9:00PM-11:30PM | Dundas West Studio
✦ Uma Memòria Emplumada by Ida Does | Brazil/Netherlands | 2025 | 56min
✦ Paid In Blue by Jared Seemungal | Trinidad and Tobago | 2026 | 6min 30s
✦ Swim Sistas by Catherine Joy White | UK | 2025 | 11min
✦ Church Hat by Miceal O’Donnell | USA/Canada | 2026 | 7min
✦ Purgatory by Nikki Shaffeeullah | Canada | 2025 | 19min 30s
✦ Unalive by Kwanza Nicole Gooden | United States | 2025 | 24min
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Filmmaker Talkback
In Caribbean communities, reaching is about more than arriving—it is about growing into ourselves, finding the strength to persevere, and embracing who we are. The films in We Reach! celebrate journeys of self-discovery, healing, and belonging as individuals confront family expectations, cultural traditions, grief, faith, and mental health with honesty and courage. Through moments of vulnerability and resilience, these stories remind us that becoming our fullest selves is rarely a solitary act. It is shaped by the people who love us, the communities that challenge us, and the cultures that sustain us. Together, these films affirm that every step toward acceptance, understanding, and connection is a victory worth celebrating.
Directed by Ida Does, Brazil/Netherlands, 2025
Logline:As Indigenous artist Daiara Tukano creates a monumental mural at the Mauritshuis, a poetic journey unfolds linking colonial histories to living Indigenous memory, revealing art as a powerful act of resistance, restitution, and cultural survival.
Synopsis: A Feathered Memory (Uma Memória Emplumada)*, directed by Ida Does, follows Indigenous artist Daiara Tukano as she creates a monumental mural at the Mauritshuis. As the artwork unfolds, the film reveals connections between Dutch colonial history and the living knowledge of Amazonian Indigenous cultures. Moving between Brazil and The Hague, it reflects on memory, resistance, and the return of the sacred Tupinambá feather mantle. Blending poetry, archival imagery, and personal testimony, the film positions art as a powerful bridge—linking past and present while honoring Indigenous resilience, cultural survival, and the ongoing struggle for restitution and recognition.
Runtime: 00:15:00 Uma Memòria Emplumada, A feathered memory (Ida Does, Brazil/Netherlands, 2025); 56m 10s
Directed by Jared Seemungal , Trinidad and Tobago, 2026
Logline:When an arrogant young Trinidadian disrespects the Blue Devils on Carnival night, he is forced to pay a debt that turns him into one of them by dawn.
Synopsis: Paid in Blue is a supernatural horror rooted in Trinidad’s Blue Devil folklore. At a Carnival fête, the arrogant Keston delights in humiliating others before dismissing a group of Blue Devils demanding the customary tribute. Ignoring their warning, he throws cheap coins at their feet and disappears into the night. Soon, haunting drums, whispered voices, and terrifying visions pursue him through deserted roads. When his childhood friend Dario finally finds him, Keston is already changing—his body twisting under the weight of an ancient curse. As horns emerge and blue poison spills from within, Keston’s fate is sealed, revealing the terrifying cost of disrespecting traditions older than memory.
Runtime: 6m 31s
Directed by Catherine Joy White, UK, 2025
Logline: Four Black women, including Great Britain’s first Black female Olympian, explore healing, resilience, and their historical relationship to water through swimming.
Synopsis: Swim Sistas is a poetic and visually rich love letter to water, sisterhood, and the resilience of Black women across generations. Narrated by Academy Award® nominee Naomie Harris as Mami Wata, Swim Sistas follows four Black British women, from an Olympic trailblazer to a 54-year-old first-time swimmer, in a lyrical celebration of joy, sisterhood and resilience.
Runtime: 11m 11s
Directed by Miceal O’Donnell, USA/Canada, 2026
Logline: AIn a Jamaican household, a curious young boy slips into his mother’s closet and discovers the joy of her treasured church hats, forcing mother and son to navigate identity, love, and acceptance in an unexpected moment of self-expression.
Synopsis: Based on the children’s book by Deb Williams, Church Hat follows Quentin, a curious young Jamaican boy whose fascination with his mother’s treasured church hats sparks a world of imagination. Inspired by the emotions and expectations around him, Quentin transforms his bedroom into a dazzling fantasy where mannequins come alive and everyday moments become musical spectacle. When his mother unexpectedly finds him wearing her prized hats, Quentin fears punishment and rejection. Instead, their encounter becomes a tender affirmation of love, understanding, and acceptance. Warm, joyful, and imaginative, Church Hat celebrates childhood curiosity, self-expression, and the freedom to discover who you are.
Runtime: 7m 3s
Directed by Nikki Shaffeeullah, Canada, 2025
Logline: When a confident queer woman returns to her family’s mosque with her partner for a community funeral, a clash with a meddling relative forces her to confront both family expectations and the supernatural anxieties that haunt her.
Synopsis: Zena is a confident queer woman whose life is often complicated by an anxiety-fueled sensitivity to the uncanny. When she returns to her family’s mosque with her partner to attend the funeral of a beloved community member, she hopes to pay her respects and avoid conflict. Instead, she finds herself drawn into a tense confrontation with a meddling relative determined to challenge her choices and identity. As grief, family dynamics, and cultural expectations collide, Zena’s fears begin to manifest in unsettling ways. Balancing humor, heart, and the supernatural, the film explores belonging, acceptance, and the courage to show up as oneself.
Runtime: 19m 34s
Directed by Kwanza Nicole Gooden, USA, 2025
Logline: After finally achieving her Hollywood breakthrough, a lonely actress secretly planning her suicide is forced to confront her pain when a desperate call from her younger brother reveals he may be on the brink as well.
Synopsis: Xoe is a rising Hollywood actress whose long-awaited breakthrough arrives after years of rejection and relentless ambition. But behind the success lies crushing isolation, anxiety, and emotional exhaustion. When her Jamaican-American family visits from Washington, D.C., Xoe hides her despair behind charm and performance, masking what is secretly meant to be a final goodbye. Days after they leave, Xoe prepares to end her life, only to receive an urgent call from her younger brother Xavier, who is facing his own crisis. Forced to confront their shared pain, the siblings struggle to save one another in a deeply emotional story about family, depression, connection, and survival.
Runtime: 24m