Shorts Programme

Friday, May 4

9 pm

Several compelling gems – each plucked form a vastly different time, place and circumstance. Short and sweet and to the point.

Journey Women – Reflections on the Survival Sex Trade
Director: Jen Fisher
2006 – 45 minutes
Canada
Distributor: Video Out

This documentary chronicles the lives and stories of a group of women who are currently in and out of street level sex work from Vancouver’s downtown Eastside. Part of a landmark multi-year support and education project, Journey Women: Reflections on the Survival Sex trade challenges the stereotypes about surviving sex work and illuminates the complexities and realities of women’s lives.

Harvest Queens
Director: Julia Nunes
2005 - Minutes: 28
Distributor: NFB

Each year farming communities across Canada celebrate the harvest with a traditional fall fair. In the Northern Ontario town of New Liskeard, nothing packs a crowd like the Harvest Queen pageant – a ritual that’s been attracting town girls for generations.
Harvest Queens, by filmmakers Julia Nunes and Janis Hass, paints an uplifting portrait of three exceptional young women – from very different backgrounds – as they form unlikely bonds during the run-up pageant.

By going behind the sashes and smiles and revealing the real-life drama off-stage, harvest Queens flips the traditional notion of a beauty pageant on its head.

Sense of Urgency
Director: Grace Salez
2005 Minutes: 6
Distributor: Grace Salez

An intimate and moving experimental film that has a woman reflect on the meaning of middle age anxiety and fear of becoming a bag lady!

A Video
Director: Jihee Min
2005 - Minutes: 1:36
Distributor: Jihee Min

I am female and Asian, living in a multicultural society. As visual identity is most associated with face, my social identity has always been defined by the differences in my visual representation when compared to other Caucasian Canadians. This short video is my response to the struggle of assimilation, of identifying a persona in our societal framework.

Winter Sea
Director: Erika Tasini
2004 - Minutes: 25
Distributor: Erika Tasini

A brother and sister’s intimate relationship is threatened when an unexpected guest shows up for dinner at their eccentric mother’s house.