HIFF Newsletter — June 1, 2023
HIFF returns for its 17th edition from June 21–24 in the Light House Arts Centre (1800 Argyle Street) in downtown Halifax. Features from around the world, shorts from around the country, two retrospectives, and intimate and interactive artist talks will pack your days and nights full of innovative independent cinema!
You can see it all with a HIFF Festival Pass ($40/$30 for AFCOOP members) or catch films with single tickets for $14 ($12 for AFCOOP members). Plus, all screenings are FREE for students (with a valid student ID)!
Here's a glance at what's screening on Opening Night:
OPENING NIGHT SCREENINGS
SO MUCH TENDERNESS
DIR. LINA RODRIGUEZ
CANADA / 2022 / 118 MINS
JUNE 21 at 6:30 PM @ LIGHT HOUSE ARTS CENTRE
HIFF begins on June 21 with So Much Tenderness, the latest feature from visionary Colombian-Canadian filmmaker Lina Rodriguez.
So Much Tenderness skillfully portrays the raw depths of human resilience amidst a backdrop of intense emotional turmoil. The film delves into the haunting journey of Aurora, an environmental lawyer from Colombia, whose life takes a harrowing turn after the murder of her husband. Compelled to leave her homeland, aided by a young couple, she traverses the US-Canada border concealed within the confines of a car trunk. Arriving in Canada as a refugee, she tries to rebuild. Six years later, Aurora finds some semblance of solace in the bustling metropolis of Toronto, raising her tempestuous daughter, Lucía—but this is disrupted when Edgar, her estranged cousin, resurfaces.
A Q+A with Lina Rodriguez and producer Brad Deane will follow the screening.
HIFF FESTIVAL PASS $40/$30 for AFCOOP members
SINGLE TICKETS ($14)/$12 AFCOOP members
Click below to view the trailer:
PLAINS
DIR. ROMANNE WALKER
CANADA, UK / 2023 / 60 MINS
JUNE 21 at 9 PM @ LIGHT HOUSE ARTS CENTRE
Closing out our opening night of screenings is Plains, Romanne Walker and cinematographer Eli Speigel’s experimental docufiction shot on Nova Scotia's South Shore.
Couple Jon and Cat attempt to carve out an autonomous lifestyle and creative practice in an idyllic fishing village, while acknowledging and discussing the looming presence of techno-feudalism. With strong, contrasting imagery, Plains questions whether technology might be used to grasp a freer reality.
A Q+A with Romanne Walker, Jonathan Carroll and Cat Bluemke will follow the screening.
HIFF FESTIVAL PASS $40/$30 for AFCOOP members
SINGLE TICKETS $14/$12 AFCOOP members
Click below to view the trailer:
ATLANTIC AUTEURS CLOSE-UP
Where are you from?
I'm from Ottawa, but have been living and studying in Kjipuktuk (Halifax) for the last few years.
What was the inspiration for POND?
During the first lockdown, the pond and river near my parents’ house in Ottawa was an incredibly grounding landscape for me. The winter I made this film, I was deeply missing that place, but also aware that it was impossible for me to return to it—both I and the landscape had changed too much.
What was the most challenging part of making it?
My film was made by printing laser toner directly onto 16mm film, so it was a lot of very tedious, repetitive work. I got the film to go through an office printer by taping short segments of clear film to pieces of printer paper, which meant many hours alone in a computer lab and then many hours splicing it all back together.
What films or filmmakers inspired you to make your own?
The first laser-printer film I saw was Scott Fitzpatrick’s Screen Test 1, which completely mesmerized me. The work of Roger Beebe and Jesse England was also inspiring, and their tutorials on printer filmmaking were extremely useful reference points.
What's your favourite memory of making this film?
My favourite memory is of its first screening, at the NSCAD Media Arts Showcase. I showed the film on the original 16mm, amplifying the projector’s sound. It’s not really possible to continue to screen that original 16mm—the laser toner gets scraped off a little by the projector every time—but it was magical to get to do it once. I had a sense of the screening being a live performance, which was very special.
What's the dream feature you'd pair with your short and why?
Maybe Geographies of Solitude by Jacquelyn Mills, for its exploration of memory, landscape, and celluloid.
Where are you from?
Riverview, New Brunswick
What was the inspiration for Slow Fight?
Films that revolve around characters encountering the unknowable and how they deal with it have always interested me. My favourite films are often ones that refrain from answering the questions it poses.
Life is incredibly ambiguous but audiences don't often have patience or appreciation for ambiguity in film. I wanted to make a film about a character who becomes obsessed with a question that can't be answered.
What films or filmmakers inspired you to make your own?
The films that largely inspired this film are Eyes Wide Shut by Stanley Kubrick, Cache by Michael Haneke, Force Majeure by Ruben Östlund, Procter by Joachim Trier.
What's your favourite memory of making this film?
Developing the characters with Bhreagh and Ry was incredibly rewarding.
What are you working on next?
I am currently writing my first feature script.
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 23 at 8:30 p.m.
Learn more about the full program here.
HIFF 2023 TRAILER