KDocs Film Festival started out as an attempt to engage students beyond the classroom.
“I know the power of documentary film in the classroom and that really was the genesis of KDocs,” said Janice Morris, festival founder.
“It really just took off because documentary film in particular has an ability to reach people, not only capture their interest, but to build awareness and actually create engagement.”
Now a multi-day festival, KDocs runs from Wednesday to Saturday at the VIFF Centre.
What makes the festival unique is its focus on social justice.
“So many documentary filmmakers are themselves activists who use their art as their activism,” Morris said. “The film festival really brings all of that together.”
This year’s festival theme is Journeys in Solidarity, and the theme was landed on only after deciding which films would be selected.
“This year we looked at over 650 possible films. We are not a submissions-based festival, which means we are completely self-programmed and self-curated,” Morris said. “So when we get down to that final selection of official selections, it’s a tough, tough call.”
Some of the films appearing in this year’s festival are Is There Anybody Out There?, Your Fat Friend, Delikado, Kokomo City and The Price of Truth.
“When the slate is finally in front of us, I like to take a look at the films and see, what are the common threads?” Morris said. “This year’s films, in their own unique ways, really depict the often arduous, painstaking journeys that so many people are on.
“While these journeys are often endless and come at sometimes great cost they also include enormous allyship and solidarity between people, between communities, between nations. And although the journey might often feel quite isolating, no one really travels alone and I think these films really celebrate that.”
This year’s festival will have one full day of programming dedicated to Indigenous content.
“It’s our middle day, which I kind of think of as our anchor pivot date — we have a themed day that we’ve titled Decolonizing Power,” Morris said. “We’ll be showing feature films on that day, including The Klabona Keepers, Powerlands, Twice Colonized and Who She Is.
“We’re really proud of this slate of films.“
Each film is followed by a 45-minute Q&A and the festival is free to attend for those who self-identify as Indigenous.
“I personally believe, and I think that this is an ethos that runs throughout the festival and all of our programming,” Morris said. “I don’t know that we can really talk about social justice of any ilk until we start with land justice and that means talking about things like land sovereignty, Indigenous rights and governance and ways of knowing.”