Spotlight: Demonic Grounds
When violence inhabits a place, what becomes its legacy? In Poland, former Holocaust camps now operate as hospitals and housing blocks. Deep in the Congo rainforest, the remains of a Belgian colonial research centre reveal much more than climatological data. Along the U.S.-Mexico border, the vast Sonoran Desert doubles as a migrant grave. While in Sicily, military antennas disfigure both land and life. The films in this Spotlight wrestle with the social and material complexities that exist in these four sites, cinematically mapping what McKittrick calls cartographies of struggle—or, demonic grounds.
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Films
Bedrock
Kinga Michalska, Canada, 2025, 97 mins
For screening times, click here.
Bedrock explores Poland's complex relationship with the Holocaust through the lives of those living on Holocaust sites today. Shot on 10 of these locations, the film immerses viewers in a series of intimate moments—from a Polish Jewish activist protecting Jewish graves and recovering remains from damaged sites, to families confronting complicity in wartime pogroms, to a girl visiting a psychiatric hospital that once served as a concentration camp. These moments reveal how history continues to haunt the present, forcing us to face uncomfortable truths about memory, guilt, and survival. Bedrock confronts the continuing legacies of past atrocities, showcasing how violence repeats in both the spaces we inhabit and the lives we lead.
Spare My Bones, Coyote!
Jonah Malak, Canada, 2024, 84 mins
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For over a decade, Marisela and Ely Ortíz of Aguilas del Desierto have ventured into the unforgiving Sonoran desert to recover the bodies of migrants who died trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. Guided by hotline tips about remains abandoned by Coyotes—human traffickers who profit from smuggling migrants—they face the toll of this relentless, heartbreaking work. Spare My Bones, Coyote! chronicles their search and dedication, shedding light on the human cost of migration and the dignity of those lost in the desert. The film is a poignant depiction of the compassion of those who refuse to look away from the harsh realities of displacement.
The Tree of Authenticy
Sammy Baloji, Belgium, The Democratic Republic of Congo, 2025, 89 mins
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In The Tree of Authenticity, Sammy Baloji examines the legacies of Belgian colonialism in the Congo, blending archival material, historical accounts, and present-day footage. Through the words of Paul Panda Farnana, the first Congolese agricultural specialist to be hired by the Belgian government, the film explores Farnanas fight against racism and injustice. As Farnana’s narrative unfolds over imagery of the lush Congo rainforest, its sounds and textures heighten the connection between the land and its people. Weaving colonial-era voices into modern-day realities, Baloji captures the ongoing impact of exploitation on both the environment and its inhabitants. In the film’s final act, the perspective of an ancient tree speaks to the lasting consequences of colonial destruction.
Valentina and the MUOSters
Francesca Scalisi, Switzerland/Italy, 2024, 81 mins
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In the Sicilian town of Niscemi, massive U.S. military antennae known as MUOS loom over the land, disrupting both the environment and daily life. Nearly 30, Valentina still lives with her parents, weighed down by her father’s judgment and the stagnation of small-town life. When his health declines—possibly worsened by the electromagnetic waves of MUOS—she is forced to confront her future. Set against a backdrop of intensive farming, wildfires, and systemic control, Valentina and the MUOSters is a tender portrait of duty, self-determination, and emancipation, showing how political forces shape private lives.
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