Film Categories: Race + Ethnicity

  • Two/Doh

    “Two/Doh” is an evocative poetic pastiche exploring the public and private spaces of desire, and its intersection with the cultural and erotic connections between two women of different origins: Persian/Armenian and South Asian/Sri Lankan.

  • Unknown Soldiers

    “In ‘Unknown Soldiers’, Veronika Soul uses experimental film techniques to create a visual and aural mélange that features children’s harrowing tales of wartime Japan, a retelling of ‘Godzilla,’ a Japanese tourist atop the Empire State Building, and a meditation on the role of the hamburger in the life of a traveller… Hers is an original, amusing and sometimes distrurbing vision of East-West relations.” – Karen Cooper, Director of Film Forum, NYC

  • Bird that Chirped on Bathurst, The

    The intermittently heard voice-over talks about a woman’s self-awareness – being unable to know if she has really changed or not. The images are esoteric and hard to interpret: young women in black in various urban settings, something moving rhythmically. A personal, yet intriguing film.

  • Waving

    “Waving” is a short film exploring the cyclical rituals of life, death and the family. A personal narrative chronicles the relationship between the author and her grandmother. Visual imagery works to create a strong metaphor, suggestive of the overwhelming, consuming power of grief.

  • Black Earth

    A film-essay on the earth’s body, “Black Earth” follows a woman’s journey through time and space. The film’s images and utterances and sounds poetically resonate a world as woman, a woman suffering the fate of humanity. “Black Earth” was filmed on location in India.

  • When East Meets East

    A documentary that looks at post-colonial identity, in particular Chinese identity and its construction in the international cinema of ethnic Chinese. Canadian filmmaker Kalli Paakspuu and student activists from China’s pro-democracy movement, Kevin Feng Ke, used an hermeneutic approach and double-voice techniques to expand our notions of the Chinese by surveying the 90’s cinema from Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, United States and Canada. The filmmakers question the taken-for-granted identity within ethnic communities, weaving a geographic and cultural reality that is uniquely contradictory and inhabited by multiple identities living outside national boundaries.

  • Woodbridge

    “Woodbridge” is a deeply personal exposé of family life within the context of first generation Italian-Canadian Roman Catholics. The film revolves around the journey of a boy from early childhood through adulthood. It highlights the conflicts of growing up in the space between two cultures with radically different customs and values. While this film documents the particular experiences of one child, it is a reflection of a sociological phenomenon common to many Canadian children. “Woodbridge” is different from most other documentary work primarily because the camera adopts the role of the protagonist. It represents the viewer with a multitude of…

  • You Take Care Now

    “Fleming’s perilous travelogue recites, in first person voice-over, a tale of two cities. The first is Bridiski, where the patent sexism of her surround leads her to seek refuge in the hotel room of her unscrupulous tour guide. The second moves closer to home – where the simplest of street crossings becomes a nightmare journey of dark collisions, broken bones and ambulance drives.” – Mike Hoolboom

  • Yum Yum Yum!

    Les Blank marries his passion for spicy, down home food and his love for Cajuns and Creoles in this mouth-watering, exploration of the cooking and other enthusiasms of French-speaking Louisiana. Features tangy music, Marc Savoy, Paul Prudhomme, and other great cooks.

  • Ziveli: Medicine for the Heart!

    This little-known Blank gem is a portrait of the Serbian-American communities of Chicago and California, highlighting their history in this country, their music, dancing and religion.