Ann Verall/Barbara Badessi
24 min. 2001
Baba's House is a dramatic half hour film about a girl coming to terms with the death of her mother. It is a memory piece that explores cultural and generational connections.
The story is set in a small town `nowhere' in August 1977. Nine-year-old Christina is forced to spend the summer at her Ukrainian grandmother's house while her father goes to an Elvis Presley concert with her stepmother. The only consolation that summer is her new best friend, 10-year-old Ruby, who teaches her about the magic in raspberries and how to resurrect the dead. With her newfound powers, Christina sets out to bring her dead mom back to life. When things go terribly wrong, it is Baba who teaches Christina the fine balance between living and dying.
Subject(s): Children, about, Family, Grief
In the dramatic short Blindspot, six-year-old Joe is caught in the tumult of his parents' disentegrated marriage. When Joe's dad comes to visit, his mom calls the police and refuses to open the door. All she wants is protection from her husband. All Joe's dad wants is to get his family back. Joe just wants to see his dad. Poignantly accurate, the film depicts a violent family crisis through the eyes of a child.
Subject(s): Children, about, Family, Relationships, Violence
Adam Mars/Emiko Ando/Dave Gordon/Charles Wilkinson
Silverlight Entertainment
10 min
2007
Available on DVD and VHS
The award-winning combination of actress Valerie Tian, director Adam Mar sand producer Emiko Ando bring this story of struggle to life. Confronted by the harsh realities of cultural traditions, a young girl takes a stand against her tyrannous grandmother, changing their lives forever.
Subject(s): Family, Gender equality, Relationships, WomenSee Heart.
Chika's Bird
Adam Mars/Sharon Yu
Silverlight Entertainment
12 min. 2003
Also available on DVD
Targeted by the school bully because of her Japanese heritage and misunderstood by her no-nonsense mother, Chika is a shy and dreamy child who finds solace in her aged grandfather. After school, she spends hours mesmerized by the magic he gently creates through the ancient art of origami. But when his increasing memory lapses turn out to be Alzheimer's, Chika must learn to offer her beloved grandfather the tenderness he's always shown her, a turning point that sparks her to assert herself for the first time.
With an exquisite simplicity, Chika's Bird captures the pure spirit with which a child responds to one of life's hard lesson.
Subject(s): Children's films, Family, Japanese-Canadians, Racism
Penny McCann/Katherine Sandford
12:06 min. 1995
Anna is losing the one person who can comfort her. Intuitively, she finds herself drawn to domestic rituals that affirm and celebrate memories of her mother. With moving simplicity, Crabapple Jelly presents the process of dying asan inextricable part of life and relationships. It is a compassionate drama that seeks to come to terms with the nature of life and death.
Award: Telefilm Canada Award, National Screen Institute's Local Heroes International Film Festival; Best Narrative, New Frontiers Film Festival; Best Theatrical Short/Feature, Ottawa Reel Awards
Subject(s): Grief
Christianne Hirt/Delphine Brooker
11 min. 2005
"This harrowing tale
of frenzied self-control gone all out of control is well-written, well-performed
and deals with teenage girls, mental illness and self image."
– Darren Parke, Vue Weekly (Edmonton)
This powerful performance by Delphine Brooker recounts one woman's insane search for physical perfection. An expectant mother chronicles her struggle with anorexia nervosa to her unborn child. Starting with her 20-something travels to the stylish city of Paris, where staying slender is an art form amidst the many temptations, she uncovers the psychological and emotional triggers that lead to her brush with this life-destroying disease. At its heart, Craving is a story about the fact that life nourishes life.
Subject(s): Body image, Health–Diet
Jason Buxton
20 min. 2004
Also available on DVD
A young boy encounters critics' barbs early when his teacher and classmates ridicule his pencil sketch of a dinosaur. Staying true to his artistic temperament literally takes the 10-year old to society's fringes and makes his re-entry into playground politics an exercise in exile. Beautifully and starkly shot, this stylish drama deftly accesses the intense focus of a child's imagination.
Subject(s): Artists, Children, about, Isolation
Claudia Medina/Laura McFadyen
21 min. 2002
Spanish with English sub-titles
(Also available in Spanish Only as Entre
el Medio)
Entre el Medio is a dream story, originating at the intersection of sleeping and waking. Claudia Medina returns to her Mexican heritage with this short fiction told in the style of an old Mexican folk tale. Based on the experiences of her grandmother who was a curandera (a traditional healer) and shot entirely on location in the beautiful mountain village on Malinalco, Mexico, Entre el Medio is a lush and magical exploration of the way the spiritual and material worlds dance together.
Subject(s): Fantasy
Paula Vander
6:30 min. 1996
Recently named Most Promising Media Artist at the BC Student Film Festival, Paula Vander is a student in the film program at Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design. Eurydice Was Murdered Too is a stylistic look at parallel tales: One unfolds in haunting, grainy black and white images; the other takes the bold approach of a crime drama.
Xia Tong
15 min. 2004
In English and Chinese with English sub-titles
Filmmaker Xia Tong explores the loneliness and turmoil that often mark the transition to a new country. His blend of poetry, memory and dreams, intercut with overheard conversations, street festival chaos and news bytes about the illegal Chinese migrants off the BC coast, create a devastating portrait of the isolation and identity loss often overlooked in the celebration of multiculturalism.
Award(s): Best Fiction Production, Canadian Student Film & Video Festival (Montreal World Film Festival)
Subject(s): Chinese-Canadians, Identity, Immigrants & Immigration, Isolation
Ling Chiu/Selena La Brooy
13 min. 2004
Also available on DVD
Ling Chiu's quirky short drama begins with a light-hearted assertion: “Fortune was always there; you can't be Chinese and not know about it.” As she tells the sweet, complex and near-tragic tale of one Chinese immigrant family and their brush with disaster, she folds in sibling rivalry, romance, lost dreams, old secrets, family economics and Grandma's lucky encounter with an ill-fated squirrel, to arrive at a poignant conclusion. In the end, their true fortune may turn out to be their devotion to each other.
Subject(s): Chinese-Canadians, Family, Humour, Identity, Immigrants & Immigration
Mark Sawers/Chris Kelly
Driftwood Productions
14 min. 1993
Hate Mail is a humorous fictional treatment of the conflicts and intolerance that can arise from urban living. Shot entirely in one apartment,it focuses on a young aspiring writer who is increasingly unable to communicate except through his computer. Disturbed by noise from the neighbours, he begins to spy through peep holes, listen through walls, and finally, confront and threaten neighbours by mail. The film features a musical score by conductor and composer Don MacDonald and ends with a humorous twist that turns the tables on the writer's obsessive intolerance.
Subject(s): Ethics, Human rights, Irony
Ann Marie Fleming/Dawn Rubin
7:30 min 2002
Also available on DVD
In a world hungry for martyrs or heroes, of global corporate culture, pointless elections and ceaseless political strife, there is still a way to use history as a healing force. There is still a personal ability and responsibility to continue to make art—art that moves us beyond helplessness; art that can celebrate the very act of living one more day. This new release from media artist Ann Marie Fleming is a personal response to the events of September 11, 2001.
Award: Best Canadian Short Film, Toronto International Film Festival (2002)
*Please note: For its initial festival release, this film was previously titled Blue Skies.
Subject(s): Film studies, Grief
See also:
Fiction I through R
Fiction S through Z
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