The Cinematheque

The Argument (with annotations) • Daniel Cockburn • ON • 20 min.

What begins as an inquiry on things that mean other things itself becomes a thing that means other things, too. And whatever exactly that thing is, the latest by one of Canada’s most ingenious auteurs is another astounding feat of cerebral and cinephilic dexterity.

Threads • Torill Kove • QC • 8 min.

In this spellbinding hand-drawn odyssey by celebrated, Oscar-winning animator Torill Kove, a bustling urban habitat becomes an enchanting web of human connection. Threads explores how fundamental attachment is to the experience of being human.

Milk • Heather Young • NS • 14 min.

A reticent young dairy-farm employee struggles with the news of an unexpected pregnancy. A methodical cycle of calf births and milk extraction becomes an incisive meditation on the implications of reproduction and the anxiety of impending parenthood.

The Botanist • Maxime Lacoste-Lebuis, Maude Plante-Husaruk • QC • 20 min.

This startling documentary by Montreal-based Maude Plante-Husaruk and Maxime Lacoste-Lebuis draws us deep into Tajikstan, where a delightfully iconoclastic botanist uses everything and anything around him to make life for his family a little less difficult.

The Drop In • Naledi Jackson • ON • 13 min.

On a night like any other, Joelle is closing up her hair salon when a mysterious visitor appears asking too many questions about her citizenship. Nothing is what it seems in this fierce and stylish genre-bending allegory on immigration and belonging.