Polly is in her early thirties, but far from leading a settled life, spending her time strolling through Toronto with her camera. While developing the film in her bathroom-turned-photo lab, she drifts off into the black and white worlds. In her visions, she can fly, walk on water or hear the mermaids singing. Even though the temp agency is warning anyone interested in hiring Polly about her lack of focus, the curator Gabrielle takes her in as a secretary. While working for her, Polly starts thinking about what it means to create something, who is allowed to call themselves an artist and whether she might be in love with her boss.

With her prize-winning debut, she has continued to approach dark or profound topics in a sometimes naive or whimsical way. Being raised in a homophobic calvinist community, telling queer stories has always played an important role for her. Never afraid to try something new, putting her work of almost four decades in one box seems impossible.

Mascha Dilger’s Ono No Kochami is a cinematic interpretation of the poem of the same name by Clara Sondermann. This contemporary poem explores relationships and family, as well as their transience, and serves as a tribute to the ancient Japanese poetess Ono No Komachi, who lived and worked as a court poet during the Heian period around 830 AD. The film was also created for Stephan Krass’s Poetry Film Seminar.