Film Categories: Childhood

  • In Crystal Skin (Feature)

    In Crystal Skin provides a glimpse into the lives of four individuals living with the same rare disease in Bogotá, Colombia. Largely avoiding the broader context of disease science, the film instead delves into quiet, intimate moments between characters and the families that help care for them. Maria Alejandra, a charismatic 11-year-old, struggles to attend school despite her mother’s determined prodding. When Maria refuses to wake up for school one morning, the ensuing drama shows the difficult conflicts that arise between parents and children with rare diseases. The film moves across the city to three other characters: Miguel, a middle-aged…

  • In Crystal Skin (Short)

    In Bogotá, Colombia, a charismatic eleven year old named Maria Alejandra struggles to maintain a normal childhood despite the limitations imposed by a rare skin disease. Conflict between mother and daughter arises when Maria refuses to attend school early one morning. Click here for feature-length version of this film.

  • Seasons Fall

    Fragments of a forest trail – a path traveled many times, never the same way twice.

  • Gabey and Mike: A Jewish Summer Camp Love Story

    Gabey and Mike: A Jewish Summer Camp Love Story takes its name from a song by Mermaid Café – a folk band comprised of Andi D., Joe A. Rider and Merrill Nisker (now known as ‘Peaches’) that gained popularity at Canadian Jewish summer camps in the early 90s. The video juxtaposes the tale of the band with playful re-creations of the story of Gabey and Mike, in a queer re-staging of the classic summer camp movie. Gabey and Mike uses the tropes of this genre alongside references from iconic queer films in order to grasp the significance of this band…

  • Mezzo

    When Breanna was 12 years old, she discovered opera and began exploring and acknowledging her gender identity. At age 25, she is the first transgender woman to complete a Masters in Opera at a major conservatory. The film traces the days leading up to her graduation recital while harkening back to the defining moments of her girlhood.

  • William in White Shirt

    A young man contends with life in the Vancouver Downtown Eastside. As he agrees to visit his young son, the film observes his struggle with this new reality. Part of “East Hastings Trilogy”.

  • Luna e Santur

    “Originally commissioned as a short for Ben Coonley’s My First 3D Part 2 at Microscope Gallery, I expanded this project into what it currently is: hooded figures, violent passion, and stroboscopic tenderness brought on by a paranormal encounter I had in the summer of 2015.” –JGS ‘‘A visually assaultive threnody for losses never fully revealed and composed for monstrous times, LUNA E SANTUR mingles sex and death with the supernatural and subnaturalistic.’-Colin Beckett “Moon and sun are elliptically and stroboscopically conjured in Joshua Gen Solondz’s cloistered yet operatic Luna e Santur. In milky, hand-processed images, hooded figures recalling Magritte’s The Lovers enact a…

  • Animation for Kids

    How to Make Your Cartoons Move! Author of the book “Flipbook Animation and Other Ways to Make Cartoons Move” and maker of the film “The Flipbook Movie,” Patrick Jenkins introduces his newest video which will inspire and motivate youngsters to create their own animated movies. Using easily available materials such as paper, scissors, string and pencils, kids will explore the art of animation, the science of optics, as well as several simple motion picture devices such as the thaumatrope, zoetrope, and of course the flipbook.

  • Handsome & Majestic

    “Handsome & Majestic” follows the story of Milan Halikowski, a teenager from the rural city of Prince George, BC. As a recently transitioned transgender boy, Milan deals with discrimination and abuse from his peers and teachers at school, as he seeks to find other kids like himself. Throughout these hardships, he becomes a role model and an advocate for trans people in his small community and beyond. OutTV People’s Choice Award, Vancouver Queer Film Festival 2016

  • A Conversation With Hana

    During the Lunar Year, Yong talks to his family living in Korea from Canada on Skype and partakes in the new year ceremony online. Later on, Yong has a serious conversation on topics ranging from marriage to religion with his 9-year-old sister Hana whose only wish is to see her brother someday.