6:00PM-8:30PM | Dundas West Studio
✦ Girls of Steel by Margaret McEvoy | Trinidad and Tobago | 2025 | 38m
✦ Lapo Chapé by Mélissandre Monatus | France | 2024 | 31min
✦ The Forbidden University by Nauzanin Knight | Canada/Iran | 2025 | 1h 22m
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Filmmaker Talkback
The Power of Knowledge is a night of documentaries that have the power to preserve culture, challenge injustice, and transform lives. The films in The Power of Knowledge explore the many ways wisdom is carried—through folklore, artistic practice, ancestral memory, and the pursuit of education against extraordinary odds. Whether reclaiming Indigenous histories, sustaining cultural traditions, or defending the right to learn, these stories reveal knowledge as a source of resistance, resilience, and collective strength. Together, they remind us that when knowledge is shared, protected, and passed from one generation to the next, it becomes one of the most powerful forces for justice and change.
Directed by Margaret McEvoy, Trinidad and Tobago, 2025
Logline:After the pandemic silenced Trinidad’s panyards and ended their championship streak, the young women of St. Francois Girls’ College fight to reclaim their place on the Junior Panorama stage—and rediscover the power of steelpan.
Synopsis: Girls of Steel follows the steel orchestra of St. Francois Girls’ College as they strive to reclaim their Junior Panorama title after years of disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Once known for their winning legacy, the students now face fierce competition, demanding rehearsals, and the pressures of balancing music with school. Over two years, the film captures their determination, friendships, and personal growth as they prepare for Trinidad and Tobago’s most prestigious youth steelband competition. More than a story of victory or defeat, Girls of Steel celebrates the resilience of young women whose passion for the national instrument transforms discipline into confidence, community, and hope for the future.
Runtime: 38m
Directed by Mélissandre Monatus, France, 2024
Logline: Through personal testimonies and historical reflection, Lapo Chapé examines how skin color, mixed heritage, and the legacies of colonialism continue to shape identity and social perception in the Caribbean.
Synopsis: Named after the Martinican Creole expression meaning “the skin color that escapes the status of a slave,” Lapo Chapé explores the complex intersections of race, colorism, and mixed heritage. Through a series of intimate testimonies, the documentary uncovers how the legacies of slavery and colonialism continue to influence social hierarchies, self-perception, and collective identity. Participants reflect on experiences shaped by skin color and inherited narratives, revealing the often invisible forces that persist across generations. By connecting personal stories to broader historical realities, the film offers a nuanced examination of belonging, identity, and the enduring impact of the past on contemporary society.
Runtime: 30m 54s
Directed by Nauzanin Knight, Canada/Iran, 2025
Logline: In Iran, where higher education is denied to the Bahá’í community, students and teachers risk persecution to sustain a clandestine underground university built on resistance, resilience, and the transformative power of learning.
Synopsis: The Forbidden University reveals the hidden world of the Bahá’í Institute for Higher Education, an informal underground university created by the Bahá’ís of Iran after they were barred from higher education. Through intimate interviews and striking rotoscopy animation, the documentary follows students and educators who risk surveillance, arrest, and persecution to pursue knowledge in defiance of state oppression. Blending personal testimony with visual storytelling, the film highlights the resilience of a community determined to preserve dignity and opportunity through education. At its heart, the documentary is a powerful testament to courage, resistance, and the universal right to learn.
Runtime: 1hr 21m 20s