ENCORE PRESENTATION: ISLANDS

Canada202194 minTagalog, English with English subtitlesOntario PremiereDrama, Family

Due to popular demand, we're screening ISLANDS once again, for free on the last night of our 25th anniversary festival at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema at 4PM ET. Tickets must be reserved in advance with a limit of 2 per person. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Martin Edralin, producer Priscilla Galvez, and actors from the film.

Shy, sheltered, middle-aged Joshua lives with his elderly parents and is desperately lonely as he longs for a wife. When he’s suddenly forced into a caretaking role for his family, Joshua goes further adrift into isolation, and his Scarborough bungalow feels like a prison. Help arrives unexpectedly when his cousin Marisol flies in from overseas to help—except now, Joshua finds himself confronted with emotions and experiences he’s never had before.

On the surface, Joshua’s anxieties around loneliness may seem bleak, but writer and director Martin Edralin treats him with a warm affection, showing the challenges and humour imbued in everyday life, as he learns to take new chances. Cutting vegetables, taking a shower, and walking down the stairs all take on new meaning through finely tuned performances, and Edralin’s observant eye toward everyday life at home. And amid a year-plus of our collective pandemic-induced isolation, Islands is a hopeful and humanist story that reminds us the importance of stepping outside.

- Aram Siu Wai Collier