Film Forum

AGATHA’S ALMANAC

Amalie Atkins · 2025 · CANADA ICARUS FILMS · 86 min

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2025 HOT DOCS INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL 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.