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Q&A With Director Naomi Jaye! Moderated by film curator EMILY GAGNE!
Presented in partnership with the American Cinematheque, ‘Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair’ is an annual film festival showcasing some of the greatest works of cinema from across the globe that venture into the darkest sides of humanity and the bleakest points in human history.
The fifth annual edition in June 2026 expands to nearly 100 theaters across the U.S., Canada, U.K. and South and Central America, with each venue presenting its own original curated lineup of uncompromising films defined by unpleasant truths and raw empathy.
Miriam Gordon (BRITT LOWER) is a librarian at a downtown public library, oppressed by her grief over the death of her father. Together with her colleagues, the abrasive friend Susu (SOOK-YIN LEE) and their watchful manager Irene (JEAN YOON), the librarians work on the front lines among marginalized members of the public who find refuge in the library. Over her lunch breaks in the park, Miriam begins to notice a younger man. Janko (TOM MERCIER) is a Slovenian artist; now in Toronto he drives a cab. He calls her his darkest Miriam and the two eat plum cake and drink ginger tea in his tiny apartment.
As Miriam’s heart opens up to love, she begins receiving threatening letters from someone who believes he is Rigoletto, the hunchbacked jester from Verdi's opera. She begins to document her emotions and thoughts on blank incident report forms she finds in the library, she keeps them in a folder stashed away in her desk drawer. He’s convinced she is his daughter, promises to protect her from grief, but little does he know how much loss she’s already experienced; or does he? (GAME THEORY FILMS)
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Event Venue
Revue Cinema, 400 Roncesvalles Avenue,Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Tickets
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