Join us for the Toronto Premiere of Cold Hands, Written/Directed by Eric Bizzarri as well as screenings of "Maybe If It Were A Nice Room" and "Pumpkin Movie." Following the screenings, a Panel Discussion will take place to promote the awareness of Sexual Violence.

FEATURING:

Cold Hands (Dir. Eric Bizzarri)

The film follows the story of Lucas, who in an effort to make friends in high school, finds himself in a position that compromises his safety. In the aftermath, he realizes that the support he seeks is not guaranteed.

Eric Bizzarri is an Award Winning filmmaker residing in Toronto, Ontario. His short film The Shallow End received Best Fiction Film and Best Editing Awards at York University's Cinesiege 2016. The film also received Best Film at The 2016 Hamilton Music and Film Festival and was a semi-finalist at The 2016 Los Angeles CineFest. His latest film Cold Hands was an Official Selection of The 2017 Hamilton Film Festival and was nominated for Best Student Short Film. The film was also an Official Selection of the 2018 Canada Independent Film Festival in Montreal, QC where it took home the Special Jury Prize for Best Canadian Short Film. With a passion to empower fellow young filmmakers, Eric Co-Founded and became the Artistic Director of the Future of Film Showcase, a film festival based in Toronto that screens short films by Canadian filmmakers aged 30 and younger. Eric Bizzarri is a graduate of York University with a Bachelors Degree of Fine Arts in Film Production with Honours.

Maybe If It Were A Nice Room (Dir. Alicia K. Harris)

An incident between two people is examined through the exploration of rooms.

Alicia K. Harris is an Award-Winning filmmaker. Her films have been broadcast nationally on CBC, TVO, Bell Fibe TV, and at festivals locally and internationally, most notably winning a Golden Sheaf Award for “Love Stinks” (Yorkton Film Festival). Her work has been supported by the Toronto and Ontario Arts Councils and the National Film Board of Canada. She is the co-founder of SUGAR GLASS FILMS, dedicated to creating films about women and marginalized groups.

Pumpkin Movie (Dir. Sophy Romvari)

Fresh off of her Premiere at The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, Sophy brings her film to screen for us in light of the #MeToo Movement, and allegations concerning Sexual Assault.

Using these films as starting points for discussion, the Panel will be comprised of Filmmakers Eric Bizzarri, Alicia K. Harris and Sophy Romvari, as well as Cold Hands' Actors Cassandra Souter Williams, Susan Hamann and Chris Gleason. The Panel will be dedicated to supporting Sexual Assault survivors and reducing violence in our community, while also focusing on how Sexual Violence impacts both Men/Women and how we can effectively respond to and support those who disclose.

Our Panel will also address what it means to be a survivor of sexual assault and link those experiences more broadly to survivorship. Using an honest narrative in Cold Hands, there is also the opportunity to counter problematic pop-culture narratives surrounding Sexual Violence directed towards Men specifically.