HIFF starts tomorrow!
We're just one day away from HIFF 2022!
The 16th annual Halifax Independent Filmmakers Festival makes its triumphant return to in-person screenings and events TOMORROW, running from June 9–12 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 and admission to Artist Talks) or catch films with individual tickets for $10. Plus, all in-person screenings are FREE for students (with a valid student ID)!
ATTENTION PASS HOLDERS: Your passes will be available for pick-up on your way into a screening at our Light House Arts Centre box office for the duration of the fest. See you soon!
Here's a glance at what's closing out the fest on Day Four:
CLOSING DAY SCREENINGS
CANADIAN SHORTS
SHORTS PROGRAM
SCREENING IN-PERSON: JUNE 12 at 1 PM
+ ONLINE FOR THE FOLLOWING 48 HOURS
@ LIGHT HOUSE ARTS CENTRE
Our Canadian Shorts program brings together a stunning array of films that meditate on the surreal nature of reality, inviting us to meet the myths that underpin our cultural and political bodies and interactions—and those that hang heavy over ourselves.
The Canadian Shorts lineup is:
Joutel • dir. Alexa-Jeanne DubéSong for the New World • dir. Miryam Charles
Boobs • dir. Marie Valade
Bump • dir. Maziyar Khatam
Ousmane • dir. Jorge Camarotti
June Night • dir. Mike Maryniuk
Nalujuk Night • dir. Jennie Williams
Together • dir. Albert Shin
HIFF FESTIVAL PASS ($35/$25 for AFCOOP members)
INDIVIDUAL TICKETS ($10) / ONLINE SCREENING TICKETS
THE CROSSING
DIR. FLORENCE MIAILHEFRANCE / 2021 / 84 MINS
SCREENING IN-PERSON: JUNE 12 at 3 PM
@ LIGHT HOUSE ARTS CENTRE
Closing out HIFF 2022 is The Crossing, the astonishing debut feature from Florence Miailhe. In an unnamed place and time, two siblings, Kyona and Adriel, are separated from their family and forced to leave their home behind as they flee from the horrors of ethnic persecution. On their long and arduous passage to safety and freedom, they face losing their identities, the incomprehensibility of violence, and an unexpected metamorphosis into adulthood. Staggeringly captured in Miailhe's striking paint-on-glass style, The Crossing is an astonishing technical and artistic triumph, and an unforgettable way to close out our 16th annual fest.
HIFF FESTIVAL PASS ($35/$25 for AFCOOP members)
INDIVIDUAL TICKETS ($10)
"Wonderfully staged with its shifting colour palette and a multitude of subtle ideas gracefully put into images, The Crossing is a simple and profound, sophisticated and clear film, combining a humanist spirit with a look that does not turn away from the darker sides of beings." —Fabian Lemercier, Cineuropa
Click below to view the trailer:
HIFF TALKS
ARTIST TALK with MARTIN EDRALIN (ISLANDS)
FRIDAY, JUNE 10 • 4 PM@ the AFCOOP OFFICE (1531 GRAFTON STREET, SUITE 101)
$10 ADMISSION (OR INCLUDED WITH HIFF FESTIVAL PASS)
Join us for our in-depth Artist Talk with ISLANDS director Martin Edralin. We’ll discuss the path of shorts that led to his debut feature, navigating the Canadian film industry, and his breakout moment at last year's SXSW.
Martin is a Filipino-Canadian, Toronto-based filmmaker. His first short film, HOLE (2014), won the Grand Prize at Clermont-Ferrand, jury prizes at Locarno and Seattle, and screened at Sundance, TIFF, and BFI London. His second short, EMMA (2016), was selected in TIFF Canada's Top Ten and won Best Live Action Short at the Rhode Island IFF. His debut feature, ISLANDS (2021), premiered at SXSW and was awarded Special Jury Recognition.
ARTIST TALK with RYAN STEEL (THE BIRDWATCHER)
SATURDAY, JUNE 11 • 1 PM
@ the AFCOOP OFFICE (1531 GRAFTON STREET, SUITE 101)
$10 ADMISSION (OR INCLUDED WITH HIFF FESTIVAL PASS)
Join us for our Artist Talk with prolific DIY filmmaker Ryan Steel, where we’ll talk all things analogue.
Ryan is an independent filmmaker and animator from Treaty 1 Territory (Winnipeg). His work explores the intersections between experimental, documentary, and fiction filmmaking. His work has screened at festivals including Festival Du Nouveau Cinéma, WNDX, Photophobia, ICDOCS, Gimli Film Festival, and Pile of Bones.
Find more info on our 2022 Artist Talks HERE.
HIFF PARTY
Celebrate 16 years of HIFF, and our triumphant return to screening films in-person, on June 11 at the 2022 HIFF Party! Head down to the AFCOOP office for the festivities following our Atlantic Auteurs program on Saturday night.
There will be music, drinks, snacks, cats, friends and countless other sources of joy!
See you there.
ATLANTIC AUTEURS CLOSE-UP
Where are you from?
I’m from St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador.
What was the inspiration for your film?
My first inspiration is my dad’s artwork. He is a painter in St. John’s, and has these old lithography pieces he did that have stuck in my head since I was a kid, specifically a berry picker looking off to the horizon and a child on a wharf holding a wooden boat. They inspired some key visuals, and I started thinking about that romantic image of a woman looking out to sea, waiting for the men she loves to come home. But what if she wasn’t waiting for a man to return, but an opportunity to find her own freedom? That started the writing process, and then it was influenced by my own relationship to change and the ocean. It really turned into a love story with the sea for both the character and myself.
What was the most challenging part of making this film?
The most challenging part was transitioning from my producing background into just focusing on the creative writing and directing. The confidence of sharing my writing was a big hurdle, turning off the voices that told me I should stay in the producing or documentary categories. But then when it came to production, I really had to work on balancing my anxiety of taking care of everybody who was being so generous with their time and service to the film, with the need to listen to my creative instincts and do the necessary work to bring them out.
What's films or filmmakers inspired you to make your own?
I was obsessed with Portrait of a Lady on Fire last year while prepping for this film. But directors like Greta Gerwig, Olivia Wilde, Jean-Marc Vallée and Chantal Akerman (Jeanne Dielman is deep in my subconscious and clearly came out in this film) are some standouts for me. The people who generally inspire me the most are my peers, the people I’ve produced with and seen the way they create despite feeling othered in this industry.
What's surprised you about people's reaction to your film?
I like that different people interpret what is going on for the woman in the story slightly differently, and there's something so poetic about the way folks seem to allow it to wash over them and allow the feelings to settle in rather than needing to know the answers of what will happen next. And everyone commented on the performance by my seven-year-old niece Bailey, which is so sweet!
Where are you from?
Not too far from a big rock with All’s-Well-With-Angus-L’s name on it. I live in Fredericton currently.
What was the inspiration for the film you’re presenting at HIFF?
I’ve always thought my grandfather’s story of learning to dance in a dream would make an interesting film. I started by viewing and collecting existing audiovisual material of my grandfather - personal archives, dancing, interviews, singing, etc - and then I went on to interview a bunch of people that knew him - I also produced a radio documentary on the subject. At some point Shamus MacDonald shared with me the interviews he recorded that are the basis of this project.
How did you get your start as a filmmaker?
I started making films that were sort of personal/handmade after Alex Balkam taught and encouraged me to process a roll of Super 8 in 2014.
What's surprised you about people's reaction to this film?
I’m not surprised that some people (particularly in Cape Breton) respond warmly to this film. My grandfather was not only kind of famous as a dancer, he was also just kind of a great guy. People liked him a lot, and it’s a rather extraordinary story that he was telling for many, many years - he lived until he was 100 years old.
What are you working on next?
I’m all about dream incubation now. Every night I take a multivitamin, I light a candle, and I get down on my knees and beg the dream to show me what I should be working on. Last night I had a dream about a Sasquatch.
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.