This micro-documentary showcases Zaynab Mohammed’s project as BC Culture Days Ambassador, part of the Earth Endeavors series, on the Art of Listening. Zaynab interviewed 47 people, asked them 6 questions and discovered what listening is. She weaves the answers as the backbone for this film, supported by a Mediterranean soundscape created by Rob Moore. As a poet, she interprets her findings through embodied movement, showing the internal reckoning listening cultivates. She teamed up with Kai Cabödyna, a local artist and videographer to bring her vision to the screen. This project began with her artist residency at The Civic Theatre in 2021 and is becoming a one-woman show, to be released in the spring of 2023.

A 1950s housewife living with her husband in a utopian experimental community begins to worry that his glamorous company could be hiding disturbing secrets.

- ONE SHOW ONLY in Nelson with Q&A! A loving mother of four, is granted the right to legally use magic mushrooms to treat her end of life anxiety. She then embarks on a remarkable journey of personal transformation and healing while exploring lesser known possible cures for cancer, like cannabis oil. Film will be followed by a Q&A featuring local members of the psychedelic community. DOSED 2: The Trip of a Lifetime features: Dr Gabor Maté, Paul Stamets, Dennis McKenna, Dave Phillips, Sharan Sidhu, Ben Lightburn, Chino Julian, Garyth Moxey, Dr Rob Sealey, Dana Larsen, Tyler Chandler, Nicholas Meyers, and Laurie and Glenn Brooks.

Directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, collectively known as Daniels, the film is a hilarious and big-hearted sci-fi action adventure about an exhausted Chinese American woman (Michelle Yeoh) who can't seem to finish her taxes.

This feature-length documentary explores the life of singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen as seen through the prism of his internationally renowned hymn, Hallelujah.

Kootenay Film Festival presents: Arctic Defenders tells the remarkable story that began in 1968 with a radical Inuit movement in Canada. It led to the largest land claim in western civilization, orchestrated by young visionary Inuit with a dream - the governance of their territory - the creation of Nunavut. The story reveals the dark side of Canada’s attempt at sovereignty in the north and finds hope and inspiration from determined Inuit who changed the rules of the game. It's also an incredibly personal film, as it charts Walker’s return to the High Arctic which he first explored as a wide-eyed teenager.

Kootenay Film Festival presents this collection of uplifting and inspirational shorts that celebrates building community. Doing it for Love: Echo Park Film Centre North - Artists-in-residence Paolo Davanzo and Lisa Marr are hard at work creating a playful space for exploration in filmmaking with neighbours in Moberly Park (Vancouver) when the pandemic hits… but how can they connect community when we can’t actually be together? This short film reflects on the resilience and richness of artists and community working together through difficult times. Directed by Sarah Cavanaugh Employ to Empower - Employ to Empower (ETE) aims to empower individuals through personalized support and entrepreneurship in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver British Columbia; a place that is often presented as one of Canada’s poorest postal codes facing insurmountable inequity and in need of innovative solutions to help heal the divide. Directed by: Amy Hemmerling & Alexandre Beaucage AniJam:

Kootenay Film Festival presents Jason Loftus' 'Eternal Spring', Canada's 2022 entry to the Oscars. In March 2002, a state TV signal in China gets hacked by members of the banned spiritual group Falun Gong. Their goal is to counter the government narrative about their practice. In the aftermath, police raids sweep Changchun City, and comic book illustrator Daxiong (Justice League, Star Wars), a Falun Gong practitioner, is forced to flee. He arrives in North America, blaming the hijacking for worsening an already violent repression. But his views are challenged when he meets the lone surviving participant to have escaped China, now living in Seoul, South Korea. Combining present-day footage with 3D animation inspired by Daxiong’s art, Eternal Spring (長春) retraces the event on its 20th anniversary, and brings to life an unprecedented story of defiance told through harrowing eyewitness accounts of persecution and incredible artistry. Eternal Spring is an exhilarating tale of determination to speak up for political and religious freedoms, no matter the cost.

Kootenay Film Festival presents a program of uplifting and heartfelt shorts. Stay Wild: Nestled in the Kootenays of BC, 90 year old Helen fights to save Canada's most iconic animals. Directed by Corey Woods Nomoto - A BC Tragedy: How did early BC graduate Kyuichi Nomoto, a successful west coast church minister, suffer a breakdown deep in the Kootenays? Directed by Chad Townsend

Kootenay Film Festival presents this collection of short form documentaries that explore the Kootenay's history, landscape and people. Washed Away: Washed Away explores the disrupted landscapes and lives of people who lived on the banks of the Columbia prior to the dams. Directed by Agathe Bernard Susap: Keeper of Knowledge: Elder. Teacher. Survivor. The story of 72 year old Robert Louie who escaped residential school at 7 years old and went on to live a productive and influential life, while at the same time accomplishing many 'firsts' for indigenous people. Directed by Dan Caverly

*OUTDOOR/DRIVE-IN SCREENING!!! PARKING LOT BETWEEN NDCC AND CURLING CLUB* Kootenay Film Festival presents this sampling of regionally made short docs, animations and narrative along with the results of the 1/Day, 1/Roll Super 8 Hands-On workshop (local community made same day, shot, hand-processed and presented analogue Super 8 films). Slow Down - Directed by Ty Theoret Tail Gunner - Directed by Aidan Croskrey Before I Made It - Directed by May Tin & Alex Botton Twilight - Directed by Richard Reeves Sometimes Clouds Get In the Way - Directed by Siloën Daily Carving Landscapes - Directed by Agathe Bernard

Kootenay Film Festival present this playful mix of wild and fun experimental, comedy, music video, animation alongside the 'outside of the box' creative homages to the craft breweries of Nelson and Castlegar in the 48hr Craft Brews of the Columbia Basin Film Competition. Froovy Kaslo Official Music Video - Directed by Jan Van Gold Sour Waters - Directed by Arden Durand Finisterre (Ang Sang Wahe Guru) - Peter Schramm Stricken - The Helmer Brothers It Was Tomatoes!!! - Brian Lye Overhead Lines - David Miklos

Kootenay Film Festival is excited to present the best from Quickdraw Animation Society's 2021 GIANT INCANDESCENT RESONATING ANIMATION FESTIVAL GIRAF is a celebration of independent animation, a showcase of the best of what's being created here in Canada and around the world. Each year, we scour the globe for the most astounding, inventive, beautiful, mind-altering and unexpected animated films out there.

In the 10th Century, the Chola dynasty rules prosperously across South India, under the reign of Sundara Chozhar. His sons, Princes Aditha Karikalan and Arunmozhi Varman are mighty successful in their conquering for the Chola Empire in Kanchi and Sri Lanka. A group of devote Pandya soldiers scheme to avenge their King Veerapandyan, who was slain in the battlefield by the Chola Crown Prince, Aditha Karikalan. And parallel to this, in the dead of the night a group of royal chieftains of the Chola kingdom come together secretly with the agenda to usurp the throne from Aditha Karikalan and place his uncle Madhuranthakan as king. Leading this mutiny is the Chola treasurer and minister of finance, Periya Pazhuvettarayar. It’s now a race against time for the Chola Princes to win the battle against the wrath of the Pandyas, the enraged army of the Rashtrakutas, the powerful Pazhuvettarayar’s betrayal.

In the 10th Century, the Chola dynasty rules prosperously across South India, under the reign of Sundara Chozhar. His sons, Princes Aditha Karikalan and Arunmozhi Varman are mighty successful in their conquering for the Chola Empire in Kanchi and Sri Lanka. A group of devote Pandya soldiers scheme to avenge their King Veerapandyan, who was slain in the battlefield by the Chola Crown Prince, Aditha Karikalan. And parallel to this, in the dead of the night a group of royal chieftains of the Chola kingdom come together secretly with the agenda to usurp the throne from Aditha Karikalan and place his uncle Madhuranthakan as king. Leading this mutiny is the Chola treasurer and minister of finance, Periya Pazhuvettarayar. It’s now a race against time for the Chola Princes to win the battle against the wrath of the Pandyas, the enraged army of the Rashtrakutas, the powerful Pazhuvettarayar’s betrayal.

A historical epic inspired by the true events that happened in The Kingdom of Dahomey, one of the most powerful states of Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries.

A historical epic inspired by the true events that happened in The Kingdom of Dahomey, one of the most powerful states of Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries.

After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him. When he finds himself training a detachment of Top Gun graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen, Maverick encounters Lt. Bradley Bradshaw (Miles Teller), call sign: “Rooster,” the son of Maverick’s late friend and Radar Intercept Officer Lt. Nick Bradshaw, aka “Goose”. Facing an uncertain future and confronting the ghosts of his past, Maverick is drawn into a confrontation with his own deepest fears, culminating in a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those who will be chosen to fly it.