BIPOLAR JOURNEY

Director: Thirza Cuthand

A floating head negotiates mental illness and bipolar moods to overcome a pit of depression, struggles through visual hallucinations in their apartment, discusses life with other psych ward patients, and navigates being discharged. After the hospital, they go to the park where they try to remain stable enough to get a hot dog. If they end up going too high, they cycle back to the apartment mania. If they go too low, they go right back to the pit of depression. A touching and engaging learning experience with bipolar disorder for both people living with it and their loved ones who want to understand more.

BRAINSTREAM

Writer/Creator: Caroline Robert

You’re inside the head of D., a young girl who’s livestreaming her brain activity during a new kind of treatment session. Online, along with other participants, you massage her brain, experiencing the free flow of her thoughts, emotions and obsessions. Brainstream is an interactive animated film that explores, with sensitivity and humour, the mysteries of brain activity and the unpredictable trajectory of our thoughts.

CELESTE

Director/Designer: Maddy Thorson

Programmer(s): Maddy Thorson, Noel Berry

Help Madeline survive her inner demons on her journey to the top of Celeste Mountain, in this super-tight, hand-crafted platformer from the creators of multiplayer classic TowerFall.

MUSEUM OF SYMMETRY

Co-Writer/Director/Animator: Paloma Dawkins

Part invitation, part dare, an impish game mistress welcomes you into a delightfully disorienting pleasure dome inspired by geometry and nature—and wired with infectious dance beats. What happens next feels like swimming through poetic rainbow juice. A room-scale VR metaphor for life, it takes the player through landscapes of earth, fire, wind and water, where vivacious 2D characters live in a 3D playground.

2019 Canadian Screen Award winner for “Best Virtual Reality Game”.

OTHERLY

Director(s): Mirusha Yogarajah, Em Yue, Jess Murwin, Tristan Angieri, Grace An, Joanne Lam, Jackie! Zhou

Premiering on Instagram Stories, Otherly is a series of seven short documentaries about finding one’s place in the 21st century. Using universal themes like love, inclusion, and loss as entry points, seven female, non-binary, and genderqueer creators have crafted films that are at once timeless and yet by definition of their form, ephemeral.

A SHORT HIKE

Developer: Adam Robinson-Yu

Hike, climb, and soar through the peaceful mountainside landscapes of hawk peak provincial park. Follow the marked trails or explore the backcountry as you make your way to the summit. Along the way, meet other hikers, discover hidden treasures, and take in the world around you.

THE SPACE WE HOLD

Director(s): Tiffany Hsiung, Christopher Kang, with Patricia Lee

A direct provocation to bear witness to the testimonies of three former “comfort women” who are among the oldest living survivors of militarized sexual violence in the world today.

2018 Canadian Screen Award winner for “Best Original Interactive Production”.

SPIRITFARER

Creative Director: Nicolas Guérin

Spiritfarer is a cozy management game about dying. You play Stella, ferrymaster to the deceased. Build a boat to explore the world, then befriend and care for spirits before finally releasing them into the afterlife. Spend relaxing quality time with your spirit passengers, create lasting memories, and, ultimately, learn how to say goodbye to your cherished friends.

2021 Canadian Screen Award nominee for “Best Video Game”.

TRAVELING WHILE BLACK

Director: Roger Ross Williams

Traveling While Black is a VR experience immersing viewers in the long history of restriction of movement for black Americans and the creation of community safe spaces. Visit historic Ben’s Chili Bowl and join patrons as they share and reflect on their experiences. Traveling While Black highlights the urgent need for dialogue about the challenges minority travelers still face today. 

2020 Canadian Screen Award winner for “Best Immersive Experience – Non-Fiction”.

UN/TIED SHOES

Writer: Evie Ruddy

Art Director: Tracey Lebedovich

Growing up, Evie Ruddy didn’t quite feel like a girl, or a boy, and resisted gendered expectations. Only recently, with the growing awareness of non-binary identities, did Evie move toward a more androgynous gender performance and begin using they/them pronouns. Un/tied Shoes tells the story of how gender conventions have impacted Evie’s life, with footwear as markers along the way.

2020 Canadian Screen Award nominee for “ Best Production, Interactive”.