A Quest(ion) of Identity

Race, ethnicity and nationality. Social status, economic class, gender, sexual orientation, age. Social identity vs. self identity. There are many things to look at when talking about identity issues. If identity is a form of social representation that mediates relationship between the individual and the social world, the process can be creative or destructive. The films in this section explore some of the ways in which identity and its pursuit influence the lives of people.

Calabria is a road movie featuring two charismatic employees of a Swiss funeral parlour who set off in the company hearse to take its passenger back to his native village in Calabria. Crossing Italy from North to South, the two protagonists draw up the viewer into their spiritual journey with bitter-sweet inklings of immigrant life, family, life and death.

The Last Kalderash features a distinct group among the Gypsies. The Kalderash trade used to provide them with the daily bread as well as something of a social status. Recently, their manufactured copper items are less in demand and they must find other ways to subsist. Western countries are an option, but there's no bed of roses awaiting them there.

Family and community ties can be burdensome to the point that some people choose to run as far away as possible in search of their identity. Homecoming is a personal account of the remarkable course taken by two brothers, from the Israeli occupied West Bank Jewish settlement where they grew up to their present lives.

Soul Exodus follows five American-born musicians try to discover their roots through klezmer music. They set out on what might be described as a reverse exodus on a journey from Montreal to Romania's Moldova, passing through New York, Paris, Berlin, Budapest and Transylvania.

Curatorial text and films presentations by Adina Marin