It’s a small window but a big vista – WINDA Film Festival –
From epic survival thrillers to inspiring true stories and innovative shorts, the WINDA Film Festival returns for its fourth year from 21-24 November 2019 to celebrate trailblazing Indigenous filmmakers and share the universal stories of Indigenous nations.
The 2019 Festival will screen six brand new full length features, five thought-provoking documentaries, as well as a witty Australian TV series and a jam-packed line-up of stellar shorts from 16 countries across the globe.
The Festival kicks off with The Sun Above Me Never Sets, winner of the Audience Choice Award for Best Film at the 2019 Moscow Film Festival. Directed by Lyubov Borisova and crewed entirely by Indigenous Sakhi people of Russia, the film is a moving exploration of isolation and chronicles the unlikely friendship between a young man and his suicidal elderly neighbour on a desolate island.
Closing the Festival is 2019 Sydney Film Festival favourite Vai, an empowering portmanteau film connecting 8 seemingly disparate stories that thread together one woman’s cultural journey through time. Beautifully shot over 7 Pacific countries, and played by a different Indigenous actress in each location, Vai is a delicate exploration of the environment, culture, community and the meaning of home.
A program highlight is Australian director Shirleen Campbell’s inspiring debut documentary Not Just Numbers, about a group of Indigenous women’s mission to stop family violence in their communities. NOT JUST NUMBERS is a keep it simple doco about a seriously difficult subject that packs an emotional, social justice punch. These sisters are doing it for themselves and by their exquisite determination are doing it for their men and their community.
Another highlight is RED SNOW, the story of Dylan, a Gwich’in soldier from the Canadian Arctic, caught in an ambush in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
Dylan has joined the army after having disgraced himself at home with an incestuous love affair with his cousin. Imagine Romeo on discovering Juliet’s death, enlists and is sent to a foreign clime to deal with his sorrow.
From a case of star crossed lovers, RED SNOW evolves into a story of cross cultural lovers, as Dylan embarks on an escape with an Afghan family to the relative sanctuary of Pakistan with Taliban hit squads in close pursuit.
A thrilling tale of life’s tyrannies, big and small, and the victories that make the struggle worthwhile.
DETAILS
Date: Thursday 21 November – Sunday 24 November, 2019
Location: Event Cinemas George Street, 505/525 George Street, Sydney
VR: UTS Building 1, Foyer at Library Pod
Barangaroo Reserve, Towns Place, Barangaroo
Tickets:$40 Opening Night (incl. After Party); $15 Feature Films; $10 Shorts; $10 Documentaries
Website: Further info available at: https://windafilmfest.com