Film Categories: Politics + Policy

  • A MOOR

    A MOOR – (or a “room” inverted) synthesizes the multiple meanings of securing, uncultivated land, and an ethnic population in its portraits of Caucasian sex tourists who blur into one another through the POV of an unheard and unseen Asian escort. The dynamics of power and race revealed through the clients’ speech and not allowing the Asian character that forms the core of the film to be seen or heard.

  • BLISSED

    The unspoken issue of LGBT domestic violence becomes an allegory for LGBT racial dynamics. Drawing inspiration from the claustrophobic tensions of Tennessee Williams, it distills the undertones between classes in society, the plight of immigrants in Canada, the double-edge of charity, and the transference of violence from people’s fetish and fear.

  • IN DIFFERENCE

    A conversation between a young banker with an older homeless man traverses a downtown meridian surrounded by commercial buildings, populated by homeless people at night. Drawing inspiration from Samuel Beckett and Dialogues of Plato, IN DIFFERENCE fuses Man with Myth and Metaphor to comment on the veneer and prejudices of contemporary society.

  • CONTENTUS

    CONTENTUS takes its cue from the meanings of the (latin) word – to strain with exertion, to hold together; in which three parallel stories intersect in a contemporary allegory of labor, loneliness, prejudice, power and place. Connected by isolation, everyday cruelties and unheard stories, the underrepresented characters straddle the metaphoric and the real. An unseen Asian escort’s clientele of Caucasian sex tourists blur into one another, domestic tensions and violence of a professional man and his young live-in immigrant lover, and an encounter between a young banker and his older homeless doppelgänger in a city meridian populated by High Finance…

  • Tiny Mirrors

    An ancient goddess probes the concrete jungle that stands between her and a rising metropolis. Her primal movements shudder like haunting melodies as she seeks to discover truth.  Two teenagers descend into the city’s entrails to grow graffiti gardens and find a space to dream.  A young woman searches for wisdom with the uneasy feeling that something inside of her is shifting.  All their stories intertwine as they build bridges to the other side. Tiny Mirrors, is a music video collaboration between lal and Wandering Eye that seeks to re-imagine our perceptions of ritual, rebellion and change in a time of…

  • Oya: Something Happened On The Way to West Africa!

    I wanted to tell a tale not often heard about gender and Indigenous Yorùbá Spirituality. Ọya: Something Happened On The Way To West Africa! follows my journey as a Queer gender-non-conforming Nigerian returning home to connect with Òrìṣà (African God/dess) tradition, and follow a trail back to the powerful legacy of my great grandmother, Chief Moloran Ìyá Ọlọ́ya.  This personal and political story vibrantly investigates the heritage of command, mythology, gender fluidity, womyn’s power and the hidden truth behind the power of indigenous Yorùbá spirituality.  As I encounter obstacles of a national strike and anti-gay marriage legislation to find the roots of the practice, will I be able to find affirmation…

  • Doom

    Doom is a slapstick caper of a kidnapping turned on its head; a farcical take on Stockholm Syndrome. A group of businessmen and bankers are corralled from the streets of their work for the purpose of detention, observation and ultimate indoctrination by a group of unlikely bandits. Their captivity initially frightens them but through the treatment by their strange yet benevolent captors, the men quickly view their corporate transgressions with disdain as they reject the freedom they are eventually offered.

  • National Tapestry

    Created as a silent, large-scale installation for public spaces, National Tapestry draws our focus to the weft and the warp of the woven image. The materiality of a distressed patriotic symbol echoes the struggles and ambitions of a culture, land and history that are both loved and despised by many. This is Steven Woloshen’s first film exploring ethnology and politics in film.

  • Soak

    Soak is a short experimental student film shot and edited on digital formats, produced at Simon Fraser University’s School for the Contemporary Arts. This film explores the physical and emotional sensations of self-care. In this film a woman attempts to pull herself out of her sinking mood by taking a bath.

  • Float

    My goal as a filmmaker is to provide a positive voice for the trans,genderqueer, androgynous & gender-fluid folks not yet represented on screen, documenting our history, serving as a call to action to be recognized and respected by society at large, and forcing our culture to evolve. Float is inspired by experiences I’ve had swimming with other trans people, which is a very rare and special thing because of the complicated relationship lots of trans folks have with their bodies, especially in the context of swimming, bathing suits etc. This film is a symbol of hope for the community and…