____

May Flowers captures one month in the life of Toronto during pandemic times, amidst Covid’s third and deadliest wave, just as the city is about to emerge from one of the longest emergency lockdowns in the world.

Loosely inspired by Chris Marker's Le joli mai, May Flowers interweaves a series of encounters with a cross-section of the city’s residents. Out of the telling of their stories, and strategies for coping, what emerges is a portrait of a city at a turning point—a city, like so many others, riven with uncertainty about the future, and a fraying sense of trust in institutions and each other. The film also reflects on the strangeness of how we experienced time and memory during the pandemic—that the most memorable period in most of our lives might somehow elude our remembering.

____

May Flowers
Directed, written, and produced by Chris Frey & Patrick Pittman
106 mins / 2024 / Canada

Camera and editing: Chris Frey
Sound recording and mixing: Patrick Pittman
Narration: Naomi Skwarna
Music: Bram Gielen
Colour: Zach Cox
Graphic art: Michèle Champagne