Halifax – Newfoundland filmmaker Tamara Segura’s National Film Board of Canada (NFB) feature documentary Seguridad headlines an impressive selection of women’s cinema from the NFB at the 2024 St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival (SJIWFF), taking place October 22–26.
Seguridad was just named Best Atlantic Documentary at the Atlantic International Film Festival in Halifax.
From elsewhere in Atlantic Canada, Halifax filmmaker Andrea Dorfman’s new animated short Hairy Legs will screen at the festival.
SJIWFF will also be presenting the Atlantic premieres of two feature docs from Toronto directors: Laurie Townshend’s A Mother Apart (Oya Media Group/NFB) and Anishinaabe filmmaker Lisa Jackson’s Wilfred Buck (Door Number 3 Productions/NFB).
About the films
Seguridad by Tamara Segura (76 min) | Friday, October 25, at 7 p.m., Majestic Theatre
Producers: Annette Clarke and Rohan Fernando
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/seguridad
- Once named “Cuba’s youngest soldier” in a publicity stunt, Newfoundland-based filmmaker Tamara Segura explores her father’s troubled past and its connection to the Cuban Revolution. She returns to Cuba after four years away, camera in hand, hoping to make amends. But her father’s sudden death forces Segura to confront the past and the role Cuba’s highly militarized system played in his downfall.
- Tamara Seguragraduated from the prestigious International Film School of San Antonio de los Baños (EICTV). Her films have received awards in Spain, Cuba, Canada and Mexico. Based in Newfoundland since 2012, Segura previously worked with the NFB on such films as Song for Cuba (2014) and Becoming Labrador (2018), and is an instructor at the College of the North Atlantic.
Hairy Legs by Andrea Dorfman (17 min) | Friday, October 25, at 7 p.m., LSPU Hall
Producers: Liz Cowie and Rohan Fernando
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/hairy-legs
- Andrea Dorfman’s animated short film documents a 13-year-old girl’s small yet life-changing act of rebellion on the road to womanhood and feminism. Deciding not to shave her legs led the filmmaker to question and ultimately defy society’s expectations. With charm, warmth and humour, Hairy Legscaptures the universality of girls exploring gender, curiosity and freedom as they evolve from spending exuberant, carefree days on their bicycles to facing and defying stereotypes.
- Andrea Dorfman has written and directed many award-winning documentaries, features and animated films, including the NFB-produced Flawed(2010), Big Mouth (2012) and feature doc The Girls of Meru (2018). Dorfman’s video collaborations with poet-musician Tanya Davis, How to Be Alone (2010) and How to Be at Home (2020), became YouTube sensations.
A Mother Apart by Laurie Townshend (89 min) | Wednesday, October 23, at 7 p.m., LSPU Hall
Producers: Alison Duke and Ngardy Conteh George (Oya Media Group); Justine Pimlott (NFB)
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/a-mother-apart
- How do you raise a child when your own mother abandoned you? In a remarkable story of healing and forgiveness, Jamaican-American poet and LGBTQ+ activist Staceyann Chin, renowned for performances in Def Poetry Slamand hit solo shows like MotherStruck!, radically re-imagines the essential art of mothering. In seeking her elusive mother—a trail that leads to Brooklyn, Montreal, Cologne and, finally, Jamaica—Staceyann and her daughter forge a new sense of home.
- Laurie Townshendis a Toronto-based filmmaker, writer and educator. Her films centre on the human capacity to transform small acts of courage into quiet revolutions, as seen in the dramatic short The Railpath Hero (2013, TIFF Black Star Series), the unscripted series Human Frequency Streetdocs (2014) and the award-winning short doc Charley (2016).
Wilfred Buck by Lisa Jackson (92 min) | Saturday, October 26, at 2:30 p.m., Majestic Theatre
Producers: Lisa Jackson (Door Number 3 Productions), Lauren Grant (Clique Pictures); Alicia Smith (NFB)
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/wilfred-buck
- This hybrid, time-travelling road triptakes us into the stellar life of charismatic Cree Elder, star expert and ceremonial leader Wilfred Buck, adapted from Buck’s rollicking memoir I Have Lived Four Lives. Jackson’s portrait of Buck moves between earth and sky, past and present, bringing to life ancient teachings of Indigenous astronomy and cosmology to tell a story that spans generations.
- Lisa Jacksonis an Anishinaabe (Aamjiwnaang) filmmaker whose work has garnered two Canadian Screen Awards, been nominated for a Webby and screened at top festivals including Sundance, Tribeca, SXSW, London BFI and Hot Docs. Her 2018 NFB VR experience Biidaaban: First Light was viewed by more than 25,000 people, while her film Indictment won Best Doc at imagineNATIVE. Jackson has been honoured with the 2022 Chicken & Egg Award as well as the 2021 DOC Vanguard Award.