Norway, Romania202598 minKurdish, Norwegian with English subtitlesToronto PremiereAvailable Online, Comedy, Drama

Akam’s comfortable routine as a literature teacher in Oslo is disrupted by an uncle he’s never met, Khdr, who overstays his welcome on an unannounced visit from Iranian Kurdistan. Familial obligations take hold as Akam offers his uncle a space to stay in the cramped room of his shared co-op flat. Overlooking the unspoken rules of life in the West, Khdr becomes more comfortable than his nephew would like in shared spaces and while interacting with his roommates. The tense stay grows even more strained when Akam learns authorities are after Khdr, and that his uncle may not be who he says he is.

With cleverly timed situational comedy, Brwa Vahabpour’s feature directorial debut puts a finger on the diasporic experience of being sheltered from the challenging realities of life in our ancestral lands. My Uncle Jens playfully depicts situations familiar to first- and second-generation youth in predominantly white societies, examining assimilation and borders with levity and heart.

– Amreen Kullar

Norway202170 minNorwegian, English, Japanese with English subtitlesCanadian PremiereDocumentary

If it had to be summed up, Code Name: Nagasaki is a documentary shot by Fredrik S. Hana, following his close friend and film protagonist Marius Lunde on his journey to connect with his estranged mother, who cut ties with the family when Lunde was a child, and relocated to Japan. The experience of watching the film, however, far exceeds this tidy storyline.

Interwoven with live documentary footage are scenes featuring Lunde in performance, paying homage to genres such as samurai epic, Japanese horror, and film noir. These sequences are not deviations from the documentary record; they are complex representations of Lunde’s very real fears and doubts. The artful fusion of raw footage and creative performance speaks to the strength of Lunde and Hana’s collaborative relationship, their love for film, and also a profound understanding of how a story can present complex emotion. Compelling and charismatic, Code Name: Nagasaki ushers us into a magnetically intimate record of Lunde’s exploration of family history. 

- Jasmine Gui