Our festival theme this year is “Upheaval” and like the phoenix reborn after a night ablaze, our films arise from the embers of a remembered past (Memory Ignited) to snatch your imagination with the light of a sudden recognition (The First Spark). As our ancestors and guardians before us, we tend the incipient flame (Simmer) until the kindling catches. We reach the breaking point and (Engulfed) only then does the ancient bird arise anew (Phoenix Rising) to bear us aloft on the wings of a common destiny we tend together upon this land.