Cinefest Durham has been bringing quality Canadian and International films to the Durham Region since 1995.
All profits go to fund special projects for Oshawa Public Libraries.
Email us to receive reminders before each showing at: cinefest@oshawalibrary.on.ca
January to April 2025
Ghostlight
Wednesday / January 29
4 pm / 7 pm
Directors: Kelly O'Sullivan, Alex Thompson
Principal Cast: Keith Kupferer, Katherine Mallen Kupferer, Dolly De Leon
Country: USA
Language: English
Year: 2024 / Runtime: 110 minutes
When Dan, a melancholic middle-aged construction worker, finds himself drifting from his wife and daughter after his son’s suicide, he discovers community and purpose in a local theatre’s production of Romeo and Juliet. But as the drama on stage starts to mirror his own life, he finds the tragedies of the play too close to his own. Unwilling to confront his grief at home, he begins to confront his loss through the play. Funny and heartwarming, Ghostlight is an exploration of how we feel love and loss through art.
All We Imagine As Light
Wednesday / February 26
4 pm / 7 pm
Director: Payal Kapadia
Principal Cast: Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha, Chhaya Kadam
Countries: France, India, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy
Languages: Hindi, Malayalam, with English subtitles
Year: 2024 / Runtime: 115 minutes
This exquisitely beautiful and heartfelt film follows two nurses experiencing personal turning points tinged with the possibility of romance. Moving from urban bustle to seaside idyll, celebrated filmmaker Payal Kapadia locates the beating heart of Mumbai in images as simple as people wending through a crowded marketplace or women retrieving laundry from a rooftop clothesline. Yet for all the rapturous visuals, perhaps the most memorable element is the profound sisterhood at the centre of the film, which emerges slowly and is all the more moving for its measured pace.
The Outrun
Wednesday / March 19
4 pm / 7 pm
Director: Nora Fingscheidt
Principal Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Stephen Dillane, Saskia Reeves
Countries: Germany, United Kingdom
Language: English
Year: 2024 / Runtime: 118 minutes
Based on the best-selling memoir by Amy Liptrot, The Outrun is a profoundly moving drama about addiction, recovery, and the healing power of nature. After a decade away, 29-year-old Rona returns home to the Orkney Islands, sober but lonely as she tries to suppress her memory of the events which set her on this journey of recovery. Slowly, the mystical land enters her inner world and one day at a time, Rona finds hope and strength among the heavy gales and bracingly cold sea, masterfully realized by Ronan in a career-best performance that’s generating early awards buzz.
Hôtel Silence
Wednesday / April 30
4 pm / 7 pm
Director: Léa Pool
Principal Cast: Sébastien Ricard, Lorena Handschin, Jules Porier, Irène Jacob
Countries: Canada, Switzerland
Languages: French with English subtitles
Year: 2024 / Runtime: 100 minutes
At 52, Jean is a man in crisis. Haunted by the departure of his wife and by his mother’s old age, he says goodbye to his daughter and goes to the other side of the world, to a country ruined by war, with the secret aim of ending his life there. But little by little, his discovery of the region and the stories of war survivors allow him to put his problems into perspective. As a result, his stay at the Hôtel Silence, where he performs odd jobs, allows him to reconnect with part of his humanity and to rediscover, against all odds, the taste for living.
Cinefest Durham gratefully acknowledges the partnership with the Friends of the Library, Film Circuit, presented by TIFF, and its sponsors and supporters. For more information about Film Circuit and to view a full list of their sponsors and supporters, please visit tiff.net/filmcircuit.
