It’s all corpses, missing cats and disappearing friends in Montreal’s hip Mile End neighbourhood, as we follow the travails of a group of anglophones over the course of a single day in this non-traditional narrative short.

Who watches the watchers? And just how pervasive have closed-circuit cameras become in our modern society? No one, and very much so, are the answers to these disturbing questions according to this Orwellian investigation of the electronic eyes that surround us.

A Super-8 window into the the life of the late Anne Ross, a longtime resident of Parkdale and avid feeder of the lowly pigeon. Anne fed literally hundreds of pigeons a day, while doling out advice to passersby on the side. Birdlady is a sensitive document of old age, loneliness and the ability to find meaning in the most unlikely things—and wings.

Bisexuality has long been the subject of suspicion and dismissal by many straights, gays and lesbians. But perceptions of bisexuality are changing as the iron curtain between gay and straight crumbles. Filmmakers Brittany Blockman and Josephine Decker set out to interview bisexuals and experts across America to find out what all the stink is about. Engaging subjects include teens identifying as bi, filmmaker Jonathan Caouette (Tarnation)—his son a subject of the film—Dan Savage and Michael Musto, while focusing the camera on five main subjects who have each been open to exploring relationships with both men and women. Bi the Way is a revealing and bittersweet journey through bi America, attempting to help us better understand bisexuality today and the effects of biophobia in the emerging ‘whatever generation.’

It’s not easy being Thomas. He’s turning 16 and moving into a new house and a new school. His older brother Charlie announces their arrival to the neighbours by banging a wooden spoon and wailing on the front lawn. Charlie doesn’t speak. He’s autistic and has ADD. He’s also unpredictable, sometimes unmanageable and often disgusting. Thomas hates his brother, but wishes he didn’t. The Mollisons are an army family, but are the furthest thing from a regimented lifestyle. With a sports-obsessed father who talks to a teddy bear, and a bedridden mother expecting child number three (brilliantly played by Oscar-nominated Toni Collette), there doesn’t leave much room for Thomas who himself is left to navigate the oft harsh and embarrassing road through adolescence. Starring Australian teen television star Rhys Wakefield ( Home and Away ) as Thomas, and international teen model Gemma Ward as classmate Jackie, The Black Balloon delivers some of the strongest onscreen performances in a family film in recent years. Both heartwarming and heartbreaking, The Black Balloon seamlessly captures the hilarity, the drama and ultimately the love that only one’s family can truly comprehend.

The devil is in the detail of this short animation as a group of bored aristocrats try their hand as mediums. Attempting to contact the dearly departed, they end up getting a lot more excitement then they bargained for.

In this made-for-HBO feature documentary, short interviews with African-Americans arranged by film critic Elvis Mitchell—who stays offscreen—build into a remarkable living fresco. The subjects speak directly to the camera about the role race has played in their achievements. Whether they are from the arts (Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison, comedian Chris Rock) or politics (Reverend Al Sharpton, Clinton advisor Vernon Jordan), the subjects are refreshingly frank, warm and unstinting in addressing the issues of identity that have helped guide and shape their lives and careers. With some intriguing cutting between visuals and sound engineered by director—and acclaimed still photographer—Timothy Greenfield Sanders, The Black List exposes very powerful and positive testimony from some of America’s most distinguished citizens of colour.

Fiesta At Five: An Introduction to Latin America In collaboration with the 28th Atlantic Film Festival, which focuses its Strategic Partners co-production market this year on Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, Dalhousie Art Gallery is proud to present a series of films that celebrate our neighbours to the South. The legendary retelling of the Orpheus/Eurydice myth during Rio De Janeiro’s colourful and raucous Carnival, with the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim that launched the worldwide samba craze.