SURVIVAL PRAYER

USA/Canada | Dir: Benjamin Greené

Related Links: Trailer | Director’s Website

International Premiere

Sat. Oct 6, 6:00 pm, Granville 5
Mon. Oct 8, 2:45 pm, Granville 5

As Haida Gwaii’s residents gather and prepare food for the winter, Benjamin Greené celebrates their sacred relationship with the land and praises their vital environmental stewardship. Rhythmic and sensitive, Greené’s film gradually assumes the form of a ceremonial prayer: poetic, lilting and magical. With Nangchen Shorts, three new short films by Bari Pearlman documenting life in Tibet—at elevation 14,000 feet.

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CANÍCULA

Mexico | Dir: Jose Álvarez

Related Links: Trailer | Facebook

Sun. Oct 7, 9:30 pm, Cinematheque
Wed. Oct 10, 4:00 pm, Cinematheque

A gorgeous and captivating overview of the crafts and rituals of the Totonac people in Veracruz's Zapotal Santa Cruz community. Among the year's loveliest nonfiction entries... This tapestry of sights and sounds allows audiences to take notice of a proud, long-ignored tribal group whose cultural roots remain firmly intact.—Variety. Winner, FIPRESCI prize, Thessaloniki 2012.

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CHARLIE ZONE

Canada | Dir: Michael Melski

Related Links: Official Website | Trailer

Wed. Oct 10, 6:00 pm, Granville 5
Fri. Oct 12, 11:30 am, Granville 5

A dockworker and part-time pro street fighter is contracted to rescue a drug addict from her life of degradation. His actions will unleash murder, torture and betrayal in director Michael Melski’s gripping Halifax crime drama.

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THE ETHNOGRAPHER

(El etnógrafo)

Argentina | Dir: Ulises Rosell

Related Links: Trailer | Official Website

North American Premiere

Thu. Oct 4, 9:00 pm, Vancity
Wed. Oct 10, 11:00 am, Vancity

John Hillary Palmer is an upper-class English anthropologist who went to live and work among the Wichí people of Argentina, and ended up an outspoken defender of their vanishing way of life. Ulises Rosell fashions an intimate look at the man and the culture. "Delicate, hushed and sensitive in every respect, this documentary beguiles with its low-key approach to fascinating material…"—Hollywood Reporter

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HEART OF SKY, HEART OF EARTH

(Herz des Himmels, Herz der Erde)

Germany/USA/Guatemala | Dir: Frauke Sandig, Eric Black

Related Links: Official Website | Trailer

North American Premiere

Mon. Oct 1, 6:00 pm, Granville 4
Wed. Oct 3, 3:30 pm, Granville 1

The location of the world’s largest—and possibly toxic—gold-mine pit, Guatemala is also the homeland of the Maya and their decidedly holistic cosmology. Frauke Sandig and Eric Black’s kaleidoscopically beautiful documentary follows the daily and ceremonial lives of six articulate young Maya as they struggle to maintain their way of life.

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ART FOR AN OIL-FREE COAST

Canada | Dir: Cameron Denison

Related Links: Trailer | Take Action

World Premiere

Wed. Oct 3, 6:30 pm, Granville 7
Mon. Oct 8, 10:30 am, Granville 7
Fri. Oct 12, 4:00 pm, Vancity

On an expedition organized by the Raincoast Conservation Foundation, 50 artists banded together to protest the Northern Gateway project—proposed by Enbridge and its international partners—by taking up paintbrushes and carving tools to create works depicting the fragility of our western coastline. Cameron Denison captures this inspiring act of social and artistic protest.

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BEAUTY

(Nosilatiaj—la belleza)

Argentina | Dir: Daniela Seggiaro

Related Links: Trailer | Official Website

Canadian Premiere

Fri. Oct 5, 6:15 pm, Granville 5
Tue. Oct 9, 12:00 pm, Granville 4

While slaving as a maid for an inconsiderate family, a Wichí teenager is cajoled into betraying her indigenous people’s beliefs. Daniela Seggiaro’s debut feature "poses as a small-scale domestic drama but contains a subtle yet harsh critique of Argentineans’ ignorance and dismissal of the marginalized Wichí people."—Variety

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WE WERE CHILDREN

Canada | Dir: Timothy Wolochatiuk

World Premiere

Tue. Oct 2, 9:15 pm, Granville 4
Wed. Oct 3, 10:45 am, Cinematheque

Timothy Wolochatiuk’s film explores not just the individual experiences of children forced into Aboriginal residential schools but also the impact that the schools have had on the lives of survivors and Aboriginals as a whole.

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XINGU

Brazil | Dir: Cao Hamburger

Related Links: Official Website | Trailer

Tue. Oct 9, 2:00 pm, Granville 7
Fri. Oct 12, 6:45 pm, Granville 7

Recounting the origins of Brazil’s immense Xingu National Park, Cao Hamburger’s breathtaking epic charts two key journeys in the lives of the renowned Villas-Bôas brothers: their bold trek to the remote central Amazon in 1943 and subsequent transformation from callow adventurers to passionate activists for indigenous people’s rights. "Compulsive viewing."—Screen Daily

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