Agatha’s Almanac (ALFF Encore)

This screening took place on Monday, February 16, 2026 at 7:00 pmYukon Theatre

ALFF ticket packs for either venue (YAC or theatre) can be redeemed for any ALFF Encore screening. 

Made intentionally with sensory sensitive viewers in mind, the film carves out a (mostly) calm space in a chaotic world.

Fiercely independent 90-year-old Agatha Bock lives alone on her ancestral farm. Despite health challenges, she defiantly tends to her land, cultivating heirloom seeds passed down through generations. Employing antiquated techniques, Agatha plants and harvests her expansive field of watermelons, beans, flowers, herbs, and vegetables entirely by hand. Without a car, cell phone, running water, or even a functioning landline, Agatha’s meditative processes and daily rituals form a vivid counterpoint to the rapid pace of contemporary life. 
Shot by an all-female crew—including director Amalie Atkins and cinematographer Rhayne Vermette— over six years on 16mm film, using a windup Bolex and an ArriSR2 studio camera, the project captures the handmade materiality inherent in both the medium of film and Agatha’s tactile world. Her century-old farmhouse, with its grey exterior, contrasts with the bursts of vibrant colour and texture inside. Unchanged since the 1950s, her home serves as a living archive of a vanishing era, rooted in her esoteric practices that predate modern conveniences.
Agatha’s Almanac serves as a powerful conduit for often-overlooked stories, amplifying voices and rural perspectives. Agatha’s life offers a window into the experiences of a nearly lost generation, whose values and ways of living are at risk of fading as the world rapidly changes.

“charmingly meditative and gently illuminating portrait” … "The director’s aunt is an engagingly strong and forthright character, and the film delights in revealing – and revelling in – her unique life with charm, warmth and real compassion.” Mark Adams, Business Doc Europe

“Rhayne Vermette’s camera brings a lusciousness, a vibrance so exquisite and glimmering it gently soaks us. This is an effortlessly beguiling film, working miraculously as both an elusive, immediate relic. It feels spun with care, love and passionate attention. In Agatha’s Almanac, Amalie Atkins bottles the essence of a charming figure, showing the vessel of her beliefs, doing more for the art of slow living than anything has ever, evoking a way of being, inhabiting the everyday, steered in implicit resistance to a world barrelling forth. Agatha’s story is an invitation to consider all that envelops us and cherish it.” Debanjan Dhar, High on Films

"Agatha’s Almanac is a precious testament to a skillset and a thoughtful way of consuming, both of which are gradually fading as our elders pass on.” Aurelie Geron, Film Fest Report