HIFF Newsletter • June 16, 2021
The 15th annual Halifax Independent Filmmakers Festival will kick off on Thursday, June 24, with our entire film lineup available to stream online from June 24–27.
Once you start a film, you'll have 24 hours to watch it. Individual tickets for each film are available for $10 ($5 for Associate, Full and Lifetime AFCOOP members), or you can see everything with a $30 pass!
OFFICIAL SELECTIONS
TWELVE THOUSAND
dir. Nadège Trebal
2019 | France | 111 mins | French with English subtitles
Available to viewers in Atlantic Canada June 24–27
At HIFF 2021, we're thrilled to present Nadège Trebal's fiction feature debut, Twelve Thousand, a film she not only wrote and directed, but in which she delivers a magnetic performance in the co-starring role.
The film follows Frank, a labourer and swindler who loses his job at a scrapyard when they discover the latter. Frank and his girlfriend Marouissa agree that he’ll leave their home to find work, not to return until he’s made exactly the equivalent of what she makes in a year. Studded with surprising and potent details, Twelve Thousand's every scene scene is shaped with an assured, playful and erotic physicality, establishing Trebal as a filmmaker to be excited about.
A Q+A with Nadège Trebal will follow the screening.
Get your tickets for Twelve Thousand here.
"It’s a film from another world which transports us far, far away from the desolation of daily life, towards a mysterious world where the intensity and immediacy of the present moment is all that counts." —Muriel Del Don, Cineuropa
Click below to view the trailer:
CANADIAN SHORTS
Available to viewers across Canada June 24–27
This year at HIFF, we’re proud to present a selection of new short films from across Canada that examine loss—losses of loved ones and of former selves. Point and Line to Plane (Sophia Bohdanowicz) is an intimate meditation on the physical senses during a period of mourning. In The Long Wail of a Passing Train Slips into the Heart of the Ghosts and Everything Explodes in Silence (Anne-Marie Bouchard), tactile animated forms haunt live-action landscapes.
Landscape also looms large in Marie-Ève Juste’s As Spring Comes, an elliptical, fantastical narrative of metamorphosis; and another young woman’s life is transformed in Aniksha (Vincent Toi) by her arranged marriage and excitement in a new job. In exquisite black and white, Isabelle Kanapé’s Ka tatishtipatakanit (Ethereal) tells a compact tale of regret. The program culminates in a collage of old family photos, home movies, and healing acts of commemoration in Sophy Romvari’s powerful, deeply personal essay film, Still Processing.
Click here to get your tickets for the Canadian Shorts program.
HIFF EVENTS
FREE!
Thursday, June 24 • 8 PM
REGISTER FOR THE GATHER LINK
Pull out your most breathable linens, wide-brimmed hats, and espadrilles to kick off summer in style at HIFF's opening night (virtual) garden party on June 24, 8–10 p.m.! Join us on Gather as we saunter around the lush pixels and think fondly of festivals past while gazing across the digital river. See old friends, meet new ones, enjoy our surprise-filled scavenger hunt, and toss back a gimlet* or two!
*BYOGimlet
FREE!
Sunday, June 27 • 1 PM
REGISTER FOR THE ZOOM LINK
The journey of a short film is curious and unpredictable. The reasons for making them also run the gamut—for a director to learn how to manage a set; to relay an artistic vision that does not need a feature-length runtime; to work toward making a feature; as one tenet of a larger artistic practice. And then where do they go once they’ve travelled the festival circuit? Filmmakers will be on hand to discuss why they make short films and how those fit into their larger goals. Moderated by Stephanie Joline, participants include Sophy Romvari (Still Processing), Vincent Toi (Aniskha), and Kevin Hartford (Breakout).
FREE!
Saturday, June 26 • 1 PM
REGISTER FOR ZOOM LINK
In the past five years, Nova Scotia filmmakers have made waves across the country and internationally with limited resources and boundless innovation. In honour of HIFF’s 15th anniversary we’ll speak to some of the artists behind those films—and whose shorts are part of the festival’s retrospective—about the challenges and victories they’ve experienced. Solomon Nagler will lead the discussion with guests Cory Bowles (Black Cop), Seth A. Smith (The Crescent), Ashley McKenzie (Werewolf), Bretten Hannam (North Mountain) and Heather Young (Murmur).
FREE!
Saturday, June 26 • 3 PM
REGISTER FOR ZOOM LINK
Directors Courtney Stephens and Pacho Velez took a 16mm camera across America for three years, visiting more than 60 pieces of the Berlin Wall that were salvaged and shipped overseas to become public monuments, personal collectibles, and corporate lobby decoration. The film that resulted is The American Sector, “a revelatory experience...a concise and elegantly crafted road trip” (The Hollywood Reporter). Stephens and Velez will discuss the film’s making and take questions from the audience.
FREE!
Sunday, June 27 • 11 AM
REGISTER FOR ZOOM LINK
Funding a film in Nova Scotia is a unique challenge, no matter your experience level. Representatives from key organizations—Lori McCurdy (Telefilm Canada), Rohan Fernando (The National Film Board), and Mickey Quase (Communities, Culture and Heritage’s Screenwriters Development Fund)—will discuss their respective programs and funds, how local artists can access them, and what's changed since COVID.
ATLANTIC AUTEURS CLOSE-UP
Where are you from?
We are both from the southeast of New Brunswick. Angie is from Cap-Pélé whereas I (Xavier) am from Shediac.
How did you get your start as a filmmaker?
Xavier: Although I had been making films and YouTube videos for a while, my first film was during the 2018 Festival International du Cinéma Francophone en Acadie (FICFA). Via their program Arts Médiatique, I filmed Clay, a queer erotic love story.
Angie: I got invited to do a workshop on shooting and developing your own Super 8 film during the 2017 edition of FICFA. That same year I also did a workshop on VJing. Those two workshops really helped fuel my creativity and since then I've been actively making films and video installation projects!
What was the inspiration for the film you're presenting at HIFF?
The primary inspiration for the film is how people manifest rebellion within themselves. We wanted to showcase some of the people in our lives that face systemic and/or social oppression. Each subject in the film (just like people beyond the film) has a special way of pushing back against the pressures of the world. We wanted to show those moments, big and small, and remind people that sometimes simply existing is political.
What's the dream feature you’d pair with your short for a screening?
The dream feature would be one of Lady Gaga’s on-stage short films, "Manifesto of Little Monsters" by Nick Knight and Ruth Hogben.
What’s your favourite memory of making this film?
A fly kept buzzing around and we ended up calling her Patsy. She wasn’t camera shy and even though we didn’t want her in the film, she insisted. So, if you watch closely, you can spot Patsy once or twice.
Where are you from?
I'm from Eastern Passage, NS, but currently I live in Halifax.
How did you get your start as a filmmaker?
When I was young I would make films with my brother and my friends. It wasn't meant to be anything more than fun. We'd make action films such as Operation: DEATH. Something really stuck though and the interest grew into an obsession that still goes strong. Being a weird teenager with no friends who spends his summer days locked in his basement bedroom watching hours of cinema really paid off.
What films or filmmakers inspired you to make your own?
The films and filmmakers that hold meaning to me change so often it is hard for me to pinpoint just one inspiration. Currently I've been very inspired by [Roberto] Rossellini. I had for whatever reason avoided his works for many years, perhaps saving them for a rainy day. Well, earlier this year that rainy day came. I watched Rome, Open City for the first time and it shattered me. Really a tremendous work worthy of the praise it has received in terms of film history. Needless to say I did a deep dive after that. Rossellini was the real deal.
What's the dream feature you’d pair with your short for a screening?
The Brown Bunny. Upfront, this was a heavy influence on Endless Row of Trees. Everything that tells me to avoid this film somehow keeps me coming back. The stark beauty. The quiet, ambient sounds of the road. This film is a lonely poem that manages to haunt me with each new viewing. I feel Trees would make an interesting short companion piece to The Brown Bunny, similar as they may be. As one man runs from his present, another searches for his past. I imagine you'd want to lie down and stare at a ceiling afterwards for at least 30 minutes ... actually that would have to be an element of the double feature to get the full effect.
What’s your favourite, worst or weirdest memory of making this film?
Being honest, there was not a bad time making this film. We were essentially just a handful of friends out in the woods making a film. The entire weekend was full of laughter and great conversation. Everyone was really on fire and having fun doing it. I like to think you can see that fun and joy in the film, but that may be a stretch. Really though, shouldn't all filmmaking just be hanging out and making art with your good friends?
These films will screen along with seven others made by established and up-and-coming filmmakers from across the region in HIFF's Atlantic Auteurs shorts program, available online June 24–27. Learn more about the full program here.