Next screening
Saturday, March 22
3:30 PM
Ottawa Art Gallery
For this year’s program at IFFO, Tish invites St. John’s-based filmmaker Jamie Miller to discuss the featured film Wild Diamond and the pressures young women face in a social media-based world of judgement and performance. Liane lives for her likes, comments, and followers. Her online persona feels far from her real life where she has to steal to pay for her breast implants. But if she gets her shot on a reality show, it will all be worth it.
Centred around Wild Diamond, Tish and Jamie, along with the audience, will discuss the pressures and expectations put on young women, the extremes they’re willing to go to, the patriarchal misogynist system that created it, and how we see this portrayed in films.
Created along with IFFO in 2020 by IFFO programmer Tish Black, The Gaze series brings the audience into the screening experience to discuss films from underrepresented filmmakers.
Originally focusing on women’s representation (formerly known as “The Female Gaze”), programmer Tish Black expanded the idea to encompass what the series was really about: bringing the audience into the screening experience to discuss what they see on screen. Whether the audience sees themselves represented in the identities and experiences of the characters on screen or are being exposed to people and worlds very unlike their own, the post-screening discussions bring everyone together to share their perspectives with Tish and a guest from the film industry.
Previous guests include Canadian filmmakers Emily Diana Ruth and Jessie Posthumus, film critics Di Golding and Saffron Maeve, and YouTube sensation Broey Deschanel. Audiences have shared personal stories, debated what the so-called female gaze is, and learned more about filmmaking.
Tish continues the series every IFFO, bringing a thought-provoking film and a knowledgeable guest to spark inspired discussions with the audience.