Dogs Smell Like the Sea

You know, it's like having a dog, and it chooses someone else as the owner, not you. And as soon as the "other" rings the Bicycle bell, the dog, happily wagging its tail, rushes to catch up with him. And you follow her. It turns out that for him, too. But you can't say anything: just stand there and breathe in silence to the beat of the waves.

Edible Water Bottles

The Focusing Effect

For his final project for film class in college, Kevin Morris, with the help of his girlfriend Julie and his roommate Jay, is making a documentary in which ex-couple share their breakup stories individually. When he comes across a disturbing secret involving one of his subjects (Ashley), he goes against his better judgment and shares it with Ashley's ex-boyfriend, James. But when the results are anything but satisfying, things start to get dangerous as James acts more ominous and it seems the lives of Kevin, Julie, Jay, and Ashley are soon in question.

The Beast

A young mexican smuggler and a little girl travel illegally on top of a cargo train, called La Bestia, to get to the USA. An injury transforms his perception of the journey.

Le ruban

China, in the early sixties: an angry mob is persecuting a rich landowner. Mei, a young worker, who is part of the crowd. Suddenly she recognizes the victim who she secretly loves. Frightened of revealing her feelings, Mei doesn't know what to do.

Elevado 3.5

A documentary about the crowd of people that commingle throughout the 3.5km of the Minhocão, an overpass in the central region of São Paulo, built during Brazil's military dictatorship.

Apuntes sobre la tortura y otras formas de diálogo

In a country subjected to a cruel dictatorship, a political activist is savagely tortured, unleashing the indignation of certain leftist intellectuals.

El primer día

At a train station, a thief steals from a couple while the passengers are getting off the train. The boy runs after the thief and disappears. The girl, alone and lost, decides to go out into the street.

Manifest

An intimate statement about the filmmaker’s need for self-expression through her own nudity and simultaneously an effort to reject the taboo of patriarchal society. Using diary entries, anger-filled personal reflections, and discussions with a mother painting her nude daughter, the film opens the topic of overcoming shame for one’s own physicality and female sexuality.

Common Language

The director, who has always been viewed as the black sheep in her family, sets out to the Belarusian town of Vitebsk to talk with her parents about previous grievances and topics that were considered taboo. The effort to find a common language, which runs into stormy emotions and the inability to voice honest opinions, is captured through both personal moments and detailed shots of the protagonists’ faces.

Worlds Apart

In 2012, violent conflicts broke out between the Muslim Rohingya and the Buddhist majority in Rakhine State on the west coast of Myanmar. The government subsequently deported Muslims and imprisoned them in a camp on the outskirts of the city. The documentary looks at the lives of neighbours on both sides.

Must Be Painful

After missing a train, Danny, a perpetual student, and his Spanish boyfriend must wait in an empty train station with two homophobic Czechs, who do not realise that Danny understands their every word.

Versailles

Sanaa (23) returns to Versailles, the place where she grew up, and in an attempt to reconnect with her little sister Rana (15), she promises her, to go on a journey to the seaside for the first time. A trip they've always wanted to make together.

Smokestacks

Maayan's parents are out-of-town, and the world starts falling apart. While civil defense sirens sound, Soya, Maayan's chinchilla goes missing. Maayan's neighbor shows up and together they explore the chaos

RUTHLESS

Ruthless ‘Ruth’ Avery is a first–year law student at the competitive Port Ridge University. She is analytical, she keeps to herself, and she’s used to being the best at what she does. But this year she’s challenged by crowd favorite, Matthew Baxtor. When an internship opportunity arises with Matthew as the top choice, Ruth must decide what’s more important to her; friendship or winning.

heroes

Displaying the faces and voices of transgender youth, the documentary short shows the authenticity of queer and trans people living in Toronto, while simultaneously discussing the struggles for self-acceptance that people who do not conform to cisgender and heteronormative ideals of gender face. Andy Nguyen, trans director and film student, captures his trans friends in their natural state on 16mm film shot on a Bolex h16 camera. Accompanied by narration written and recited by Salem Rao, this film represents that trans people exist and this is what we look like. Regardless of the obvious everyday transphobia, trans people find community and uniqueness within each other and themselves.