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Film Screenings are free for all Festival Passholders, and PWYC for non-passholders. Pre-registration is not required for In-Person or Virtual films.
Registration is required only for Workshops and our Special Event, due to limited capacities. Please register only if you are able to attend.
In-person FILM & Event Guide
Explore FILM Themes
Explore Events
Evening Features
These films highlight one or more core issues and ideas that resonate across the program, and embody the festival’s thematic heartbeat.
FULL FILM COLLECTION GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY:
- Arun Bhattarai, Dorottya Zurbó
- Bhutan
- 2024
- 94 mins
- Sun Jan 26
- 5:00 PM
- Showplace
- In-Person Only
- Captioned
Amber, a happiness agent, travels the Bhutanese Himalayas surveying people's happiness. On his remote mountain journey, he searches for fulfillment.
- Presenting Partner(s): Peterborough Greens
- Sama Pana
- Belgium
- 2024
- 73 mins
- Fri Jan 24
- 7:30 PM
- Showplace
- In-Person Only
- Captioned
- Presenting Partner(s): Watson & Lou, Peterborough Public Library, Take Cover Books Ltd.
- English
- Inspiring
- Katja Esson
- United States
- 2023
- 86 mins
- Sat Jan 25
- 7:30 PM
- Showplace
- Livestreamed Q&A with Katja Esson and Valencia Gunder
Miami is ground-zero for sea-level-rise. When residents of the historic Liberty Square public housing project learn about a $300 million revitalization plan for their neighborhood, which has long suffered from disinvestment, they know that this sudden interest comes from the fact that their neighborhood is located on the highest-and-driest ground in the city. Now they must prepare to fight a new form of racial injustice - Climate Gentrification.
- Presenting Partner(s): The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), Community Race Relations Committee of Peterborough
- English
- Virtual / Hybrid Available
- Neil Diamond, Catherine Bainbridge
- Canada
- 2024
- 104 mins
- Thu Jan 23
- 7:00 PM
- Showplace
- In-Person Only
- Captioned
- Livestreamed Q&A with Catherine Bainbridge and Ernest Webb
Red Fever follows Cree co-director Neil Diamond on his journey to find out why the world is so fascinated with the stereotypical imagery of Native people that is all over pop culture.
Opening Night festivities begin at 6PM with a catered pre-show reception downstairs in Showplace’s Cogeco Studio. At 7PM on the main stage ReFrame and celebrated artist Alice Olsen Williams will officially open the 2025 festival. Following the screening of Red Fever, director Catherine Bainbridge and producer Ernest Webb, co-founders of Rezolution Pictures, will join audiences for a livestreamed Q&A. The evening will end with live musical performances by Missy Knott (Singing Wild Rice Girl) and James Mixemong.
Opening Night brought to you by
- Presenting Partner(s): Kawartha Truth & Reconciliation Support Group
- Cree, English
- Uplifting
- Dan Habib, Samuel Habib
- United States
- 2023
- 96 mins
- Fri Jan 24
- 7:30 PM
- Market Hall
Samuel Habib is a typical 21-year-old, itching to move out, start a career, and find love. But no one tells you how to be an adult, let alone an adult with a disability. Can a community of disability activists help him follow his dreams?
- Presenting Partner(s): Council for Persons with Disabilities
- English
- Uplifting
- Virtual / Hybrid Available
- John English, Tom Garner
- Spain
- 2024
- 90 mins
- Sat Jan 25
- 7:30 PM
- Market Hall
- In-Person Only
- Performance by Dreda Blow
For these dancers, there's no such thing as "can't."
- Presenting Partner(s): Public Energy Performing Arts
- English
- Visually Striking
- Lisa Jackson
- Canada
- 2024
- 96 mins
- Sat Feb 1
- 6:30 PM
- Gzowski College Trent (ENW 114)
- In-Person Only
- Captioned
- Stargazing following the film. Registration required.
- Presenting Partner(s): Trent University Faculty Association, Trent Centre for Aging and Society
- Inspiring
Close to Home
Local filmmakers, voices, subjects, issues, and actions — exploring a wide range of topics that have impact in our own backyards and even reach into our back pockets.
FULL FILM COLLECTION GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY:
- Michael Mabbott, Lucah Rosenberg-Lee
- Canada
- 2024
- 98 mins
- Fri Jan 24
- 2:15 PM
- Showplace
- In-Person Only
- Captioned
- Q&A with Michael Mabbott, and Mike Munn
- Presenting Partner(s): pflag Peterborough
- Inspiring
- Laura Sky, Mustafa Al-Taiar
- Canada
- 2024
- 18 mins
- Sat Jan 25
- 2:15 PM
- Showplace
- In-Person Only
- Q&A with Laura Sky followed by a Panel in the Cogeco Studio
Each Sunday, a diverse group of determined demonstrators in Belleville stand in support the Palestinian People who are suffering and dying under occupation of the state of Israel.
- Presenting Partner(s): Faculty4Palestine-Trent University Chapter, Students4Palestine Trent, Nogojiwanong Palestine Solidarity (N2P), Jews 4 Free Palestine
- English
- Conor DeVries
- Canada
- 2023
- 29 mins
- Fri Jan 24
- 5:00 PM
- Market Hall
- Panel with Conor DeVries and Mike Henry
- Presenting Partner(s): Peterborough Bicycle Advisory Committee (P-BAC), B!KE: The Peterborough Community Bike Shop
- English
- Virtual / Hybrid Available
- Nick van der Graaf
- Canada
- 2024
- 15 mins
- Fri Jan 24
- 5:00 PM
- Market Hall
- Panel with Nick van der Graaf
The tale of an Ontario folk song, and the truth it still tells.
- Presenting Partner(s): Trent Valley Archives
- English
- Quirky
- Virtual / Hybrid Available
- Peter Porta
- Spain
- 2024
- 90 mins
- Sun Jan 26
- 3:00 PM
- Market Hall
The Click Trap exposes the dark side of online advertising: a lucrative
business with a human cost.
- Presenting Partner(s): We Vote CBC - Peterborough, foxpress.design
- English, French
- Virtual / Hybrid Available
- Anne-Marie Jackson
- Canada
- 2023
- 35 mins
- Fri Jan 24
- 5:00 PM
- Market Hall
- Panel with Anne-Marie Jackson, Cathy Dueck, Jacob Rodenburg, Nancy Thomson
The Wild Path Home is a Nogojiwanong / Peterborough-based initiative to raise caring, connected kids through outdoor learning and community.
- Presenting Partner(s): Camp Kawartha, Peterborough Bicycle Advisory Committee (P-BAC), Compass Early Learning and Care, Youth Leadership in Sustainability
- English
- Uplifting
- Virtual / Hybrid Available
- Josiane Blanc
- Canada
- 2024
- 52 mins
- Fri Jan 24
- 10:00 AM
- Showplace
- Q&A with Josiane Blanc and Joze Piranian
After avoiding speaking at all costs for over two decades, Joze Piranian, who has a severe stutter, decides to confront his fears, by travelling back to his home country, Lebanon, and holding the conversations he never dared to have before with his family. He hopes to finally make peace with his stutter and become the man he’s always wanted himself to be.
- Presenting Partner(s): Council for Persons with Disabilities
- Inspiring
- Virtual / Hybrid Available
- Jasmine Liaw
- Canada
- 2023
- 8 mins
- Sat Jan 25
- 10:00 AM
- Market Hall
- Presenting Partner(s): New Canadians Centre
- English
- Visually Striking
- Virtual / Hybrid Available
Film Forward
Dive into the heart of film, where storytelling, history, and the creative process converge in captivating ways. Through archival engagement, behind-the-scenes perspectives, or innovative approaches, these films foreground the act of film and document making.
FULL FILM COLLECTION GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY:
- Janet Harbord
- United Kingdom
- 2023
- 18 mins
- Sat Jan 25
- 10:00 AM
- Market Hall
A film shot in 1957 in at the Maudsley Hospital, London, captures the movements and behaviour of children under observation for atypical behaviour. In the present day, three autistic respondents watch the footage, bringing new and insightful interpretations of the children’s behaviour as they explore the sparse environment of the clinic. Through speculation and identification, with wit and audacity, the responses forge a new soundtrack from an autistic point of view. As the film evolves, it takes on the rhythms and repetitions of the children’s activities, becoming a playful homage to the body language of autism.
- Presenting Partner(s): Trent Valley Archives
- English
- Virtual / Hybrid Available
- Mariam Ghani
- United States
- 2024
- 120 mins
- Sun Jan 26
- 12:00 PM
- Market Hall
- In-Person Only
- Captioned
An archival documentary about the real consequences of how we imagine disease.
- Presenting Partner(s): Artspace
- English
- Kurtis Watson
- Canada
- 2024
- 82 mins
- Sat Jan 25
- 12:00 PM
- Market Hall
- Q&A with Kurtis Watson, Rob Viscardis and Janet Watson
A trove of home video tapes spurs a filmmaker to investigate repressed parts of his past and come to terms with his own identity. A search for the cause of his father’s sudden suicide turns into a cathartic journey of reconnection and healing.
- Presenting Partner(s): CCRC, B!KE: The Peterborough Community Bike Shop
- English
- Virtual / Hybrid Available
- Patricia Franquesa
- Spain
- 2024
- 64 mins
- Sat Jan 25
- 10:00 AM
- Showplace
Trapped in a digital blackmail labyrinth after her computer is stolen, director Pati documents the real-time persecution as a way of survival.
- Presenting Partner(s): foxpress.design
- Spanish
- Visually Striking
- Virtual / Hybrid (Ontario only)
- Hanna Hovitie
- Finland
- 2023
- 17 mins
- Sat Jan 25
- 12:00 PM
- Showplace
A little round film about how to be a circle in a world of squares.
- Presenting Partner(s): Camp Kawartha, Artspace
- Finnish
- Visually Striking
- Virtual / Hybrid Available
- Ilse Moreno
- Canada
- 2024
- 9 mins
- Sat Jan 25
- 10:00 AM
- Market Hall
The Canadian Dream: A poignant glimpse into the harsh realities of migrant farm workers in Canada through one worker's journey and his daughter's perspective
- Presenting Partner(s): Peterborough Federal NDP, La Mesita Restaurante
- Spanish
- Inspiring
- Virtual / Hybrid Available
- Michael Gitlin
- United States
- 2023
- 72 mins
- Sat Jan 25
- 12:00 PM
- Showplace
- In-Person Only
- Captioned
In large and small fragments, through a critical lens that is by turns social and personal, The Night Visitors closely examines moths as aesthetic beings and as carriers of meaning.
- Presenting Partner(s): Paradigm Pictures
- English
- Visually Striking
- Samira Elagoz, Z Walsh
- Netherlands
- 2024
- 13 mins
- Sat Jan 25
- 10:00 AM
- Showplace
- In-Person Only
An intimate slideshow chronicling how two trans masculine artists fall madly in love.
- Presenting Partner(s): Unitarian Fellowship of Peterborough
- English
- Uplifting
Reel Embodiment
Through the intersecting lenses of gender, sexuality, health, ability and race, these films illuminate how we navigate, experience, and challenge the spaces we inhabit.
FULL FILM COLLECTION GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY:
- Wei Zishuo
- China
- 2024
- 15 mins
- Sat Jan 25
- 10:00 AM
- Market Hall
The film conveys the theme of "love" through the life story of a blind-deaf couple. Facing all kinds of dilemmas, the couple maintain each other between light and darkness.
- Presenting Partner(s): Council for Persons with Disabilities
- Sarah Grant
- United Kingdom
- 2023
- 14 mins
- Sat Jan 25
- 7:30 PM
- Market Hall
- Performance by Dreda Blow
Exploring the joy of dance in pop culture, reimagined through fatness.
- Presenting Partner(s): Public Energy Performing Arts
- English
- Inspiring
- Virtual / Hybrid Available
- Kristine Nrecaj, Birthe Templin
- Germany
- 2024
- 87 mins
- Sat Jan 25
- 2:15 PM
- Market Hall
House with a Voice is about six women in a patriarchal society, about six different life stories and one mutual decision: giving up femininity and living as men to gain a voice, to experience personal freedom and to fight for equality. To be a real Burrnesha.
- Presenting Partner(s): Trent Centre for Aging and Society
- Albanian, English
- Virtual / Hybrid Available
- Sabrine Keane, Kate Dumke
- United States
- 2024
- 81 mins
- Sun Jan 26
- 10:00 AM
- Showplace
- In-Person Only
- Captioned
Preconceived explores the pervasive presence of crisis pregnancy centers throughout the US, and their role in furthering the anti-abortion movement.
- Presenting Partner(s): OPIRG Peterborough
- English
- Panu Suuronen
- Finland
- 2024
- 83 mins
- Sat Jan 25
- 5:00 PM
- Market Hall
- Presenting Partner(s): 4th Line Theatre
- English, Finnish
- Quirky
- Virtual / Hybrid Available
- Kimberly Reed
- United States
- 2024
- 15 mins
- Fri Jan 24
- 12:00 PM
- Showplace
- In-Person Only
- Captioned
- Presenting Partner(s): OSSTF - District 14, pflag Peterborough
- English
- Inspiring
- Jen Markowitz
- Canada
- 2023
- 80 mins
- Fri Jan 24
- 12:00 PM
- Showplace
- In-Person Only
- Captioned
Summer Qamp is a documentary following a group of LGBTQ+ youth at an idyllic lakeside camp in Alberta. The campers enjoy the traditional summer camp experience in a safe, affirming environment.
- Presenting Partner(s): OSSTF - District 14, Compass Early Learning and Care
- English
- Uplifting
- Sheila Nevins, Trish Adlesic, Nazenet Habtezghi
- United States
- 2023
- 27 mins
- Fri Jan 24
- 7:30 PM
- Showplace
- In-Person Only
- Captioned
- Presenting Partner(s): Take Cover Books Ltd., Peterborough Public Library
- English
- Inspiring
Rooted & Rising
Stories of innovation and resilience that highlight how we can live in partnership with the natural world.
FULL FILM COLLECTION GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY:
- Richard Mejeh
- United Kingdom
- 2024
- 25 mins
- Sat Jan 25
- 10:00 AM
- Market Hall
- In-Person Only
In London, a city farmer battles to preserve her community’s green sanctuary in the face of soaring costs of living.
- Presenting Partner(s): GreenUP
- Robyn Adams
- Canada
- 2024
- 3 mins
- Fri Jan 24
- 2:15 PM
- Market Hall
A short film highlighting Indigenous beadwork, prairie landscapes and relationship to the land.
- Presenting Partner(s): Kawartha Land Trust (KLT), OPIRG Peterborough
- English
- Virtual / Hybrid Available
- Tasha Hubbard
- Canada
- 2024
- 98 mins
- Sun Jan 26
- 12:00 PM
- Showplace
Richly visualised and deeply uplifting, Singing Back the Buffalo is an epic reimagining of North America through the lens of buffalo consciousness and a potent dream of what is within our grasp.
- Presenting Partner(s): TRACKS Youth Program, Unitarian Fellowship of Peterborough
- English
- Uplifting
- Virtual / Hybrid Available
- Jalena Keane-Lee
- United States
- 2023
- 82 mins
- Fri Jan 24
- 2:15 PM
- Market Hall
- Pre-recorded interview with Jalena Keane-Lee and Pua Case
When the massive Thirty Meter Telescope is proposed to be built on Mauna Kea, an uprising of kiaʻi (protectors) in Hawaiʻi and around the world dedicate their lives to protecting the sacred mountain from destruction. Through the lens of mothers and daughters in three Native Hawaiian families, Standing Above the Clouds explores intergenerational healing and the impacts of safeguarding cultural traditions.
- Presenting Partner(s): KWIC, Kawartha Land Trust (KLT)
- English, Hawaiian
- Inspiring
- Virtual / Hybrid Available
- Ben Judkins
- United States
- 2024
- 93 mins
- Fri Jan 24
- 5:00 PM
- Showplace
- In-Person Only
- Captioned
- Livestreamed Q&A with Benjamin Judkins
- Presenting Partner(s): Confederation of the Sisters of St. Joseph - Blue Community, Straworks Inc.
- English
- Quirky
- Rodney Fuentes
- Canada
- 2024
- 54 mins
- Fri Jan 24
- 10:00 AM
- Market Hall
- In-Person Only
- Q&A with Rodney Fuentes and Carlota James
A cross-continental run to save monarch butterflies.
- Presenting Partner(s): School for the Study of Canada / École d'études canadiennes, Trent University, GreenUP, Youth Leadership in Sustainability
- Uplifting
- Uapukun Mestokosho McKenzie
- Canada
- 2023
- 5 mins
- Sun Jan 26
- 12:00 PM
- Showplace
- In-Person Only
- Captioned
- Presenting Partner(s): Confederation of the Sisters of St. Joseph - Blue Community, School for the Study of Canada / École d'études canadiennes, Trent University
- French
- Diego Rotmistrovsky
- Argentina
- 2024
- 4 mins
- Fri Jan 24
- 5:00 PM
- Showplace
In Edinburgh’s Toy Hospital, a "toy doctor" brings childhood memories back to life, restoring beloved, worn-out toys with care and dedication.
- Presenting Partner(s): Watson & Lou
- English
- Quirky
- Virtual / Hybrid Available
Place & Identity
A country, a culture, a home… These films investigate the many complexities of how we shape — and are shaped by — where we’ve been and where we are today.
FULL FILM COLLECTION GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY:
- Signe Rosenlund-Hauglid
- Norway
- 2023
- 11 mins
- Sat Jan 25
- 7:30 PM
- Showplace
- In-Person Only
- Captioned
A poet uses her voice to excavate the lost home of her childhood.
- Presenting Partner(s): OPIRG Peterborough
- Norwegian
- Quirky
- Mette Carla Albrechtsen
- Denmark
- 2024
- 80 mins
- Sun Jan 26
- 10:00 AM
- Market Hall
- Pre-recorded interview with Mette Carla Albrechtsen
In colorful, sunkissed postcards, A Place in The Sun invites you to join the wonderful and melancholic backstage world of a classic Charter holiday.
- Presenting Partner(s): La Mesita Restaurante
- Arabic, Danish, English, French, German, Russian, Spanish, Ukrainian
- Quirky
- Virtual / Hybrid Available
- Alisi Telengut
- Canada
- 2023
- 9 mins
- Fri Jan 24
- 2:15 PM
- Market Hall
The formation of Lake Baikal is reimagined with the voice of the Indigenous Buryat language.
- Presenting Partner(s): Kawartha Land Trust (KLT), Camp Kawartha
- Mongolian
- Visually Striking
- Virtual / Hybrid Available
- Laissa Malih
- Kenya
- 2024
- 16 mins
- Sat Jan 25
- 5:00 PM
- Showplace
- In-Person Only
- Captioned
Laissa Malih — the first female Maasai filmmaker — returns to the community her parents left in this deeply personal look at how the lands of her forefathers are being reshaped by climate change.
- Presenting Partner(s): Community Race Relations Committee of Peterborough
- Inspiring
- Jakob Ossmann
- Germany
- 2024
- 4 mins
- Sat Jan 25
- 2:15 PM
- Showplace
- In-Person Only
- Captioned
- Panel in the Cogeco Studio
What would my dead nazi grandpa say about Gaza today?
- Presenting Partner(s): Faculty4Palestine-Trent University Chapter, Students4Palestine Trent, Nogojiwanong Palestine Solidarity (N2P), Jews 4 Free Palestine
- German
- Yvonne Sung
- Canada
- 2023
- 15 mins
- Sat Jan 25
- 5:00 PM
- Showplace
- In-Person Only
Hello Anson is about Anson Ng, a chef-turned-contemporary artist in Toronto.
- Presenting Partner(s): Community Race Relations Committee of Peterborough
- English
- Uplifting
- Chadi Bennani
- Canada
- 2023
- 19 mins
- Sat Jan 25
- 5:00 PM
- Showplace
- In-Person Only
- Captioned
- Presenting Partner(s): Community Race Relations Committee of Peterborough
- Arabic, French
- Marta Smerechynska
- Hungary
- 2024
- 14 mins
- Fri Jan 24
- 12:00 PM
- Market Hall
It's Maria from Kyiv. Seeking a female roommate in downtown Budapest! Cozy apartment, shared bathroom, close to amenities. Rent: 400€ + bills. Drop by to check out:)
- Presenting Partner(s): Amnesty International Peterborough
- English, Ukrainian
- Virtual / Hybrid Available
- Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Bilal
- Norway
- 2024
- 95 mins
- Sat Jan 25
- 2:15 PM
- Showplace
- In-Person Only
- Captioned
- Panel in the Cogeco Studio
For half a decade, Basel Adra, a Palestinian activist, films his community of Masafer Yatta being destroyed by Israel's occupation, as he builds an unlikely alliance with an Israeli journalist who wants to join his fight.
- Presenting Partner(s): Faculty4Palestine-Trent University Chapter, Students4Palestine Trent, Nogojiwanong Palestine Solidarity (N2P), Jews 4 Free Palestine
- Agnieszka Zwiefka
- Poland
- 2024
- 84 mins
- Fri Jan 24
- 12:00 PM
- Market Hall
After her mom's tragic death on the Polish-Belarusian border, 16-year-old Kurdish girl Runa has to become a mother for her 4 younger brothers. A partially animated coming-of-age story in the times of a global refugee crisis.
- Presenting Partner(s): Amnesty International Peterborough
- Polish
- Virtual / Hybrid Available
- Pamela Hogan
- United States
- 2024
- 71 mins
- Sun Jan 26
- 3:00 PM
- Showplace
When 90% of the women of Iceland walked off the job and out of their homes one fall morning in 1975 refusing to work, cook, or take care of the children, they brought their country to a standstill and catapulted Iceland to the “best place in the world to be a woman.”
- Presenting Partner(s): OPSEU Local 352 - Fleming Faculty Union
- Uplifting
- Virtual / Hybrid Available
- Suzanne Crocker
- Canada
- 2024
- 26 mins
- Sat Jan 25
- 5:00 PM
- Showplace
- In-Person Only
- Captioned
- Pre-recorded interview with Suzanne Crocker
New immigrants leave big cities and hot climates to live in a tiny, remote community in Northern Canada. This is a story about fitting in, finding connections, and the magic that happens when different worlds come together.
- Presenting Partner(s): Community Race Relations Committee of Peterborough
- English
- Inspiring
Installation, Panels, Performance & Workshops
Attendance to all installations, panels, performances, workshops and special events is free for all Festival Passholders.
For Workshops and our Special Event, registration is required. Due to limited capacities, please only register if you are able to attend. Please ensure you are logged in with your Festival Pass when you click “Order Tickets” to have your passholder discount applied.
- Fri Jan 24
- 5:00 PM
- ReFrame Virtual Theatre
- Sat Jan 25
- 4:45 PM
- ReFrame Virtual Theatre
- Wed Jan 29
- 7:00 PM
- ReFrame Virtual Theatre
- Thu Jan 30
- 1:00 PM
- Artspace / ReFrame Virtual Theatre
- Sat Feb 1
- 5:30 PM
- Gzowski College