ReFrame Film Festival 2025

Square the Circle

Framing Change: Exploring Justice and Perspective in ReFrame Film Festival’s 2025 Lineup

In-Person Program: January 23 – 26, 2025, Nogojiwanong / Peterborough, ON
Virtual Program: January 27 – February 2, 2025

Documentary occupies a space between truth and fiction. The way in which filmmakers present reality can influence the audience deeply. Ideas and attitudes are revealed in the artistic choices made in the structure of the filmmaking. As a social and environmental justice festival, ReFrame believes that the films we present make a difference; that images affect actuality. As such, we care deeply about the relationships between filmmakers and subjects and the myriad possible answers to the question “who is affected by these images, and how?” It is no wonder that we are drawn to film that pulls back and pans wide: to reveal what’s behind the scenes, to involve the filmmaker, to highlight film as a medium, and to reflect on the role art and film have in broader discussions of social and environmental justice.

The Night Visitors

The 2025 ReFrame Film Festival includes several films that explore this question in distinct and captivating ways. The Film Forward package dives into the heart of film, where storytelling, history, and the creative process converge. Through archival engagement, behind-the-scenes perspectives, or innovative approaches, these films foreground the act of film and document making. This includes several films which share a very personal viewpoint: filmmakers making films about themselves.

Square the Circle (January 25 @ 12pm, In-Person + Virtual) is a little circular film about one person’s round trip out to the (un)known universe and into themselves, in search of a sense of belonging. This film draws our attention to the structure of film itself, and challenges our assumptions about something as ubiquitous as the squareness of the film frame. The beautiful and unique images created by director Hannah Hovitie demonstrate the power filmmakers have to share singular perspectives through their work. Michael Gitlin uses this power to elicit a new perspective on moths. Through a critical lens that is by turns social and personal, The Night Visitors (January 25 @ 12pm, In-Person only) closely examines moths as aesthetic beings and as carriers of meaning. As the lens brings us intimately close to these stunning creatures, viewers lose their sense of disconnection from the intricate natural world around us.

My Sextortion Diary

My Sextortion Diary (January 25 @ 10am, In-Person + Virtual) also plays within the frame to alter our perspective. Patricia Franquesa’s world turns upside down when her stolen computer becomes the target of a blackmail threat. An invisible hacker triggers a cat-and-mouse hunt pushing Pati to the limit as she seeks help from legal authorities, only to realize she is the only one who can find the way out. Through the images she selects and juxtaposes, we gain insight into Pati—both through what she observes and how she perceives herself. Pati documents the real-time persecution as a way of survival and challenges the attempt at control by those who have stolen her images. Another powerful expression of bodily autonomy, in You can’t get what you want but you can get me (January 25 @ 10am, In-Person only) filmmakers Samira Elagoz and Z Walsh share an intimate archive of significant moments in their relationship. This work is a sweet and steamy celebration of T4T love with life and art all tangled up. Seeing the world through someone else’s eyes can be a very powerful experience. Empathy is a potent tool for justice.

Filmmakers also turn their camera to those around them to highlight, explore and understand the experiences of their loved ones. In My Dad’s Tapes (January 25 @ 12pm, In-Person + Virtual), Kurtis Watson searches for answers from his family’s past through his father’s own home videos, while the act of filmmaking brings his family closer together. A search for the cause of his father’s sudden suicide turns into a cathartic journey of reconnection and healing. There are some stories only one person can tell. Similarly, in Ilse Moreno’s The Canadian Dream (January 25 @ 10am, In-Person + Virtual), a migrant farmer’s quest for a better life in Canada unfolds through his ​own words and from his daughter’s perspective in this moving family ​portrait.

Dis-Ease

The connection between filmmaker and subject impacts the story being told. Though some films may present as fact or evidence, they are not free from the perspective of the filmmaker. Autism Plays Itself (January 25 @ 10am, In-Person + Virtual) directed by Janet Harbord and Dis- Ease (January 26 @ 12pm, In-Person only) directed by Mariam Ghani bring this relationship to the foreground. Both films re-contextualize archival medical footage with new perspectives. Dis-Ease further explores pop-culture outbreak narratives to understand how ideas have moved between science, science fiction, and political ideology over the past century.

As we try to make change in this world, film has a unique power to show us what has been, what is and what could be, so that we may challenge the current systems and move toward a better future for us all. ReFrame Film Festival is privileged and proud to support filmmakers whose work does just that. Don’t miss your chance to see things in a new light this year at ReFrame.

– Eryn Lidster, Creative Director at ReFrame Film Festival

The acclaimed social and environmental justice documentary film fest ReFrame returns January 23 – February 2, 2025 with over 50 films for its second fully hybrid festival. ReFrame’s In-Person Program will be hosted in downtown Nogojiwanong / Peterborough, ON from January 23 – 26. Immediately following the in-person experience, a selection of the program will screen on-demand during the Virtual Program, January 27 – February 2, and will once again be available from coast-to-coast-to-coast for a full week. ReFrame is committed to keeping the festival accessible, and has a PWYC option for every film.

Passes and Tickets on Sale Now

Choose from In-Person Pass ($110), Virtual Pass ($50, over half the lineup), or Hybrid Pass ($135, full access). PWYC tickets for virtual films are available and will also be offered on a rush basis at venues. Please visit reframefilmfestival.ca for more information.

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