dir. Anna Biller / USA / 2016 / 120 minutes

Elaine, a beautiful young witch, is determined to find a man to love her. In her gothic Victorian apartment she makes spells and potions, and then picks up men and seduces them. However her spells work too well, and she ends up with a string of hapless victims. When she finally meets the man of her dreams, her desperation to be loved will drive her to the brink of insanity and murder. With a visual style that pays tribute to Technicolor thrillers of the ‘60s, Anna Biller's iconic imagery and horror homages explore female fantasy and the repercussions of pathological narcissism.

dir. Jayro Bustamante / Guatemala / 2015 / 93 minutes

A coffee plantation at the base of a volcano is the setting for the visually impressive and beautiful story of María, a 17 year old Mayan girl who is arranged to be married... but not to the man she desires. When she plans to escape to the United States, the consequences challenge her, her family, and her village. As the first film ever made in the indigenous Mayan language of Kaqchikel, this stunning and realistic portrait of a disappearing and oft-dismissed culture is as important as it is engaging.

dir. Gianfranco Rosi / Italy / 2016 / 114 minutes

Presented in partnership with the Italian Canadian Cultural Association.

The Italian island of Lampedusa is the setting of this documentary, which won the Golden Bear at Berlinale — the first time a documentary has ever won the top award. As a common point of entry into Europe for hundreds of refugees from Africa and the Middle East, Lampedusa provides a stunning cultural crossroads for director Gianfranco Rosi to explore humanity and everyday life in naturalistic, poignant ways. Samuele, a 12-year-old boy who lives on the island, serves as the focal point as the film dives into the history of residents and refugees alike. Two different worlds are brought together by a global crisis, a timely topic that Rosi delicately handles to heartbreaking effect.

This screening will be introduced by Ruben Zaiotti, Director of the European Union Centre of Excellence and associate professor in Political Science at Dalhousie University. Ruben is the author of the book "Cultures of Border Control: Schengen and the Evolution of European Frontiers" and other publications and commentaries on migration and refugees in Europe.

dir. Werner Herzog / USA / 2016 / 98 minutes

Oscar-nominated documentarian Werner Herzog chronicles the virtual world from its origins to its outermost reaches, exploring the digital landscape with the same curiosity and imagination he previously trained on earthly destinations as disparate as the Amazon, the Sahara, the South Pole and the Australian outback. Herzog leads viewers on a journey through a series of provocative conversations that reveal the ways in which the online world has transformed how virtually everything in the real world works - from business to education, space travel to healthcare, and the very heart of how we conduct our personal relationships.

dir. Ross Sutherland / UK / 2015 / 65 minutes

Director Ross Sutherland combines found-footage from a videotape that once belonged to his granddad with a series of stories from his life. The videotape used has a lot of sentimental significance to Ross: it’s his main way of maintaining a connection to his granddad posthumously and he has used the tape as a form of meditation to combat depression. This film, originally created as a performance art piece, uses repetition to help locate hidden meaning inside the video, transforming innocuous pieces of TV into buried pieces of Sutherland's psyche.

dir. Jin Mo-young / South Korea / 2014 / 86 minutes

Byong-man Jo and Gye-Yeul Kang, an inseperable married couple of 76 years, are the subject of this tender documentary that has become South Korea's biggest independent film of all time. Over 15 months of filming in and around their small house by the titular river, their unforgettable story of true love unfolds as they go to the market, dance, and sleep each night holding hands.

dir. Anna Rose Holmer / USA / 2016 / 72 minutes

Newcomer Royalty Hightower stars as Toni, a young boxer who joins a dance troupe, in this fresh and unique coming-of-age drama from writer/director Anna Rose Holmer. When the other dancers begin having mysterious seizures and turning them into routines, Toni must decide if she is willing to give up the control she craves in order to fit it. Spirituality, self-discovery, and a dreamlike sense of realism are blended in the rhythms of the dance performances and in the editing. Both Hightower and Holmer have garnered critical acclaim on the festival circuit for the confidence and assured nature of their contributions to the film.