A grandfather teaches his granddaughter, a young Gwich'in mother named Alisha, how reciprocity is embedded in all aspects of life. The northern lights warm the caribou; the caribou helps feed and sustain the community; the community honors the connections. Each element in nature is purposeful and related. In turn, these connections bring new meaning to Alisha and her wishes for her children and for all living beings.
Nominee
Aurora – The street that wanted to be a river
If the streets could talk, what would they say?
Aurora is a sad and lonely street of a big city. On a rainy day, she remembers her trajectory and dreams about the future asking herself: is it possible for a street to die?
Without Aban
Aban is a forest ranger who has to get married in another month. In a chase with wood smugglers, he finds a little girl on the road who has died. Everyone doubts that he must have had an accident with the child, but Aban does not admit it, but admits that he killed a girl 15 years ago in such a situation and secretly buried her. The police ask him for a sign or a document, but he has no evidence, and even the place where he buried the child has become a highway …
Wild Prairie Man
Wild Prairie Man is an intimate look at the life of a man enthralled with the exotic and endangered lands of Grasslands National Park.
Located in the Northern Great Plains of Canada, Grasslands has been a 20 year odyssey for wildlife photographer James R. Page.
For James, critters are more interesting than people and in this documentary he shares some of his iconic images and experiences from this endangered ecosystem.
The Stage of Golden Beach
In a local slaughterhouse in southern China, Bin, a female worker who stopped dancing after a sexual abuse in her childhood, was known to all in the small town. Before the Spring Festival this year, now as young single mother, Bin was forced to dance in a show that was intended for local government's funding. During the rehearsal, she fell into the clutches of her male dance teacher's assault. She had no option but to decide on a self-destructive counterattack against toxic patriarchism.
The Eternal Chaos of Allan Andre
Allan Andre, an artist and muralist, is working on a stunning new public mural while simultaneously speaking about the challenges of finding inspiration and working through ADHD. In the past summer, his work has taken on a whole new significance, as he and others attempted to capture the public’s imagination in the wake of 2020’s BLM protests.