Saturday, March 14 / 9:00 pm / Ottawa Art Gallery

Program: A Soft Touch, Kika

Feature presentation \

This provocative first narrative film by Alexe Poukine had its world premiere in Cannes as part of the prestigious Directors Fortnight section. Social worker Kika is living an ordinary existence with her husband and daughter. Then she falls in love with another man and, after an amicable separation, moves out on her own with shared custody. It’s all very stable until her new partner is suddenly killed. Heartbroken but also strapped for cash on her single income, she discovers that one of her co-workers makes extra cash by selling her dirty underwear online. Appalled at first but also amused and intrigued, Kika decides to give that a try. After some success, she is drawn further into the strange but real (and lucrative) world of BDSM subculture, learning from others in the trade how to humiliate clients in person who pay big money for such services. Meanwhile, she also learns she is pregnant with her dead partner’s child, and, she asks herself, how long can she keep up being a social worker and a sex worker? A fascinating, eccentric, and affirmative portrait of a woman taking control of her life, Kika boasts an incredible performance by Manon Clavel in the title role.

Tom McSorley

Short film \

A Soft Touch

2025 / 20 minutes / Canada
Director: Heather Young
Language: English

After a friend stops replying to her messages, 81-year-old Ellen must find a way to recover the money she loaned them.