Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.

It’s rural Canada, at some point in the near future. Kiah is young woman about to start a new phase of her life. She lives with her mother in a homey but threadbare shack, a testament to the joys of back-to-nature living. They ride bikes and grow their own vegetables. But what will her new job be? She’s going to be a witness, someone who officially records a major event.

You see, in this post-carbon future, there are no digital cameras or cell phones to record events, just people like Kiah and their hand-made drawings. But what will she be witnessing? The dignified but obligatory  end-of-life ceremonies that everyone must go through before their 50th birthday. Can Kiah adjust to her bittersweet new job? And what will it mean for her relationship with her mother?

Can I Get a Witness is a gentle and heartfelt cautionary tale about where our world may be heading. It’s a Canadian coming-of-age drama with equal parts comedy and empathy, with just a bit of light horror thrown in. It stars Sandra Oh, Joel Oulette and Keira Jang as Kiah.

Can I Get a Witness was written, directed and produced by award-winning Vancouver-based filmmaker Ann Marie Fleming, who brought us the wonderful animated feature Window Horses, back in 2016. She has worked with the National Film Board and independently, producing animated films and shorts, of a sort you’ve probably never seen before.

I spoke with Ann Marie in Vancouver via ZOOM.

Can I Get a Witness opens in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver this weekend.