Toronto: The Female Eye Film Festival (FeFF) – Always Honest, Not Always Pretty – celebrates its 21st edition July 26 to July 30 at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema, 506 Bloor Street West, (Toronto, Canada). Tickets, $20; all-access pass, $120.
FeFF 2023 proudly presents documentary, feature, experimental, animated, and short films directed by women and female-identifying filmmakers. It showcases films from across North America, Germany, Iran, Spain, France, Colombia, China, Ireland, the UK, South Africa, Malaysia, Mexico, Turkey, Japan, Italy, Belgium, Latvia, and more. And it presents a lineup of award-winning screenwriters whose work will be read live at the Script Reading series, which is free and open to the public.
FeFF will continue its long-standing tradition of celebrating CANADIAN INDIGENOUS FEMALE FILMMAKERS on Wednesday July 26 at 5PM with the Toronto premiere of THE NATURE OF HEALING, by debut Mohawk director Faith Leone Howe. The spoken truth of seven courageous Elders, all survivors of the Mohawk Institute in Brantford, Ontario, Canada’s first and longest-running Indian residential school. From victims to survivors to activists, their story is one of resistance, resilience, and a healing path. Proceeds from this screening will be donated to the Mohawk Village Memorial Park, located on five acres adjacent to the Mohawk Institute, in commemoration of all the children taken and institutionalized over the course of more than 160 years.
The OPENING GALA FEATURE STELLA, directed by Jessica Fox (UK), follows at 8PM, making its Canadian premiere. Set in 1937, Scotland. Stella, a 20-year-old German Jewish student, finds work on a large country estate owned by the fascist Earl of Rig. With war looming and desperate to find her missing parents, Stella is quickly accepted as one of the family and must hide her true identity to survive. While there she falls in love, with life-changing consequences. Based on the folktale of Cinderella, championing the struggle for identity, home, and love, Stella is the tale of a refugee.
FEATURE HIGHLIGHTS:
EVERY DAY, directed by Tara Alexandra Brown and Vin Chandra (USA). When Maddie takes a job as a tutor to a wealthy family, she meets Laurel, the family’s nanny. The two become instant friends, much to the consternation of her long-time friends and roommates. When Maddie’s trauma is triggered, she’s forced to decide who she really trusts.
MY HOME UNKNOWN, directed by and starring Yaz Canli (USA). After Mina (Yaz Canli), a gifted artist experiencing homelessness, loses the last thing she loves – her dog, Burrito – she is forced to battle through the downward spiralling journey of a mental health crisis to find “home.” Lost between fragments of her Muslim past and the harsh realities of her present – from substance abuse and the loss of faith to abusive voices in her head – Mina must find a way to reconcile with deep grief and accept the kindness of others so she can start life anew. A raw and unflinching story of mental illness, life on the streets, and the courage it takes to find a way home.
MONTRÉAL GIRLS, directed by Patricia Chica (CAN). A Middle-Eastern medical school student, new to Montreal, puts his relationship with his father at risk when he forfeits his education after being forever changed by two young women who help him see his destiny.
GREY MATTER, directed by Arabella Burfitt-Dons (UK). When a family’s matriarch gets diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, she must move into the family home, and Chloe is forced to become a stay-at-home teenager overnight.
BEYOND THE LIGHT BARRIER, directed by Uga Carlini (South Africa/Ukraine). Based on the true story of South African meteorologist Elizabeth Klarer, who spent her days convincing the world that her alien lover from an advanced human race existed and held the solutions to all our problems here on Earth. Science or fiction? Definitely one of the greatest science-fiction love stories of all time.
FeFF’S INTERNATIONAL SHORTS and DOCUMENTARY PROGRAMS are aptly titled: Excavating Truths; Violence Against Women; The Personal Is Political; With Cause; Intergenerational Familial Response; Sexual Rights and Liberty; Rights, Women, and Sports; and Love, Sex, and Identity.
LATE-NIGHT THRILLS & CHILLS: FRIDAY, JULY 28 and SATURDAY, JULY 29. Friday features an eclectic variety of 13 horror, thriller, and suspense shorts that will keep you on the edge of your seat. On Saturday at 9:45PM, check out erotic thriller SPOONFUL OF SUGAR, directed by Mercedes Bryce Morgan. A disturbed babysitter who experiences a sexual awakening while using LSD to alternatively treat a seemingly “sick” child from a family with dark secrets of their own.
The CLOSING GALA on SUNDAY, JULY 30, at 8PM is MY LOVE AFFAIR WITH MARRIAGE, a bold and brilliant animated feminist feature written and directed by Signe Baumane. Hungry for love and acceptance, Zelma feels incomplete. Hounded by a Greek chorus, she sets out on a 23-year quest for perfect love and a lasting marriage, unaware that her own biology is the force to be reckoned with. Signe Baumane is a Latvia-born, Brooklyn-based independent filmmaker, artist, writer, and animator.
FeFF was founded in 2001 by filmmaker Leslie-Ann Coles in response to the need for representation of women and female-identifying filmmakers and that need is just as strong today. The Female Eye is an accredited festival with the Academy of Canadian Cinema &
Television and is a Telefilm Canada Talent to Watch Partner. In April, it was voted one of MovieMaker magazine’s 2023 “Top Fifty Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee” for the 11th consecutive year!
FeFF thanks its sponsors – Ontario Arts Council, Telefilm Canada, IATSE 873, ACTRA Fraternal Benefit Society, Rolling Pictures, CIUT 89.5 FM, and ACTRA Toronto – and WIFT Toronto and Women In the Director’s Chair for their support.
For more information: https://www.TheFemaleEyeFilmFestival.com/
https://www.instagram.com/femaleeye/
The Female Eye Film Festival (FeFF) Celebrates 21 years July 26-30
