An adaptation of Author Miriam Toews’ 2014 novel All My Puny Sorrows will play at this year’s FIN Atlantic International Film Festival.
With 158 films, 87 in-cinema screenings and 28 online screenings, FIN Atlantic International Film Festival is back in full force. This year, multiple King’s alumni have works in the festival including documentaries, short films and the feature Special Presentation All My Puny Sorrows, a film based on the 2014 best-selling novel of the same name by Miriam Toews, BJ’91, DCL’10.
Alumni Association Executive member Jenn Thornhill Verma, BJ(Hons)’02, MFA’19, will have her animated short, Last Fish, First Boat premiere at FIN before making its way to the Lunenburg Doc Festival and the St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival later this fall. The short is adapted from a chapter of Thornhill Verma’s 2019 book Cod Collapse: The Rise and Fall of Newfoundland’s Saltwater Cowboys. It focuses on fisherman Eugene Maloney as his livelihood is threatened by the collapse of the fishing industry, which results in him turning to a new job: boat building. The film will be available to screen online from September 16-24. Thornhill Verma’s short can also be seen September 20 at 6:20 p.m. and 6:50 p.m. during the NextGen Shorts Program screenings.
Jenn Thornhill Verma adapted a chapter of her book Cod Collapse into the animated short Last Fish, First Boat.
Written, directed and produced by Josh Dunn, ’01, Our Hearts Aren’t Disabled “examines the romantic lives and trials of six people living with mobility challenges.” Dunn, who acts as both subject and interviewer, documents the difficulties he and others have faced in the dating world. The film will be streaming online throughout the week of the festival and will also be screened in theatres on Sunday, September 19 at 4 p.m.
Atlantic Shorts Program 1 features a number of King’s alumni works, including Ditches directed by Michelle Elrick, ’16, Les Vestiges de Marie-Henry directed by Jennifer Tilley, BJ’93, and Divinations, co-directed by Dan Boos, BA(Hons)’12, and Simon Mutabazi. Divinations features six clairvoyants attempting to guide Mutabazi through a series of self-discoveries. The project was funded by Reel Canada and Netflix for National Canadian Film Day. The Atlantic Shorts Program 1 screens Friday, September 17 at 3:30 p.m.
Atlantic Shorts Program 3 includes another alumni short film, Monster Proofing, directed by Donna Davies, BJ’83. Davies’ film is centred around 10 year-old Abby who casts a magic spell that fails, causing her to have to confront her fears head on.
Finally, two documentaries directed by alumni will be screened online and in person: Rare Bird Alert written and directed by Michael Melski, BA’91, and Elizabeth Bishop and The Art of Losing, directed by John D. Scott, ’88. The latter focuses on Elizabeth Bishop’s loss and grief, which led to her writing her greatest work, One Art, and earning her a place as one of North America’s greatest poets. Scott, a Nova Scotia transplant now living in Ithaca, N.Y., shows how Bishop’s journey was “indelibly connected to her Nova Scotian heritage.” The film screens in theatres on Monday, September 20 at 9:30 p.m.
A full list of all FIN screenings can be found on the FIN International Atlantic Film Festival website.
