Calgary International Film Festival

"In a strong slate of international documentaries, Comparsa stood out by balancing an urgent call for women's justice in Guatemala with a portrait of the unwavering power of sisterhood, community and the arts in overwhelming circumstances. Directors Doug Anderson and Vickie Curtis slowly and artfully reveal the suffocating forces women in Ciudad Peronia are up against while taking care not to re-victimize their subjects and focus instead on the exhilarating creativity sisters Lesli and Lupe are still able to summon to inspire joy and change around them."

"THE PLAGUE is an accomplished directorial debut from Charles Pollinger that engrosses you in the troubling dynamics of a boy's water polo camp. The film doesn't shy away from the ickiness of adolescence, whether bodily or socially - it festers in those spaces, leading to a fidgety, discomfiting but utterly convincing watching experience. Stylish, vibrant 35mm cinematography from Steven Breckon elevates the film's visual language, but it is the alchemy of the young cast that creates the film's atmospheric sincerity."