Personal picks from ReFrame

You’re reading the January 23, 2026 edition of the Peterborough Currents email newsletter. To receive our email newsletters straight to your inbox, sign up here.

---

Hi, I’m Peterborough Currents co-editor Gabe Pollock, and this is your weekly Peterborough Currents email newsletter!

We’re coming up on the ReFrame Film Festival, Peterborough’s annual festival of social and cultural documentaries, and a true local highlight in the midst of the coldest and darkest season of the year. I actually had a chance to volunteer with ReFrame leading up to this festival, and I’ve got some recommendations for films in this year’s lineup.

Let’s get to it.

Personal picks from the 2026 ReFrame Film Festival

by Gabe Pollock

This past year, I had a chance to volunteer with the Programming Advisory Committee for the ReFrame Film Festival. We were there to help festival’s Creative Director Eryn Lidster choose the films that would comprise this year’s festival. Over the course of five months, the committee watched through about 125 films before making our final recommendations.

Now, with the ReFrame Film Festival just a week away (January 30 to February 8 – see the festival website), I thought I would list six personal picks from the films that I watched, and that I’m most excited for the community to experience.

For me, serving on the Programming Advisory Committee was one of my personal highlights of 2025, in a year where I tried to get back into community, which also included going to more shows and events, seeing more people, and of course, getting a job with Peterborough Currents. It was an intentional effort, after a strange and lingering period of isolation that followed me out of the pandemic lockdowns. 

It’s something I think a lot of people can relate to. Venues and event organisers bemoan how difficult it is to get audiences out post-pandemic, as people became comfortable with virtual events and got used to staying home in their pajamas – a situation only made worse by the number of venues that closed or suffered serious losses during the pandemic.

Even ReFrame is dealing with this. The festival went fully virtual during the pandemic. Staff I’ve spoken to say they were excited to return to a fully in-person festival once restrictions lifted, where people could come together in one room to experience art, then linger after the screening to commune and talk about it. 

However, audience surveys revealed that many people liked the new virtual format and so, at least for now, ReFrame has essentially turned into twin festivals: several days of in-person screenings, followed by a week of streaming films.

There were (and still are) advantages to virtual events, particularly for immunocompromised people, who remain at higher risk of infection when in large groups, and people with disabilities and mobility issues, who found a whole world suddenly willing and able to accommodate their needs.

But I can’t help but feel like something is lost when we spend all our time at home. This is especially true for someone returning to journalism, where it turns out that occasionally leaving my apartment is an essential job skill. It’s the best way to chase stories and find out what’s happening in my community. But it’s also important for anyone living in a community: even if we live near each other, it won’t matter unless we sometimes bridge the gap and come together in one place.

As the world gets darker and stranger, we can find solace in those around us: the artists and organizers who are still creating work and making weird events happen, and the people and groups who are still fighting to make the world a better place.

---

---

Thanks for reading the Peterborough Currents email newsletter! Here’s where you can sign up to have these sent straight to your inbox.