ReFrame Film Festival organizers have shared a first look at eight of the films coming to the 2024 documentary film festival, which takes place both in person in Peterborough and online across Canada from January 25 to February 4.
A full program will be released in early January of more than 60 films screening at the 20th anniversary festivals, which runs in person from January 25 to 28 in downtown Peterborough and streams online from January 29 to February 4.
To accommodate the in-person and virtual components of the festival, there are three festival pass options on sale now at reframefilmfestival.ca. They include a $125 all-access hybrid pass for both the in-person and virtual components of the festival, a $100 all-access in-person pass, and a $50 all-access virtual pass (offering a reduced online selection of the same films screened during the in-person component).
Tickets are also available for $25 (or pay what you can) for the festival’s opening night at 7 p.m. on Thursday, January 25th at Showplace Performance Centre which, along with special guests and live performances, features a screening of the 2023 Canadian documentary Boil Alert directed by Stevie Salas and James Burns — a film you will want to see in person as it will not be available as part of the virtual festival (opening night tickets must be purchased separately from passes).
Premiering at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival this past September, Boil Alert profiles Indigenous artist and activist Layla Staats as she investigates and campaigns around issues of unsafe and unclean water supply in Indigenous communities in both Canada and the United States. In Canada alone, there are 32 long-term boil-water advisories in 28 communities throughout the country.
Boil Alert launches with a dramatic recreation of Staats’s life, including her personal struggles and reconnection with relatives and her Haudenosaunee roots. After she learns about the impacts of boil-water advisories, water toxicity, and environmental damage on Indigenous communities, she travels to places like Neskantaga First Nation, a remote Oji-Cree community in northern Ontario that is only accessible via plane, speaking to community members who have never had clean drinkable water in their lifetimes.
VIDEO: “Boil Alert” trailer
Staats visits a Navajo nation in the United States whose lands and water have been polluted by uranium mines. She also tracks the journey of the bottled water that is the current solution to boil-water advisories, joining in to unload packs of plastic bottles from a plane, deliver them from house to house, and witness all of the unrecycled plastic that’s left behind.
Another Canadian documentary only available during the in-person festival is Manufacturing the Threat by Amy Miller, a film that explores how Canada’s policing and national security agencies, granted additional powers after 9/11, routinely break laws with little to no accountability or oversight.
International documentaries screening during the in-person festival include the American film Queendom by Agniia Galdanova. The documentary profiles Gena, a queer artist from a small town in Russia, who stages radical performances in public while dressed in otherworldly costumes that become a new form of art and activism — and put her life in danger.
Local films screening during the in-person festival include Winding Our Way Home by Melissa Addison-Webster, a dance documentary created in collaboration with the Brain Injury Association Peterborough Region, and Kirby’s House by Rob Viscardis, telling the story of a man who has lived for 20 years in a quaint little house surrounded by affable neighbours and a unique support network that understands the power of community and belonging (Kirby’s House will also be available online).
Documentaries that will be screened both in person and online include Long Distance Swimmer by Charly W. Feldman, which tells the story of Sara Mardini, who fled Syria in 2015 with her sister Yustra, and her fight for justice and journey of self-discovery against the backdrop of Europe’s so-called refugee criss.
The 2021 American short documentary Dear Ani by Micah Levin explores the epic mental health journey of artist Keith Wasserman and his quest to befriend American-Canadian singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco.
VIDEO: “How To Power A City”
The 2023 American feature documentary How to Power a City by Melanie LaRosa profiles communities battling fossil fuel dependence by bringing solar and wind projects to their hometowns. Filmed in six locations, the stories reveal how a diverse cast prevailed against obstacles from indifferent politicians to technical impasses, public ignorance, cost, and natural and human-made disasters.
For more information about the ReFrame Film Festival and to purchase passes and opening night tickets, visit reframefilmfestival.ca.
kawarthaNOW is proud to be a media sponsor of the 2024 ReFrame Film Festival.
