2020 NWF & RVFF Festival - Canadian Film Roster
We will be announcing the full 2020 lineup for both festivals on September 16th. Until then, we are pleased to announce our slate of Canadian films, starting with our highly-anticipated Opening Night film SpiderMable, a real-life superhero story! Filmmaker Kelly Wolfert has spent five years following the incredible journey of a pint-sized superhero whose story took Edmonton, and the world, by storm. He's delivered an emotional and inspiring portrait of a young lady whose story is exactly the tonic we need in these troubled times. SpiderMable will open the festival on Thursday, November 5th, at the Metro Cinema in the Garneau Theatre.
credit: Karey Wood Photography & Design
SPIDERMABLE - a real life superhero story
Directed by Kelly Wolfert (Opening Night Film) | 106 min | Canada
SpiderMable - a real life superhero story is a feature-length documentary following the life of young Mable Tooke, who started her cancer battle at the early age of 4. In most cases the trauma and toxic treatments would damage a child and make them weak, reclusive, and resentful —or even worse, cause them to perish. But for Mable, her battle brought about a need to create an alter-ego determined to fight her biggest villain... Leukemia.
PANDORA'S BOX
Directed by Rebeca Snow | 75 min | Canada
For generations, women have been shamed, ostracized, and silenced because they menstruate —a natural bodily function that half the world's population experiences. This age-old discrimination is a central issue in the struggle for gender equality. Pandora's Box unmasks the global pandemic of menstrual inequity, pulling back the veil on centuries of mistreatment. As movements like #MeToo and #TimesUp dominate the mainstream, there has never been a better time to turn up the volume on women's voices.
OPEN YOUR MOUTH AND SAy... MR. CHI PIG
Directed by Sean Shaul | 97 min | Canada
Last year, filmmaker Sean Shaul helped us close NorthwestFest with his crowd-pleasing Uwe Boll documentary. This year, Sean returns home for a special screening of his very first film as we raise one final toast to Edmonton's legendary SNFU frontman, Chi Pig.
EDDY'S KINGDOM
Directed by Greg Crompton | 85 min | Canada
With a direct connection to Edmonton, the truly stranger-than-fiction new film Eddy's Kingdom is the story of Canada's first terrorist, Eddy Haymour. Eddy's search for justice led him to take hostages, threaten letter bombs, and plan attacks on the government, losing his family and his sanity in the process.
NO VISIBLE TRAUMA
Directed by Robinder Uppal & Marc Serpa Francoeur | 95 min | Canada
In the midst of a global uprising against police brutality and systemic racism, No Visible Trauma is perhaps the most timely film screening at this year's festival, and it just happens to take place right in our own backyard. Despite relatively low crime rates, recent years have seen the Calgary Police Service shoot and kill more people than officers in any other Canadian city, and more than either the New York or Chicago police departments in 2018. Five years in the making, this powerful film examines a deeply troubled police department and reveals the devastating consequences of unchecked police brutality.
FIRST WE EAT
Directed by Suzanne Crocker | 101 min | Canada
The director of NWF’s 2014 Audience Award winner All the Time in the World is back with another audience-pleasing documentary about sustainable living. At the film’s 2020 Hot Docs world premiere (where it finished in the top 5 in audience voting), First We Eat: Food Security North of 60 celebrates the ingenuity, resourcefulness & knowledge of Northern Canadians and their relationship to the land. The award-winning filmmaker and retired family doctor set out to feed her family with food that is 100% local to her community of Dawson City, Yukon - for one full year.
THE WORLD IS BRIGHT
Directed by Ying Wang | 115 min | Canada
When an elderly Beijing couple receives notice that their only son has allegedly committed suicide and has been buried on Canadian soil, they travel to Vancouver to investigate the mysterious circumstances of his death. Made over the course of ten years, Wang’s docu-thriller guides the viewer down a rabbit hole of mental illness, bureaucracy, and the vulnerability immigrants can face without cultural coping mechanisms.
SEX, SIN, & 69
Directed by Sarah Fodey | 75 min | Canada
Director Sarah Fodey previously wowed Rainbow Visions audiences with her 2018 documentary The Fruit Machine, and now turns the spotlight on Canada's landmark 1969 legislation to decriminalize homosexuality. Told through contemporary voices including queer academics, historians, activists, educators, artists, and community builders, the film attempts to challenge our understanding of queer history by shining a light on widely adopted misconceptions surrounding decriminalization.