Films

Tigress

TELEFILM CANADA NOT SHORT ON TALENT @ CANNES COURT METRAGE

NETFLIX/CFC CALLING CARD ACCELERATOR

CANADIAN PREMIERE: FESTIVAL DE NOUVEAU CINEMA, MONTREAL

Trina, a stubborn and rebellious 20-something has gone to the motherland as an aid worker during the war. Once there, she finds herself overwhelmed by the traumas she witnesses and turns to partying hard as a way to cope. One night during a drunken foray, she encounters another version of herself as a paramilitary fighter for the Tamil Tigers — and her sense of western privilege collides with the reality of her ancestors.

Featured on NPR, Now Magazine, She Does The City, Global News Radio, Geek Girl Authority, Harlton Empire, Occhi Magazine

Air Show

Written and directed by Maya Bastian, ‘Air Show’ is a short narrative film that interrogates the experience of newly-arrived Toronto refugees who experience the Canadian Air Show for the first time. The film aims to explore the intersection of Canadian culture and tradition with our ever-evolving climate of diversity.

Featured in The Globe and Mail, CBC’s The National, Metro Morning, NewsTalk 1010, Metro Daily and Huffington Post.

Watch Air Show on Vimeo

Arrival Archives

Two families, similar identities. Fleeing violence, they sought refuge in Canada and began a new life. This is the experience of thousands of people in our country and yet these stories go mostly untold. Arrival Archives is an artful exploration of newcomer arrival stories, told through a multi-generational viewpoint. The stories intertwine as one, illustrating that Canada’s cultural landscape is a communal experience shared by many different faces.

Directed by Maya Bastian for Home Made Visible.

Winner! Best International Short Documentary, Garden State Film Festival 2020 Screened at: DOXA, Reframe International Film Festival, Gimli Film Festival. Featured on CBC News.

Distributor: V-Tape

Mosaic Stories – Kizito


The first in a series about six people who have all experienced radical racism. Kizito Musabimana is a half-Tutsi, half- Hutu Rwandan who survived the Rwandan genocide. He wrote this piece entitled ‘I Am’

Directed by Maya Bastian for The Mosaic Institute/Canada 150.

For more Mosaic Stories click here

My Other History

Post-war, memory and identity in a multi-generational context.
A video installation as part of the ‘Post-Memory’ series of photo/video
installation. Debuted at Edinburgh Fringe 2017.

Watch My Other History on Vimeo

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