2020 Festival
Films
Billie and Emma
Feature Film | 2019 | PHILIPPINES | 1h 47min
Director: Samantha Lee
Set in the mid-90's, the film tells the story of Billie, a troublemaker from the big city, who finds herself exiled to San Isidro to live with her spinster aunt who is also the town's religion teacher. Determined to change her ways and get through the last year of high school without incident, Billie hides herself from the world until she meets Emma, the ambitious, star student who coaxes Billie out of her shell. They soon fall in love but things get complicated when Emma finds out that she's pregnant. Together, they explore the fleeting nature of love and life on this heartwarming journey.
BIIDAABAN (the dawn comes)
Short Film | 2018 | 19 mins
Director: Amanda Strong
Includes closed captions & described video
Spotted Fawn ProductionsBased on the writings of Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, the film centres on Biidaaban, a young shapeshifter on a secret mission to revive the traditional First Nations ritual of harvesting sap from maple trees to make maple sugar, despite living in a contemporary urban area.
Mni Wiconi: Mitakuyelo (Water is Life: Protect It, Defend It)
Short Film | 2019 | 11:44 mins
Director: Amanda Strong
Moontime ProductionsNearly a year after meeting at the Oceti Sakowin camp during the NoDAPL resistance movement at Standing Rock, five Indigenous Water Protectors are reunited in Toronto, Ontario to share the ways in which the ‘spirit of the camp’ created a family out of their shared passion and action, ultimately transforming their lives forever. Brought together by a calling to protect the water, their experiences moved them to further elevate their voices in solidarity with the global Indigenous community.
Stories from Land Back Camp
Documentary
Director: Erik O’Neill
Queer Genius
Documentary | 2019 | United States | 1h 55min
Director: Chet Pancake
A cinematic exploration of four visionary queer artists breaking down barriers in their creative fields as they confront fame, failure, censorship, family, gender, and sexuality. The film embraces the communal possibilities of "genius" from a particularly queer perspective crossing genre and generational perspective. The film features intertwined portraits of Eileen Myles, Barbara Hammer, Jibz Cameron, and Black Quantum Futurism.
Trans Magical Academy
Rainbow Reels in partnership with Zackey Lime are excited to present The Trans Magical Academy, a three part, kid-friendly puppet series uploaded to our YouTube channel with closed captions on October 26th (10 mins), 28th (15 mins), and 30th (15 mins) at 7pm.
The Trans Magical Academy follows the story of Ronnie, a trans magical girl whose daydreams about what to wear on Halloween lead to the exciting discovery that she has been accepted into The Trans Magical Academy! The trilogy follows a journey of friendship and self-acceptance. But not everything is perfect, we learn that a certain “Miss Potato” (who doesn’t believe transmagic exists) has been trying to get the Academy shut down. When Ronnie learns that Miss Potato is the mother of her best friend, Harriet, she feels compelled to intervene & try to save her best friend and the Academy.
About ZacKey Lime!:
ZacKey Lime (a.k.a Zackery Binder) is an puppeteer, actor, drag king and producer. In early April ZacKey had a weekly LGBTQ+ family friendly puppet show in partnership with Glad Day Bookshop, called Puppet Time with ZacKey Lime. In June of 2020, he was a curator for one of Pride Toronto’s Family Hours. Since then, he has made a couple guest appearances on the Treehouse show “Miss Persona” and is currently part of an exciting new queer web-series that will be coming out in 2021. Since having entered Toronto drag scene in 2018, ZacKey co-founded the popular show, “House of Kings” as well as Harry Potter Drag Brunches at Glad Day Bookshop.Follow ZacKey and his puppets on instagram, @zackeylime
This production is made possible thanks to our funders: Region of Waterloo Arts Fund, Downtown Kitchener BIA, City of Kitchener, and City of Waterloo