Linda Rabin: Everything Is Moving

A tribute to an astonishing legacy and a rallying cry for a new generation, director Sara Elgamal’s Queen Bee brings the remarkable work of broadcaster, actor, and thinker Dr. Rita Shelton Deverell into focus. Cinematically shot and with striking use of archives, the film features a monologue from Deverell’s one woman play, Smoked Glass Ceiling, and offers an expansive vision for change.

Fernand Dansereau is one of Quebec’s most prolific filmmakers, having produced, directed and written more than sixty documentaries, fiction films and television serial dramas. Over the course of his career, he has helped forge new filmmaking practices such as cinéma de relation and direct cinema. This short film traces a long journey, during which Dansereau has constantly travelled the pathways of creativity, with kindness as his guide, giving voice to people seeking to define the essence of a nation. In the process, it affords the viewer a glimpse into the filmmaker’s own soul.

An intimate glimpse into the life of Cree author, musician, playwright, and storyteller Tomson Highway, who is the 2022 recipient of the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement. Through his warmth and Cree humour Tomson invites us into his home in Gatineau, Quebec, where he shares stories about his parents, reasons for living, and the power of music as a language in and of itself.

Through a duet of poetry and self-reflection, choreographer Crystal Pite finds language to describe the wordless artform of dance. Glimpses into a rehearsal for her acclaimed work Revisor combined with images of natural and industrial forms, mirror the states of tension and connection within the human body.

Michelle Smith is a Franco-Manitoban with a passion for arts and culture who puts her talents and people skills to work for Francophone arts organizations in her province, so that its language and community may endure and thrive.

After an incredible 40-year career, iconic producer and songwriter David Foster has still not achieved EGOT status (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony). But today he’s about to achieve something much greater.

This portrait of choreographer Zab Maboungou provides insight into the meticulous training and physical strength behind one of her pivotal works: Mozongi.

After a lifetime in ballet—and honours including Officer of the Order of Canada, Dance Hall of Fame inductee and now, a Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award —dancer, choreographer and professional breadmaker James Kudelka wonders, “What’s this all about?” Kudelka reflects on his relationship with ballet as a subversive art and an approach to life, examining his artistic practice as it changes in time and form.

This short sensory film explores the internal process of Alexina Louie, whose unique sound has established her as one of Canada’s most performed and highly regarded composers.

Mary Two-Axe Earley: I Am Indian Again shares the powerful story of Mary Two-Axe Earley, who fought for more than two decades to challenge sex discrimination against First Nations women embedded in Canada’s Indian Act and became a key figure in Canada’s women’s rights movement.

Using never-before-seen archival footage and audio recordings, Mohawk filmmaker Courtney Montour engages in a deeply personal conversation with the late Mohawk woman who challenged sexist and genocidal government policies that stripped First Nations women and children of their Indian status when they married non-Indian men.

Montour speaks with Cree activist Nellie Carlson, Mary’s lifelong friend and co-founder of Indian Rights for Indian Women, and meets with three generations in Mary’s kitchen in Kahnawà:ke to honour the legacy of a woman who galvanized a national network of allies to help restore Indian status to thousands of First Nations women and children.

From SCTV and Home Alone to Best in ShowSchitt’s Creek, Catherine O’Hara collaborates with fellow performers throughout her legendary career to take comedy to new heights.