Animation Shorts, 1hr 23m
May not be suitable for very young children.
Showtimes:
Friday February 27th 4pm • 7pm
Tuesday March 3rd 4pm • 7pm
Friday March 13th 4pm • 7pm
Tuesday March 17th 4pm • 7pm
BUTTERFLY (15 minutes), In the sea, a man swims. As he does, memories come to the surface. From his early childhood to his life as a man, all his memories are linked to water. Some are happy, some glorious, some traumatic. This story will be that of his last swim. It will take us from the source to the river - from the waters of childhood pools to those of swimming pools - from a North African country to the shores of the Mediterranean - from Olympic stadiums to water retention basins - from concentration camps to the dream beaches of Reunion.
ÉIRU (1`3 minutes), When the water mysteriously disappears from the well in a warrior clan’s village, an intrepid child descends into the belly of the earth to retrieve it. Éiru is the story of a child in search of a challenge, and a goddess in search of a champion.
FOREVERGREEN (13 minutes), A joyful adventure featuring an orphaned bear cub and a fatherly tree turns serious when the cub is tempted by the allure of easy food. Fire and deadly danger ensue as the cub is left bereft of hope and on the verge of a ruinous end, until the sacrificial love of the tree falls into place.
THE GIRL WHO CRIED PEARLS (17 minutes), In Montreal, at the dawn of the 20th century, a poor boy falls in love with a girl whose sorrow turns into pearls. He sells them to a ruthless pawnbroker, who hungers for more. Tempted by greed, the boy must choose between love and fortune. The choice could damn his soul. From the Oscar-nominated team of Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski (Madame Tutli-Putli), this meticulously crafted film is a testament to the magic of stop-motion animation. With handmade puppets, mesmerizing narration by Colm Feore and a haunting score by Patrick Watson, The Girl Who Cried Pearls is a timeless parable of desire, deception and the price of innocence.
RETIREMENT PLAN (7 minutes), Ray (Domhnall Gleeson) lays out a beautiful life for himself in his retirement plan. He will pursue his curiosities, challenge his limiting beliefs, embrace fear, beauty, even the complexities of wine culture. Ray will check off every box on every list for every interest he ever even half-thought about. He will discover what he loves (Italian red wine), what he hates (camping). He will grow and learn and change rapidly. It’s beautiful and it’s messy and achingly relatable. But Ray is forgetting something. The one thing he treats as flippantly disposable will be the single most rapidly depleting resource of his future self. His healthy-ish, agile enough 40-something-year-old body. Also, actual retirement time is not endless, but guaranteed to be finite.
THE THREE SISTERS (14 minutes) Three sisters live a lonely life on an isolated island, each in their own small house. One day, circumstances develop in such a way that they are forced to rent out one of the houses.
Live Action Shorts, 1hr 59m
Some films in this program contain adult language, adult themes and sensual images. Recommended for persons 17 and up.
Showtimes:
Saturday February 28th at 4pm
Wednesday March 4th 4pm • 7pm
Saturday March 14th at 4pm
Sunday March 15th 4pm • 7pm
BUTCHER’S STAIN (26 minutes) Samir, a Palestinian butcher working at an Israeli supermarket, is accused of tearing down the Israeli hostage posters in the break room. Samir sets out to prove his innocence in order to keep his job he desperately needs.
A FRIEND OF DOROTHY (21 minutes) Dorothy (BAFTA winner Miriam Margolyes) is a lonely widow whose body is failing, but her mind remains as bright as ever. When 17-year-old JJ (Alistair Nwachukwu) accidentally kicks his football into her garden, he upends Dorothy’s daily routine of pills, prunes and crosswords, and an unlikely friendship blossoms. Despite being worlds apart in every way, the two come to find they have more in common than they could ever imagine.
JANE AUSTEN'S PERIOD DRAMA (12 minutes) England, 1813. Miss Estrogenia “Essy” Talbot gets her period during a long-awaited marriage proposal. Mr. Dickley mistakes the blood for an injury and rushes off to fetch a doctor. While he’s gone, Essy’s sisters plead with her not to imperil her engagement by telling Mr. Dickley the truth. But when he returns, Essy barrels ahead, sharing every little bloody detail.
THE SINGERS (18 minutes) The Singers is a short film adaptation of a 19th-century short story written by Ivan Turgenev, in which a lowly pub full of downtrodden patrons connect unexpectedly through an impromptu sing-off. With a cast comprised of viral video singing talents and other one-of-a-kind personalities from the unlikeliest corners of the internet, the film is an experimental docu-musical hybrid crafted like an improvisational play.
TWO PEOPLE EXCHANGING SALIVA (36 minutes) In a society where kissing is punishable by death, and people pay for things by receiving slaps to the face, Angine, an unhappy woman, shops compulsively in a department store. There, she becomes fascinated by a playful salesgirl. Despite the prohibition of kissing, the two become close, raising the suspicions of a jealous colleague.
DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILMS, 2hr 45m
Some films in this program contain graphic war imagery, adult themes and language. Recommended for persons 17 and up.
Showtimes:
Sunday March 1st 4pm • 7pm
Thursday March 6th 4pm • 7pm
Wednesday March 18th 4pm • 7pm
ALL THE EMPTY ROOMS (33 minutes) All the Empty Rooms follows veteran CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman and photographer Lou Bopp as they embark on a seven-year-long project to document the empty bedrooms of children killed in school shootings. Hartman steps away from his heartwarming human interest stories and unbeknownst to his network’s bosses, pursues a piece on absence, memory, and the unseen ripples of America's gun violence epidemic. As these senseless incidents claim more young lives than any other cause
ARMED ONLY WITH A CAMERA: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF BRENT RENAUD (38 minutes) On March 13, 2022, filmmaker Brent Renaud was killed by Russian soldiers – the first American journalist to die while reporting on the war in Ukraine. His younger brother and collaborator, Craig Renaud, recovered Brent’s body and his final recordings from Ukraine and brought them back to their childhood home in Arkansas. As Brent’s journey to his final resting place unfolds, the film chronicles the years he and his brother spent covering some of the world’s most dangerous conflicts. As journalism becomes one of the most dangerous professions in the world, Armed Only With a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud is dedicated to Brent and all the devoted journalists who use their cameras to work for truth and understanding.
CHILDREN NO MORE: "WERE AND ARE GONE" (36 minutes) Children No More: “Were and are Gone” is an observational documentary short about a vigil that began in March 2025, when a handful of women stood silently in a public square in Tel Aviv, each holding a photograph of a child killed in Gaza. On every image: the child’s name, age, date of death, and the words “WAS AND IS NO MORE.” Their stillness is heavy, pressing against the rhythm of ordinary life. Some passersby look away; others respond with denial, sorrow, or rage. Yet week after week, new names are added, new photographs are printed and lifted high. And each week, more people step forward to join this quiet act of protest.
THE DEVIL IS BUSY (31 minutes) The Devil is Busy takes viewers on a daylong journey with Tracii, the determined head of security at a women’s healthcare clinic in Atlanta, Georgia as she works to ensure the safety of women seeking abortions in the face of new restrictions and persistent protests. The film is a clear-eyed portrayal of the shifting landscape for patients and abortion providers in America today, and depicts the complex, day-to-day realities facing those working to provide safe reproductive healthcare to women. The film captures a unique snapshot of reproductive healthcare in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, a shift that has led to abortion bans and significant restrictions in many states.
PERFECTLY A STRANGENESS (15 minutes) In the dazzling incandescence of an unknown desert, three donkeys discover an abandoned astronomical observatory and the universe. A sensorial, cinematic exploration of what a story can be.