The Magic Behind AIFF
Introducing our 2024 Programmers!
This year AIFF was thrilled to welcome back our team of programmers, members of the film community whose dedicated and thoughtful work has shaped this fantastic program, under the leadership of our Director of Programming Lisa Haller.
Fallen Matthews
Documentary & World Cinema
Fallen Matthews
What film inspired your love of film?
Leslie Harris’ Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. (1992). Its powerful narrative and New Black Realist portrayal of gendered positionality life really got — and still gets — me.
Who is one director you can’t get enough of?
Definitely Mira Nair. Her storytelling and exploration of complex cultural and social issues continually captivate me; albeit to date, I still wish to see the elder versions of Mina and Demetrius - from Mississippi Masala (1991) - living happily-ever-after, reprising their roles.
What is your passion project outside of the Festival?
My interdisciplinary doctoral research on African American and Black diasporic cinemas, history, kinship, and positionality. This project allows me to delve deeply into psychoanalytic film theory and related disciplines, as my praxis and pedagogy prompt me to pay it forward.
What is your favourite element of being a programmer?
Curating films that provoke thought and discussion, especially those that empower underrepresented voices and stories. It's fulfilling to create a platform for diverse cinematic expressions.
What part of AIFF 2024 are you most looking forward to?
I'm excited about showcasing films that explore themes of identity, belonging, and cultural intersections, as well as engaging with filmmakers and audiences in meaningful conversations.
Kevin Chabot
World Cinema, Late Night Visions
Kevin Chabot
What film inspired your love of film?
I've always been drawn to horror ever since I was a kid. I have vivid memories of watching Leprechaun 2, Halloween IV, Jason Goes to Hell and others on VHS as a child. But it was seeing the re-release of The Exorcist in theatres in 2000 that really cemented my passion for cinema. It was so powerful and impactful. It drove me to want to understand how such films could be so affecting and it motivated me to pursue film studies in school.
Who is one director you can’t get enough of?
I wouldn't say I have any particular allegiance to any single filmmaker (there are too many talented and fascinating artists out there). But right now, I'm in a Brian De Palma phase!
What is your passion project outside of the Festival?
I've just completed work on my first book, Poetics of the Paranormal, which will be out this October from McGill-Queen's University Press. It explores the role of the ghost and haunting in film and television!
What is your favourite element of being a programmer?
I love being moved and affected by films that I have never heard of or know nothing about. There is something magical about going in blind to a film and being surprised about how impactful it is. It's those discoveries that are really exciting to share with audiences.
What part of AIFF 2024 are you most looking forward to?
I am most looking forward to the post-screening Q&As and discussions with the filmmakers. Hearing them speak about their creative processes and behind-the-scenes stories is always a fun time!
Sandi Rankaduwa
Documentary, Narrative New Waves & Short Programmes
Sandi Rankaduwa
What film inspired your love of film?
Probably The Sound of Music. I had it on repeat for a good chunk of my childhood.
Who is one director you can’t get enough of?
There are way too many I could name here, but right now I can't wait to see what Céline Sciamma does next.
What is your passion project outside of the Festival?
Pop culture analysis, filmmaking, and watching as much theatre as I can.
What is your favourite element of being a programmer?
I love elevating new talent and presenting work that otherwise might not be seen here on a big screen!
What part of AIFF 2024 are you most looking forward to?
Chatting with festival-goers in between screenings! There's such a great mix of films to watch, and I'm excited to dissect them with people outside of our tiny programming bubble.
Seán Maheux Galway
Shorts Programmes
Seán Maheux Galway
What film inspired your love of film?
When I was a teenager, my dad took me to a rep theatre in Toronto to see Akira Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress, which is the samurai film George Lucas borrowed/stole a lot of for the plot of Star Wars. I had always liked watching movies, but in terms of my love of film, I was never the same person after my first Kurosawa.
Who is one director you can’t get enough of?
I really can’t wait for Pawel Pawlikowski to make another feature film. I definitely thought Cold War should have won the Oscar for Best International Feature (in a year when Roma should have totally been Best Picture) and his 2014 Ida – which did win that award – is a 21st-century masterpiece and I think one of the best films ever made about the aftermath of the Shoah. You can find his politically ironic documentaries for the BBC online that include some of the most baffling footage of war criminals you'll ever see (including when they’re scolded by their mothers), but the real hidden gem of his filmography is Last Resort.
For some CanCon and a pun: Maddin is kind of my guy.
And every time I’m sick or really miss my mum, I watch a Hitchcock movie.
What is your passion project outside of the Festival?
Well, I also make my own short films! Mostly as a producer, but this spring I released an experimental short film about my own experience accessing gender-affirming healthcare, and I’m editing a sort of medieval allegory movie on Super 8 right now.
I’m also a big reader: it’s been a summer of Eileen Myles & Eve Babitz, but I also read The Virgin Suicides — and it’s almost as good as the film, in my opinion.
What is your favourite element of being a programmer?
A lot of it is that I really love being surprised by the films I see, which is a pretty common experience programming for festivals, especially with short films — my favourite films are the ones that feel like I’ve never seen anything like it before, and I’m really lucky that I get to see a lot of those! I love tracking new talent in Canada and sometimes treating programming as a bit of a prophetic nod to the hope that this short filmmaker is gonna blow up one day.
But I’d be remiss not to mention what I feel to me is the most sacred duty of film programming: the Q&A. It's special to be able to patch the filmmakers directly to the audience — that’s an experience you can’t really get anywhere else.
What part of AIFF 2024 are you most looking forward to?
I love the festival part of the festival! And to me that means meeting new people, milling around the theatre and chatting with the audience, the free events alongside the films, welcoming filmmakers to the city, and celebrating the love of film by throwing some great parties :)
Evan Bower
Classics
Evan Bower
What film inspired your love of film?
I cannot deny that it was Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou that first got me thinking about films as things made by people — as opposed to packaged entertainments ideal for passing time with friends — and that very palpable sense of there being “someone back there” whose passions, hangups and compulsions filter through is still largely what I value about watching films today.
Who is one director you can’t get enough of?
French director Jacques Rivette made over 20 features, and a few have at one time or another ranked among the most vexingly difficult to see, so I’m constantly working toward crossing another of his films off my list. There’s no good comparison for the kind of films he makes, and his longest one clocks in at a breezy 743 minutes, so to me it’s a worthwhile chase.
What is your passion project outside of the Festival?
Outside of AIFF, I’m the programming coordinator for the Halifax Independent Filmmakers Festival, so there is always more watching to do. I’ve also been working on a novel for longer than I care to say.
What is your favourite element of being a programmer?
As someone who’s very much attached to moviegoing as a public theatrical experience, it means a lot to have any part in creating opportunities to see these major works as they were intended here in Halifax.
What part of AIFF 2024 are you most looking forward to?
My answer will always be the post-screening lobby talk, which to me is the quintessential film festival experience. In no other setting can I get instant reactions out of essentially everyone I know, and I feel like there are a handful of films this year that will demand that kind of immediate check-in.