REDEFINING INTIMACY – available November 26 to December 2
These 13 films explore issues around private life, family relationships, romantic relationships and elder and end-of-life care. These very personal stories question the individual’s relationship with their society and era.
In this section, the Quebec-made films CHSLD by François Delisle and CHSLD, Mon Amour by Danic Champoux take a look at our society’s approach to elder and end-of-life care, while Life of a Dog by Danae Elon and Rosana Matecki introduces us to two mothers and their sons as they go about their lives during the disruptive lockdowns of 2020. Another Quebec-made film touches on a different sphere: Goodnight Goodnight by Mackenzie Reid Rostad draws our attention to cosmic movements and natural phenomena governing the Earth, through the prism of grief for a loved one.
The section also includes a pair of documentary masters: Claire Simon with Le Fils de l'épicière, le Maire, le Village et le Monde (France), which documents the creation of the online documentary platform Tënk, and Kazuhiro Soda with Zero (United States, Japan), a filmmaker showcased by the RIDM with a retrospective in 2018. The first films in this section are Teeth by Jennifer Martin (United Kingdom), a dystopian short with Lynchian overtones, and The Metamorphosis of Birds by Catarina Vasconcelos (Portugal), which, in fiction-documentary hybrid form, tells the story of Beatriz, a grandmother who died before the filmmaker was born, as well as her mother’s mourning.
Three more films in the section touch on loss and mourning: Thanadoula by Robin McKenna (Canada), a gentle meditation on life and death, separation and intimacy; Sayōnara by William Andreas Wivel (Denmark), which explores the filmmaker’s experiences around his mother’s death, and Mon Amour by David Teboul (France), who, while suffering inconsolable grief, and haunted by profound sadness and guilt, decides to drop everything and go to Siberia.
Rounding out the section are Southern Sorceresses by Beto Amaral, Carla Caffé and Eliane Caffé (Brazil) takes us to the heart of São Paulo, where a group of LGBTQ+ activists and artists document, with spirit and good humour, their occupation of public space, and Tandis que je respire encore by Laure Giappiconi, Elisa Monteil and La Fille Renne (France), who explain the multiple facets of femininity.
SECTION SUBSCRIPTIONS
The RIDM box office is exclusively online, via the festival’s website. There is still time to buy a section subscription ($15 +tax) good for all films in one of the 8 sections. The films in each section will be available during the festival weeks indicated above.