Dreaming in Frame (online)

Ghost Rhooster Collective (Canada) EMERGING

Vancouver Premiere

Duration: 13:19

Multidisciplinary disability arts group Ghost Rooster Collective’s short film Dreamscapes is a genre-blurring experimental film exploring mental health, alternate realities, and the complexities of healing. Rooted in an intimate interview with Amelia Rose Griffin, the film integrates surreal visuals, layered soundscapes, and embodied movement to capture the complexity of existing within shifting mental landscapes. By inviting viewers into Amelia’s unique reality, Dreamscapes challenges conventional, medicalized narratives of disability, offering a deeply personal perspective.

Created by Ghost Rooster Collective: Elizabeth Emond-Stevenson, Rachel Gray, Amelia Rose Griffin, Jess Huggett, Liz Winkelaar
Director: Rachel Gray
Cinematography: Pixie Cram
Music and Composition Director: Pierre-Luc Clément
Cast: Amelia - Amelia Rose Griffin, Lead Demon - Elizabeth Winkelaar, Thé Glass Woman - Elizabeth Emond-Stevenson, Glamour Witch -Jess Huggett, Amelia 1 - Rachel Gray, Amelia 2 - Elizabeth Winkelaar, Amelia 3 - Jess Huggett, Amelia 4 - Elizabeth Emond-Stevenson
Videography: Ganganpreet Singh, Rachel Gray, Pixie Cram
Time Lapse Photography: Matthieu Hallé
Grip: Bem Parmington
Production Assistance: Julie-Anne Ryan, Nancy Huggett, Milie Veronneau, Olivia Kashul
Access Advisor: Nancy Huggett
Composers: Pierre-Luc Clément, Jack Hui Litster, King Kimbit
Vocal Performance: Rachel Gray, King Kimbit
Sound Design: Pierre-Luc Clément
Recording Technician: Pierre-Luc Clément
Mixing: Pierre-Luc Clément
Costume Design: Rachel Gray
Costume Construction: Cathy Gray, Rachel Gray
Headdress: Tanya Kimishni
Glamour Witch Makeup: Elizabeth Emond-Stevenson 
Demon Hair and Makeup: Abigail Kashul, Olivia Kashul, Elizabeth Emond-Stevenson 
Performing Amelia Ticket: David Sims
Editor: Rachel Gray
Editing Mentor: Laura Taler
Post Production Services: Space Tigers
Audio Descriptions: Kim Kilpatrick
ASL Interpretation: Asign Translation

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the City of Ottawa

Joshua Brad-Lee Garrido (Canada) EMERGING

Canadian Premiere

Duration: 17:00

Two Taekwondo fighters, lifelong friends turned rivals, spend a night at the local dojang before their eventual match.

Starring: Adrián Hoz, Ethan Aaron White, Master DJ Keates
Writer & Director: Joshua Brad-Lee Garrido
Producer: Stella Merkel
Cinematographer: Gabriel Sanchez
Editor: James Zhang
Sound & Music: Mungo McLaggan
1st AD: Keesay Wang
Script Supervisor: Alma Gracia
Production Assistant: Tasha Mackenzie
1st Assistant Camera: Gabriel Porath
2nd Assistant Camera: Win He
Digital Image Technician: Kiran Lilani
Production Designer: Nina Yu
Art Directors: Cooper Mortimer & Jules Sassi
Gaffer: Annie Liu
Lamp Operator: Berkeley Reyes
Key Grip: Emmi Tsiapalis
Grips: Castiel Radivojevic, Aryan Kurungode, & James Zhang
Sound Mixers: Sarah Shahab & Benjamin Mouland
Boom Operators: Carol Zhou & James Zhang
Make Up & Costume: Penny J Gullion
Wardrobe Assistant: Syndio Chun
1st Assistant Editor: Kup Xin Guan
2nd Assistant Editor: Kiran Lilani
Additional Editing: Joshua Brad-Lee Garrido
Dialogue Editor: Tooba Rahim
Colourist: Joshua Brad-Lee Garrido
Colour Assistant: Stephanie van Wijk
BTS Photography: Adolfo Bermudez Fernandez
BTS Videography: Harmela
Catering: Caveman Catering
Additional Music by: M!CHEAL

Shantavia Smith (USA) EMERGING

Vancouver Premiere

Duration: 03:00

Life is stressful. Lucid just got a terrible message from a loved one and all she wants to do is sleep it off, maybe the next day will be better. When she falls asleep, she enters a dream that she can’t escape. She doesn’t know if she should be scared or in blissful joy. She’s moving her way through the motions. Hopefully that trigger her to wake up again.

Director: Tae the Artist and Lady Ryat 
Cinematographer: Nathan Tomzack 
Dancer: Tae the Artist

Deniz Somuncuoglu (Canada) YOUTH

Duration: 11:00

Exploring the inner and outer worlds of a martial art. Beginning from the dojo, through the inside of the mind, and projecting itself out into the real world, this short documentary is a dive into the Morihei Ueshiba's creation: Aikido.

Directed by: Deniz Somuncuoglu
Produced by / 1st AD: Aries Ceta
Executive Producer: Deniz Somuncuoglu
Director of Photography: Isaac Sanchez
Edited by: Nathan Young
Featuring: Masaru Kiyota, Takeshi Shimomura, Kostya Zolotarov
With Thanks to: Vancouver Shomonkai Dojo Members
Colored by: Patrick Gong
Sound Design: Andres Valero
VFX by: Harshid Harshid
Location Sound: Ayana Madi
Gaffer: Theo Christianson
Key Grip: Kenneth Martinez
Grip: Patrick Gong
B Camera Operator / 2nd Assistant Camera: Thomas Mai
1st Assistant Camera: Carter Heintz
BTS Photography: Bruce Yan
Interpreter / Subtitles: Hiromu Yamawaki
Creative Director for the Title Card: Roxanne Yang
PA :Arda Biçer

Special Thanks: Luana Hoffmeier-Xi, Momoko Cuesta, Colin Williscroft, Emirhan Yalti, Muge Senerman, PoChun Chen, Sybil Xyshen

Filmed at: Franklin Studios, Nikkei Cultural Center

Thanks to Our Sponsors: Brightside Cinema, Enlarge Vision, Birns and sawyer

Speaker 66 & Tamara Khoury (Canada) YOUTH

Duration: 03:57

Content warning: strobe lighting 

The City of Moose Jaw is devastated at the death of Bernard. His friends gather to mourn his passing with one last rave and a heartfelt eulogy sung by his best friend Craig. But the wake may have been more powerful than they intended…

Cast: Christina Kim, Mateus Barbosa, Benedict Weetman, Matthew Hesketh
Dancers: Jamie Samoyloff, Bree Castle, Jordan Samuel, Sila Yildiz, Miguel Tsai, Sebastian Isaac-Gooden, Eli Kitching
Director & Editor: Tamara Khoury
Producer: Kat Sawatzky 
Executive Producer: Benedict Weetman
1st Assistant Director: Khazina Quershi
Director of Photography: Jason Yueh
Production Design: Chloe Chan 
Choreography: Akaisha Dhawan
Lighting: Andrew Lee
Grip: Sebastian Isaac-Gooden
Zombie Makeup & Hair: Carolina Gomez
Zombie Costume: Diego Camacho & Naina Sharma
Swing: Rebecca Jaimes Jaspe
Special Thanks: Rachelle Rutherford, Sage Laing, Berkeley Reyes, Jacky Yueh, Amine Ben

Denbert M. Tiamson (Philippines) YOUTH

World Premiere

Duration: 09:00

Content warning: intense strobe lighting 

In a VTR profiling, the BODY stands before the CAMERA—nervous, smiling, presenting themself to YOU. Time ticks. Pressure builds. Tick. Tick. The BODY performs in three chapters: One – THE BODY AND ITS RESTRICTIONS. Forced to perform in heavy flowy curtains, flickering lights resist its motion. Soon after, they dance in straight lines, rewarded with medals that soon become burdens, anchoring its freedom. Two – THE BODY IN THE STREET. Amid concrete and chaos, the BODY navigates forms and fractures. It resists. It adapts. In fleeting moments of disorder, it finds joy. Three – THE BODY WITH OTHER BODIES. Surrounded now—by warm bodies, by memory, by movement, by cinema. In this kaleidoscope of presence, the BODY is empowered. Together, they perform. Tick. The BODY comes back to the VTR profiling, where it said that the results will soon be given through their email.

Director, Producer: Denbert M. Tiamson
Producer, Cinematographer: Jay-r Julio
Choreographer: Debie Rose M. Tiamson
Creative Producer, Assistant Director: Miles Jewel A. Santos
Production Designer: Lou Rodriguez
Editor: Gab Rosique
Colorist: Kit Munsayac
Production Manager: Miko Biong
Dancers: Denbert M. Tiamson, Debie Rose M. Tiamson, Sean Carl Canuto

cát nguyên (they/them | @_cat_nguyen_) is a queer, non-binary storyteller. as an experimental poet, performance artist & wanderer of worlds, cát nguyên searches for solace beyond society’s borders & bones. they are a diasporic dreamer & living manifestation of the u.s. war in việt nam.

through their art, cát nguyên converses with love, grief, intergenerational trauma & healing, queerness, discrimination & migration. they aspire to transform poetry into an immersive experience rather than one limited to reading.

cát nguyên is best known for their unique performance style, cảm diễn (emotional embodiment in vietnamese), because of its deeply expressive nature in which cát nguyên connects with not only their own soul, but also the audience’s. their performances conjure a dramatic spell of poetry, movement, and sound. cát nguyên’s performance practice is influenced by vietnamese spirituality, folklore & ancestral wisdom, and experiments with elements of vietnamese traditional music, theater & narrative forms.

Photo by: Đạt Vũ