DocNow 2025 presents: Screening Nights - June 9, 2025

About this event
Join us on three nights of DocNow Festival film screenings @PARADISE THEATRE.
See a line up of great documentary films by recent Documentary Media MFA grad students.
More: https://docnowfestival.ca/
All screenings are free, but your contribution matters to us,
and to the longevity of this student-run festival for years to come.
Consider supporting us by donating here, or via donation boxes at the door of the events.
Door: 5:30pm
Screening starts: 6pm
Free snacks provided during intermission.
First come first serve.
+++ PROGRAMMING+++
————NIGHT#1————
Monday June 9
Stories of migration, borders, and dearest families (by blood or by choice).
Language: English, Spanish, Cantonese, Ukrainian, with English subtitles.
Open Wounds – dir. Francisca Rojas
An estranged granddaughter embarks on a journey to trace the steps of her grandfather’s experience as a political prisoner during Chile’s military dictatorship.
The Land of 100 Homelands – dir. Muneer Al Zahabi
An immigrant from the former Yugoslavia who rebuilt her life in Canada and helped dozens do the same reflects on identity, displacement, and belonging in a deeply personal journey that explores what it means to call a place home.
Wen-jin（問津) – dir. Roy Tsai
A grandson investigates the historical significance of his grandfather’s once lost post-WWII Malaysian Chinese film after Googling his name, uncovering his family’s conflicting views and facing a choice: believe his ancestor was a genius or a slacker.
i lie behind a blade of grass to enlarge the sky – dir. Sasha Theodora
An exploration of civlian life in war time Ukraine.
————NIGHT#2————
Monday June 16
Stories of healing, resistance, and some next-level-decision-making.
Language: English, Arabic, Somali, Farsi, Mandarin, with English subtitles.
:’) – dir. Misha
An exploration into the intertwining of tragedy and comedy in the lives of stand-up comedians, revealing how humor helps them cope, heal, and find redemption.
Silent Sea – dir. Amir Abdolizadeh
In Bandar Abbas, a southern Iranian city on the Persian Gulf, fishermen confront dwindling resources and economic pressures, battling not just for their livelihoods but for their very survival against unregulated foreign fishing that threatens their community’s future.
From Mindbender With Love – dir. Andy Lee
A Black Queer rapper and sex worker disrupts the conservative, homophobic Toronto hip-hop community by embodying sexual freedom, body positivity and new expressions of masculinity.
Take Care, Till Springtime – dir. Shi Yi
After a Chinese medicine practitioner is brutalized by police at a recent protest, the community comes together in quiet acts of care.
So Long Tehran – dir. Kimia Khatibzadeh
Amid social turmoil, a young woman returns to Tehran after a year, using her phone as a travel notebook to capture the rhythm of daily life.
Departures – dir. Jessie Yang
In the aftermath of the pandemic, an international student explores reasons behind recent middle-class Chinese migration to Canada. Caught between different social environments and quality-of-life considerations, some choose to leave, some choose to stay, and some are still hesitating.
————NIGHT #3————
Monday June 23
Stories of friendships, ethics, and… wait, what exactly is this?
Language: English, with English subtitles.
Waiting for Paul – dir. Paul Janicki
A film made by a man about two men.
Cans of Worms – dir. Natalie Vaughan-Graham
Caught in the fog of social, political, and environmental doom, a group of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students talk about the dynamics of the university, their classroom, and moving boundaries between liberal-arts education and the outside world.
Trying to Explain Myself – dir. Ajay Rakhraj
A graduate student undergoes psychoanalysis to unravel the fallout of fractured friendships amid Toronto’s affordability crisis while revisiting personal archival materials and staging improvised performances that probe how soaring rents and broader economic pressures erode the bonds of everyday life.
————INTERACTIVE DOC————
Mama, in Your Absence – dir. Muna Nzeribe
An interactive web-based documentary invites viewers into the material archive of Flora Nwapa, blending 3D objects, family letters, and mixed-media footage to explore memory, erasure, and the evolving creative legacies of Igbo women in her immediate family.
+++ FESTIVAL PARTNER+++
Haven Brews
– DocNow attendees with coupon enjoy 10% off on food and beverages until end of July.
NUTTEA Toronto
– DocNow attendees with coupon enjoy 15% off on beverages until end of July.