Returning for the first time since 2019, Mayworks is excited to present the Reel Justice program of short films. Showcasing shorts from across Atlantic Canada and the country at large, this year’s program highlights those who push to create space for themselves in places that often feel hostile or unwelcoming.
Total runtime: 74 minutes
Reel Justice will be followed by Animating Justice (AFX) and a short Q&A with filmmakers from both programs.
Reel Justice Program:
Sisterhood Softball by Farhiya Ahmed (7 min)
Lacking a dedicated space, a group of muslim women create their own softball group to play the sport they love, but feel excluded from.
What Do you Think by Brandon Boyd (11 min)
Autistic Haligonians work to create space within the local filmmaking community.
The Body of My Name 名自字体 by Rosie Choo Pidcock (4 min)
Five Chinese Canadians return to their elementary school to reclaim their names through dance.
Black Boys Skate Too by Danica Ricamara (6 min)
Black skaters make a space and culture for themselves.
My Type of Hair by Juliet Mawusi (9 min)
My Type Of Hair is a short film that tells the origin of Black Beauty, the struggles since slavery and after for Black women to keep their natural hair, and even to find the right products for their hair type.
Miss Campbell: Inuk Teacher by Heather Campbell (15 min)
Part oral history and part visual poem, Miss Campbell: Inuk Teacher is the story of Evelyn Campbell, a trailblazer for an Inuit-led educational system in the small community of Rigolet, Labrador.
Songs of Unama’ki by Dawn Wells and Jeff Miller (22 min)
A look at The Mi’kmaw artists keeping tradional music alive, and those taking it into the future.
Animating Justice
Reel Justice will be Followed by a short program offered by the Animation Festival of Halifax (AFX)
Start time at 8:15 PM | Total runtime: 27 min
One of Those Families by Stephanie Joline (3 min)
A deeply personal animated short film that brings together the exquisite hand-painted illustrations of Mi’kmaw artist Pauline Young, the animation expertise of Struan Sutherland, and the poignant poetry of Rebecca Thomas.
Meet the Creatures by Veronica Dymond (4 min)
Tension arises when an alien brings her human fiancee home to meet the parents.
Born in a Body by Elliot Ciz and Brody Weaver (10 min)
A segment from the 60m experimental animated documentary which repositions the trans community as experts of their own lives, bodies, and (medical) needs to reconsider liberation and wellbeing.
Hadis by Nazrin Aghamaliyeva (10 min)
In a world ruled by crows and discrimination, a young girl decides to fight for justice.
