Hearts Illuminated
Seven short films featuring love and loss
All tickets pay-what-you-wish. Select the amount at the links above.
Presented by Classic Hits Coast 101.1
First Position
Director / Writer / Producer: Mallory Clarke • Newfoundland & Labrador • 5 mins
A person who hates all their clothes struggles to decide what to wear to a house party. When later they see their ex-it’s-complicated with a new partner, it triggers a nascent lifestyle change. Director Mallory Clarke used their experience telling great stories on stage to inform this strong debut film through the First Time Filmmaker Program by NIFCO.
to my next lover
Director / Producer: Kieran Charnock • New Zealand • 4 mins
Based on a poem by the same name by New Zealand writer Paula Harris, this four minute film is blocked with powerful images depicting a whirlwind romance that has yet to happen and is destined to not end well.
Kiss ‘n’ Ride
Director / Writer / Producer: Olivia Jensen • USA • 8 mins
An animated film that will give you butterflies! On her way home from a lovely café date, a woman finds reminders of her date in every little thing. She falls in love with the Chicago winter night around her, and dreams of the date ending differently.
Post-Screening Q&A
With Rhiannon Morgan (NL).
Grown in Darkness
Director / Writer: Devin Shears • Producer: Anna Wheeler • Newfoundland & Labrador • 17 mins
Henry lives alone on his farm growing rhubarb in a dark cellar. “Rhubarb grows better in the dark,” he says. “It reaches up, looking for the light that isn’t there, and so the stalks grow longer, and sweeter.” When his friend Emmanuel arrives to collect the harvest, together they spend the days exploring the limits of their relationship. Featuring impressive, understated performances from Andy Jones and Lawrence Barry, this short is simply beautiful.
Mother’s Skin
Director / Writer / Producer: Leah Johnston • Nova Scotia • 20 mins
A neglected six-year-old girl struggles to cope with her mother's depression and her father's alcoholic rage. At night, violence erupts around her and threatens to tear her family apart. But when the girl discovers a hidden secret in their home, her dysfunctional world takes on a strange new meaning. A haunting and darkly poetic film.
Content Warning: suggested domestic abuse / attempted suicide
Sampo
Director: Marziyeh Riahi • Iran • 13 mins
Struggling to make ends meet, a single mother caters the funerals and weddings of the rich. But her daughter has different ideas about her mother’s job.
Our Secret
Director / Writer: Ryan Ward • USA • 8 mins
As a young girl dreams about life, the universe and everything, she discovers the power of connection and the potential of the human mind.
Filmmaker Still Slideshow - Image Descriptions
Our Secret: a close up shot of a woman’s mouth whispering into a child’s ear.
Kiss ‘n’ Ride: an illustration of a young woman with curly black hair wearing a red beret and scarf. She looks away from the camera and stands in front of a convenience store background with several plastic bottles on shelves.
First Position: a young woman with curly brown hair and a nostril hoop, wearing a green jacket, a white pearl choker, and glitter near her eyes. She is looking up with a lit joint in her mouth.
to my next lover: a close up of a young woman with medium-length brown hair wearing sunglasses and a grey sweatshirt, with another young woman wearing an off-white beanie, sunglasses, and a yellow sweater on her back. They stand in front of a bright blue wall.
Grown in Darkness: two older men - one in the front with short balding-white hair and a beard, wearing a white button-up shirt, and one in the background with short grey hair and a beard, wearing a black shirt. They face away from each other as they tend to several rhubarb plants in a dark room lit with candles.
Sampo: a young woman wearing a tan hijab, a burgundy shirt and black pants, kneeling on concrete and looking inside a cardboard box with a worried expression. The walls inside the box are covered in drawings of various stick figures - some happy, some sad.
Mother’s Skin: a young woman with long light-brown wearing a burgundy cardigan. She is looking just past the camera, holding a child who is facing the opposite direction.