This collection of films examines ideas surrounding art, labour, memory, diaspora and activism. Sarra El Abed’s Y’a Pas D’heure Pour Les Femmes introduces us to a group of women in a hair salon on the eve of a presidential election. Ophelia Spinosa’s Fruits of Labour is an examination on love, art and labour. Farhad Pakdel’s The Face of a City tells the story of four Iranian families and the culture and city they leave behind. Anna Keulken’s Father Like Son captures both brutal and soft moments on a family-run farm. Yvonne Sung’s Ticketed for What? reveals Canada’s mistreatment of unhoused communities and the grass-roots organizations advocating for change.
Y’a Pas D’heure Pour les Femmes (Ain’t No Time for Women)
Dir. Sarra El Abed
2020, Canada, 19 mins
Tunis, November 2019. A group of women is gathered at Saïda’s, the hairdresser, on the eve of the presidential election. The salon is transformed into a town square, mirroring the internal turmoil of the country. In this female sanctuary, we get an intimate look at the county’s teenage democracy.
Fruits of Labour
Dir. Ophelia Spinosa
2021, Canada, 18 mins
Interplaying the metaphor of grapes, this father-daughter documentary is characterized by the labour of love it is to make wine, but also the labour of love that is love itself.
The Face of a City
Dir. Farhad Pakdel
2021, Canada, 11 mins
The stories of four Iranian families who emigrate to Canada and the city they leave behind. As the departure time approaches, social spaces turn into places of memory, fading into the distance.
Father Like Son
Dir. Anna Kuelken
2021, Canada, 18 mins
This Canadian national winning short documentary Is based on a small family farm in Alberta. A seven-year-old girl is witness to the death of an animal. This difficult event teaches her respect and empathy.
Ticketed for What?
Dir. Yvonne Sung
2020, Canada, 17 mins
Through the student-run Fair Change Community Services, filmmaker Yvonne Sung reveals the unfair treatment and its effects on Toronto’s homeless under Ontario’s Safe Streets Act.
