2024Festival

2024 Regent Park Film Festival

Shorts - Through Kin and Self

Dec 1 2:00 pm to 3:40 pm
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Location: Ada Slaight Hall in Daniels Spectrum | 585 Dundas Street East

 

The works in this short program witness the complex natures of our relations through an exploration of family and kinship. These films reflect on the impact of systemic and religious barriers while uncovering how relationships are archived, evolved, and redefined over time.

The River

  • Year: 2024
  • Country: Ethiopia
  • Language: In Amharic with English subtitles
  • Length: 17 m
  • Watch Trailer

THE RIVER pays homage to culture and the experiences of women through the lens of Ethiopia, drawing inspiration from the director’s childhood home of Kebena. The film not only celebrates the art of beauty, but also highlights the systemic barriers women face in the context of forced marriage, education, and water access.

CANADIAN PREMIERE

Directed by

Herrana Addisu is a multi-disciplinary artist, film director, and social impact strategist passionate about community organising and visual storytelling. Her family’s journey to the United States and her personal experience growing up in Ethiopia and immigrating to the U.S. have shaped her career in human rights. She works to uplift marginalised communities through advocacy initiatives, research, and programming.

After Sunday

  • Year: 2024
  • Genre: Drama
  • Country: Canada
  • Language: English & Yoruba with English subtitles
  • Length: 16 m
  • Advisory: Thematic depictions of religious trauma

In Omolola Ajao’s enthralling story of the ghosts of migration, a young woman takes a hard look into her family’s past and exposes difficult truths beneath the surface of her African Canadian church community.

Directed by

Omolola Ajao (b. Guyana) is an artist working within the expansive structures of film, video, and play. Her work was (and continues to be) unsettled by the worlds of gesture and sociality. Her films have screened at Toronto International Film Festival, Indie Memphis, and more. She holds a Masters of Visual Studies from the University of Toronto.

Don’t Forget Me

  • Year: 2023
  • Genre: Drama
  • Country: Canada
  • Language: In English and Mandarin with English subtitles
  • Length: 19 m

After discovering her recently deceased grandmother’s secret love letters, a Chinese-Canadian millennial and her girlfriend try to track down the recipient to deliver her grandmother’s last letter.

Directed by

Alice Wang

Alice Wang is a former psych student, casual beatboxer, and life-long soccer player turned filmmaker and film programmer based in Toronto. As a creative, Alice creates short and long-form narratives about loss, acceptance, and belonging with nuanced perspectives on family dynamics and self-actualization.

Director will be in attendance

Remembering Me

  • Year: 2023
  • Genre: Documentary
  • Country: Canada
  • Language: English
  • Length: 9 m
  • Watch Trailer

Twenty years ago, filmmaker Abigail Whitney’s mother bought a camcorder and began filming her family’s life; now, two decades later, Whitney has digitised these tapes for the first time. Through never-before-seen family footage, Whitney and her mom trace their forgotten memories.

Directed by

Abigail Whitney is an internationally acclaimed model, actor, and award-winning theatre and film director and producer. Whitney’s previous works include her role as the producer and director of the first Canadian adaptation of the classic Haitian play THE NOOSE, which premiered at 2024’s Toronto Fringe Festival, as well as the short film SEULE (2021).

  • Year: 2023
  • Genre: Documentary
  • Country: Canada
  • Language: English
  • Length: 19 m

Amidst the uncertainty of the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, filmmaker Jamal Burger took in his little sisters while their mother, already facing her own hardships, had to continue on as an essential worker. With schools closed, what Jamal initially thought would be a simple experience in homeschooling his siblings became an impactful life lesson.

WORLD PREMIERE

Directed by

Jamal Burger

Jamal Burger is a Toronto-based filmmaker and photographer whose work is grounded in a philosophy of fostering connection through shared vulnerability. His authentic approach goes beyond mere observation; he connects intimately with his subjects, offering insights and reflections that invite viewers to engage in meaningful introspection.

Talkback

Speakers

Join us after the shorts for a talkback with directors Jamal Burger and Alice Wang as well as dramaturg Rosena Joseph.

Speakers and panelists

Director

Jamal Burger is a Toronto-based filmmaker and photographer whose work is grounded in a philosophy of fostering connection through shared vulnerability. His authentic approach goes beyond mere observation; he connects intimately with his subjects, offering insights and reflections that invite viewers to engage in meaningful introspection.

Director

Alice Wang is a former psych student, casual beatboxer, and life-long soccer player turned filmmaker and film programmer based in Toronto. As a creative, Alice creates short and long-form narratives about loss, acceptance, and belonging with nuanced perspectives on family dynamics and self-actualization.

Cast

Rosena Joseph is a dramaturg, artist, and community worker who is trilingual in English, French, and Haitian Creole. She has used her expertise in these languages as a Language Coach on the hit Netflix series GRAND ARMY (2020) and recently on the play, THE NOOSE, directed by Abigail Whitney.

Director

Herrana Addisu is a multi-disciplinary artist, film director, and social impact strategist passionate about community organising and visual storytelling. Her family’s journey to the United States and her personal experience growing up in Ethiopia and immigrating to the U.S. have shaped her career in human rights. She works to uplift marginalised communities through advocacy initiatives, research, and programming.

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Thank you to our Co-presenters and Community Partners!

Co-presenters