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Available Light Film Festival 2025: Line-up announcement

January 16, 2025

Available Light Film Festival 2025 showcases Yukon stories and filmmakers at unique Northern festival.

Stories from the farthest reaches of Canada’s Northwest that will inspire audiences to reflect on our tangible connections with fellow humans and the natural world.

Whitehorse — The Yukon Film Society (YFS) announces the lineup for the 23rd annual Available Light Film Festival (ALFF), taking place from February 7-16, 2025. The festival features 10 jam-packed days with 100+ events, including feature and mid-length cinema, short films, engaging panels and workshops with guest filmmakers, the ALFF Industry Forum, and live music events. It celebrates the talent of circumpolar, international, Indigenous and Northern creators and provides a dynamic space for filmmakers and audiences to build community and dialogue to more deeply explore the stories and experiences shared on-screen.

The festival kicks-off with the world premiere screening of two documentaries made with the support of the National Film Board of Canada: Jessica Hall’s short Saturday and Melaina Sheldon and David Hamelin’s 54-minute animated documentary Northlore on Friday February 7th at the Yukon Arts Centre. Many Yukon-made films will be screened at the festival showcasing diverse stories and characters from across the territory. Here are a few highlights which are having their world premiere or have been supported by ALFF in their journey to becoming realized:

· Northlore, shares the mystical stories of five Yukoners and the connections forged between themselves and the Northern wilderness.

· Saturday is a heart-warming and uplifting real-life tale of Katherine, a woman with an intellectual disability, and her close friendship with her mother.

· Fire Tower explores the solitary world and the fascinating humans behind the binoculars who watch for wildfires and take pride in protecting the land and its people.

· Old Crow a Philosophy tells the story of the Vuntut Gwitchin, their land, and their journey toward energy sovereignty for this fly-in community in the far North.

· Fistful of Vodka won the 2023 ALFF Pitch Prize and is a ‘Bannock Western’ that was shot in Pelly Crossing.

World Premieres at ALFF 2025

· Are We Done Now? (Dir. Ben Immanuel, British Columbia), Talk About Lonely (Dir. Charles Wilkinson, British Columbia), Old Crow a Philosophy (Dir. Erika Tizya-Tramm & Daniel Janke, YT), Northlore (Dir. Melaina Sheldon & David Hamelin, YT), Saturday (Dir. Jessica Hall, YT), This Moment Will Be Different (Dir. Sarah Genge, BC/ON) and Fistful of Vodka (Dir. Robert Joe, YT).

Guest filmmaker Highlights

Matthew Rankin (Director of Universal Language)

Sook-Yin Lee (Director of Paying for It)

Don McKellar (Special presentation of his newly remastered breakout film, Last Night)

Ben Immanuel (Director of Are We Done Now?)

Adrian Glynn (Live Music Performance) Composer for Are We Done Now?

Zoe Leigh Hopkins (DGC Masters Event and screenings of Run Woman Run and North of North)

Dennis Allen (Live Performance and Director of CBQM)

Brett Story (Director of Union)

Melaina Sheldon & David Hamelin (Directors of Northlore)

Jeremy Parkin (Composer of Northlore)

Jessica Hall (Director of Saturday)

Erika Tizya-Tramm & Daniel Janke (Directors of Old Crow a Philosophy)

Brandon Kyikavichik (Subject of Old Crow a Philosophy)

Dana Tizya-Tramm (Subject and composer of Old Crow a Philosophy)

Suzanne Crocker (Director of All The Time in the World)

Daniel Bekerman (Producer of The Apprentice)

Omar Majeed (Director of Disco’s Revenge)

Niall McNeil and Mike Mckinlay (Directors of The Originals)

John Dippong (Producer of The Originals)

Charles Wilkinson and Tina Schliessler (Filmmakers of Talk About Lonely)

Alexander Carson (Director of Alberta Number One)

Tova Krentzman (Director of Fire Tower)

Sarah Genge (Director of This Moment Will Be Different)

Graeme Mathieson (Director of Play It Loud!)

Jay Douglas (Subject of Play It Loud!)

Andrew Munger (Producer of Play It Loud!)

Joanne Robertson (Co-Director of So Surreal: Behind the Masks)

Ali Weinstein (Director of Your Tomorrow)

Bernie Yao (Producer of Are We Done Now?)

Ila Firouzabadi (Writer of Universal Language)

Must-see festival films

All We Imagine as Light (Dir. Payal Kapadia)

A soulful study of the transformative power of friendship and sisterhood in Mumbai.

Bob Trevino Likes It (Dir. Tracie Laymon)

A young woman unexpectedly befriends a man with the same name as her father on the internet.

Flow (Dir. Gints Zilbalodis)

Beautifully animated Latvian production! great for the whole family! Winner of a Golden Globe!

Hunting Matthew Nichols (Dir. Markian Tarasiuk)

Canadian thriller about a missing person’s case, à la The Blair Witch Project.

Inedia (Dir. Liz Cairns)

After a series of allergic reactions to food, Cora joins a radical group who claim to be fed by light.

No Other Land (Dir. Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor)

One of the most important films of the year, documenting Palestinian life under Israeli military occupation.

Paying For It (Dir. Sook Yin Lee)

Literary adaptation of Chester Brown’s biographical graphic novel.       

Queer (Dir. Luca Guadagnino)

Literary adaptation of William Burroughs’ novella by the director of Call Me by Your Name.

Seeds (Dir. Kanehtaahio Horn)

Indigenous thriller about food sovereignty.

Shepherds (Bergers) (Dir. Sophie Deraspe)

An advertising executive abandons his life in Montreal to become a Provençal shepherd.

The Brutalist (Dir. Brady Corbet)

Escaping postwar Europe, a visionary architect comes to America to rebuild his life. Shot on 70mm!

The Heirloom (Dir. Ben Petrie)

A young couple adopts a Whippet and is brought to the brink of catastrophe.

The Stand (Dir. Christopher Auchter)

A documentary that recreates the courage, tenacity and tension of the 1985 Haida logging blockade.

Union (Dir. Brett Story, Stephen Maing)

Follows Chris Smalls and the Amazon workers in their effort to unionize the Staten Island Amazon Centre.

Universal Language (Dir. Matthew Rankin)

Set someplace between Winnipeg and Tehran this surrealist comedy is shortlisted for an academy award.

Avant-Drag (Dir. Fil Leropoulos)

Ten drag performers find solace in each other as they rebel against their oppressive reality.

ALFF ‘25 Pitch Event (Feb. 8, 2025) - Public is welcome to attend

Yukon filmmakers who have a short film concept in development can pitch their idea for the chance to win over $12,000 in cash and support towards their production. Past filmmakers who have won the ALFF Pitch Prize include: Tova Krentzman (Fire Tower), Jessica Hall (Left Hand Path), Marty O'Brien & Naomi Mark (Grey Mountain), Jayden Soroka & Gary Sidney (The Provider), and Lane Tredger (The Adventures of Tess and Maggie), among others.

Learn more about the festival at alff.ca. Tickets and passes are available at yukontickets.com or contact the box office by phone: (867) 667-8574 or Email: boxoffice@yac.ca.

YFS gratefully acknowledges the annual public support of Telefilm Canada, Yukon Arts Operating Fund, Yukon Media Development, Lotteries Yukon, and Canada Council for the Arts. Mahsi Cho, shäw nithan, kwanalchish to all the sponsors, community partners, artists, audiences, filmmakers, distributors, boosters, industry presenters, festival staff, venue staff and volunteers who participate and support cinema and film creation in the Yukon.

For more information, please contact Andrew Connors, ALFF festival director: alff@yukonfilmsociety.com or 867-393-3456.

 

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