Festival Screenings

Content advisory: This film contains brief coarse language, brief sexual reference, and brief drug reference.

Since her first appearance in L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1900, Dorothy Gale has enchanted generations with her courage, curiosity and determined search for home. What is it about her story that still feels so relatable, especially to those whose experiences aren’t always centred? It’s Dorothy! invites audiences on a dazzling journey through Dorothy’s enduring cultural legacy, tracing her profound impact on women, folks of colour, and LGBTQ+ communities. The film weaves a poignant portrait of Judy Garland’s life and her connection to those who see themselves in Dorothy, blending mesmerizing archival footage from Garland’s career and the classic 1939 musical film The Wizard of Oz with insights from contemporary voices including Ashanti, Margaret Cho, Lena Waithe and John Waters. At once fantastical and deeply human, It’s Dorothy! reminds us that through self-love, the celebration of imagination, and the radical power of belonging, there truly is no place like home. Simone Estrin

Content advisory: This film contains brief imagery and sounds of gunfire, and brief imagery of wounded individual. No graphic violence.

On a warm summer evening, Nekai Foster set out to walk home alone from a game of basketball in Toronto's Jane and Finch neighbourhood, just as he had done so many times before. Without warning, the innocent 16-year-old found himself in the crossfire of a random shooting. Shot in the head, Nekai spent the following year defying medical odds to learn to walk again. With his mother and sister by his side, the headstrong, charming teen also becomes an advocate for anti-gun violence, soon speaking at city-wide rallies. Through Nekai's story and Toronto activists advocating for safer streets, we see firsthand the toll senseless violence takes on individuals, families and the community at large. A sobering film that leaves us not with easy answers, but with an urgent call for empathy, accountability and change. Aisha Jamal

What's in a name? For the Tla'amin Nation in British Columbia, the answer is: a lot. For them, language is intertwined with landscape and names are a foundational part of a connection to the land. To address this, in May 2021, the Tla'amin asked for a significant change from the city council of Powell River, which is named after Israel Wood Powell, one of the architects of residential schools and the ban on the Potlatch. The Tla'amin instead proposed the name qathet, meaning “working together,” to focus on a more collaborative approach. This puts the city and its inhabitants’ views on, and commitment to, reconciliation to the test. Using animated Tla’amin oral storytelling, observational footage of heated community meetings, and insightful sit-down interviews, this thought-provoking film offers a discussion that should resonate with us all, as the call to rename places, landmarks and institutions is accelerating across communities. Aisha Jamal

Content advisory: This film contains brief sounds of wartime violence and gunfire, brief imagery of war, audio descriptions of violence. No graphic violence.

Palestinian couple Manar and Milad run House of Hope, the West Bank’s only Waldorf school. Here, every day starts in a circle as the students pledge to be non-violent and peaceful people. The daily prayer ends with the resonant words of Martin Luther King, expressing the dream to live in a nation where they “will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.” As the State of Israel’s continued genocide of the Palestinian people intensifies and settler violence escalates in the West Bank, the prayer becomes a difficult philosophy to uphold. For Manar, the current conflict deepens the urgency of the school’s work, even as she acknowledges the personal toll of having lived her entire life under Israeli occupation. An inspiring school that has much to teach about true empathy, universal rights and the persistence of hope. Aisha Jamal

Content advisory: This film contains brief coarse language and brief drug reference.

Dwarfing the soaring skyscrapers that surround it, the CN Tower has defined Toronto’s skyline and held the record for world’s tallest free-standing structure for more than half of its existence. Ambitiously erected as a transmission tower to broadcast Toronto’s ever-evolving identity far beyond city limits, its impact exceeded its practical purpose. Annually, the 553.33-metre-tall beacon on the waterfront welcomes nearly two million visitors seeking a bird’s eye view over a burgeoning metropolis that has transformed from a blue-collar city into a cultural force in sports and music. Host to many stunts and the inspiration for Drake’s meme-worthy album cover for “Views,” it’s hard to imagine Canada’s largest city without this concrete wonder. Mixing archival footage with new interviews with the tower’s innovative engineers and many Toronto notables, this 50th-anniversary celebration beams with civic pride and connects this singular structure to many of the 6ix’s defining moments over the past half-century. Alexander Rogalski