May Film List

Rajveer Singh (Virmani) is struggling to balance the wishes of his traditional Sikh family and his own true passion for hockey. Raj and his friends play only for fun, held back by the prejudice and mockery of other teams as their turban-clad crew steps onto the ice. Enter Coach Dan Winters (Lowe) and soon the Speedy Singhs are competing in a real tournament, while Raj is falling in love with the coach’s beautiful sister, Melissa (Belle).

A cross-cultural story of self-discovery, Breakaway is a heartwarming, action-filled comedy, bringing a dash of Bollywood to Canada’s favourite sport. With a hilarious supporting cast including comedian Russell Peters, and a special appearance from Drake, Breakaway will have you cheering for its unlikely heroes.

Parvana (Saara Chaudry) is an 11-year-old girl growing up under the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001. When her father is wrongfully arrested, Parvana cuts off her hair and dresses like a boy in order to be able to get a job and help to support her family. Working alongside her friend Shauzia, Parvana discovers a new world of freedom and danger.

With courage and imagination, Parvana draws strength from the fantastical stories she invents, as she embarks on a quest to find her father and reunite her family. The Breadwinner is an inspiring and beautifully animated tale about the power of stories to sustain hope and carry us through dark times.

The Breadwinner has been nominated for 38 international awards, including six Canadian Screen Awards and the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

In 1914, the SS Komagata Maru set out on a voyage to transport Indian immigrants to Canada. On May 23 of that year, the ship arrived in Vancouver with 376 Sikh, Muslim and Hindu passengers on board. Many of the men were veterans of the British Indian Army and believed that it was their right as British subjects to settle anywhere in the Empire they had fought to defend and expand. They were wrong – they were stopped from coming into Canada by the Continuous Journey Regulation of 1908, which excluded Indians and South Asians from being able to enter the country.  

This inventive docudrama explores the exclusionary politics, which kept the Indian passengers of the Komagata Maru sequestered at sea for over two months in this infamous standoff.  

A story of immigration and injustice, this beautifully crafted film shows historical footage in a way never seen before.

The Cuban is a touching story about friendship, love and of course, beautiful music. Mina (Golga), an Afghani-Canadian pre-med student in her first placement at a long-term care home, meets Luis (Gossett Jr.) an elderly musician whose dementia has deprived him of many of the memories of his youth in Cuba. When Mina finds a way to reignite his memory using music and food from his past, the two enter on an inspiring journey of self-discovery that reawakens Mina’s love of music, and changes both of their lives.

Featuring a stellar cast and beautiful original music, The Cuban is a heartwarming cross-cultural story that received 3 Canadian Screen Award nominations.

“As a story of the curative power of music, it works, has a good beat and you can dance to it.” – Richard Crouse, film critic

Jade Li (Oh), a vivacious Chinese Canadian, wants to become an actress without upsetting her extremely traditional parents. It’s a balancing act that Jade is finding difficult to achieve. Talking in English, wearing western clothes and going out with non-Asian guys, Jade leads a secret life when she leaves her stuffy-but-warm domestic scene each day. Things come to a head when Mark (Rennie), a white Canadian graduate student, insists on turning their casual fling into something more meaningful. It’s a relationship that Jade’s parents would hate. What should she do?

Sandra Oh won the Best Actress Genie for her performance. The film also won prizes in Vancouver, Berlin and Turin.

Beautifully filmed in Canada and China’s Guangdong province, this fascinating documentary contrasts the historical injustices faced by Chinese migrants over the last century with the experiences of contemporary Chinese Canadian youth.

Focusing on past discriminatory immigration policies, the film reflects on the meaning of prejudice and exclusion to those who experienced it and those who did not. By calling attention to the diverse nature of contemporary Chinese Canadian identities, the film paints an inclusive and diverse picture of Canada as a nation.

From C to C was nominated for three Canadian Screen Awards, including Best Direction in a Documentary Program or Series.

Tareq (Abou Ammar), a Syrian refugee in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, is torn between his dream to become a doctor and his family’s chocolate-making legacy. When his family joins him in Canada, his father’s new chocolate business becomes an unexpected success, leading to new, unforeseen challenges. Tareq must make a choice between being there to support the family that needs him or pursuing the life in Canada that he always envisioned for himself.

Inspired by the true story of the formation of the artisanal chocolate company of the same name, Peace By Chocolate is an inspiring and quintessentially Canadian story.

“Peace By Chocolate is a bona fide crowd pleaser, and a true story to boot.” – Chris Knight, The National Post
 

A family of Vietnamese refugees settles in Montreal in the hopes of starting a new life, charting successes and setbacks as they adapt to their new country. The film weaves together their experiences in Canada with a series of flashbacks to their comfortable life in Vietnam, the political upheaval that forced them to flee, and their perilous journey across the Pacific.

Brilliantly adapted from Kim Thúy’s Governor General Award-winning novel of the same name, this compassionate story of resilience in the face of adversity is uplifting and deeply moving.

“An exceptional and beautiful film.” – Isobel Grieve, Montréal Guardian

In the face of tremendous social pressure to back down, Ranjit, a farmer in rural India, pursues a conviction against the men who raped his 13-year-old daughter. Through the intimate, powerful story of this family’s efforts to get justice, the film shines a light on gender-based violence in a country where rape is frequently reported and rarely convicted. 

To Kill a Tiger was nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, and earned TIFF’s award for the Best Canadian Film of the 2022 festival. 

Pahuja’s film pulls no punches in its determination to help bring down the long-standing thinking that has compounded the cruelties faced by countless women in Kiran’s unfortunate position. – Peter Sobczynski, RogerEbert.com 

Set in India during the rise of Mahatma Gandhi, Water recounts the story of Chuyia (Kariyawasam), a child bride. When her husband dies suddenly, Chuyia is forced to live in an ashram for Hindu widows, essentially cut off from society.

Fortunately, she finds friends in the beautiful Kilyani (Ray) and in the forward-thinking Narayan (Abraham). With their help, Chuyia attempts to escape the confines of her existence. Boasting lush visuals, Water could easily be a bleak story of deprivation and loss, but in Mehta’s gentle hands, it becomes one charged with hope and optimism.

Water was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Ruhi Singh is on her way to Bombay to participate in an intense beauty boot camp as a contestant in the Miss India pageant, a surefire launching pad to fame in a country of 1.2 billion people. 

Meanwhile, just a few hours away, Prachi Trivedi works at a very different kind of camp – one run by a militant Hindu nationalist group, where young girls are trained to combat western influences. 

Moving between the two camps, this lively and provocative documentary paints a portrait of a nation in transformation. A study in contrasts on the one hand, the film also reveals disturbing similarities in the obstacles that each woman faces as she tries to have an impact on her society.

The World Before Her won Best Canadian Feature at the Hot Docs Canadian International Film Festival. 

This extraordinary animated feature tells the tale of Rosie, a young Canadian poet of Chinese and Persian descent. Rosie lives in Vancouver with her Chinese grandparents and dreams of travelling and seeing the world. 

When she receives an invitation to a poetry festival in Shiraz, Iran, Rosie embarks on a journey that unravels a personal mystery and brings her closer to her Persian roots. 

Voiced by an all-star cast including Sandra Oh, Elliot Page and Don McKellar, Window Horses is a beautiful and poignant story about family, imagination, culture and finding your own voice. 

"This is not just a visual treat, it's a rewarding and unexpectedly engrossing piece of female-led storytelling." – Wendy Ide, Screen International