Village Keeper preceded by Burnt Milk

VILLAGE KEEPER

2024  |  Drama  |  Canada  |  English with English Subtitles |  83 mins  

After life's precarious scale tips her fortune back into poverty, Jean relocates herself and her children back home to live with her mother in the community housing project where she grew up. Living in constant fear of everything that could go wrong in her and her family’s life, a violent occurrence in their neighbourhood leads Jean down a path that allows her to speak on her family’s generational chains of silence and finally put herself first.

Content advisories: Images of blood; thematics and offscreen depictions of intimate partner violence; gun violence

Join us after the film for a talkback with director, Karen Chapman, and star Olunike Adeliyi moderated by Sarah-Tai Black, RPFF Manager, Progamming

DIRECTOR

Karen Chapman is an award-winning filmmaker, director, and producer whose work strives to centre both storytelling and impact. Chapman holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Emily Carr University and is an alumnus of the Canadian Film Centre’s Norman Jewison Film Program Directors’ Lab, the Banff Centre for the Arts, CaribbeanTales Incubator (Pitch Winner), Hot Docs Accelerator, and The TIFF Talent Lab. Chapman’s short films, MEASURE (2019) and QUIET MINDS SILENT STREETS (2022), both premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

STAR, PANELIST

Oluniké Adeliyi is an award winning actor, writer, and producer whose recent film and television credits include CORONER (2020), CHAOS WALKING (2020). WORKING MOMS (2017-2021), REVENGE OF THE BLACK BEST FRIEND (2022), the Emmy-nominated series THE PORTER (2022), and Hulu’s MIKE (2022). Oluniké was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the 2018 Canadian Screen Awards for her role in BOOST. In 2023 Oluniké will star alongside Brian Tyree Henry, Ryan Destiny, and Judy Greer in FLINT STRONG.

BURNT MILK (Short Film)

Canadian Premiere

2023  | Drama/Surrealism  | Jamaica  | Patois and English with English Subtitles | 9 mins  

Una, an isolated Jamaican woman living in 1985 suburban London, works as a nurse on a maternity ward. As she takes a moment of solace to prepare herself traditional condensed milk pudding – also known as burnt milk – she is flooded with visions that take her home.

DIRECTOR

Joseph Douglas Elmhirst is a British-Jamaican filmmaker based in New York whose work often centres on character's coming into their own power. His directorial debut MADA (2020) received critical acclaim.

Thank you to our Festival Sponsor Canada Media Fund for their support.

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