Digi60 Filmmakers’ Festival x Lotus Movement
Co-presented by Digital Arts Resource Centre and Actra Ottawa Women’s Council
Embracing Our Creative Selves
International Women’s Day 2023
March 8, 6-9 PM
Join us on March 8, International Women’s Day for Embracing Our Creative Selves, a collaboration by Digi60 Filmmakers’ Festival and The Lotus Movement.
An evening of embracing our creative selves through community, movement, and mental health will take place at Digital Arts Resource Centre. We will begin with a yoga flow with Jas Bhandal followed by light networking. The evening ends with a screening of documentaries made by Ottawa-based women-identifying filmmakers, followed by a Q&A session.
This event is co-presented with the support of Digital Arts Resource Centre and ACTRA Ottawa Women’s Council.
This workshop is free and will be offered in English only.
Women+ Screening Program
Corners
Directed by Asma Horea Amin
CORNERS is an exploration on identity, girlhood, dreams, and happiness framed by first generation Canadian-East African women as they are thrown into the chaos of their early 20s. A film by Ottawa natives Asma Horea Amin, Sagal Abdi-Daoud and Imane Ahmed, 3 friends aim to understand what it was that made their upbringing so specific, and why they sometimes felt like they were backed into a corner.
——
About Director Asma Horea Amin
As a first-generation Canadian Muslim woman of Somali descent, the intersection of identity and culture holds a special place in Sagal's heart. Growing up as a member of the diasporic East African community, Sagal has experienced the dynamic nature of cultural adaptation and code-switching firsthand. In 2019, Sagal co-produced the short documentary film "Corners," which focuses on the East-African female experience of growing up in the West while balancing family, tradition, and culture. She aspires to use art as a means to build a lasting community. The short film was previously showcased at the Digi60 Filmmakers' Festival and an Industry Screening for the Doc Institute.
RAW: Real. Amazing. Women.
Directed by Nicole Bedford
This documentary shares the journeys of two women looking to become their most authentic selves. To do this, they attend the RAW Retreat—A women’s only retreat organized out of Toronto, ON. Over the 3-day weekend, they develop deep connections with their fellow retreaters and start the process of learning to love and accept themselves just as they are.
——
About Director Nicole Bedford
Nicole Bedford is a documentary filmmaker based in Ottawa, ON, unceded Algonquin Territory. Her work regularly explores themes of identity, power, and resiliency. Since launching into film in 2019, she has created and screened several short documentaries and is an alumnus of three mentorship programs (including with the DOC Institute and the National Film Board of Canada). In 2022, she completed her first feature documentary, the smallest steps, about women across generations working to end violence against women in Canada. Currently, she is in post-production for her second documentary feature, Roots & Mesh, about four women from rural Nova Scotia who learn to build community through song.
Ottawa is a Drag
Directed by Karolina Krym
Ottawa is a Drag profiles several local performers: Saltina Shaker, Axel Lightning, Aimee Yonce Shennel, and Ruby Foxglove – highlighting their experiences in and out of drag. The film acts as a love letter to the local drag community and gives an insight into what makes the performers of Ottawa special – their camaraderie and support of one another. The film also features performances by Sunshine Glitterchild, Wysteria and Cornelia Styles.
——
About Director Karolina Krym
Karolina Krym is a student of the Film & Media Production program at Algonquin College. As a queer woman, she is passionate about producing content that highlights the stories and experiences of the LGBTQIA+ community and all other under-represented voices.
So I Married Myself
Directed by Amen Jafri
A divorced, single mother joins a controversial new global movement - sologamy (or self-marriage). While sologamy's critics are quick to label it as narcissistic, Jafri seeks to uncover its roots and why women in particular are drawn to it. So I Married Myself is a quirky and inspiring take on the next level of female empowerment.
——
About Director Amen Jafri
Amen Jafri is a doc filmmaker and producer who has spent the last decade working for established production houses, including Pacific Content and Alibi Content, among others. Her works have screened for TVO, CBC, the American Documentary Film Festival, Brooklyn Web Fest, The Pilot Light TV Festival and more. She is also an alumni of the Hot Docs Doc Accelerator Lab, and in 2018 won for Best Directing in Non-Fiction with the International Academy for Web Television.