Unarmed Verses

2017 Winner Hotdocs Best Canadian Feature and 2018 TIFF Canada's Top Ten - People's choice award
Unarmed Verses gives voice to the voiceless as we follow 12-year old Francine Valentine and 20-year old Lavane Kelly – residents of a Toronto housing complex called Villaways. Confronting isolation, instability and displacement in the midst of their community on the verge of demolition and revitalization. The only certainty for Francine, Lavane and the 121 Units occupied by low-income families is, everything will be gone by Summer 2016.

Unarmed Verses

2017 Winner Hotdocs Best Canadian Feature and 2018 TIFF Canada's Top Ten - People's choice award
Unarmed Verses gives voice to the voiceless as we follow 12-year old Francine Valentine and 20-year old Lavane Kelly – residents of a Toronto housing complex called Villaways. Confronting isolation, instability and displacement in the midst of their community on the verge of demolition and revitalization. The only certainty for Francine, Lavane and the 121 Units occupied by low-income families is, everything will be gone by Summer 2016.
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Charles Officer builds a powerful bond of trust with this luminous 12-year-old girl whose poignant observations about life, the soul, and the power of art give voice to those rarely heard in society. Crafting a poignant urban observational film that explores intertwining themes of economic disparity, home, love, and self-esteem.

Unarmed Verses is a cinematic rendering of our universal need for self-expression and belonging.

Members:

Andres Landau,  Zach Cox

Credits:

Directed by Charles Officer
Written by Charles Officer
Produced by Lea Marin
Cinematography by Mike McLaughlin
Edited by Andres Landau
Original Score by MENALON
Executive Producer Anita Lee for the National Film Board of Canada
Story Consultant Ricardo Acosta
DIT Zach Cox