Day One
Wednesday, December 18, 2019 7:30 pm
USA 2018 Dir. Lori Miller 81 min DCP
Vancouver Premiere! In her native Afghanistan, Liza’s determination to attend school resulted in death threats. For Faiza, a Somalian refugee displaced to Kenya, education wasn’t something her family could afford. Newcomers to the U.S., Liza and Faiza, both now 14, are inseparable best friends at the Nahed Chapman New American Academy, a unique public school in St. Louis, Missouri, catering exclusively to refugees and immigrants.
VANCOUVER PREMIERE! Set inside one of Brazil’s largest favelas, More Earth Will Fall is a documentary feature that cuts through the sensationalism of guns, drugs and gangs to tell the intimate story of one family’s struggle to realise a simple dream. Post-screening discussion with Dr. Kirby Huminuik. Co-sponsored by Immigrant Services Society of B.C. and The Vancouver Latin American Film Festival.
VANCOUVER PREMIERE! The practice of committing mentally ill individuals to long-term institutions reached its apex in the 1950s, when over half a million people in the United States resided within asylums. With the de-institutionalization movement of the 1960s, these places all but disappeared, but the resources meant for community-based care never materialized. Post-screening discussion (via Skype) with Dr. Kenneth Paul Rosenberg.
Vancouver Premiere! When an elderly woman in Rotterdam lies dead in her apartment for 10 years before her body is discovered, residents of the city are appalled. To ensure it never happens again, city council launches a campaign to combat loneliness, one that begins with home visits to everyone over the age of 75 to assess their level of isolation. Post-screening discussion with Eddy Elmer.
Polish director Agnieszka Smoczyńska (The Lure) directs a moody psychodrama about a woman struggling to reconcile her past and present lives. Post-screening discussion with Dr. Ingrid Söchting
VANCOUVER PREMIERE! The baffling Acali Experiment of 1973 is recounted in Marcus Lindeen’s utterly engrossing documentary. Post-screening discussion with Dale Beyerstein and Jennifer Gibson.
VANCOUVER PREMIERE! Sandra Luckow’s powerful new film concerns her brother’s diagnosis of late-onset paranoid schizophrenia. Post-screening discussion with Sandra Luckow and Dr. Randall F. White.
VANCOUVER PREMIERE! An eccentric single mother and her teenager daughter are beleaguered by bullies in Deborah Haywood’s feature debut. Post-screening discussion with Dr. Tyler Black, medical director of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Unit at BC Children’s Hospital.
VANCOUVER PREMIERE! Filmed at street level in expressive black-and-white, this documentary follows an undocumented migrant living in Spain. Post-screening discussion with Kirby Huminuik.