Akashi

October 27th @ 7:00 PM

​Presented by Amica Unionville

Akashi is a multigenerational love story told across parallel timelines. Kana (Mayumi Yoshida), a struggling artist in Vancouver, returns to Tokyo for her grandmother’s funeral, feeling out of place after ten years abroad. As she reflects on a secret only she and her grandmother shared — that her grandfather had another lover — she unexpectedly reconnects with an old love, Hiro. Intercut with the past, which traces her grandfather’s decades-long affair, Kana confronts hidden family truths and begins to navigate the complexities of love, sacrifice, and the choices that shape a life between desire and duty.

Canada
1 hr 40 min

English, Japanese

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The Choral

​November 24th @ 7:00 PM

​Presented by Stouffville Medical Research Institute

Propelled by Oscar nominee Ralph Fiennes, this inspiring drama depicts a British choir director’s efforts to assemble an ensemble during the darkest days of the First World War.

The year is 1916 and the Great War is draining a Yorkshire town of its men, leaving the local choral society without voices. For a performance of Edward Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, the society’s director, Dr. Guthrie (Fiennes), is forced to recruit his singers from among the town’s adolescent population. Guthrie is a demanding taskmaster, yet under his guidance these teens will come to know the transcendent joys of singing together, while steeling themselves for their impending conscription.
Joined by fellow British acting legends Simon Russell Beale and Roger Allam, Fiennes is in top form here, embodying the proverbial stiff upper lip while allowing vulnerability to break through the veneer of reserve.
The Choral is a deftly executed period tale that reminds us of the importance of cultivating community and using art to process anxieties and generate hope. Indeed, The Choral is a testament to music’s power to sustain our souls in troubled times.

1 hr 53 min
English