Unarmed Verses

The RIDM fell off my radar last year. No idea why. It actually wouldn't have been on my radar again this year, but a colleague mentioned it in passing and I'm back on the bandwagon. Thank goodness.
I went through the entire list of films and narrowed down to about 20 or so that I was interested in. And as one does, I made an excel spreadsheet of the films in order to narrow down even further ruling out ones that conflict with other pre-existing commitments and then seeing how many overlap requiring me to prioritize which films I actually want to see. I'm thinking I'll end up seeing 4 or 5.
Two years ago, when I looked into seeing some films at the festival, I remember many of the ones that I was interested in already being sold out. I don't remember if I had waited until the last minute to get tickets, but I do remember being disappointed that I couldn't get tickets. I only ended up watching one film.
This year, tickets were still available for all of the films that I wanted to see, and the festival had already started. I don't know if there was something weird about the festival two years ago, or something weird about the festival this year (although, it's the 20th edition, so shouldn't there be a lot of interest in the festival this year?)...or even maybe the films that I'm interested in, but the fact that tickets were still available threw me off. Well, I guess it's more the fact that the film that I saw tonight had about 10 people in attendance. I was shocked and disappointed (for the festival and for the filmmakers - who were in attendance and expressed their slight disappointment).
Here are some facts: It was the second screening. It played at Hot Docs this past spring. There, it won the Best Canadian Doc Award. The screening was on a Sunday night. None of that helps me to understand why so few people were at the screening. I have never attended a screening of a film at a film festival with so few people.
Unarmed Verses is a film focusing generally on the Villaways community in the Sheppard and Leslie area of Toronto, but more specifically on Francine, a young member of the community. The film was subtle and I felt ended too early without getting deep enough into the issues, but keywords of: community, race, poverty, youth, and empowerment stand out. In Toronto (and I assume in other cities/towns as well), there have been many "revitalization projects" effecting (/involving?!?) Toronto Community Housing. This film focuses on one such case, but through the lens of a young member of the community. I'm unclear whether her growth is a byproduct of negotiating (for herself and her family) the changes unfolding (or about to come) to her community. Or, her participation in an arts-program that asks her to vocalize and make public her private thoughts, poems, and writing. Or, maybe it's both. And maybe it's the responsibilities that this young lady has thrust upon her, from family members, from other members of the community. It's clear that she not only has mentors to guide her, but she herself is a mentor to other younger members of the community.
It was a nice film, touching upon some important issues, and through voice and eyes of a lovely young lady.
I look forward to the next film that I get to watch as part of the festival.
 
Picture courtesy of www.nfb.ca/film/unarmed_verses/