Once a vibrant young father and husband, Gideon (Halifax writer-director Taylor Olson) is now invisibly houseless, living out of his van and trying to maintain his relationship with his estranged daughter. Forming an unlikely bond with Navleen, a woman facing her own financial setbacks, Gideon is shown in two parallel timelines to evoke the early days of the pandemic and its present fallout, weaving past and present to reveal the fragility of hope and the resilience needed to survive in isolation. Haunted by what could have been, Gideon seeks to reclaim the hope he once carried. The non-linear journey explores the delicate balance between memory and survival, fatherhood, and the dreams we chase in the face of despair.

Known for intimate, socially conscious films that explore mental health, masculinity, and economic hardship, award-winning alumni Taylor Olson’s third feature blends personal insight with timely social relevance, shining a light on invisible homelessness with quiet urgency. What We Dreamed of Then is a refreshingly vulnerable portrait of a man trying to hold his family and the fragments of his life together.

A Q&A with director Taylor Olson will follow the screening.

Presented by NS Human Rights Commission