2026 Sunset Kino Film Festival | July 23 Screening

Sunset Kino 🎬 presents the second screening in its summer film series on July 23 at 9:00 PM, programmed by Rinaldo Walcott. As the sun sets over Lake Ontario, attendees will experience a curated program of experimental films and video works by Canadian and international artists in Gairloch Gardens, one of Oakville's most beautiful outdoor settings.

This year's program builds on the current exhibition To Fall, Patiently by artist Ali Cherri, which explores the entangled histories of artifacts, labour, environmental transformation, and survival in the aftermath of catastrophe. The summer's films focus on what rises from the ruins, featuring works that trace the persistence of life through fascism, occupation, war, and sickness.

The program includes Dana Inkster's Welcome to Africville (1999, 15 mins), an irreverent hybrid work mixing archival footage and fictionalized performance to reveal what ruins can conceal and expose; John Akomfrah's The Last Angel of History (1996, 45 mins), which traces how genius emerges from the ruins of transatlantic slavery to create Black Atlantic musical forms; Cauleen Smith's H-E-L-L-O (2019, 11 mins), an homage to New Orleans that blends past and present through musical traditions and post-Katrina imagery; and Tuan Andrew Nguyễn's The Boat People (2020, 20 mins), which reconstructs human history from the detritus of the sea.

Screenings are outdoors in Gairloch Gardens. Attendees should dress appropriately and bring seating and blankets. In the event of inclement weather, screenings will move indoors to the Studio, adjacent to the Gallery.