2022 CIFF Official
Short - Non-Documentary Selections
A Spectacle of Herself
Holly Black
United Kingdom
Starring Laura Murphy as herself amidst the failing performance of Western civilisation, A Spectacle of Herself charts a cosmic voyage, interrogating themes around virtuosity, autobiography, identity, and the spectacularized body.
And Now What
Ines Talbi
Canada
Circus Person
Britt Lower
USA
Left by her fiancé for another woman, a bereft painter (Britt Lower) joins a traveling circus to reclaim her forgotten wildness. Live action and animated body paint interweave in this ode to healing through radical love.
Circus Pop Ups
Felicity Hesed
USA
Towards the end of 2020, after nearly a year of isolation, a group of artists in San Francisco began concocting a plan to revitalize live performance. The result was Circus Pop Ups. Over the Spring of 2021, Circus Pop Ups presented a series of pop up performances featuring musicians and circus artists in iconic San Francisco locations. At a time when live performance was still mostly on hold, Circus Pop Ups breathed life into a stagnant and disconnected city. This is a film of the pop up performances.
Found Stranded
Thomas Chambers, Didier Stowe, Veronica Herrera Munguia, Shannon Gélinas
Canada
A group of strangers find them-selves in an abandoned yet beautiful site of rubble. Within the darkness they find light, that breaks though the rubble and shines on an unknown person who falls into this land of uncertainty. Using this light it guides them, creating music, acrobatics and connections that illuminates their body and souls in this rustic dystopia. Allowing them see a brighter future they have long forgotten.
Locked Upside Down
Kasha Konaka
Canada
Locked Upside Down is a circus film created by Stephanie VanDyck, Leyna Bella, and Kasha Konaka. The three artists use hand balancing and contortion to express their experiences navigating this pandemic stricken world. They explore the possibilities and obstacles of being locked within the confined spaces of their homes as they dream of one day returning to the stage.
L'amour Crisse | Love Goddammit
Louana Martha Victoria SECLET--MONCHOT, Francis Gadbois
France, Canada
This short film tells the pandemic story of two white clowns who ride the covid waves with joy, hope, weariness, irritation and euphoria.
We can follow the adventure of this couple of artists confined in their Corolla Virus.
[fat] life
David Gallo
USA
[fat] life is a silent musical that celebrates the legacy of physical comedy greats such as Buster Keaton, Jackie Chan, and Carol Burnett with a magnificent score, a diverse cast, and original choreography to craft a love letter to a time when jokes were told without words and playful sound effects, brilliant music, and the audience’s laughter provided the only needed sound.
The charming couple known only as HIM and HER take the audience on a comedic, but sensitive and sincere tour through the joys, difficulties, and humiliations of life as overweight everypersons. The film touches on milestones from childhood, young adulthood, courtship, and marriage, but the couple’s romance screeches to a halt when their obesity prevents them from having children.
With handmade cardboard scenery, old-school vintage film strip projection, and innovative shadow play effects, the world of [fat] life is filled with ramshackle charm and wit, taking its cue from the work of Ed Wood, Bob Ross, and Banksy.