-on-one meetings with regional filmmakers. This year, we’re moving the meetings online! The Programmer Initiative is a unique opportunity for Atlantic Canadian filmmakers to connect one-on-one with programmers from around the world and make meaningful connections within the international film festival circuit.
This year we welcome:
Lisa Haller, Toronto International Film Festival
Linton Melita, Palm Springs International ShortFest
Julian Ross, International Film Festival Rotterdam
Sébastien Simon, Busan International Short Film Festival
Meetings will are also available with:
Lori McCurdy, Feature Film Executive, Atlantic Region, Telefilm Canada
There are only a few spots still available!
APPLY HERE
ATLANTIC AUTEURS SPOTLIGHT
Where are you from?
Winnipeg, MB.
What was the inspiration for the film you’re presenting at HIFF?
To use eco-processing and cameraless phytograms to explore the material traces of violence recorded in landscape.
What films or filmmakers inspired you to make your own?
I'm indebted to Dawn George who told me about this filmmaking process and the community of eco-processing.
Last year we asked filmmakers about their most memorable experiences in a cinema. In the spirit of our virtual fest, what’s the most memorable experience you’ve had watching a film at home?
Projecting my students' films in my living room with my family watching, introducing the works to a virtual audience, and celebrating their work through a chat room.
What's your favourite, worst or weirdest memory of making this film?
Working and processing the film in five sites of mass-graves in Poland was horrific. My body ingested the trauma of these sites, and by the end of the project, half my face was frozen from anxiety and despair.
Where are you from?
Halifax, NS.
What was the inspiration for the film you’re presenting at HIFF?
The concept, as well as some of the fantastical devices I used, were conceived quite a while ago—as early as 2016. Another inspiration was a series of conversations my sister and I had about representation in film. So a lot of concepts and ideas kind of meshed into one cohesive one and I felt I needed to put the idea out into the world.
What’s your favourite memory of making this film?
There was a great moment I’ll never forget when I approached the monitor as my DOP (Dillon Garland) had finished setting up a master shot for the first scene of the day. I’d put together a package of info about the tone and look for the film, along with quite a few visual references from other films. He had that presentation printed out and had really meticulously followed the references. So when I arrived at the monitor I asked, “Why does this look exactly how I want it to look?” I was incredulous that it was so vivid.
What do you miss most about pre-pandemic life?
WTF Night at Good Robot.
What's the most memorable experience you’ve had watching a film at home?
This is a really hard one. Every time I watch a Kaufman movie it’s very memorable. He always manages to get me off my couch. Sometimes I have to pause the movie and pace. This certainly was the case with Synecdoche, New York or I’m Thinking of Ending Things. His films are so mind-bending and they break all the rules, but they don’t dwell on all of the madness that’s unfolding in front of you for very long. You often don’t get a chance to digest every little bit of nuance throughout the film. I absolutely love his films.
These films will screen along with nine others made by established and up-and-coming filmmakers from across the region in HIFF's Atlantic Auteurs shorts program, available online Friday, November 15 at 7 p.m. Learn more about the full program here.