Toronto Metropolitan University’s 17th annual Doc Now Festival returns this June, celebrating the work of the 2025 graduates of the Documentary Media MFA program. Running from June 2 to 28, this student-run, non-profit festival showcases 20 original works across film, photography, and interactive media.

As part of the film program, 13 films will be screened at Paradise Theatre on June 9, 16, and 23. Featuring both shorts and feature-length works, these films explore personal, political, and poetic forms—telling stories from Chile, China, Iran, Ukraine, Hong Kong, and Canada. This powerful and diverse selection reflects the creative voices and documentary vision of this year’s graduating cohort.

Doors: 5:30pm
Screening: 6pm

PROGRAMMING

————NIGHT#1————
Monday June 9
Stories of migration, borders, and dearest families (by blood or by choice).
Language: English, Spanish, Cantonese, Ukrainian, with English subtitles.

Open Wounds – dir. Francisca Rojas
An estranged granddaughter embarks on a journey to trace the steps of her grandfather’s experience as a political prisoner during Chile’s military dictatorship.

Wen-jin（問津) – dir. Roy Tsai
A grandson investigates the historical significance of his grandfather’s once lost post-WWII Malaysian Chinese film after Googling his name, uncovering his family’s conflicting views and facing a choice: believe his ancestor was a genius or a slacker.

The Land of 100 Homelands – dir. Muneer Al Zahabi
An immigrant from the former Yugoslavia who rebuilt her life in Canada and helped dozens do the same reflects on identity, displacement, and belonging in a deeply personal journey that explores what it means to call a place home.

i lie behind a blade of grass to enlarge the sky – dir. Sasha Theodora
An exploration of civlian life in war time Ukraine.

————NIGHT#2————
Monday June 16
Stories of healing, resistance, and some next-level-decision-making.
Language: English, Arabic, Somali, Farsi, Mandarin, with English subtitles.
Content warning: Certain scenes contain nudity, not suitable for children.

:’) – dir. Misha
An exploration into the intertwining of tragedy and comedy in the lives of stand-up comedians, revealing how humor helps them cope, heal, and find redemption.

The Sea That No Longer Sings – dir. Amir Abdolizadeh
In Bandar Abbas, a southern Iranian city on the Persian Gulf, fishermen confront dwindling resources and economic pressures, battling not just for their livelihoods but for their very survival against unregulated foreign fishing that threatens their community’s future.

Take Care, Till Springtime – dir. Yi Shi
After a Chinese medicine practitioner is brutalized by police at a recent protest, the community comes together in quiet acts of care.

So Long Tehran – dir. Kimia Khatibzadeh
Amid social turmoil, a young woman returns to Tehran after a year, using her phone as a travel notebook to capture the rhythm of daily life.

Departures – dir. Jessie Yang
In the aftermath of the pandemic, an international student explores reasons behind recent middle-class Chinese migration to Canada. Caught between different social environments and quality-of-life considerations, some choose to leave, some choose to stay, and some are still hesitating.

From Mindbender With Love – dir. Andy Lee
A Black Queer rapper and sex worker disrupts the conservative, homophobic Toronto hip-hop community by embodying sexual freedom, body positivity and new expressions of masculinity.

————NIGHT #3————
Monday June 23
Stories of friendships, ethics, and… wait, what exactly is this?
Language: English, with English subtitles.

Waiting for Paul – dir. Paul Janicki
A film made by a man about two men.

Cans of Worms – dir Natalie Vaughan-Graham
Caught in the fog of social, political, and environmental doom, a group of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students talk about the dynamics of the university, their classroom, and moving boundaries between liberal-arts education and the outside world.

Trying to Explain Myself – dir. Ajay Rakhraj
A graduate student undergoes psychoanalysis to unravel the fallout of fractured friendships amid Toronto’s affordability crisis while revisiting personal archival materials and staging improvised performances that probe how soaring rents and broader economic pressures erode the bonds of everyday life.