We are moving stories

“Should a man who parented a child from infancy to age three, thinking he was its father, have any parental rights after that, when he learns that he isn’t?”

“Chasing Grace was based on my own childhood experiences. My parents were divorced when I was 4 years old and a lot of what happened during that time was clouded in mystery and misunderstandings. As I became a mother myself and delved further into what happened, I realized that some of my memories could not be trusted. I discussed this topic with others whose parents were divorced when they were young and many of them had similar experiences to mine. So, I set out to tell a story that explored misunderstood memories. What is true when you’re 6 isn’t always true when you are 36”

“I would like people to be moved by the relationship between the father and the daughter. Life is often so busy these days. Hopefully they might reflect and decide to take a moment to slow down and pause and actually be with a loved one.”

“I made ‘Your Mother and I’ because Dave Eggers’ original short story really connected with me. The complexities of relationships within families, the desire to effect some positive change in the world, as well as the humour and fantasy in the way all this was presented… However I only managed to make the film five years after hearing the story for the first time!”

“It is very important for me to talk about issues young girls go through every day. I’m interested in the ways that society holds girls back and the way that they respond to these pressures and find their selves despite them. In the context of this film, I was specifically looking at the way parents begin your narrative for you when you are a little kid.”

“If you love beautiful cinematography, tender moments of writing, ambitious storytelling, whales and submarines, and holding your breath... this is the film to watch.”

“I was interested in trying to capture the idea of loneliness and isolation on camera and to juxtapose it with a sense of love and human connection to see how the conflicting themes would play off each other. I really wanted to explore conveying a wild emotional arc that takes a character through excitement, joy, mystery, depression, loneliness, and isolation purely visually.”

“I wanted to make a film that had a powerful message about substance issues, toxic relationships, and ultimately acceptance.”

“As a film writer and director, I want to make films that are bold, spark debate and challenge stereotypes, allowing audiences to think about issues they may not have considered before and shed light on certain taboos in their culture and region, in hopes of fostering empathy and tolerance.”

“Whales has a mostly female cast. The character description and relationship development of these women separated by the passing of time and different upbringings is especially interesting for a female audience, I believe, even though the themes of forgiveness and belonging within the complexity of family dynamics can be considered universal.”

“If you’ve ever been stuck in traffic, you’ll relate to the film immediately. That being said, the traffic is more of a representation how David (the main character) moves through his life, and as the harsh realities from outside the traffic jam close in on him, people watching get pulled deeper and deeper into his losses.”

“Family drama, love, emotional pain, anger, and betrayal have always worked well to fuel drama, and now thanks to Bye Bye Bastard will do the same for horror.”

“Without giving it away, the themes of freedom, family, and justice are explored in this film. It’s important to take a step back in our lives and consider the plights of others.”

“It started out with a big idea, and many drafts later became simpler and simpler, something very hard to do. I went from many characters and locations to only one location and two characters. I wanted a very intimate piece.”

“My father suffered from dementia for over 15 year until it finally took him in 2015. As he battled the disease, I learned more and more about what a family goes through at different stages of the process. I coped with the situation the way writers do: I wrote.”

“This is a story I felt really had to be told. It touches upon many thorny subjects, so if you’re not afraid of challenging issues it can be an engrossing experience. At least I hope so.”

“It’s a very personal story. Once I was driving with my family on the thruway hundreds of miles from home, and I received a phone call from my sister who was in tears, she was saying that my dad nearly died because he was eating at home and something got into his throat, and he started to suffocate. My mother was there, but she could not do anything, they called 911, and when they came home, he was without oxygen for about 20 minutes. They tried to save him, but he was irresponsive, and by the time they brought him to the hospital, he was in a deep coma. I hear this, and I am on three-way call with the doctor who asks me if it is ok for me if my dad’s heart stops, is it ok, to open a chest, and take his heart out and help him this way, and they just wanted us to give them permission to do so.”

“We had our world premiere at Locarno in August, which was great. Audiences there really seemed to connect with the film. Some people love Herman, others not so much. Some seem to empathize with Nate, others not at all. The ideas around generational trauma, pain, survival, love and loss are landing with people, but there have been a lot of divergent opinions about the people in the story. I like that. I wouldn’t want there to be universal love for one character or a singular, obvious way to interpret a moment.”

“If you’re a new artist, I hope it inspires you to tackle the more complicated subject matter in your own life and to be unafraid of authenticity in your work. I also hope the same for an average film-lover! That the power of honesty and unconditional love can indeed lead to redemption when in the face of adversity with loved ones. ”

“This film deals with the dread of cancer but explores it with tenderness and honesty. It’s an example of how to be present and joyful when children lose hope. I think it’s important to enthuse parents with unapologetic imagination in order to give children another form of medicine.”

“This film is my effort to work through my grief and mull over all of the things I never talked about with my dad, all of the facets about him I’ll never understand or truly know. Things Long Left Unsaid serves as an honest love letter to this boisterous, complicated man.”

“My father has always chosen the alternative path in life, a path that has brought unpredictable adventures, nine children with six different women, brief marijuana-related brushes with the police and a life-long interest in doing some good in the world. It is also a film about the complex dynamics that conspire to create a family. ”

“I’m a visual artist and have always been inspired by documentaries, so I wanted to try my own hand at filmmaking. Finding out what happened to my dad after he died was something that had weighed heavily on me for that past eight years. I knew I needed to go on this journey, and making a film felt like the best way to approach this mammoth task in a way that enabled me to share it with others.”

“I’m a firm believer that the more specific a story is, the more universal it becomes. Through the lens of Ojibwe tradition, witnessing a son reflecting on his late father and following in his footsteps, while also watching a father mourn what he can no longer do for his son, and seeing how these perspectives intertwine, it takes on a different shape. ”

“I made Present Moment as an act of love for my father Gary. The film centers around his experience living with Parkinson’s disease (PD). I always knew I wanted to share his story but it took me seven years to be ready to make the film. It wasn’t until I spent five years working on a film series about thriving communities, that I realized I could tell Gary’s story through that lens of thriving, rather than the difficulties of living with PD. By showing Gary in his strength, I came to a radical new perspective; where I once saw only physical loss in my father, I could now see his full, vital self. That was a really important element of making the film, and one I’m very grateful for.”

“While narrowly this film explores the evolving dynamics between me and my father, on a more fundamental level it tells a fairly universal story about the father and daughter, and how their relationship evolves over time. It is an intimate look at the journey I took to prevent my aging father, living across the globe, from abandoning his filmmaking dream. In this process, our respective lives and pursuits, and the nature of our relationship are explored and reflected upon.”