The Cinematheque

The Blue Room: Waves of Veiled Revelations

Conceived by two curators for screening on two consecutive days, the festival’s companion programs (“The Blue Room” on Friday night and ​“The Red Room” on Saturday morning) distill material from small-file film workshops held in Bangladesh, Canada, Egypt, Mexico, and Iran. Whether a mystery roe or a punk claw, the inhabitants of these two different worlds coexist and speak to each other in non-obvious ways, like entangled quantum computations.

Wandering through tangled pixels, urban echoes, and velvety oneiric visions, ​“The Blue Room” opens a subliminal snowfield of opaque layers, spawning transmutation cycles and waves over waves of veiled messages. Silent, subtle and calm, this program eavesdrops on a conversation of ghost creeks, oscillating drones, and fast-disappearing gleams. —Mena El Shazly & Radek Przedpełski

Program runtime: 58 min.

A Creek at Spanish Banks | Canada 2024 | Thomas Evdokimoff | 4 min. | 5.97 MB

Knock Knock | Iran 2025 | Avin Hamasian | 2 min. | 3.2 MB

Bougainvillea | Iran 2025 | Neda Sangtarash | 3 min. | 4.29 MB

Macbeth and the Three Weird Sisters: A Parody | Canada 2024 | Helen Jiang | 2 min. | 3.04 MB

Wild and Free | Bangladesh 2024 | Sumaiya Shams Joyeeta | 4 min. | 4.88 MB

Existence | Iran 2025 | Shima Omidvar | 1 min. 1.41 MB

Gleams in Fractures | Iran 2025 | Farzin Azarm | 5 min.| 8.75 MB

Lost Playgrounds | Bangladesh 2024 | Fariha Shahin | 4 min. | 5.54 MB

WHAT DID YOU EAT TODAY | Mexico 2024 | Hugo Hernandez | 2 min. | 3.55 MB

untitled | Mexico 2024 | Denise Serrano | 5 min. | 6.27 MB

Transmutation | Mexico 2024 | Atzel Colin | 2 min. | 1.76 MB

Lost in the Machine | Egypt 2024 | Amira El Badry | 1 min. 2.41 MB

Snake and Stairs | Iran 2025 | Haniyeh Mortezazade | 4 min. 6.97 MB

Retina | Egypt 2024 | Yahya Muhammad | 2 min. 3.68 MB

What We Have Left | Mexico 2024 | Mónica Luna | 3 min. 2.08 MB

TELL IF TIME IS PASSING | Iran 2025 | Marjan Pirata | 2 min. 2.17 MB

Wondering Wandering | Bangladesh 2024 | Mahamudul Hasan Akhand | 2 min. 2.29 MB

Live Screen | Egypt 2024 | Helena Abdelnasser | 3 min. 4.4 MB

VISIONS | Canada 2024 | Noah Roberts | 1 min. 0.63 MB

Snow | Egypt 2024 | Amal Shafek | 2 min. 1.79 MB

The Veil of Corrosion | Bangladesh 2024 | Md. Tahjid Ahsan | 3 min. 4.2 MB

—intermission—

Sleep Spells

You enter a tiny forest, one of the last green refuges in an attempt to escape the 4K media dystopia. The din of modernity fades as you walk deeper into the trees, guided by tiny flickering lights. You come upon a clearing and a mage steps forth, placing you under a powerful spell. A reverie takes hold, the world becomes smaller, the lights become visions, and you are transported to the great world of small.

Prepare to be enchanted with ​“Sleep Spells,” a collection of hits and sleepers from the last five years of the festival. A cavalcade of crystalline gems encompassing all that is small: have you been sleeping on small files? —Yani Kong & Joey Malbon

Program runtime: 54 min.

Once Upon a Time | Canada 2020 | Hân Phạm | 5 min. 5.67 MB

Mohthth | USA 2020 | Weihan Zhou | 3 min. 3.9 MB

Catfessions #1 | Canada 2020 | Pierre Leichner | 3 min. 4.5 MB

Catfessions #2 | Canada 2020 | Pierre Leichner | 1 min. 5 MB

Glints 1–4 | Iran/​Canada 2021 | Somayah Khakshoor | 7 min. 13.8 MB

Doomer 1–3 | Canada 2022 | Amber Morrison, Scott Fox | 2 min. 6.3 MB

Yan | USA 2023 | Vesper Gau | 12 min. 19.7 MB

crapper | Canada 2024 | Pablo Garcia Garcia | 7 min. 6.7 MB

I do not have enough money to buy new underwear | Canada 2024 | Jayson Sloan | 2 min. 0.7 MB

A Story of Snow | Canada 2024 | Liam Riley, Will Riley | 9 min. 9.7 MB

N’oublie pas la Crème / Don’t Forget the Cream | Canada 2024 | Monique Motut-Firth | 3 min. 3.1 MB