Justin Simms
In the stark Labrador interior, a growing number of Filipino workers have recently landed in the small regional hub of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, travelling halfway around the world for jobs they hope will offer their families new opportunities and a better life. Becoming Labrador follows a handful of those women and men as they make a place for themselves in Labrador's profoundly foreign climate and culture, and deal with the unexpected costs of living far from parents, partners and children. Combining documentary footage with interpretive animation, and bringing together the vision of three of Canada's best young directors, Becoming Labrador is a remarkable feat of collaborative authorship. It offers an intimate account of the radical mobility and displacement of the modern world, and of how tenaciously people hold to their roots in the midst of fundamental change.
A struggling writer emerges from rehab and reunites with his estranged brother, but soon descends into a tragic love triangle and is forced to confront a devastating reality.
When a marriage is threatened by a long excursion for work, domestic trouble is buffeted by family and friends.
Thirty-year-old Keith Kavanagh (Joel Thomas Hynes) ekes his way through life in a small town. A hard-drinking hooligan, he keeps his ragged collection of poetry a closely guarded secret... as secret as his regret for the shattered relationship with his father. When Keith meets the darkly exotic Natasha (Mylène Savoie), his life is changed forever.
In what appears to be a Sisyphean task, Newfoundland diver Shawn Bath has devoted himself to cleaning up the ocean floor one rotting tire at a time. He's already removed 15,000 pounds of garbage single-handedly. Through decades of commercial fishing and tourism, these Atlantic harbours became trash receptacles treated with an out-of-sight, out-of-mind attitude. Driven by passion and held back by bureaucracy, this inspiring story highlights the enormity of human-caused environmental damage and the power of an individual's determination to make the world a better place.
Luke has been veering between panic and numbness ever since losing his wife to Thyroid cancer. In a last-ditch effort to feel something, anything, he attends a bereavement counseling meeting at a nearby outreach center. There, he sparks a debate and a series of flashbacks that examine relationships, love, and anger.
Set in the coldest waters surrounding Newfoundland’s rugged Fogo Island, this short film follows a group of “people of the fish”—traditional fishers who catch cod live by hand, one at a time, by hook and line. Filmmaker Justin Simms takes viewers deep inside the world of these brave fishermen. Travel with them from the early morning hours, spend time on the ocean, and witness the intricacies of a 500-year-old tradition that’s making a comeback.
