HIFF Newsletter — June 1, 2022
The 16th annual Halifax Independent Filmmakers Festival makes its triumphant return to in-person screenings and events from June 9–12, 2022, with four jam-packed days of artist panels, parties, and daring films from near and far.
Our in-person screenings take place at the Light House Arts Centre (1800 Argyle Street), with one special late-night presentation of We're All Going to the World's Fair at Good Robot Brewing (2736 Robie Street).
Canadian presentations will also be available to stream online through Eventive for 48 hours following their in-person screenings.
You can see it all with a HIFF Festival Pass ($35/$25 for AFCOOP members, including full access to online screenings) or catch films with individual tickets for $10. Plus, all in-person screenings are FREE for students (with a valid student ID)!
Here's a glance at what's screening on Day Three:
DAY THREE SCREENINGS
SHORT VACATION
DIR. SEO HAN-SOL & KWON MIN-PYO
KOREA / 2020 / 79 MINS
SCREENING IN-PERSON: JUNE 11 at 3 PM
@ LIGHT HOUSE ARTS CENTRE
HIFF Day Three will begin with Short Vacation, Seo Han-sol and Kwon Min-pyo's story of four middle-school girls in search of the end of the world. They hop on the Seoul Metropolitan Subway line with just backpacks and disposable cameras, and what starts as a whimsical class project soon becomes a quietly moving ode to facing the unknown. This gentle, wise-beyond-its-years debut forgoes narrative conflict to produce a cinema of pure joy, packed with moments as blissful and unstructured as summer break.
HIFF FESTIVAL PASS ($35/$25 for AFCOOP members)
"Watching this film makes one pine to remember all the little digressions of day trips and overnighters that once seemed so important but have since faded from memory."
—Glenn Heath Jr., The Film Stage
Click below to view the trailer:
THIS IS MY DESIRE (EYIMOFE)
DIR. ARIE & CHUKO ESIRINIGERIA / 2020 / 116 MINS
SCREENING IN-PERSON: JUNE 11 at 7 PM
@ LIGHT HOUSE ARTS CENTRE
Up next on Day Three is This Is My Desire, the award-winning debut feature from twin brothers Arie and Chuko Esiri. Shot on 16 mm, the film is a revelatory, hopeful portrayal of everyday strength in contemporary Lagos, Nigeria, that follows a bereaved electrician, Mofe (Jude Akuwudike), and Rosa (Temi Ami-Williams), a hairdresser who works to support her pregnant teen sister, as they aspire to better their lives abroad.
HIFF FESTIVAL PASS ($35/$25 for AFCOOP members)
INDIVIDUAL TICKETS ($10)
"The portrait of life that emerges organically from this understated, observant approach makes Eyimofe the rare social realist drama that conveys critique without didacticism and empathy without pity." —Devika Girish, The New York Times
Click below to view the trailer:
ATLANTIC AUTEURS
SHORTS PROGRAM
SCREENING IN-PERSON: JUNE 11 at 9:30 PM
@ LIGHT HOUSE ARTS CENTRE
Every year, HIFF presents our region's most wild and wonderful new short films in our Atlantic Auteurs program. This year’s lineup meditates on notions of identity through explorations of desire and belonging, place and (re)settlement, and the construction of memory. Operating through an eclectic array of genres, as well as technical and narrative approaches, the program is iconoclastic by way of bedazzlement—curious and carefully crafted, as each filmmaker teases the ever-blurring line between fantasy and reality.
The 2022 Atlantic Auteurs program includes:
MONA • Xavier Gould
This Does Not Authorize Re-Entry • Jenny Yujia Shi
Proximity • Jamie Miller
Bha Iad Làn Sgeulachdan • Todd Fraser
Above a Grey/Green Sea • Kennlin Barlow
Terre • Angie & Tracey Richard
Tape End • Jake Delaney
Baduk • Induk Lee
ATLANTIC AUTEURS CLOSE-UP
Where are you from?
Cap-Pelé, New-Brunswick.
How did you get your start as filmmakers?
Thanks to the FICFA festival in Moncton, we participated in several workshops that really got us interested in making more films and helped us develop a sense of confidence to actually pursue it! We have always loved movies, especially horror and animation films. Tracey worked in a video store when we were in high school and our mom actually used to work at that same video store growing up, so we were always watching whatever we could.
What films or filmmakers inspired you to make your own?
Although we were selected for our first HIFF [in 2019], we didn't get to go see this film, but The Wolf House by Joaquin Cocina and Cristobal Leon is a huge inspiration for us at the moment. Stop motion and horror ... it's the best combo. And their way of using paint and creating large moving pieces, it's really inspiring.
What's your favourite memory of making this film?
Bringing in the canvas for Angie to paint on from the art store across the street from our studio. Walking down the street with a 6 X 6 foot canvas in downtown Moncton.
What's surprised you about people's reaction to your film?
Some people find it relaxing and meditative, which we like. When it comes to animation, people often ask, "How did you do that?" And that's cool because we still say that about a lot of films, and those are the ones that inspire us the most.
Where are you from?
St. John’s, Newfoundland.
What was the inspiration for the film you’re presenting at HIFF?
I was inspired to make this film because of the lack of home movies from when I was growing up. Capturing those memories early on, means so much later in life. I routinely try to preserve old footage for people. Going through old tapes and seeing bits and pieces of time in a person’s life is pretty special, especially when the people preserved on that footage are no longer here.
What was the most challenging part of making this film?
Keeping it authentic. Giving it a look and feel as if someone just found the tape in a closet and put it on to watch many years later. Of course, transferring the footage from the MiniDV cassette can’t be a challenge as well.
What's your favourite memory of making this film?
The kids loved having permission to swear on camera. I would imagine they didn’t stop once filming was over [laughs].
What's surprised you most about people's reaction to your film?
The few I have shared it with are much more motivated to take home movies now and they relate to the sometimes unflattering parenting portrayed by the characters on screen. That parental guilt is universal I believe.
These films will screen along with a selection of others made by established and up-and-coming filmmakers from across the region in HIFF's Atlantic Auteurs shorts program at the Light House Arts Centre on June 11 at 9:30 p.m., and will be available online for the following 48 hours. Learn more about the full program here.