As we look forward to the 2018 festival, with passes and ticket packages launching the following day—which also happens to be Members' Day!—we take one last look back at the 2017 festival, which brought so many vital stories to Toronto. For Ahkeem is one of the best from last year's fest, and seems to grow in relevance and importance by the day. Beginning one year before the fatal police shooting of 18-year-old Mike Brown in nearby Ferguson, Missouri, this is the coming-of-age story of Daje Shelton, a Black 17-year-old girl in North St. Louis. Placed in a school for troubled youth, Daje struggles to stay on task as she loses friends around her, battles with her mom, falls in love and becomes pregnant with her son Ahkeem. Over the course of two years, For Ahkeem follows this resilient and detemined young woman as she prepares to enter adulthood .
Filmmakers Jeremy S. Levine and Landon Van Soest will Skype in for a post-screening discussion.