Slideshow
AGATHA’S ALMANAC
Opens Friday, May 15
DIRECTED BY AMALIE ATKINS
Agatha Bock, a petite, slope-backed nonagenarian, labors in her massive vegetable garden, maintains her rural Manitoba home with astounding DIY resourcefulness—baking and canning almost everything she eats—and needs no assistance from her niece Amalie. As Amalie films Agatha’s daily routines over a period of six years, it becomes clear that she’s the one who has a thing or two to learn: like how to survive without running water for a decade and still enjoy every day; how to harvest and transport a 15-lb watermelon (you kick it along with your rubber boot) so you can slice and feast on it, then preserve its heirloom seeds; and why living on your own may be tough but is as colorful and vivacious as any married life. Atkins’ eye for beauty in her aunt’s physical movements, household objects, vibrant clothing, and agricultural universe fuse with her deep affection and luminous 16mm cinematography to present a captivating portrait of how artful a fiercely handmade, independent life can be.
2025 86 MIN. CANADA ICARUS FILMS
Trailer
Reviews
“Agatha Bock [is] an eclectic wonder in this artfully affectionate doc portrait... This veteran DIY dame, who celebrates her 90th birthday during the course of filming, proves a wizardly green thumb... Shot in wondrously luminous 16mm images by cinematographer Rhayne Vermette, AGATHA’S ALMANAC radiates with the pure joy that these rituals afford Bock daily. The loving colour palette accentuates the ripeness of Agatha’s bountiful and juicy fruits, from succulent red strawberries to eye-poppingly pink watermelons. The weathered character of Agatha’s lived-in abode provides aesthetically pleasing contrasts, while her vibrant wardrobe, curated in collaboration with Atkins, ensure that the titular aunt’s personality radiates in every frame.”
– Pat Mullen, POV
