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‘Documentaries are vital because they illuminate real stories and pressing issues:’ the DOXA film festival artistic director Sarah Ouazzani says.
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The DOXA documentary film festival is celebrating a milestone 25th anniversary this year.
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“I think the secret of DOXA’s success lies in dedicated teams, passionate volunteers and an engaged audience as well,” said Sarah Ouazzani, who has been DOXA’s artistic director since 2021. “We prioritize showcasing diverse compelling documentaries from around the world … Our commitment to quality programming and fostering a vibrant film community has helped us grow and thrive over the past 25 years.”
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Happening April 30 to May 10 in Vancouver, this year’s festival is showcasing 69 films out of 1,100 submissions that were received. Of those 69 films from 41 countries, 40 are feature documentaries and 29 are short films.
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“Our selection process is highly competitive,” said Ouazzani. “We aim to highlight the most compelling, innovative and socially relevant works from emerging filmmakers, as well as established filmmakers.”
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Aside from screenings, the festival has a robust calendar of in-person events that will include some 40 filmmakers from around the globe.
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“Many attendees appreciate the opportunity to engage with filmmakers directly, whether through panels, Q&As or workshops or industry events,” said Ouazzani. “Overall, the feedback confirms that DOXA creates a meaningful, immersive experience that resonates long after the screening.”
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At a time when many of us are feeling overwhelmed and a bit helpless in the face of, well, just about everything, the chance to connect with other stories — many uplifting — from around the world is a welcome distraction amid trying, stressful times.
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“Documentaries are vital because they illuminate real stories and pressing issues that shape our world,” said Ouazzani. “In a time of wars, fascism, genocide, rapid change and information overload, they foster understanding, empathy and critical thinking.”
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They also bring people together.
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“We need to get together; we need to discuss,” added Ouazzani. “We need to create communities and take action collectively. I think the mistake that a lot of people, and even myself, are making is that when we start feeling overwhelmed with the state of the world, we tend to isolate and that’s what we want to create at DOXA a chance to get together and reflect together and maybe take action together.”
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This year’s opening gala — on April 30 at 7 p.m. at the Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre at the Simon Fraser University Goldcorp Centre for the Arts — is the film/performance piece Bella Sutra.
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A kind of cine-concert from director O.K. Pederson, it’s a dreamy and cinematic personal long-form essay about Pederson’s life as an innkeeper in a remote mountain area near Bella Coola. The 16-millimetre film is narrated live by Pederson and is accompanied by a live musical score featuring Eden Glasman (violin); Jakob Tokarczyk (piano); and Peter Hošták (soundscape).
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“It’s really a privilege and an honour to open the festival, and I think it’s a strong artistic statement by the festival to feature this kind of project for the opening. It’s not the kind of work you can distribute easily, if at all, and it’s totally a risk,” said Pederson in an email to Postmedia News. “I’m very grateful for the invitation and the vision of the programmers to go for it … I’m excited to see how the B.C. public responds to the film, because it’s so much closer to their actual world.”
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Pederson shot, developed and edited the film, which includes footage shot last summer in Bella Coola, along with four years of cellphone footage, stills, and Super 8 and family VHS footage. Once Pederson composed the full story, she rephotographed the entire film onto 16-mm film.
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“I wanted to give this impression of this vast dramatic place being flattened into this singular and imperfect memory landscape,” said Pederson. “Just another tiny human experience, passing through, imperfect and incomplete, and looking as though it’s already fading away. And 16 millimetre has that dreamy quality where it can mythologize the mundane while still looking handmade.”
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In the end, Pederson hopes her movie and presentation will offer pause for thought and inspire audience members to consider “the muddied philosophical divide between rural and urban life, especially when it comes to our relationship with the environment … The film aims to reflect to the audience the great responsibility we have to each other to minimize damage, and also to remember how small we are in size and time, and that nothing is as simple as it seems.”
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Other special screenings at this year’s festival include the mid-week gala presentation, on May 6 at 7 p.m. at the VIFF Centre, Concrete Turned to Sand. Directed by B.C. filmmakers Jessica Johnson and Ryan Ermacora, the film, making its B.C. premiere, focuses on oyster farmers on Cortes Island facing climate change.
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This year’s justice forum’s special presentation film is Saigon Story: Two Shootings in the Forest Kingdom. Screening on May 1 at 5:15 p.m. at the VIFF Centre, the film, from Oscar-nominated Canadian director Kim Nguyen, looks at the connection between two families and the famous photograph Saigon Execution.
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The closing gala presentation on May 9 at 6:30 p.m. at the VIFF Centre is the B.C. premiere of Time and Water, a film about climate, grief and memory from Oscar-nominated director Sara Dosa.
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All tickets and festival passes are on sale HERE.
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6 films with B.C. connections that will be screening at DOXA this year
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Illustrated Legacies: Graveyard of the Pacific
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May 2, 5:15 p.m. at the SFU Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema
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May 7, 10 a.m. at the SFU Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema
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DOXA marks the world premiere of this film directed by Cree/Métis filmmaker Tanner Zurkoski. Through hand-drawn animation, oral histories from Nuu-chah-nulth communities on the West Coast of Vancouver Island and archival footage, the film traces early encounters and shipwreck stories, specifically the sinking of the Kingfisher, as it reveals clashes between colonial authorities and the societies that already existed in the area.
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təm kʷaθ nan Namesake
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May 2, 2:45 p.m. at the SFU Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema
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May 3, 8:50 p.m. at the VIFF Centre
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Part of DOXA’s justice forum series, təm kʷaθ nan (Namesake), from directors Evan Adams and Eileen Francis, follows the Tla’amin Nation’s request for Powell River to change its name, which honours Israel Wood Powell, a proponent of the residential school system. DOXA marks the film’s Western Canadian premiere.
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Green Valley
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May 3, 7:40 p.m. at the SFU Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema
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May 9, 5:50 p.m. at The Cinematheque
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This doc from director Morgan Tams takes viewers on a trip to Cortes Island to the off-grid Blue Jay Farm community. Over the last decade, reclusive framer Henry Verschuur has opened his remote property to young, do-it-yourself homesteaders wanting to break free from society’s overconsumption and wasteful tendencies.
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Concrete Turned to Sand
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May 6, 7 p.m. at the VIFF Centre
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May 9, 8:15 p.m. at The Cinematheque
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Directed by Jessica Johnson and Ryan Ermacora, Concrete Turned to Sand follows a collective of Cortes Island oyster farmers who are facing a changing intertidal zone. It looks at the impacts of rising ocean temperature and the effects of acidification on the environment and local livelihoods.
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In Tyee Country
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May 7, 7:30 p.m. at the SFU Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema
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May 8, 5:45 p.m. at the SFU Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema
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Every summer eager anglers in rowboats launch into Campbell River’s Tyee Pool in hopes of landing a Tyee, a Chinook salmon that weighs at least 30 pounds, and joining the Tyee Club of B.C. Directed by Jevan Crittenden and Nate Slaco, In Tyee Country tells the story of the 100-year-old club and highlights preparations for the club’s centennial celebration at a time when salmon populations continue to dwindle. While some members talk of glory days, others are keen on looking to the future and ways to preserve their club and the fish at the centre of their story.
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The Latest News from ‘Deseret’
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May 10, 8:30 p.m. at The Cinematheque
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Following up on James Benning’s 1992 film Deseret, this new offering from Vancouver director Christopher Pavsek examines Utah’s social, political and ecological transformation from 1992 to 2024. The film is guided by 49 New York Times stories published between 1992 and 2024. Each of those stories is condensed to a handful of sentences and illustrated with moving images. The DOXA screening marks the Canadian premiere of this film.
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Looking to watch more Vancouver-shot TV and films? Check out our list HERE.
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