A daughter struggles to talk to her father – who is also a son – about her Nonna.
Director’s Vision for ‘Daughters and Sons’
Daughters and Sons began as a small filmmaking experiment during my MFA studies at York University in Toronto, which focused on cultural memory and the quiet distance that can exist between second- and third-generation immigrant families. What emerged was a deeply human portrait of a daughter and her father – who is also a son – each struggling to address the invisible lines of their inheritance and identity.
Working with well renowned dance artist Rob Kitsos and his daughter Beatrice Kitsos – a phenomenal and renowned film actress in her own right – allowed me to merge performance and realism in a way that felt both intimate and raw. Influenced by dogma films and Andrea Arnold, I approached the film handheld, spontaneous, and emotionally unguarded to invite authenticity and creative collaboration with them. Shot in an afternoon, the film found its emotional heart in an improvised park scene when Beatrice’s friend Laika joined last minute – an unplanned conversation about what it means to carry your family’s past while forging your own sense of self.
Looking back, I see Daughters and Sons not just as a study of generational inheritance, but as a small act of remembrance for the relationships that shape us, and for Henry, the dog who appears in the film. It’s a quiet film, but one I hope captures the tenderness, distance, and grace that define family.
