Film Categories: Race + Ethnicity

  • Leche

    This film, hand processed and hung to dry on the clothesline, examines details of the life of one family, living on an isolated dairy ranch in Central Mexico. Uman’s “Mala Leche” (2003) is a companion piece. Spanish language with sub-titles.

  • Mala Leche

    This film follows members of the family presented in Uman’s earlier film “Leche” (1998). Now living in California’s agricultural Central Valley, they continue to work with dairy cattle but under very different circumstances.

  • In the Garden

    A quiet moment with the plants. A home-grown film: shot in my garden, processed in my basement, and dried on the lawn. (LF) Selected screenings: Anthology Film Archives, New York, 2007; Images Festival, Toronto, ON, 2004; Pleasure Dome New Toronto Works, Toronto, ON, 2004; “Textured Traces,” Foreman Art Gallery, Montreal, QC, 2005; Best of the LIFT $99 Film Festival Tour, various locations, 2005

  • Johnny Greyeyes

    The eyes of Johnny (Gail Maurice) have seen more of the world than most. A resilient and brave woman, Johnny has spent the last seven years in the maximum-security Prison for Women, where she has fallen in love with fellow inmate Lana (Columpa C. Bobb). With her release date near, Johnny struggles with her devotion to Lana, the demands of her fractured family, and the difficulties that come with “freedom.” “’Johnny Greyeyes’ movingly renders the broken threads of a family torn by abuse and murder.” – Chicago Reader (November 10, 2000) “A rare glimpse into the life of First Nations…

  • City of Dreams

    “City of Dreams” is the story of Marcel “Bambi” Commanda, an Ojibway man from Rama First Nation. Marcel sits in a prison cell, reciting a passage from his life. The film touches on his marginalization and displacement in the urban environment, the loss of culture, language and traditions, and his attempt to regain what he has lost. A poet, performer, drummer and emerging film and video maker, Marcel passed away in 1994 just after filming was finished. Selected screenings: Sundance Film Festival, USA, 1999; International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, Cuba, 1996; Figueira da Foz International Film Festival, Portugal,…

  • Garden of Stone

    Kathak dancer Joanna Das performs this tale of the journey to the mythical Garden of Stone, a sacred landscape that is at once barren and deeply contemplative. The film is an exploration of colour, form and movement within a constantly changing environment. “Garden of Stone” is a story of transformation and spiritual epiphany performed in one of the most beautiful and dynamic forms of classical Indian dance. Music by Eric Cadesky with Ed Hanley and Kurt Swinghammer.

  • Sand

    “Japanese narration, snail-like aliens, teenage gossip and a dreamlike, grainy style of sand animation mingle in this strange and beautiful short.” – Chris Gehman, Images Festival, 2002 In Japanese with English sub-titles. Selected screenings & awards: Best Short Film, Cinemanila International Film Festival; Antimatter Festival of Short Film & Video; Vancouver Underground Film Festival; Festival de Cinema de 3 Ameriques, Quebec City, QC, 2005

  • Nocturno

    A woman struggles with the emptiness of her life, her emotional landscape reflected in the images around her. Through macro photography of a bread-making process, a seemingly mundane domestic scene is transformed into something sensual and deeply emotional. Selected screenings & awards: CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival, Toronto, 2005; Jury’s Pick, CSIF $100 Film Festival, Calgary, AB, 2005; Best Canadian Film or Video Award, Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival, 2004; Doug Wandrei Award for Best Lighting Design, Ann Arbor Film Festival, 2004; Mill Valley Film Festival, Mill Valley, CA, 2003; Atlantic Film Festival, Halifax, NS, 2003

  • Child-Play

    Set in an imaginary nameless space that closely resembles the Caribbean, “Child-Play” is an allegorical Dream Tale paralleling the “innocence” of childhood and the elder phases of existence. Ateesha Mansara, a woman in her late sixties, has lived a life colonized by her own fears about the threat of usurpation of her identity by the Dutchman Spirit of a child molester, whom she had previously met when she was a girl of ten. The spirit of Georgie De Root revisits Ateesha fifty years later in a final attempt to lay “claim” to her soul. Or does he? Available on DVD…

  • I Don’t Exist

    “I Don’t Exist” succintly shows one girl’s feelings of isolation, invisibility and anger on the streets of Hackney. Excellent camerawork makes this piece a small gem.