Canada

You Were an Amazement on the Day You Were Born follows a woman whose life is marked by loss, but in which she still finds humor and love. With a soundtrack that follows the period of Lenore’s life, from her birth in the 1970s to her death in the 2040s, the film takes us from poignant loss to deep joy and dark humor.

American documentary filmmaker Jay Rosenblatt is known for his collage films, which often explore the personable and psychological cores of being human. In his most recent film, he questions the relationship between a father and his daughter through home movies.

In Very Nice, Very Nice, avant-garde filmmaker Arthur Lipsett mixes archival photos with unused sound fragments. Retrospectively, he muses on life and wonders if it was all better 30 years ago. His very first film earned Lipsett an Oscar nomination.

The Newest Olds is Pablo Mazollo’s experimental portrait of Detroit in which he unpacks the buildings from their foundations and blurs the political and sensory boundaries between Canada and the United States, through in-camera and optical printing techniques—a transformation of iconic cityscapes.