Winnipeg - May 1-3, 2026
Feature Films
MontrΓ©al, ma belle
Dir. Xiaodan He
Feng Xia, a 53-year-old Chinese immigrant and mother living in Montreal, has spent her life shaped by duty β to her family, her culture, and a loveless marriage. But when she meets Camille, a spirited young QuΓ©bΓ©coise, a long-buried desire is awakened. In the balmy and joyful Montreal summer, Feng Xia takes the radical step of choosing herself β embarking on a journey of forbidden love and long-overdue self-discovery. Her awakening becomes a profound reckoning with identity, exile, and the steep cost of liberation.
Space Cadet
Dir. Kid Koala
Robot always watched over Celeste, until she became a brilliant scientist and astronaut. When she leaves on an interstellar mission, Robot must face loneliness and the aging of its technological systems. In the vastness of space, Celeste faces great dangers. As she struggles to overcome these obstacles, memories of her childhood resurface, lighting her way through the darkness.
Akashi
Dir. Mayumi Yoshida
Akashi is a multigenerational love story told across parallel timelines. Kana, a struggling artist in Vancouver, returns to Tokyo for her grandmotherβs funeral, feeling out of place after ten years abroad. As she reflects on a secret only she and her grandmother sharedβthat her grandfather had another loverβshe unexpectedly reconnects with an old love, Hiro. Intercut with the past, which traces her grandfatherβs decades-long affair, Kana confronts hidden family truths and begins to navigate the complexities of love, sacrifice, and the choices that shape a life between desire and duty.
Cutting Through Rocks
Dir. Sara Khaki, Mohammadreza Eyni
Sara Shahverdi β a divorced, motorcycle-riding former midwife β is an unlikely leader in her conservative northwestern Iranian village. As the first woman ever elected to the local council, sheβs determined to break the cycle of empty promises and complacency passed down by the men who came before her.
Sat May 2, 12:45 PM | Qaumajuq Inuit Art Centre
Munch & Movies: Forged in Fire
Papa's Coding Day
Dir. Michael Pogoy
Manny, a hardworking tricycle driver, struggles to make ends meet for his small family. His young son, Gelo, dreams of having his father watch him at the schoolβs poetry contest, where he plans to recite a poem he wrote just for Manny. Quietly, Gelo saves up coins to buy his Papa a day off.
Sat May 2, 5:15 PM | Qaumajuq Inuit Art Centre
Bright & Fierce
Static Noises
Dir. Jomz Alip Lailo
Static Noises is a tense political drama that follows Charlie, a Filipino IT specialist living abroad, whose carefully distanced life is disrupted by the death of her former lover, a photojournalist documenting state violence. As grief pulls her back into a past she tried to escape, Charlie uncovers evidence linking her estranged fatherβa celebrated police chiefβto a series of extrajudicial killings. Set against the backdrop of diaspora disconnection and a country in crisis, the film explores the cost of silence, the weight of complicity, and the impossible choice between family loyalty and justice.
Find Me Outside
Dir. Ching Yu
Diudiu and Leo, both Mandarin-speaking immigrants' children, navigate the slopes of the Canadian Rockies as they ski. Celeste, deeply rooted in her Indigenous horse culture, showcases the beauty of riding Indian Horse Relay in the Alberta Prairie. Anika, born into a family of Indian and Austrian climbers, climbs the rocks in her neighbourhood of Squamish, BC. Jade and Ryan, adventurous coldwater surfing girls from Ucluelet, Vancouver Island, ride the waves with enthusiasm.
The One Who Plays
Dir. Shobhita Thakur
Sapna, a 12-year-old girl from the denotified Banchhada caste of Madhya Pradesh (India), dreams of becoming a doctor, inspired by the confidence of a lady doctor who works at the village primary healthcare clinic. However, her dreams are crushed by her community's generational tradition of caste-based prostitution, where girls are forced into the trade to fund their brothers' marriages and run the household.
Rooftop Lempicka
Dir. HαΊ±ng LΖ°Ζ‘ng Nguyα» n
2002 Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. While her mother is expecting their second child, young Thi befriends Ngoc, a club waitress who has just moved in as a tenant in their family home. As their friendship grows, she discovers that Ngoc is secretly a sex worker. Meanwhile, an art book of Tamara de Lempickaβs female nudes, stolen from a bookshop, silently bears witness.
Sun May 3, 12:00 PM | Qaumajuq Inuit Art Centre
Munch & Movies: Beyond Words
Vic And His Nanay
Dir. Jillian Janairo
While trapped in his Los Angeles apartment recovering from COVID-19, an exasperated man named Vic is haunted by a nosy, persistent apparition of his late motherβa former ICU nurse. The film, which blends comedy with emotional depth, centers on this "ghostly" visitation as Vic navigates grief, his Filipino heritage, and his queer identity.
Sonata
Dir. Eljin Yoo
Korean-American sisters and classical musicians, Viv and Gia, struggle to practice a piano and violin duet, as their mother May, reminds them about the importance of harmony. Their bond is tested as adulthood brings conflicting prioritiesβGia pursues her musical dreams while Viv chooses to care for their ailing mother. As their motherβs condition suddenly deteriorates, they must overcome their growing resentment in order to find reconciliation through music.
Top Of My School
Dir. Katherine Lynn-Rose
It follows Bree, an ambitious high school student whose obsession with winning a student council election spirals out of control when an unexpected rival enters the race. The film explores themes of academic pressure, "gifted kid burnout," and the dark side of ambition.
Sun May 3, 2:15 PM | Qaumajuq Inuit Art Centre
Hard Hits & Heavy Hearts
A Good Day Will Come
Dir. Amir Zargara
Arash is a professional wrestler with dreams of representing his country and winning gold medals. The country is in turmoil and its people are suffering. Arash must decide between using his platform to stand up to tyranny, or put his head down and remain silent.
Khmerican
Dir. Jimmy Chhiu
When wounded gangsters seek refuge in his father's donut shop, a Cambodian-American teen striving to escape the gang violence and debts that plague his family is thrust into a life-or-death standoff that tests his loyalty, challenges his identity, and threatens his future.
Winnipeg Festival Program
Fri
May
01
Opening Night Film: MontrΓ©al, ma belle
Sat
May
02
Real Talk! - Live Short Doc Pitch Sessions
Sat
May
02
Munch & Movies: Forged in Fire
Sat
May
02
Space Cadet
Sat
May
02
Bright and Fierce
Sat
May
02
Saturday Night Feature: Akashi
Sun
May
03
Munch & Movies: Beyond Words
Sun
May
03
Hard Hits & Heavy Hearts
Sun
May
03
Closing Film: Cutting Through Rocks
For tickets and program details, please visit the Winnipeg Box Office site via the link below.