CIFF 2025: True North, Pasa Faho, Sun Ra: Do the impossible | Festivals and awards

In its 29th year of programming, the Chicago International Film Festival’s Black Perspectives category continues to expose and elevate the stories of the diaspora, adding to the archive evidence that Black people are far from monolithic. Now more than ever, taking the time to experience stories that are not our own will preserve our ability to be compassionate neighbors. With 10 feature films and a program of short films included in the 61st CIFF lineup, Black Perspectives, like the other categories, can serve as a solid source for curating your own festival experience.

An archival clip from activist and organizer Rosie Douglas telling us to “learn [your] story” sets the tone for the story which “The True North” seeks to tell. Director Michèle Stephenson’s black-and-white documentary weaves together sound clips, interviews and a plethora of historical documentation to recount the key events and figures of the civil rights era in Canada and, more specifically, in Montreal. Not only does “True North” draw our attention to the historical and current experience of Black Canadians, but the film also directly confronts the ways in which anti-blackness is constructed and perpetuated by institutions.

Stephenson threads a narrative that was once hidden, a persistent but unsurprising struggle between black experience and history. Similar to the founding of the United States, the majority of the black population in Canada is due to the transatlantic slave trade and immigration. Rooted in one of the most anxious (and therefore inactive) age groups, Stephenson focuses on students at Sir George University who advocate for equal treatment in the classroom and academic opportunities. As hundreds of students of all races and creeds take over the university’s valuable computer lab, the monochrome digitized photos, interspersed with interviews and archived audio, illustrate the unnecessary and one-sided violence that quickly spirals out of control and is then exploited in a legal context.

All these years later, Brenda Dash, one of the women who played a major role in those protests, says that, in a way, her “soul is still colonized.” Through no fault of their own, there is so much power in hearing an elder speak the truth about the imperfections of struggling and overcoming systemic and generational suffering. In its final moments, “Reach the Sunshine,” a futuristic, psychedelic punk song by rapper Lil Yachty awakens our souls with sounds that fuel us with optimism about our ability to continue to correct such cruel, long-standing corruptions through collective action.

“Pasa Faho”, slang for, or play on, the phrase “parts of a whole”, takes the pieces of our broken hearts and puts them back together again. In writer-director Kalu Oji’s feature debut, there’s an undeniable warmth and understanding of the story he’s trying to tell. Oji, who is Igbo Australian, tells the story of Nigerian shoe store owner, Azubuike (Okey Bakassi), who slowly endures unexpected hardships as his son Obinna (Tyson Palmer) begins to live with him. The family drama also tells the story of immigrant communities finding their place in new places, how spirituality can be reshaped amid such changes, and how a person’s sense of purpose can be challenged while persevering in parenthood.

Despite the limited number of large-scale shots and landscapes, each character has a grandiose presence, framed intimately by close-ups that influence the overall perception of what the audience is able to connect to in this story. With exceptional chemistry between the father-son duo, Bakassi and Palmer bring a contemplative complexity to their characters. Even in moments of few words, a lot is said with their eyes and their physicality.

Time and time again, the film conveys an iteration of “true love must advance and evolve”; a lesson that Azubuike not only reiterates to his son, but that he too learns and accepts. As the score oscillates between high-vibration afrobeats and more classically orchestrated melancholy music, each scene is both visually and sonically saturated with emotional queues. “Pasa Faho” is layered and charming on every level.

Finally, the art of Sun Ra, the enigma, the intergalactic sonic savant, is brought to the big screen. In Christine Turner’s new documentary, “Sun Ra: Do the Impossible” we are thrown into his orbit, fascinated by his daring mindset and outlook on life.

The film travels through Sun Ra’s early years and establishes him as a self-proclaimed divine figure from a young age. His beliefs were bigger than the human body can contain; a confidence so courageous and powerful that it was best channeled into making music. Turner transports us to Birmingham, Alabama, in the 1940s, then we set off on a journey to Chicago, New York, Europe, Africa and beyond.

Despite the diversity and richness of the film’s sources and interviewees, there is no explicit and detailed presentation of Sun Ra’s lasting impact and legacy. Journalists and scholars unanimously agree that Sun Ra and his creative nature were otherworldly. He is notably nicknamed “the godfather of Afrofuturism” because the film highlights several artists who embody an emanation of the aesthetic that Sun Ra and his Arkestra brought to the stage. Yet the only musicians included in the documentary are his former bandmates and friends who are fans of Afro-mythology. Some even admit the quasi-cult mentality that the musical troupe underwent to stay in tune with Sun Ra’s vision and aspirations.

Although this is seemingly a weak point of the film as a whole, “Sun Ra: Do the Impossible” has the central thesis of placing its subject in the archives as someone who is larger than life. With great care and patience, Turner sifts through mountains of archival anecdotes (from letters to albums to found footage) to present just an iota of everything that Sun Ra was. As the film dances through time, the entire score is composed of sounds created by Sun Ra; before the synth of the 70s, we boogie to the rhythm of the big band of the 40s. The evidence is in the air while the psychedelic montage reinforces our capacity to have faith and to make people believe.