Nickel Independent Film Festival 2026

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DGC ON’s Best Director, Justin Oakey, shares his top four films

Friday June 26 at 10pm: THINGS GET WEIRD Seven dark shorts that aren't afraid to turn the weird up to 11. • Radio Hell — Bart K Pierson (NL) • Technophobic — Michael Peers & Yasmine Majchrzak (NL) • Finger Guns — David Feehan (NL) • An Interview With The Devil — Peter Collins (NL) • Luz Diabla — Gervasio Canda, Paula Boffo & Patricio Plaza (Argentina) • Oliver — Andrew Strickland (NL) • Pimple — Fernando Alle (Portugal) + Post-screening Q&A with directors of Radio Hell, Technophobic, Finger Guns, and Interview with the Devil. Tickets: nickelfestival.com

Friday, June 26 at 7pm: 2026 DIY SCI-FI SCREENING We put out a challenge to anyone to make a sci-fi short in 10 days and 13 teams submitted! What will you see at this screening? A taxi driver and his annoying cousin stranded at the end of the universe. An alien translator that picks up the wrong call. A customer-service line for Real Life Inc. A Brigus exorcist hunting a creature called a Slipworm. A meta-documentary about not being able to finish a film for something called DIY SCI-FI... plus several we genuinely cannot summarise. Gonna be a time. Friday June 26 at 7pm at the LSPU Hall Get your free tickets at nickelfestival.com

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"I was miserable in Toronto. I might as well have been in Fort Mac." Hangashore director @justinoakey on yearning for Newfoundland, moving back, getting dropped by commercial agents — and why a less lucrative career here has been a more creative one. "I'm so enriched on a personal level that my potentially less lucrative career here is still more satisfying." From the Nickel In Conversation panel with @christiansparkes

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The King Tide and Sweetland director @christiansparkes on holding too tight to your work — and why part of the cure is showing it before you think it's ready. "I would encourage everyone to share early and share often." From the Nickel In Conversation panel with Hangashore director @justinoakey on filmmaking in Newfoundland. Full video coming after the fest!

Thursday June 25 at 10pm: THE DARKEST TIMELINE Serious shorts with sharp teeth. Content warning: some onscreen blood, depictions of mental illness, exploitation, imprisonment, and brief moments of injury and self harm. A Palestinian surgeon's late-night drive home takes a wrong turn. A young Roma boy is pushed into public view. An ermine driven from the winter wilderness causes strife on a farm. A woman fights for footholds in a deteriorating mind. An app that promises body transformation. A restless boy in a town no one has ever left. • (for once I dreamed of you) — Kate Solar (Canada) • Black Hole — Brianna Russell (NL) • And I Would Be Beautiful — Mathilde George (France) • Volcelest — Eric Briche (France · Anima 2025) • Flickers — Alexa Jane Jerrett (NL · Michelle Jackson Emerging Filmmaker Award) • Coyotes — Said Zagha (France/Jordan/Palestine/UK · Berlinale Shorts 2025) • The Spectacle — Bálint Kenyeres (France/Hungary · Cannes 2025, Official Competition) + Post-screening Q&A with Brianna Russell and Alexa Jane Jerrett with Etta Cessac-Sinclair