Special mention of the Best Documentary Short Film Award

A young Indigenous environmental leader, activist, poet, and first-time filmmaker, Kayah George “Halth-Leah” proudly carries the teachings of her Tulalip and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. She has worked with several environmental organizations to build capacity for an Indigenous-led divestment movement.

After finding community on a rugby team in Munich, Jamaican-born Desmond tackles life by embracing his identity.

It is the last day of the year and night falls on the small town of Toyama, Japan. A man who has come to the public baths to retrieve a forgotten object finds an old but valid ticket and lets himself be tempted. Among clouds of vapor and the gestures and conversations around him, a simple bath slowly becomes an invitation to existential reflection.

In 1979, the Pacific Club was opened in the basement of La Défense—the business district of Paris. It was the first nightclub for Arabs from the suburbs; a parallel world of dance, sweat, young loves, and one-night utopias. Azedine, 17 years old at the time, tells us the forgotten story of this club and of this generation who dreamed of becoming part of France, but who soon came face to face with racism, the AIDS epidemic, and heroin.

Every Sunday, Hudson returns to Park Extension to see his father. Along the way, he runs into his childhood friend, Baki. Together, they wander their old stomping grounds, just like when they were kids. As they walk, Hudson reminisces about how the neighbourhood shaped who he has become.

Ruben (11), Mia (6), and their mother live in a suburb outside Bergen, Norway. In the midst of hopelessness and everyday poverty, the desire for normalcy leads to a fateful shopping trip and a surprising theft.

2022. One morning, the police defines a security perimeter on the edge of a lake, in front of the family house where Louison came for the holidays. Weapons from the Second World War have been detected by divers. Louison’s grandmother could be complicit…

In an ocean full of big, bad fish, the pufferfish is trying to seem as big and strong as possible.

In Preoperational Model, anthropomorphic princess Sophie and her maid Jessica prepare for a new day at the royal court. Sophie's struggle to play her role propels the two protagonists forward and backward in time, through worlds and identities to find a way to live together.

The audition process for an exploitative game show becomes the latest test of a long-suffering mother’s fortitude and tenacity in Sonny Calvento’s bold satire.