#tiffnextwave

Was a pleasure getting to photograph portraits of the #tiffnextwave committee, excited for what they have programmed for this years festival. Free to attend for anyone 25 and under ⚡️ Thanks @tiff_net for having me out again #mamiya645 https://www.instagram.com/p/B7jbCa2gpMG/?igshid=zttlwi1uttf

#TIFFnextwave is happening this weekend! Some great programming and free admission for anyone under 25⚡️⚡️⚡️Was awesome getting to shoot these portraits of the committee back in December. thnx to @tiff_net and @ajbischoff for having me out again and to @juliajuliajuliajulia_ for helping out 😎 #120mm #mamiya645 (at TIFF) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bt2H0CXARBJ/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1klvtaxld8ydy

#tiffnextwave is happening this weekend! Free for anyone 25 and under 😎😎 Make sure to pick up this sweet #zine designed by @ajbischoff ft. portraits I shot of the Next Wave committee⚡️⚡️⚡️ Shot on #120mm #portra #portraits (at TIFF)

Lil' snap of cool babe @missvanessamatsui talking @ghostbff with other cool babes at @tiff_net last Friday 💎💎💎💎 #tiffnextwave

#tiffnextwave #tiff #belllightbox #youth #battleofthescores (at TIFF Bell Lightbox)

You should see it to experience a work of haunting cinema that will stick with you for a long time. You should see it because the performances are very grounded in its bleak reality. But most of all you should see it because a reflection on the problems it speaks about is very important.  The film is truly effective, and it would be easy to chalk that up to its dark narrative, but this film truly stands above many others in its excellent grasp of the craft ­ this is storytelling at its most effective. The plot follows a young woman who has accused a young man in her class of sexually assaulting her, specifically focusing on the pushback from the community surrounding these accusations. And though Gardeler spares confirming or denying the accusations till the very end of the film, Fatime Azemi’s performance removed any thought in my mind that she could have made it up.  Gardeler does very well in creating the most vivid image of the community. The actions of this community so effectively antagonize them, it makes certain scenes and reveals much more plausible. But the world of the film is captured so specifically that it took only the camera to realize how bleak this reality really was. Some sequences, specifically in the beginning of the film, will dazzle you with their beauty, but it is when Gardeler starts to present this bleak world that the visuals become synonymous with the story. The film takes an issue that is very important and puts you right beside a victim of that issue, it puts you right beside her as she is ostracized by her community, and right beside her when she has to face the bureaucratic response that offers little help. It makes you reflect on how our system treats victims of sexual assault, and how our society treats those victims.

TIFF Next Waver STEVEN says: Watch a community struggle for dignity against the circumstances of their lives and characters fight for a sense of identity in a society which overlooks them. The greatness of ‘Songs my Brothers Taught Me’ lies in its brevity, imparting the nuanced beauty of The Pine Ridge Reservation, its characters and landscapes with the singular vision of its director, Chloe Zhao. ‘Songs my brothers taught me’ has a degree of universal importance that only the greatest films can offer: their world is so close to us that we can touch it, we can feel their pain as our pain and their joy as our collective joy and, we understand them, for a brief moment we truly empathize with these characters because, we are like them. With a film so poignant in its understanding and portrayal of characters, plot and cinematography, ‘ Songs my brothers taught me’ is a highly recommended film to watch at the Tiff Next Wave film festival. It is poetry on the screen.