Gift

Year
2018
Country
Canada
Duration
90’
Director
Robin McKenna

Inspired by Lewis Hyde’s beloved classic The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World, Gift is a richly cinematic film, interweaving character‐driven stories. On North America’s Pacific Northwest Coast, a young indigenous man undertakes the elaborate preparations for a potlatch – to make a name for himself by giving everything away. In Rome, Italy, a factory occupied by migrant families is transformed into a living museum, protected by a barricade of art: a model of resistance, and an invaluable gift. In the pirate utopia of Burning Man, a mutant bumblebee art car distributes honey in a post-apocalyptic desert landscape. Meanwhile, in Auckland, New Zealand, artist Lee Mingwei prepares to launch Sonic Blossom – a ‘transformative gift’ of song. Gift is a tribute to something that can’t be measured or counted, bought or sold. Exploring the parallels between artists’ work and a gift economy, it’s a reflection on the creative process, the reasons we “labour in service of our gifts”, and a celebration of the imagination.

CREW:
Director: Robin McKenna
Producer: Ina Fichman, Robin McKenna
Cinematographer: Mark O’Fearghail, Nicolas Canniccioni
Editor: Mahi Rahgozar
Sound: Sylvain Bellemare, Michel Gauvin
Production and Sales
Gaudete Films Inc., Intuitive Pictures Productions Inc., Taskovski Film Sales
Director
Robin McKenna

Robin McKenna is a director, producer and writer. Recently she directed a short film with legendary actress Geneviève Bujold, produced by the NFB for the Governor General’s Awards, and is in production on Thanadoula, a short animated documentary fairytale, about a real-life ‘death doula’ who finds her calling through the loss of her beloved older sister. She is the producer and director of Medicine, a feature-length documentary about ayahuasca, medicine and healing, for release in 2019. Robin grew up in Montréal, Canada, and began making films with the celebrated series La Course Destination Monde, travelling around the world alone with a camera making short, creative documentaries.

Selected Filmography

Great War Experience (2007), 70 ans... et au placard? (2012), Gift (2018)

Blue Hall
Kyiv Cinema
vul. Velyka Vasylkivska, 19
Q&A with filmmaker
Original language with English and Ukrainian subtitles
Hall «GEGEMON»
Zhovten cinema
Kostiantynivska St, 26
Original language with English and Ukrainian subtitles
22 INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL
 6 — 13 
June 2025
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Year
2023
Country
Brazil
Director
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Duration
66’
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Year
2023
Country
United Kingdom, France, USA
Directors
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Duration
86’
DOCU/ART
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DOCU/ART
Nathan-ism
Year
2023
Country
USA
Director
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Duration
79’
DOCU/ART