On a fateful school trip to the ruins of Pompeii, the fantasies of smitten teenagers Suzie and Cass are ignited. They are transported from 1977 to 79 AD, where they discover romantic freedom in the looming shadow of Mount Vesuvius – but not for long. The timeline shifts to 1981 and the Fly by Night, a Toronto lesbian bar, in the aftermath of the...
Content warning: misgendering, mentions of sexual assault, and implied violence
Chrysaor and Pegasus, children of the gorgon Medusa, have been living with their aunts Euryale and Stheno. They receive a message from their dead mother telling the story of her assault and murder by their father Poseidon. Rejecting his mother’s family, Chrysaor g...
Content warning: captivity, sex trafficking, sex work, sexual violence, violence, death
The Enslavement and Liberation of Oksana G. is a fictional dramatic opera built on extensive factual research. Set in Ukraine in 1997, it is the story of Oksana, a young woman lured into the world of sex trafficking by a Russian recruiter, Konstantin, who ...
Content warning: descriptions of enslavement, violence, sexual violence, death
A father will do anything to save his daughter. Of the Sea follows the story of Maduka, his daughter Binyelum, and fellow Africans thrown overboard during the Middle Passage who now populate mythical underwater kingdoms that span the ocean floor. Amidst the waves, ...
Based on the testimony of the 17th-century painter Artemisia Gentileschi on her rapist and instructor Agostino Tassi, we are given a snapshot of violation, confusion, and the oppression of women.
Content warning: sexual violence, incarceration, religious abuse, homophobia, conversion therapy
Through several vignettes, Forbidden examines the idea of rules and taboos. Do they protect people, or do they control them? Are they of any value, or do they simply exploit the powerless?
A young girl, punished with repetition of religious tex...
Content warning: antisemitism, genocide, Holocaust, infanticide, murder, Nazis, sexual violence, sex work, violence, war
Still the Night tells the fictional story of two Jewish Polish cousins, both named Bryna, who have escaped from the Nazis and joined the Partisans. Along the way they are hung on crosses, raped, almost shot and forced to tu...
Content warning: child sexual abuse, incest, death, murder
Judith and Daniel, long estranged siblings, are brought together by the passing of their father. Time has passed, but it seems like Judith hasn't changed at all. Daniel kills his sister when she wants to resume their childhood sexual relationship.
Konstantin breaks into Oksana's room and tries to convince her to leave with him. When this fails, he tries to rape her again but she stabs him. He gets the knife and stabs her before he dies. Father Alexander returns and Oksana dies of her wound, dreaming of home.
Medusa sings from beyond the grave, reaching out to her children and her two sisters. She tells the story of her rape by the god Poseidon and murder by the hero Perseus.
Refugees are trying on clothes, when Dima and Konstantin enter looking for Oksana. Konstantin offers Father Alexander money for Oksana and Clara calls the police; Konstantin and Dima leave before the police arrive.
Screaming, Oksana awakens from a nightmare; Father Alexander comes to her and she admits she may have let Natalyia drown to save herself. The Father counsels forgiveness of herself and others, but Oksana is not convinced that is possible.
On the Albanian coast the women captives wait for the boat to Italy. Oksana is still defiant, trying to figure out an escape for herself and others. The boat and Konstantin arrive, and Oksana fails to convince him to free her and Natalyia.
In Greece at a bar, three women are held captive: Konstantin sends Lyubia with a businessman, Natalyia with the Immigration officer who cuts her, and Oksana is bought by Konstantin at auction. Konstantin then offers to the crowd a gang rape just as the police arrive to raid the bar. Instead, he escapes with Oksana and Natalyia.
A distraught woman is trying to report her sexual assault to a policeman. She admits she’s had some alcohol. Instead of pursuing justice, the policeman arrests her for illegal possession of alcohol. The Child witnesses all of it.
An interrogator turns his lurid eyes on an imprisoned female activist. Purposefully misunderstanding her movements as seduction, he convinces himself of something horrid.