Defund (film)

Defund
Directed byKhadijah Roberts-Abdullah
Araya Mengesha
Written byKhadijah Roberts-Abdullah
Araya Mengesha
Produced byKhadijah Roberts-Abdullah
Araya Mengesha
J Stevens
StarringKhadijah Roberts-Abdullah
Araya Mengesha
Karen Robinson
CinematographyJ Stevens
Edited byJ Stevens
Music byDenise De'ion
Release date
  • September 10, 2021 (2021-09-10) (TIFF)
Running time
14 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

Defund is a Canadian short drama film, directed by Khadijah Roberts-Abdullah and Araya Mengesha and released in 2021.[1] The film stars Roberts-Abdullah and Mengesha as a sister and brother who have been in isolation in Toronto during the COVID-19 pandemic, and must confront the complexities of political activism when they are motivated to get out into the streets during the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020.[2]

The film's cast also includes Karen Robinson, Vivien Endicott-Douglas, Getenesh Berhe, Nickeshia Garrick, Richard Lam and Anand Rajaram.

The film premiered at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival,[3] and was subsequently screened at the 2021 Vancouver International Film Festival.

The film was named to TIFF's annual year-end Canada's Top Ten list for 2021.[4]

  1. ^ Heather Taylor, "DEFUND at TIFF21: Making Films That Matter When They Matter". Script, September 9, 2021.
  2. ^ Courtney Small, "TIFF 2021: DEFUND Review". That Shelf, September 10, 2021.
  3. ^ Joshua Freeman, "Toronto talent on display at TIFF 2021". CP24, September 10, 2021.
  4. ^ Norman Wilner, "TIFF announces Canada’s Top Ten films of 2021" Archived 2021-12-06 at the Wayback Machine. Now, December 6, 2021.