Reviews - Page 93

Because We Are Girls (Canada, 85 min.) Dir.: Baljit Sangra Programme: Persister (World Premiere) Because We Are Girls begins with three adult sisters, and a secret. Though we know something has happened to them, Baljit Sangra gives space for these women to be themselves, enjoying the company of family, before letting us know that they have come together for a much more dire reason. Having been sexually abused as children by a male cousin, they are taking him to court to seek justice and put an end to his ongoing crimes. Sangra’s film is definitely not enjoyable. With the harrowing details

Behind the Shutters (Belgium, 50 minutes) Dir.: Messaline Raverdy Programme: World Showcase At the start of her pregnancy, director Messaline Raverdy moves into her grandmother’s house. While there, she speaks to the older woman about her life, tracing her own maternal heritage, while interviewing the women who worked at her grandfather’s coffee factory. At the same time, she corresponds with a nun from a nearby Carmelite monastery. Considering the various roles women take on, Raverdy allows the richness of hidden feminine histories to unfold. Behind the Shutters has a certain whimsy to it. Vintage ads, wordplay, and cute songs pepper the

Born in Evin (Germany/Austria, 98 min.) Dir. Maryam Zaree Programme: Persister (International Premiere) Maryam Zaree opens her extraordinary film by narrating a Talmudic story that immediately bonds you to her and sets up the doc’s storyline. All children are born with a candle on their head, goes the story, signifying that they know everything. But an angel blows out the candle, and they forget all their knowledge. They spend the rest of their lives trying to get it back. In pre-revolutionary Iran, Zaree’s parents were dissidents who opposed the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s vicious autocracy. They continued their rebellion when

Red Moon (Belgium, 95 min.) Dir. Tülin Özdemir Programme: Persister (World Premiere) Beautifully, intimately and with great compassion, director Tülin Özdemir turns her lens towards the women of her family, specifically her aunt Tuncay, and uncovers a story that has veiled her family in secrets. The name Tuncay in Turkish means Red Moon, the film’s title. At the age of nine, Tuncay was torn from the carelessness of her childhood in Anatolia, Turkey to join her older sister, Ozdemir’s mother, in Belgium. There, she took care of Tulin and her brother for three years before yet another decision was made

On the President’s Orders (UK, 71 min.) Dir. James Jones and Olivier Sarbil Programme: World Showcase (North American Premiere) Shot with the stark precision and chiaroscuro tones of a Michael Mann film, James Jones and Olivier Sarbil’s On The President’s Orders would be one of the most harrowing escapist thrillers of the year if it weren’t for the sombre realisation that the horror captured is entirely, apocalyptically real. Starting with a security camera view of a drive-by execution, we cut to a speech by the Philippines’ strongman leader Rodrigo Duterte, drumming up applause from a crowd as he explicitly ratchets his war