MO TE IWI: Carving for the People is an intimate journey into the life of master carver Rangi Hetet. Taken out of school at age 17 by tribal elders to serve his apprenticeship, Rangi is one of the last traditional Māori carvers alive today who learned their craft in an era that straddled the ways of the old tohunga whakairo/master carvers and the modern world. The film reveals the interconnectedness of Māori arts, family and community and celebrates Rangi’s life of carving for the people.
Canadian Premiere
Untouchability
When carrots become a rare commodity in their Chennai suburb, Moorthy learns what his longtime neighbor & acquaintance, Ragavan, really thinks of him.
Sugar on The Weaver’s Chair
Three women in three regions in Indonesia have problems about their helplessness towards their nature as women generally, facing equality, rights and traditions, yet transforming them into empowerment for the lives around them.
Biriyaani- Flavours of Flesh
The movie chronicles the life of Khadeeja, a married Muslim woman confined within the four walls of the household, forced to conceal her desires in the name of religious and societal norms. When fate brings her to an abandoned life, she chooses a different way of financially and sexually liberating herself- to be a sex worker; soon to realize that her soul is still dissatisfied. Finding a new way of hope, she decides to give back to the forces that pushed her to live an orphaned life of misery.
Aroeira’s Rose
The film shows, in a simple and authentic way, the strength of women in a small community in the state of Rio Grande do Norte (Brazil). Four women, symbol of resistance and tradition, tell their life stories through the account of their long working hours. Filmed with a cell phone, the documentary surprises and presents scenes of a unique beauty with original soundtrack created by Valéria Oliveira
A Question of Survival
A documentary film about the legacy of the Holocaust in the Balkans, as seen through the eyes -and conflicting memories- of three Bulgarian Jewish survivors in New York. Chaim Zemach, a cellist; Robert Bakish, an engineer; and Misha Avramoff, a social worker struggle to place their unusual experiences during World War II in Bulgaria into the more common narrative of the Shoah. They question the value of their stories and debate whether they are true Holocaust “survivors.”