Female Film Critics 24/375
Honey Bee is an affecting drama about a trafficked teenage girl who gets a chance at self-discovery. Every element of the film involves clear-eyed storytelling, and not a single sound or sight has anything showy or extraneous about it. There’s nothing standing in the way of complete emotional investment.
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A chance encounter brings two women together for a day that neither could have anticipated in Kathleen Hepburn and Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers’ drama The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open. Authentic in every way, from the gritty cinematography to the convincing performances, it’s documentary-like in its frank honesty.
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This deliberately paced, remarkable first feature from Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers who co-directed and co-wrote the film with Kathleen Hepburn, centers on two indigenous young women, Áila (played by Tailfeathers) and Rosie (Violet Nelson) who meet by chance on the street and, by the end of their journey, may likely never meet again. But their story is raw and real and, if one sticks with it, rewarding.
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Filmmakers Kathleen Hepburn and Elle-Maija Tailfeathers’s Canadian indie, The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open, is part of Ava DuVernay’s impressive ARRAY initiative, a grassroots distribution, arts and advocacy collective focused on independent films by people of color and women filmmakers globally. The unpretentious film set in Vancouver examines how class and racism impact two young indigenous women from vastly different social and ethnic backgrounds.
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The 38th annual Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) may have wrapped its final screenings over a month ago, but the city is still basking in the post-festival glow thanks to the success of this year’s festival. VIFF has been expanding beyond film screenings for years and in 2019, organizers truly expanded the frame and in addition to over 320 films, the festival presented a number of live performances, master classes and industry-based conferences.
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