In Brazil’s northern Amazonian state of Pará, singer and composer Dona Onete is celebrated as the Queen of Carimbó, a percussion-driven music tradition rooted in Afro-Indigenous culture and closely tied to the region’s riverside communities. In Mini Kerti’s vibrant documentary, the late-blooming national treasure reflects on the people and places that shaped her. Although Onete only rose to recognition in her seventies, she performs with the ease of someone who has lived inside this music for decades. Moving between candid…

Remote corners of South Sulawesi are home to the ancient bissu tradition, which recognizes a unique fifth gender of spiritual mediators who bridge the divine and the earthly. This evocative documentary follows a former bissu leader whose identity is caught between this ancestral role and the changing tides in society. The atmosphere is one of quiet, internal conflict, shifting from the vibrant rituals of Bugis heritage to the pull of acceptance into a wider, more homogenized modern society. By exploring…

Inside makeshift tents on the US-Mexico border, across the resource-scarce areas of northern Nigeria, and in the encampment parks and shelters of Toronto, the high-risk neighbourhoods of Colombia, and the remote mountainous regions of Afghanistan, courageous midwives are risking their own safety and wellbeing to attend to expectant mothers. Through astounding access to these precarious environments and to the dedicated women working with scant resources and minimal support, director Nance Ackerman captures the ever-evolving risks and high stakes of each…

Every moment of Nyousha Nakhjiri’s focus is trained on a singular goal: becoming the first Iranian-born female boxer to step into the ring at the Olympics. The path to achieving her dream, however, is filled with physical and mental hurdles that require strength and determination to overcome. Through boxing, she’s found a way to navigate her ADHD and anxiety and become the number-one ranked athlete in her weight class. After she spent her childhood in Iran, Nyousha and her parents…

Cortes Island is a coastal paradise in British Columbia’s Discovery Islands archipelago. Its abundant ecosystem is a breeding ground for magnificent oysters whose stone-like shells are shaped by tidal currents. These living fossils take years to reach maturity; meanwhile, their environment is changing faster than they can adapt. Following a small group of farmers and scientists, this 35mm essay takes a deep dive into the life cycle of these seemingly sedentary organisms, using them as a gateway to understanding the…

After members of the 2018 Team Canada junior hockey team were accused of sexual assault following a championship celebration, Hockey Canada stepped in with a confidential financial settlement worth millions of dollars, hoping to keep the issue out of the public eye. Investigative journalist Rick Westhead broke the story about the cover-up, which sent shockwaves across Canada, as the country was forced to come to terms with a culture of silence and collusion surrounding a mythologized national pastime. Bearing witness…