Film Categories: Work by Women

  • New Woman 新女性

    New Woman is a meditative journey that investigates the look of the “New Woman” in Chinese silent screen. Through using archival film footage with intertitles also derived from the Chinese silent films, the film explores patriarchal perspectives in the portrayal of women in Chinese silent cinema, and deconstructs their appearances in order to reveal the impressive talent and outlook of the “New Woman”, which have been largely ignored and forgotten. The film features four thematic sections, Virtue, Modeng Woman, Unbound Feet, and New Woman. The footage of each section has been re-worked differently by using relevant hand processing and manipulation…

  • Cave Small Cave Big

    “Cave Small Cave Big” is a magical and surreal short film written by five-year-olds Madeline Harker and Adelaide Schwartz. Made to respect the gravity of the material, the film jumps from character to character as they cope with the transience of ownership, capturing that moment in a young mind when new muscles are stretched to grapple with ideas about possession and loss.

  • Whatever Happened to Jackie Shane?

    Toronto, 1963. Jackie Shane – a black, queer, soul-singing, flamboyant Nashville-born, Toronto-based musician – had a hit song on the charts. The song was a sensation, and with the lyrics “Tell her that I’m happy, tell her that’s I’m gay; tell her I wouldn’t have it any other way”, it was also an underground gay anthem. But before being able to fully enjoy the fruits of this success, Jackie suddenly disappeared. Uncovering this forgotten piece of Toronto queer music history, artists Hortie and Reynolds recreate Jackie’s story using original shadow puppets, overhead animation and stop motion techniques. Follow Jackie through…

  • Midnight at the Continental

    Toronto, 1955. In the heart of Chinatown, a new bar opens: The Continental. It’s dark, grimy, and attracts an unusual clientele. Local tabloids scream in 20-point font: “Sapphos overflow Chinatown!” The bar becomes the meeting place for two of Toronto’s marginalized communities: Chinese-Canadian men and lesbians living “the life” full time. Recounting this forgotten piece of Toronto queer history, artists Hortie and Reynolds tell the story of Toronto’s first long-standing lesbian bar using original shadow puppets, overhead projector animation and archival images. Pull a stool up to the bar and watch lesbians and Chinese men stand side by side, battling…

  • Fires of Transformation

    “Fires of Transformation” is a documentary about a unique women’s theatre troupe called VOICE (Violence Overcome in Creative Ensemble), who have collectively written and performed an original play based on their own experiences as survivors of wife assault and other forms of violence against women and children. The film chronicles VOICE’s 1990 National Tour, taking its viewers on an emotional and triumphant journey across Canada. Utilizing interviews, audience discussions, and scenes from VOICE’s powerful play the film celebrates the courage and strength of the women who created it and documents a process of empowerment and transformation.

  • Meet Me Under the Clock

    “Meet Me Under the Clock” explores a little-known time in Toronto’s LGBTQ history when an underground Halloween tradition became an annual confrontation between an invisible gay community and a fascinated, often hateful public. “Meet Me Under the Clock” tells the story of Halloween at the St Charles Tavern, a Yonge Street gay bar, throughout the 1970s. Each year, thousands of straight spectators would gather to throw eggs and jeer at the men attending the bar’s annual drag party. This unknown Toronto history highlights the role that LGBTQ spaces play in providing sanctuary and community, the complicated relationship between the LGBTQ…

  • Leavings

    The end of life comes for one half of a long term love relationship. “Leavings” is about the last sacred moments alone together before authorities, family and friends learn of the death. It portrays a tender offering that begins to deal with the messy remains of a vessel so well known as to have been studied intimately.

  • The Uphill Battle: The Cost of Raising a Champion

    Karate and the Olympics: Who Will Represent Canada in 2020? This documentary highlights the difficulties experienced in creating champions in Ontario. For the past 20 years athletes have been faced with hardships created by stringent rules, underfunding, and a complete lack of understanding from “higher-ups.” Today karate faces a real challenge: How do we make the transition from an amateur sport to a professionally organized industry with an environment for raising true champions? We attempt to cover this issue in depth with interviews with people who are directly involved. “The Uphill Battle” is required viewing for anyone who believes karate…

  • Nachlass

    “Nachlass” is the German word for inheritance. It is also the word for posthumously published works. Most commonly, it is used to describe all the things, both the valuables and the junk, left behind in an apartment after its inhabitant has died. In Nachlass the everyday objects of a Ukrainian immigrant to Canada function as placeholders for all of the information that has gone missing between languages and cultures in the process of immigration. However, although this story at the turn of the century is one, which must operate beyond the realm of language, its continuation today in the Germany…

  • The House

    For one curler, it’s not just a regular night at the local curling rink. Can she face her fears and find the strength to throw her final rock?