2021 Festival Guide
October 01 — October 11
40th Festival
viff.org
Welcome to the Festival
From the Musqueam Indian Band
From the Squamish Nation
From the Tsleil-Waututh Nation
ʔa: si:y̓é nə siyéy̓ ə
I7x̱ w ta newyá p siiy̓ay-cht
Friends & Relatives:
ʔo: si:y̓é nə siyéy̓ ə,
To all our friends:
Friends and Relatives,
ʔəi ce:p kʷətxʷiləm ʔi ʔə tə a šxʷməθkʷəy̓ əmaʔɬ təməxʷ, tə šxʷʔaəts tə shəəmi əqən ʔiʔ əw tə šxʷʔaləqʷaʔ ct tə sqʷχʷaməx ʔiʔ tə səl̕ ilwətaʔɬ məsteyəxʷ
I chexw tl’iḵ iy chet kw’enmantúmiwit itti temí xw
ʔəi ce:p kʷətxʷiləm ʔə tə a səlilwətaɬ təməxʷ, ʔiʔ əw tə šxʷʔaləqʷaʔ ct tə sqʷʷaməx ʔiʔ tə xʷməθkʷəy̓ əm məsteyəxʷ.
Welcome to the ancestral territory of the həəmiə speaking people, along with our relatives Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh. For thousands of years, Musqueam people have used storytelling as a way to share our teachings from generation to generation. Storytelling is an intrinsic part of who we are as Indigenous people. We are also social innovators, continually adapting and utilizing new technologies to build upon ancestral knowledge and practices that have sustained us for millennia. Through film and other media, Musqueam and other Indigenous peoples are finding new ways to share our stories, experiences, and struggles, and celebrate our successes. By actively supporting Indigenous creators—producers, writers, directors and actors—the film sector makes space for us to share our unique perspectives. When film organizations and festivals centre and prioritize Indigenous films, wider audiences have opportunities to learn the diverse stories and teachings of Indigenous peoples around the world. These platforms amplify Indigenous voices—voices that have been silenced for far too long—and help to ensure that new generations of Indigenous filmmakers will be inspired to continue creatively telling these important stories through film.
Hello and we welcome you to this land.
Nilh s7ulh temí xw tl’a nimá lh Sḵ wx̱ wú7mesh-ulh Úxwmixw iy tl’a Xwmets’kwiy̓em-ulh Úxwmixw iy Selí l̓ wet-ulh Úxwumixw. This is the land of our Squamish People, and the Musqueam People, and Tsleil-Waututh People. For many generations, Squamish People have created a culture of oral literature to teach our history, values, and advice to the next generation. Our storytelling traditions are how we inspire ourselves and our children to be a good person, to treat family, land, and waters with respect, and work together as a people. We celebrate all storytelling traditions, including new ways of telling stories through film and cinema. Squamish Nation recognizes the Vancouver International Film Festival’s work to bring diverse local, national, and international stories to our beautiful territory, while also featuring Indigenous films during the festival and all year round. Congratulations, VIFF, on your 40th festival!
Welcome to the territory of the Tsleil-Waututh people, along with our relatives Squamish and Musqueam. Congratulations to the Vancouver International Film Festival on the launch of its 40th season. Storytelling is at the heart of VIFF and it is also at the heart of our Tsleil-Waututh community. It is through stories that we connect with one another, and preserve our culture and traditions for future generations. Focusing on our next generation is one the main priorities for our Nation. Thank you to VIFF for the work they have done with the youth in our community. VIFF works closely with our Tsleil-Waututh Nation School to provide access to movies and documentaries, which contributes to teaching our next generation about the importance of stories. Thank you for being such a great partner to the Tsleil-Waututh community and congratulations on launching another meaningful season of this outstanding festival. Chief Jen Thomas
Khelsilem Spokesperson
Musqueam acknowledges that the Vancouver International Film Festival works hard to bring diverse local, national, and international stories to our beautiful territory, while also featuring Indigenous films during the festival and all year round. Congratulations, VIFF, on your 40th festival! We look forward to continuing to build our relationship and inspiring new Musqueam filmmakers. Chief Wayne Sparrow
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Put your money where your values are.
VIFF thanks the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (TsleilWaututh) Nations for their continued stewardship of the unceded and occupied land on which our work takes place. As an organization founded and predominantly directed by settlers and immigrants, we understand our responsibility to seek out and build authentic relationships with Indigenous communities, and to allow this ongoing dialogue to influence our practices. As part of this process, we remain committed to collaborating with and supporting Indigenous artists, filmmakers, curators, and audiences.
Contents Welcome to the Festival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Table of Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Festival Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Partners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Donors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Letters of Welcome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Festival Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Galas & Special Presentations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Highly anticipated titles by the world’s top filmmakers
Contemporary World Cinema . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Narrative films from around the globe
True North . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 A celebration of the creativity and craft demonstrated by Canadian storytellers
Gateway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Compelling cinematic worlds envisioned by Asia’s most adventurous artists
Insights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Nonfiction films that investigate essential subject matter
M/A/D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Music, art, and design receive an aesthetically alluring big-screen treatment
Altered States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Fantastic cinema that defies traditional classification
International Shorts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Filmmakers pushing the boundaries of the short form
MODES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Works that subvert the dominant gaze and offer gestures of resistance
VIFF Short Forum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 A showcase of the myriad perspectives and approaches that are redefining Canadian short filmmaking
Talks & Conferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Talks • Totally Indie Day • Immersed • AMP
Impact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Uncompromising films that spark action and change the way we see the world
1181 Seymour Street • Vancouver, BC • V6B 3M7 Canada t (604) 685-0260 • f (604) 688-8221 viff.org
The Greater Vancouver International Film Festival Society is a non-profit, tax-exempt, educational and cultural society incorporated and registered under The Society Act of British Columbia, and a federally registered charity under the Canadian Income Tax Act. Charitable Registration Number 118946821RT0001.
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VIFF 2021 Festival Information Important Information for VIFF 2021
In-Cinema Tickets
VIFF 2021 Passes Regular Screenings
15
Adults
$
COVID-19 Vaccination Proof is Required for Entry to All VIFF Events
Senior (65+)
$
Accessible
$
• VIFF will be adhering to all Public Health Orders to ensure all its audience members, volunteers, guests, and staff members can enjoy the in-cinema events safely at this year’s festival.
Student
$
• For the most up-to-date information about VIFF’s health and safety protocols, please visit viff.org.
VIFF+ BRONZE
$
VIFF+ SILVER
$
VIFF+ GOLD
$
• VIFF will be requring proof of at least one COVID-19 vaccination to attend all events at our festival. Please make sure you have your BC Vaccine Card (or provincial equivalent/CanArrive) and a piece of Government I.D. available to be checked prior to being admitted.
Youth* Ticket Packs
13 17
10 10
$
$
2 upgrade
12
$
11
$
10
$
14
13 12
• Please follow the directions of VIFF Staff and Volunteers at all times.
• If you buy a VIFF Connect Pass, you do not need to buy individual tickets. Just log in at connect.viff.org and you will be able to see all available online films and talks throughout the festival.
• Please contact feedback@viff.org to request refunds and a member of our team will contact you.
VIFF Connect Pass
l
Online only
l
Online only
80
VIFF Connect Household Pass
110
$
HOW DOES THE FESTIVAL PASS WORK?
• We put aside a generous allotment of passholder seats for all screenings.
• Once you click ‘play’ on the film, you have 48 hours to finish watching.
• Outside of this policy, refunds and exchanges remain at the discretion of VIFF and will be handled on a case-by-case basis.
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Individual...............................................................................$10
• Once you are in your assigned seat for a screening, you will not be permitted to change seats.
• If you have purchased a VIFF Pass, we will calculate the value of your refund based on the number of days you have been able to use the pass for and will refund the remaining value of the pass.
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Passholders are the first people through the doors at each screening.
• When you book an online ticket, you will receive an email containing a streaming link for your film. Click the ‘watch’ button or enter your voucher code on the log in page of connect.viff.org to watch.
• If it is possible for us to exchange your in-cinema ticket for a VIFF Connect screening, you will also be offered this as an option.
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Online Tickets
• Please note that select venues will have concessions available, so some audience members may remove their masks in their seats as they eat or drink.
• If you are feeling unwell or need to self-isolate during VIFF 2021, we will provide a full refund of the cost of any individual tickets or unused ticket pack tickets you have purchased.
Festival Pass
$
Household.............................................................................$15
VIFF 2021 COVID-19 Refund Policies
Creator Talks & Conferences
725
$
• Face masks must be worn to gain entry to all VIFF 2021 venues. We request that you wear your mask at all times unless eating or drinking in your seat.
• If you feel ill, please do not come to the theatre.
In-Cinema Screenings
$
13
included
Online Films on VIFF Connect
Special Presentations
HOW DOES VIFF CONNECT (CONN) WORK?
• Most VIFF online films are available for viewers throughout Canada, but some are only available to people in B.C. Please check viff.org for more information. • Full streaming FAQs are available on goviff.org/streamFAQ. In this guide, films marked with ‘CONN’ are streaming on VIFF Connect.
4-Ticket Pack Regular...................................................................................$48 Senior (65+)...........................................................................$44 Student...................................................................................$32 HOW DO TICKET PACKS WORK? • Ticket Packs work like credits on your viff.org account. • There are no restrictions on the number of tickets from your pack that can be used per screening. For example: You can use all 4 tickets for one screening, or individual tickets across multiple screenings. • Ticket Packs can be redeemed against in-person and online screenings. • Special Presentation screenings have an upgrade fee of $2 per ticket. • Ticket Packs cannot be redeemed for VIFF Repeats held after the festival. • Ticket Packs cannot be used to access VIFF AMP or Totally Indie Day.
• Passholders are granted entrance to these seats before other patrons, or until the passholder allotment is reached. • Passholder seats are held until 10 minutes before showtime. • If the passholder allocation is full for a particular screening, our Front of House team will ask any passholders wishing to see the film to wait in the Standby Line. • Once all other patrons are seated, the Standby Line will be admitted, if there are seats remaining. • You must be aged 19+ to buy a pass. • Passes do not guarantee entry. • The Festival pass includes a VIFF Connect Household Pass so you can also watch available online films. Please note: Passes can only be printed at the VIFF Centre box office, located at 1181 Seymour Street.
Age Restrictions & Membership Because the majority of our films have not been classified, you must be aged 18+ to attend most films at VIFF. Due to their liquor licenses, all events at The Rio Theatre and Hollywood Theatre are strictly 19+ and the door staff will ask for ID. VIFF presents many films that have not been classified by Consumer Protection BC. By law, anyone wishing to watch these films at the festival must be a member of the VIFF Society. This year, your VIFF Society Membership is included in the cost of your ticket—there is no need to buy an additional membership as your ticket will indicate your membership on entry. Every year, a selection of films is classified so that film lovers younger than 18 can experience the festival. Check out the Rated for Youth Theme/Genre on viff.org. You can also discover more about our High School Program on page 37.
• Unused Ticket Pack credits are not refundable except in the case of illness or COVID-19 self-isolation. 5
VIFF 2021 Partners Premier Partner
Premier Supporters
Signature Partners
Festival Partners
/
Public Supporters
Supporting Partners
ACFC WEST, LOCAL 2020 UNIFOR
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Media Partners
Community Media Partners
FM CANADA
Consulate and Cultural Funders
CONSULAT GÉNÉRAL DE FRANCE À VANCOUVER
Consulate General of Italy Vancouver
Technical Sponsors & Official Suppliers
ITS CONSULTING INC. www.itsconsul nginc.ca
Your IT System’s Best Friend
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amplifying new voices in music
Interviews!
-
previews!
playlists!
reviews! ! and more
readrange.com
viff.org
VIFF Repeats October 12 - 14 One more chance to catch some of the Festival favourites! Subscribe to VIFF News to get the full line-up first!
Subscribe Today
viff.org
Donors Foundations The Hamber Foundation The Reel Friends Giving Society Melina Buckley Rhys Davies
Maggie Deegan In Memory of Diana Haynes
Eileen Mate The Molnar Group
Reta Rea and Gordon Allan Birgit Westergaard
Naming Donors
Community Builders $10,000+ The Audain Foundation Mike & Kathy Gallagher
Eileen Mate Don and Jane Shumka Terry Whitehead
Impact Benefactors
Mike & Kathy Gallagher
Innovator Patrons $500
Reet Kana Collin Koo & Kevin Smith John LeBlanc Edward Low Ian Merkel Jayeson Nicols Esther Palivoda J. Alan Quinn Manoj Shankar Michelle Yung
VIFF Centre Reimagined Vivienne Taylor and In Memory of Anton H. Kuipers
Patrons Circle Luminary Patrons $1000+ Patrick & Erin Audley Paul Bennett & Catherine Olsen Melina Buckley Peter Cheng & Vincent Wheeler Maggie Deegan
Mike & Kathy Gallagher Eileen Mate The Molnar Group Gladys Reinarz Steven Savitt Ken and Patricia Shields
Corinne Angell Jeff Armstrong Nurit Barkan-Ascher Robert Caspick Maret Christiansen Jack Dlugan Sue Harvey and Burke Taylor Annie Rae Huston Joseph Jones
Support VIFF
40th Festival
And those who prefer to remain anonymous
Festival Fundraiser
Help Raise $40,000 for our 40th Festival! Make a donation during VIFF’s landmark 40th edition and the Reel Friends Giving Society will match your gift up to a total of $40,000. Make a gift today and double your impact
goviff.org/donate 9
Welcome to the Festival
A message from the Prime Minister of Canada
A message from the Premier of British Columbia
A message from the Mayor of Vancouver
Dear Friends:
As Premier of the Province of British Columbia, I’m pleased to welcome everyone to the 2021 Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF).
On behalf of the City of Vancouver and my colleagues on City Council, I want to extend my congratulations to the organizers of the 40th annual Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF).
I am pleased to extend my warmest greetings to everyone attending the 2021 Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF). This much-anticipated event offers a wonderful opportunity to experience some of the best cinema from around the world. I am certain that everyone in attendance will be entertained and engaged by the diverse selection of films being screened during this 40th anniversary edition of VIFF, and that the many talks, workshops, performances, and other events planned for this year’s festival will enhance the experience for everyone involved.
Please accept my best wishes for a memorable experience.
I would like to recognize the numerous organizers, volunteers, adjudicators, and sponsors whose hard work and dedication to film have made this event such a success for the last four decades. I have no doubt that this year’s selection of diverse films and powerful stories from Canadian and international filmmakers will impress fans and critics alike, and I congratulate the filmmakers and all those involved in the productions for their inclusion in this prestigious event.
Sincerely,
Enjoy the festival!
The Rt. Hon. Justin P. J. Trudeau, P.C., M.P.
Honourable John Horgan
It continues to be a challenging time for planning and hosting events. That is why I would like to thank the festival organizers and volunteers for their hard work and dedication in ensuring this year’s VIFF could still take place. Your efforts ensure the continued success of this outstanding event.
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Over the past 40 years, the Vancouver International Film Festival has grown into an internationally renowned festival that showcases BC as a vibrant cultural destination and promotes our local film industry. After an innovative online festival last year, it is wonderful to see audiences safely welcomed back to in-cinema screenings at the newly renovated VIFF Centre and partner theatres throughout Vancouver.
Film is a multifaceted art form that gives power to its storytellers, allowing us to gain insight and understanding into the distinct perspectives of the people who make them. This year’s VIFF program will showcase a vibrant blend of international selections from every corner of the globe. These films come from some of the world’s boldest creators, including inspired work from Canadian storytellers. VIFF is also an opportunity to learn more about these films through engaging and interactive conversations with the filmmakers. Thank you and congratulations to the filmmakers, artists, organizers, and volunteers for another successful year of VIFF. Mayor Kennedy Stewart
A message from the Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport
A message from the Executive Director, Telefilm Canada
Welcome to the 40th Vancouver International Film Festival. What an outstanding milestone for one of the most prestigious film festivals.
A celebration of artistry in film, festivals provide an important venue to showcase Canadian creativity across the country and beyond. That is why we are proud to support the Vancouver International Film Festival! Congratulations on your 40th anniversary!
VIFF celebrates the world’s differences and diversity through film, right in our own backyard. Undeniably, the COVID-19 pandemic shined a light on the importance of the arts as an instrument for bringing people and communities together. I know it’s been a challenging year, but as they say, the show must go on. I am so happy for the organizers, artists, fans, and volunteers that we can finally return to the screenings in person. B.C. is home to the best creative talent and vibrant arts communities. Congratulations on pulling together the best of our province’s storytellers and visionaries. Now is our opportunity to restore our sense of hope and optimism through the powerful and visionary work VIFF promises. T’ooyaksim’ N’iisim’ Honourable Melanie Mark Hli Haykwhl Ẃii X _ sgaak
This past year more than ever, Canada has shown the many innovative and resourceful ways in which we make our audiovisual sector thrive. We have given the world many reasons to take notice of Canada and why we continue to be a partner of choice! Our mission to foster and elevate authentic storytelling from Canadians of all backgrounds, especially those of underrepresented communities, is more pressing than ever before. At Telefilm, our priority to create a more representative screen-based industry continues as our efforts across all our initiatives, including our funding programs, increase. Stronger together, I want to thank and congratulate the Vancouver International Film Festival for continuing its work of uplifting a diversity of voices through films and celebrating the brilliance of Canadian content at home and around the world. As always, continue to watch Canadian films wherever they are available and tell others to do the same! Christa Dickenson
A message from the Chief Executive Officer of Creative BC
A message from the Executive Director and Board Chair of VIFF
Congratulations from all of us at Creative BC on 40 dynamic editions of the Vancouver International Film Festival! VIFF is one of the world’s most prominent festivals and we are pleased to support ongoing clever adaptations, but we are most excited to be hosted again in person.
We are delighted to welcome you to the 40th edition of the Vancouver International Film Festival. The past eighteen months have been challenging for everyone. Arts organizations like ours have been stretched to their limits, fighting for survival amidst great uncertainty. Despite considerable roadblocks, our remarkable team has adapted the festival experience for our ever-changing world.
Creative BC is devoted to uniting and championing the success of BC’s creative industries. We are proud to support a local festival with such a long history of engagement, growth, and innovation. VIFF has truly anchored a culture of film in this province, connecting the local ecosystem nationally and internationally with diverse creators and audiences since its inception in 1982.
The 40th festival boasts a more focused, carefully considered program. Our in-cinema offerings will be complemented by an online program, sharing the majority of our lineup with anyone unable, or unready, to attend in person.
VIFF has always played a vital role in our community, highlighting vibrant storytelling and diverse voices, strengthening our province’s reputation and brand as a premier destination and leader in motion pictures. Our sincerest congratulations to the team and volunteers at VIFF! Thank you for your courageous creativity and commitment to us in BC and beyond. It is wonderful that for this momentous anniversary you will bring BC together in-person once again, while using newfound digital capacities to maintain accessibility across the province to the best in domestic and international film for 2021. Prem Gill
VIFF will also be presenting in-person screenings beyond the downtown core. For the first time, we’ll share our films and love of cinema with audiences in Powell River, Terrace, and West Vancouver. This is the first step in an ambitious long-term plan to share our films, filmmakers, and stories with every corner of the province. We’re proud to bring the very best international films to Vancouver, expanding our perspective and offering us inspiration. Likewise, VIFF features incredible local films that bring our artists, culture, and stories to the global stage. Many thanks to our partners, sponsors, staff, and many incredible volunteers for making this happen. We also acknowledge and thank our dedicated board members who have supported the changes as they emerged. And, we thank you for joining us. Together we’re bringing art back to the community, and the community back to the arts. Kyle Fostner and Lucille Pacey 11
2022 OUTBACK WILDERNESS
Opening & Closing Galas
Petite Maman
The Electrical Life of Louis Wain
CÉLINE SCIAMMA, FRANCE, 2021, 72 MIN.
WILL SHARPE, UK, 2021, 111 MIN.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1 SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2 SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9
13
6:30 PM 6:30 PM 6:00 PM
PLAYHOUSE PLAYHOUSE PLAYHOUSE
“He made the cat his own. He invented a cat style, a cat society, a whole cat world. British cats that do not look and live like Louis Wain cats are ashamed of themselves.”–H.G. WELLS ON LOUIS WAIN Running the gamut from slapstick comedy to tragedy, and aging across five decades, Benedict Cumberbatch gives a bravura performance as Louis Wain, an unconventional and deeply idiosyncratic Englishman—a self-styled polymath (at best, a haphazard inventor, fanciful scientist, and unsung composer) who nevertheless struck a deep cultural chord with his knack for imparting human characteristics to cats in hundreds of drawings that simultaneously satirized his own species and flattered the feline. Will Sharpe’s engagingly eccentric first feature begins by painting Louis as an amiably batty but instinctively brilliant outsider artist, out of step with the expectations of Victorian London but chancing on true love in the form of an appropriately unsuitable governess, Emily (Claire Foy), employed to tutor myriad Wain sisters. Although Louis goes on to win fame with his humorous illustrations, the film’s tone darkens. After a tragedy, Louis’ family obligations weigh heavy and his mental health takes a tumble. Yet when it comes to cats, still he finds an irresistible connection. Cast Benedict Cumberbatch, Claire Foy, Andrea Riseborough, Toby Jones, Sharon Rooney, Aimee Lou Wood, Hayley Squires, Stacy Martin Exec Ron Halpern, Didier Lupfer, Dan MacRae, Julia Oh, Ollie Madden, Daniel Battsek, Benedict Cumberbatch, Simon Stephenson Prod Guy Heeley, Ed Clarke, Adam Ackland, Leah Clarke Scr Will Sharpe, Simon Stephenson Cam Erik Alexander Wilson Ed Selina MacArthur Prod Des Suzie Davies Mus Arthur Sharpe Dist/Print MK2 Mile-End
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 10 SUNDAY, OCTOBER 10 MONDAY, OCTOBER 11
6:30 PM 9:00 PM 8:30 PM
PLAYHOUSE PLAYHOUSE KAY MEEK
Petite Maman is a precious, poignant, and perfect film exploring the mysterious bond between mother and daughter. Céline Sciamma (Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Girlhood) has dreamed up something strikingly original: a simple, subtle, fluid fairy tale or ghost story, a poetic conceit realized with the utmost tact and delicacy. Nelly’s grandmother has just died. Eight years old, she is largely left to her own devices, exploring the forest behind the house as her parents set about packing it up. There she meets another eight year-old named Marion (like her mom), building a treehouse. The two become fast friends, and Marion invites Nelly back to her home—which turns out to be identical to her grandmother’s house. The two girls have a deep affinity, not least in their serious turn of mind. With a maturity beyond their years, Nelly and Marion recognize their meeting will be both fleeting and irrevocable, like a movie you see just once but that will stay with you always. Cast Joséphine Sanz, Gabrielle Sanz, Nina Meurisse, Stéphane Varupenne, Margot Abascal Prod Bénédicte Couvreur Scr Céline Sciamma Cam Claire Mathon Ed Julien Lacheray Prod Des Lionel Brison Mus JeanBaptiste de Laubier Prod Co Lilies Films Dist/Print Elevation Pictures
Special Presentations
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All My Puny Sorrows
Belfast
MICHAEL MCGOWAN, CANADA, 2021, 103 MIN.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 3 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6 SUNDAY, OCTOBER 10 OCTOBER 1-11
KENNETH BRANAGH, UK, 2021, 97 MIN.
6:00 PM 6:00 PM 9:00 PM
PLAYHOUSE KAY MEEK HOLLYWOOD VIFF CONNECT
Despite a failed marriage and floundering career, Yoli (Alison Pill) is more concerned about her sister Elf (Sarah Gadon), a renowned pianist who’s ready to end her enviable life. Boasting standout performances from its two stars, Michael McGowan’s refreshingly candid, deeply affecting adaptation of Miriam Toews’ beloved novel ultimately proves life-affirming in the most unexpected and rewarding of ways.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 10
12:30 PM
PLAYHOUSE
Kenneth Branagh gets personal in this bittersweet black and white autobiographical drama, set in his hometown in Northern Ireland in 1969, at the advent of the Troubles. Buddy (Jude Hill) is nine when spiraling Catholic unrest upsets his previously cozy childhood and sends shockwaves through his tight-knit family: Ma and Pa (Caitríona Balfe and Jamie Dornan) and beloved grandparents (Judi Dench and Ciarán Hinds). For Buddy, it’s a rude awakening, but even hard times bring humour and vivid dreams of escape. Cast Caitríona Balfe, Judi Dench, Jamie Dornan, Ciarán Hinds, Jude Hill Prod Laura Berwick, Kenneth Branagh, Becca Kovacik, Tamar Thomas
Cast Alison Pill, Sarah Gadon, Amybeth McNulty, Mare Winningham, Donal Logue Prod Michael McGowan, Patrice Théroux, Tyler Levine
Benediction
Bergman Island
TERENCE DAVIES, UK, 2021, 137 MIN.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7 MONDAY, OCTOBER 11 OCTOBER 1-11
MIA HANSEN-LØVE, FRANCE/BELGIUM/GERMANY/SWEDEN, 2021, 102 MIN.
6:00 PM 3:00 PM
PLAYHOUSE PLAYHOUSE VIFF CONNECT
Achingly intimate, visually sumptuous, and richly detailed, the latest from Terence Davies is a portrait of WWI poet Siegfried Sassoon. The subversive writer is played in old age by Peter Capaldi and in younger years by Jack Lowden; both give superb performances, and they’re matched by the rest of the ensemble cast. The real star, however, is Davies himself: with his musical treatment of images and his sublime articulation of emotion, he delivers a tour de force of filmmaking. Cast Jack Lowden, Peter Capaldi, Gemma Jones, Ben Daniels, Kate Phillips, Simon Russell Beale, Jeremy Irvine, Geraldine James Prod Michael Elliott
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7
6:15 PM 3:15 PM
PLAYHOUSE PLAYHOUSE
The custodians of Ingmar Bergman’s legacy site on Fårö Island have transformed a rural village into a theme park overflowing with potential meaning. Chris (Vicky Krieps) and Tony (Tim Roth) are visiting filmmakers; it’s his residency and her questions that keep them circling around Bergman’s old set locations and the insular culture they promote. For director Mia Hansen-Løve, the island is a suggestive text that she can frame and re-frame, first as wry comedy, then as reckless meta-tragedy. Cast Vicky Krieps, Tim Roth, Mia Wasikowska, Anders Danielsen Lie, Hampus Nordenson, Anki Larsson, Kerstin Brunnberg, Melinda Kinnaman, Stig Björkman Prod Charles Gillibert, Rodrigo Teixeira
Special Presentations
Drive My Car
Everything Went Fine
RYUSUKE HAMAGUCHI, JAPAN, 2021, 179 MIN.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2 MONDAY, OCTOBER 4 SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9
FRANÇOIS OZON, FRANCE, 2021, 113 MIN.
11:15 PM 8:45 PM 8:45 PM
VANCITY THEATRE PLAYHOUSE PLAYHOUSE
Kafuku is a theatre director, actor, and storyteller... yet even he withdraws when it comes to confronting his deepest sorrow. Mourning his wife, and the secrets that died with her, he accepts an invitation to mount a new production of Uncle Vanya, and surprises everyone by casting a troubled young movie star, Takatsuki, his late wife’s lover, in the title role. Elaborating on a short story by Haruki Murakami, Asako I & II director Hamaguchi has crafted a piercing, sublime philosophical drama. Cast Hidetoshi Nishijima, Toko Miura, Masaki Okada, Reika Kirishima, Park Yurim, Jin Daeyeon, Sonia Yuan, Ahn Hwitae, Perry Dizon, Satoko Abe Prod Teruhisa Yamamoto
Memoria
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 3 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5 MONDAY, OCTOBER 11 OCTOBER 1-11
12:00 PM 9:00 PM 9:00 PM
PLAYHOUSE KAY MEEK HOLLYWOOD VIFF CONNECT
Partially paralyzed, 85 year-old André (André Dussollier) makes a desperate request of his daughter Emmanuèle (Sophie Marceau): help him end his life. She struggles with her father’s decision, navigating legal concerns and family drama as she hopes that he will regain interest in life. François Ozon’s intimate film subtly captures the intricate dynamics of family bonds. Cast Sophie Marceau, André Dussollier, Géraldine Pailhas, Charlotte Rampling, Eric Caravaca, Hanna Schygulla, Gregory Gadebois Prod Éric Altmayer, Nicolas Altmayer
Mothering Sunday
APICHATPONG WEERASETHAKUL, THAILAND/COLOMBIA/UK/MEXICO/FRANCE/GERMANY, 2021, 136 MIN.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1 SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7
15
6:15 PM 3:00 PM 9:15 PM
HOLLYWOOD VANCITY THEATRE PLAYHOUSE
EVA HUSSON, UK, 2021, 104 MIN.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8 SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9
3:30 PM 6:15 PM 6:00 PM
PLAYHOUSE PLAYHOUSE KAY MEEK
The latest from Apichatpong Weerasethakul is set in beautiful Colombia and stars Tilda Swinton as Jessica, an expat orchid grower with a strange malady: she recurrently experiences a booming sound that no other character can hear. Memoria is a film of questions more than answers—a poetic, mysterious, and stunningly beautiful work from one of the great directors of our time. “[A]stonishing… it left a residue of happiness in my heart.”–PETER BRADSHAW, THE GUARDIAN
1924: a maid, Jane (Odessa Young) spends Mother’s Day in a stolen tryst with her lover, Paul (Josh O’Connor) two weeks before he’s due to be married to Emma, a young woman of his own class. It will be a fateful day, a day she will come to memorialize decades later in a prize-winning book. Graham Swift’s cleverly layered 2016 novel is sensitively translated to the screen in this handsomely produced period piece in the quality tradition of Downton Abbey and Atonement.
Cast Tilda Swinton, Elkin Díaz, Jeanne Balibar, Juan Pablo Urrego, Daniel Giménez Cacho Prod Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Diana Bustamante, Simon Field, Keith Griffiths, Charles de Meaux, Michael Weber, Julio Chavezmontes
Cast Odessa Young, Josh O’Connor, Sope Dìrísù, Patsy Ferran, Emma D’Arcy, Glenda Jackson, Olivia Colman, Colin Firth Prod Elizabeth Karslen, Stephen Woolley
Special Presentations
Night Raiders
Official Competition Competencia Oficial
DANIS GOULET, CANADA/NEW ZEALAND, 2021, 97 MIN.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2 SUNDAY, OCTOBER 3
17
9:30 PM 12:00 PM
PLAYHOUSE SFU GOLDCORP
In her provocative, pulse-quickening thriller, Danis Goulet devises a speculative future spawned from Canada’s colonial legacy. In a war-ravaged 2043, Indigenous people live with the knowledge that their children are practically destined to become property of their military occupiers. When Niska’s (Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers) daughter is taken, she joins a group of Cree vigilantes intent on springing their children from a fortified compound. But sometimes survival hinges on more than just a killer instinct. Cast Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, Brooklyn Letexier-Hart, Alex Tarrant, Amanda Plummer, Violet Nelson Prod Tara Woodbury, Paul Barkin, Ainsley Gardiner, Georgina Allison Conder, Chelsea Winstanley, Eva Thomas
MARIANO COHN, GASTÓN DUPRAT, SPAIN/ARGENTINA, 2021, 114 MIN.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 4 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5 SUNDAY, OCTOBER 10
5:45 PM 6:00 PM 3:00 PM
PLAYHOUSE KAY MEEK PLAYHOUSE
In this riotous Spanish satire on moviemaking, actors, and egos, Antonio Banderas plays an international film star cast opposite a revered, and deeply self-serious stage thespian (Oscar Martínez) by arty, unorthodox director Lola Cuevas (Penélope Cruz). Cuevas figures the two men’s antithetical approach to acting will bring an edge to their performances. But she is going to need all her acumen to keep their rivalry from upending her movie. From the Argentine team behind 2016’s The Distinguished Citizen. Cast Penélope Cruz, Antonio Banderas, Oscar Martínez, José Luis Gómez Prod Jaume Roures
One Second
Power of the Dog
ZHANG YIMOU, CHINA, 2020, 105 MIN.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6 MONDAY, OCTOBER 11
JANE CAMPION, AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND, 2021, 127 MIN.
6:30 PM 12:15 PM
PLAYHOUSE PLAYHOUSE
Set during the upheaval of China’s Cultural Revolution, this is the serio-comic saga of a man who escapes a labour camp for a glimpse of his daughter on-screen. But to do so, he must vie with a young vagabond who has made off with one of the reels. During their ongoing tussle, the two form a bond of sorts, and ultimately collaborate to ensure the show goes on. A love letter to celluloid and the collective experience of moviegoing, the latest from master filmmaker Zhang Yimou will delight cinephiles. Cast Fan Wei, Liu Haocun, Zhang Yi Prod Dong Ping
MONDAY, OCTOBER 11
9:15 PM
PLAYHOUSE
In her strongest movie since The Piano, Jane Campion turns the machismo of the Western film on its head. On the Burbanks’ Montana cattle ranch, the boorish Phil (Benedict Cumberbatch) rules the roost over his mild-mannered brother George (Jesse Plemons). When George finds himself a wife and heir in the form of Rose (Kirsten Dunst) and her effete son (Kodi SmitMcPhee), Phil is determined to make their life hell. But then he takes a shine to the boy. A stark, brooding tale destined to be a modern classic. Cast Benedict Cumberbatch, Jesse Plemons, Kirsten Dunst, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Thomasin McKenzie, Genevieve Lemon, Keith Carradine, Frances Conroy Prod Jane Campion, Tanya Seghatchian, Emile Sherman, Iain Canning, Roger Frappier
Special Presentations
18
Red Rocket
The Sanctity of Space
SEAN BAKER, USA, 2021, 128 MIN.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6 SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9
RENAN OZTURK, FREDDIE WILKINSON, USA, 2021, 102 MIN.
9:00 PM 9:00 PM 6:00 PM
PLAYHOUSE RIO HOLLYWOOD
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1 SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2 SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9
8:45 PM 3:00 PM 3:15 PM
SFU GOLDCORP KAY MEEK PLAYHOUSE
Canadian Premiere. Arriving in his Texas hometown barely dressed, badly bruised, and all but penniless, washed-up porn star Mikey Saber (Simon Rex) talks his way into his estranged wife’s bed, starts peddling weed, and schemes to turn Svengali to teenaged Strawberry (Suzanna Son) so that he can liberate her from a donut shop and rocket her to stardom. As we ride shotgun on Mikey’s breathless, amoral odyssey, Sean Baker (The Florida Project) crafts another luminous, seriocomic fable concerning America’s underclass.
World Premiere. In their quest to traverse Mooses Tooth in Denali National Park, climbers Freddie Wilkinson and Renan Ozturk come across the story of pioneering photographer and cartographer Bradford Washburn—a friend of Ansel Adams—who mapped the mountains from single-prop planes, and in doing so opened up Alaska and the Yukon for future generations of climbers. Washburn’s photography is revelatory, and brings a deeper spiritual dimension to what is already a breathtaking mountain movie.
Cast Simon Rex, Bree Elrod, Suzanna Son Prod Sean Baker, Alex Coco, Samantha Quan, Alex Saks, ShihChing Tsou
Feat Renan Ozturk, Freddie Wilkinson, Zach Smith, Brad Washburn, Barbara Washburn, David Roberts Prod Kate Holland, Ryan Kampe, Taylor Rees
VIFF Leading Lights
Kore-eda Hirokazu
Bora Kim The Worst Person in the World JOACHIM TRIER, NORWAY/FRANCE/SWEDEN/DENMARK, 2021, 127 MIN.
For more than a quarter of a century, Kore-eda Hirokazu has been a mainstay at VIFF: Maborosi, his feature debut, scored the festival’s prestigious Dragons & Tigers Award in 1995, the director visited in 1998 to screen After Life, and both Like Father, Like Son (2013) and Shoplifters (2018) won our festival’s audience award. On the occasion of our 40th edition, we invited Kore-eda to nominate an emerging director to join him in conversation. He elected Bora Kim, whose decorated first feature, House of Hummingbird, scored more than 50 awards following its premiere at the 2018 Busan International Film Festival.
Over the course of their lively conversation, these filmmakers discuss inspiration, creating on-set chemistry, the importance of storyboarding, and how to distinguish between craft and art. This VIFF Leading Lights tribute talk is available for free on our VIFF Connect streaming platform from October 1-11. Like Father, Like Son and House of Hummingbird are available for rental on VIFF Connect until October 11.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 3 SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9 MONDAY, OCTOBER 11
9:15 PM 9:00 PM 6:15 PM
PLAYHOUSE RIO PLAYHOUSE
Moving with breathtaking velocity and featuring a fearless turn by Renate Reinsve, Joachim Trier’s (Oslo, August 31st) latest is a riotous and reflective coming-of-age epic about Julie, a capricious force of nature leaving a trail of destruction in her wake. Exquisitely scripted and exhilaratingly paced, the film sends its vibrantly realized characters careening between awkward comic encounters, euphoric revelry, fantastical interludes, astute critiques of contemporary culture, and disarming realizations. Cast Renate Reinsve, Anders Danielsen Lie, Herbert Nordrum, Hans Olav Brenner, Helene Bjørneby, Vidar Sandem, Maria Grazia de Meo, Lasse Gretland Prod Thomas Robsahm, Andrea Berentsen Ottmar
Contemporary World Cinema
Azor
The Beta Test
ANDREAS FONTANA, SWITZERLAND/FRANCE/ARGENTINA, 2021, 100 MIN.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8 OCTOBER 1-11
1:30 PM 6:30 PM
JIM CUMMINGS, PJ MCCABE, USA/UK, 91 MIN.
ANNEX HOLLYWOOD VIFF CONNECT
Canadian Premiere. A successful private banker disappears in the dictator-ruled Argentina of 1980. His partner, Yvan de Wiel (Fabrizio Rongione), inherits his clients and investigates what he left behind. Director Andreas Fontana draws clear lines between Swiss neutrality and the malevolent powers it efficiently wayfinds for. “Fontana’s feature is a film of almost Le Carréan subtlety, of oblique plotting, crouching dialogue, and guarded performances masking sinister realpolitik.”–MARK ASCH, THE FILM STAGE Cast Fabrizio Rongione, Stéphanie Cléau, Carmen Iriondo, Juan Trench, Ignacio Vila, Pablo Torre Prod Eugenia Mumenthaler, David Epiney
Bone Marrow
The Book of Delights
WED, OCT 6 SAT, OCT 9 MON, OCT 11
8:45 PM 8:45 PM 4:00 PM
KMEK KMEK SFU
International Premiere. While doctors believe that her son’s leukemia is terminal, Bahar holds out hope for a rare procedure that would require the child’s birth parents. Wrestling with the unspoken truth that her husband is not the boy’s father, Bahar sets out to find her first husband, uncovering buried secrets that send both families into disarray. Director Hamid Reza Ghorbani reveals the inhumanity of a convoluted bureaucracy, crafting a captivating portrait of sacrifice for the sake of family. Cast Parinaz Izadyar, Babak Hamidian, Javad Ezati, Navid Pourfaraj, Behrouz Shoeibi, Ahmad Saatchian, Alireza Mirsalari Prod Hossein Pourmohammadi
1:15 PM 8:30 PM
6:30 PM 3:30 PM
RIO KMEK CONN
North American Premiere. Marcela Lordy has made a film as thorny, erotic, and complex as the writing of one of Brazil’s most fêted writers, Clarice Lispector. Set in Rio and based on Lispector’s novel with the same name, this visually rich character study focuses on Lóri (Simone Spoladore), an intelligent, freedomloving teacher who picks up men and women on a whim but is always searching. Then she meets likable but arrogant philosophy professor Ulisses (Javier Drolas)… Cast Simone Spoladore, Javier Drolas, Felipe Rocha, Gabriel Stauffer, Martha Nowill, Theo Almeida Prod Deborah Osborn, Marcela Lordy, Felipe Briso, Gilberto Topczewski
RIO HOLLYWOOD
In the post-Weinstein era, the fragile Hollywood ecosystem of predatory talent agencies is teetering on collapse. Jordan Hines, an ambitious but struggling agent, receives an anonymous invitation to a no-strings sexual encounter. Obsessed with uncovering the people behind the letter, Jordan falls into a paranoid spiral as he becomes embroiled in a labyrinthine mess of murder, sex, and intrigue. A darkly comic thriller that intertwines searing cultural commentary with its bombastic plot. Cast Jim Cummings, PJ McCabe, Virginia Newcomb, Olivia Applegate Prod Natalie Metzger, Matt Miller, Ben Wiessner
Brother’s Keeper
LEVAN KOGUASHVILI, GEORGIA/RUSSIA/BULGARIA/ MONACO/USA, 2021, 95 MIN.
MARCELA LORDY, BRAZIL, 2020, 99 MIN.
SAT, OCT 2 FRI, OCT 8 OCT 1-11
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1 SUNDAY, OCTOBER 3
Brighton 4th
O Livro dos Prazeres
HAMID REZA GHORBANI, IRAN, 2021, 107 MIN.
19
FRI, OCT 1 SUN, OCT 3 OCT 1-11
4:00 PM 6:30 PM
VCT VCT CONN
Canadian Premiere. Concerned at reports from his son’s landlady, Kakhi departs Tbilisi for New York’s Brighton Beach bearing gifts of cheese and good advice. But Soso is in desperate need of hard cash: he’s thousands of dollars in the hole to a local gangster. Undeterred, Kakhi sets about making things right. Levan Koguashvili’s disarmingly simple and poignant movie is a deceptively modest, small-scale character piece, but imbued with such charm and generosity of spirit that it lands with unexpected gravity. Cast Levan Tediashvili, Kakhi Kavsadze, Nadezhda Mikhalkova, Giorgi Tabidze Prod Irakli Rodonaya, Olena Yershova, Michel Merkt, Kateryna Merkt
Okul Tıraşı
FERIT KARAHAN, TURKEY/ROMANIA, 2021, 85 MIN.
FRI, OCT 8 MON, OCT 11 OCT 1-11
6:00 PM 6:30 PM
KMEK SFU CONN
Canadian Premiere. Set in a corrupt boarding school in the middle of the Eastern Anatolian mountains, Yusuf tries to save his friend Memo, who falls ill after punishment. Together, they struggle against systemic barriers in place at the school. When the staff begins to take Memo’s condition seriously, secrets emerge as everyone tries to discover the root cause of his illness. Karahan explores themes of cruelty, poverty, and abuse of power. Cast Samet Yildiz, Ekin Koç, Mahir İpek, Nurullah Alaca, Cansu Firinci, Melih Selçuk Prod Kanat Doğramacı
20
BE ENTERTAINED
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Contemporary World Cinema
Bye Bye Morons
Celts
Adieu les cons
ALBERT DUPONTEL, FRANCE, 2020, 88 MIN.
TUE, OCT 5 SUN, OCT 10
6:30 PM 6:00 PM
Clara Sola
Kelti
HWD KMEK
Think the visual stylings of Jacques Tati and Michel Gondry crossed with the wit of Charlie Kaufman, and you’re getting close to the worlds created by Albert Dupontel. Political and social critique, laugh-out-loud verbal comedy, farce, fantasy, genuine emotion, and visually sublime madness come together when dying mother Suze (Virginie Efira), suicidal IT genius J-B (Dupontel), and blind archivist Serge (Nicolas Marié) team up to find the child Suze was forced to give up for adoption years before. Cast Albert Dupontel, Virginie Efira, Nicolas Marié Prod Catherine Bozorgan
SUN, OCT 3 MON, OCT 11 OCT 1-11
9:00 PM 2:00 PM
ANEX ANEX CONN
North American Premiere. Amidst Yugoslavia’s political turmoil in 1993, Marijana tries to throw a successful birthday party for her eight-year-old daughter. Milica Tomović’s fluid mise-en-scène and period authentic production design paint a compelling portrait, and the script offers a microcosm of sociopolitical commentary through entertaining dialogue. A searing search not only into the hearts of its colourful characters, but into the heart of the country itself. Cast Dubravka Duda Kovjanić, Stefan Trifunović, Katarina Dimić, Anja Đorđević, Olga Odanović, Konstantin Ilin Prod Vladimir Vasiljević
Fabian - Going to the Dogs Father Pablo Fabian oder der Gang vor die Hunde
Padre Pablo
DOMINIK GRAF, GERMANY, 2021, 176 MIN.
JOSÉ LUIS ISOARD ARRUBARRENA, MEXICO, 2021, 103 MIN.
SUN, OCT 3 SUN, OCT 10 OCT 1-11
8:45 PM 10:00 AM
HWD VCT CONN
North American Premiere. Fabian is a cynical, idealistic aspiring writer in Berlin, 1931. By day he shills cigarettes. At night he explores the bohemian city with his wealthy Communist buddy Labude. A serendipitous encounter with a young actress, Cornelia, leaves him lovestruck and, briefly, hopeful. This epic melodrama, adapted from Erich Kästner’s autobiographical novel, begins with a combative salvo of modernist tricks and tropes, but eases into a resonant, edgy and regretful liebestraum. Cast Tom Schilling, Albrecht Schuch, Saskia Rosendahl, Michael Wittenborn, Petra Kalkutschke, Elmar Gutmann Prod Felix von Boehm
TUE, OCT 5 FRI, OCT 8 OCT 1-11
9:00 PM 3:30 PM
Compartment No.6
NATHALIE ÁLVAREZ MESÉN, SWEDEN/COSTA RICA/ BELGIUM/GERMANY, 2021, 106 MIN.
MILICA TOMOVIĆ, SERBIA, 2021, 106 MIN.
CINE CINE CONN
World Premiere. In Mexico City, a Catholic stronghold, the inexperienced Padre Pablo (Rafael Martínez Sánchez) can close out the world as much as he likes. The rare exception: his irreverent poet father Manolo (Juan Ignacio Aranda). Nearing his life’s end, Manolo asks his caretaker and confidante Esmerelda (Carmen Ramos) to illegally administer euthanasia, and makes no secret of this to his conservative son. Director José Luis Isoard Arrubarrena follows Pablo’s drama at an ironic distance, illuminating what he can’t see. Cast Rafael Martínez Sánchez, Carmen Ramos, Juan Ignacio Aranda, Antón Araiza, Ana González Bello Prod Gonzalo Romero
FRI, OCT 1 MON, OCT 4
21
8:30 PM 3:15 PM
VCT HWD
North American Premiere. As if a mythical being has graced the Costa Rican village, everyone is inexplicably drawn to Clara’s magnetic orbit, including her beloved mare, Yuca. Likewise, when Clara rebels against her oppressive religious upbringing, her wrath reverberates with equal force. Nathalie Álvarez Mesén’s deeply evocative, mesmerizing feature debut fuses coming-of-age elements with feminism, mysticism, and Gaianism for a visceral ride.
Hytti Nro 6
JUHO KUOSMANEN, FINLAND/GERMANY/ESTONIA/ RUSSIA, 2021, 107 MIN.
SAT, OCT 2 SUN, OCT 3 WED, OCT 6
6:00 PM 6:00 PM 3:45 PM
KMEK HWD PLAY
A Finnish intellectual finds herself sharing a sleeper compartment with a boorish Russian skinhead on the long train ride from Moscow to the Arctic Circle in this character study from Juho Kuosmanen (The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Maki). Superb, sharply contrasting performances from Seidi Haarla and Yuriy Borisov are just the ticket in a movie that unearths humour as well as pathos in its tale of two lonely people forced to share close quarters.
Cast Wendy Chinchilla Araya, Daniel Castañeda Rincón, Ana Julia Porras Espinoza, Flor María Vargas Chaves Prod Nima Yousefi, Alan McConnell, Géraldine Sprimont, Anne-Laure Guégan, Karina Avellan Troz, Marcelo Quesada Mena
Cast Seidi Haarla, Yuriy Borisov, Dinara Drukarova, Julia Aug, Lidia Kostina Prod Jussi Rantamäki, Emilia Haukka
The Girl and the Spider
Girlfriends
RAMON ZÜRCHER, SILVAN ZÜRCHER, SWITZERLAND, 2021, 98 MIN.
SAT, OCT 2 MON, OCT 4 OCT 1-11
3:15 PM 6:15 PM
SFU RIO CONN
Chavalas
CAROL RODRÍGUEZ COLÁS, SPAIN, 2021, 92 MIN.
FRI, OCT 1 SUN, OCT 10 OCT 1-11
6:15 PM 6:00 PM
KMEK RIO CONN
Both very sly and daring, Ramon and Silvan Zürcher’s follow-up to The Strange Little Cat (VIFF 2013) is set in a spacious bohemian apartment, as tenant Mara (Henriette Confurius) and friends help Mara’s roommate Lisa (Liliane Amuat) move out. Mise-en-scène is everything here: this often-funny film choreographs the characters and camera movements with the precision of a ballet, while the heightened stylization of the characters’ interactions gives the film a tangible erotic edge. Pure cinematic pleasure.
North American Premiere. The airs of a life in the world of high art are unceremoniously shattered when Marta is fired from her highclass photography job and forced to return to her hometown in order to make ends meet. Marta approaches her homecoming with an icy resentment, but her childhood friends are eager to draw out the girl they remember. Striking a balance between the pleasures of sly comedy and the pains of introspection, Girlfriends is a nourishing ode to the lifelong, lifeaffirming bonds of community and friendship.
Cast Henriette Confurius, Liliane Amuat, Ursina Lardi, Flurin Giger, André M. Hennicke, Ivan Georgiev Prod Aline Schmid, Adrian Blaser
Cast Vicky Luengo, Carolina Yuste, Elisabet Casanovas, Àngela Cervantes Prod Miguel Torrente
Contemporary World Cinema
22
Godavari
Havel
Him
NIKHIL MAHAJAN, INDIA, 2021, 113 MIN.
SLÁVEK HORÁK, CZECH REPUBLIC, 2020, 104 MIN.
GURO BRUUSGAARD, NORWAY, 2021, 83 MIN.
MON, OCT 4 SUN, OCT 10 OCT 1-11
8:30 PM 6:15 PM
KMEK SFU CONN
World Premiere. Just as rent collector Nishikant’s anger and resentment threatens to boil over, his family is confronted with a series of tragedies and revelations that shift their lives and their world into clearer focus. Set along the titular river—either a place of holy renewal or toxic decay, depending who you ask—Godavari is a cleansing experience, one steeped in the wisdom of tradition, compassion, and acceptance, and filled with unforgettable characters. Cast Jitendra Joshi, Sanjay Mone, Vikram Gokhle, Neena Kulkarni, Gauri Nalawade, Priyadarshan Jadhav Prod Nikhil Mahajan, Jitendra Joshi, Pavan Malu, Mitali Joshi
The In-Laws Tesciowie
8:45 PM 3:45 PM
KMEK HWD CONN
6:30 PM 8:45 PM
SFU KMEK CONN
World Premiere. Kuba Michalczuk’s fastpaced, darkly funny directorial debut pits Andrzej (The Queen’s Gambit’s Marcin Dorociński) and Malgorzata, a rich couple whose son has just deserted his fiancée at the altar, against Wanda and Tadeusz, the bridenot-to-be’s working-class parents, at what would have been the lavish wedding reception. Vodka flows, revelations occur, and chaos ensues as Michalczuk’s constantly roving camera reveals—and justly skewers—the hypocrisies and greedy desires of rich and poor alike. Cast Maja Ostaszewska, Marcin Dorociński, Izabela Kuna, Adam Woronowicz, Ewa Dałkowska Prod Michał Kwieciński
SAT, OCT 2 SAT, OCT 9 OCT 1-11
6:30 PM 3:45 PM
Jadde Khaki
RIO KMEK CONN
PANAH PANAHI, IRAN, 2021, 93 MIN.
FRI, OCT 1 SUN, OCT 10
8:45 PM 9:00 PM
Canadian Premiere. Spanning over two decades, Havel is an absorbing biopic chronicling the life of Václav Havel, as he evolves from humble playwright shaken by the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, to revolutionary leader, political prisoner, and eventually to the new president of the Czech Republic following the Velvet Revolution in 1989. Director Slávek Horák deftly balances the political and the personal, using artistic flourishes to highlight the thin line between the political and the theatrical stage.
North American Premiere. Over the course of one day, three men, Petter, Eirik, and Harald, suffer humiliation or emasculation from women, reacting with self-imposed alienation and increasingly aggressive behaviour. As her feature debut, Him showcases Guro Bruusgaard’s eye for the liminal space between comedy and tragedy. Empathetic insights into the vulnerable inner lives of Petter, Eirik, Harald are punctuated by provocative moments of humour as the film offers a thoughtful, lively conversation about masculinity in society.
Cast Viktor Dvořák, Anna Geislerová, Martin Hofmann, Barbora Seidlová, Stanislav Majer, Adrian Jastraban, Jiří Bartoška Prod Slávek Horák
Cast Johannes Joner, Frank Werner Laug, Emil Johnsen Prod Guro Bruusgaard, Magnus Mork, Mariken Halle, Katja Eyde Jacobsen
Lamya’s Poem
Miracle
Paris, 13th District
BOGDAN GEORGE APETRI, ROMANIA/CZECH REPUBLIC/LATVIA, 2021, 118 MIN.
JACQUES AUDIARD, FRANCE, 2021, 106 MIN.
ALEX KRONEMER, USA/CANADA, 2021, 88 MIN.
KUBA MICHALCZUK, POLAND, 2021, 80 MIN.
FRI, OCT 1 SUN, OCT 3 OCT 1-11
SAT, OCT 2 FRI, OCT 8 OCT 1-11
Hit the Road
SAT, OCT 9 SUN, OCT 10 OCT 1-11
4:00 PM 3:15 PM
SFU KMEK CONN
Miracol
SUN, OCT 3 MON, OCT 11
KMEK SFU
In his feature debut, Panah Panahi turns the road movie on its head. Hit the Road is the story of one family and their mysterious journey through rural Iran; along the way, there are laughs, moments of reverie, and plenty of opportunities for the cast to shine. The son of famed auteur Jafar Panahi, Panah shares his father’s subversiveness, and he has a similarly sharp camera eye; the wacky humour and the fantastical digressions, however, are his alone. Cast Hassan Madjooni, Pantea Panahiha, Rayan Sarlak, Amin Simiar Prod Panah Panahi, Mastaneh Mohajer
Les Olympiades
1:30 PM 8:30 PM
VCT VCT
Canadian Premiere. In a mysterious and haunting dream world, a modern 12 year-old girl meets the 13th century young poet Rumi, as they travel through a fantastical land where luxurious airships float through the air, and unfurling, insidious black tendrils spread over a mystical city. Directed by Alex Kronemer, Lamya’s Poem is a heartfelt animated tale that follows a Syrian girl as she flees her war-torn country on a perilous journey that eventually brings her to the unwelcoming shores of a European refugee camp.
North American Premiere. A moral tale of crime and recrimination, Miracle follows Cristina Tofan (Ioana Bugarin), a nun on a secret errand in Romania’s Neamt county. Director Bogdan George Apetri, returning to the region after a decade away, is working in the manner of the country’s New Wave directors. Those familiar with the movement will recognize its touchstones, but Apetri keeps things unpredictable, splitting his film between Cristina’s story and the inspector on her trail.
Cast Millie Davis, Faran Tahir, Mena Massoud Prod Alex Kronemer, Sam Kadi, Glenn James Brown
Cast Ioana Bugarin, Emanuel Pârvu, Cezar Antal, Ovidiu Crişan, Valeriu Andriuță Prod Bogdan George Apetri, Oana Iancu
WED, OCT 6 SAT, OCT 9 SUN, OCT 10
6:30 PM 12:30 PM 8:30 PM
HWD PLAY KMEK
A comedy in the classical sense, a network narrative that feels natural in its criss-crossing, and an exuberant showcase for its four protagonists, Paris, 13th District proves director Jacques Audiard’s skills translate equally well to any genre. Camille (Makita Samba), Émilie (Lucie Zhang), Nora (Noémie Merlant), and Amber (Jehnny Beth) rotate in and out of the film’s gravitational centre, deftly plotted by co-writers Audiard, Céline Sciamma, and Léa Mysius. Cast Lucie Zhang, Noémie Merlant, Makita Samba, Jehnny Beth, Geneviève Doang, Lumina Wang, Pol White, Anaïde Rozam, Stephen Manas Prod Jacques Audiard, Valérie Schermann
Contemporary World Cinema
Passing
Queen of Glory
DIR: REBECCA HALL, FUSA, 2021, 98 MIN.
NANA MENSAH, USA, 2021, 78 MIN.
SAT, OCT 9
1:30 PM
RIO
Adapting Nella Larsen’s 1920s novella, actorturned-director Rebecca Hall has fashioned a crisp, piquant tale about two friends (Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga), one of whom is married to a white man who doesn’t know her ethnicity. Evocatively photographed in black and white, the movie has a calm, polished veneer topped off by Devonté Hynes’ jazz piano score. Yet this dreamy, literary vibe gradually curdles into something subtly insinuating and suspenseful. There’s a lot going on under the skin. Cast Tessa Thompson, Ruth Negga, André Holland, Alexander Skarsgård, Bill Camp, Antoinette CroweLegacy, Gbenga Akinnagbe Prod Nina Yang Bongiovi, Rebecca Hall, Margot Hand, Forest Whitaker
Souad
7:15 PM 6:45 PM
Small Body
Las siamesas
CINE RIO CONN
Canadian Premiere. Director Nana Mensah vividly captures the Ghanaian-American experience of being caught between two worlds. Sarah Obeng is set to move to Ohio with her boyfriend when her mother suddenly dies. She must then pick up the pieces of her mother’s life and put together a traditional Ghanaian funeral in New York. In the end, Sarah uncovers more than she initially expected as she explores the world her mother left behind. Cast Nana Mensah, Meeko Gattuso, Oberon K.A. Adjepong, Adam Leon, Russell G. Jones, Anya Migdal Prod Jamund Washington, Kelley Robins Hicks, Baff Akoto, Anya Migdal
Piccolo Corpo
PAULA HERNÁNDEZ, ARGENTINA, 2020, 80 MIN.
FRI, OCT 1 WED, OCT 6 OCT 1-11
6:15 PM 4:15 PM
VCT HWD CONN
Canadian Premiere. As Stella (Valeria Lois) and her mother Clota (Rita Cortese) take a bus trip from Junín to Costa Bonita, Argentina, director Paula Hernández presents us with a clear-eyed portrait of a love between parent and child that’s as explosive as it is unconditional. Almost surreal in its presentation of familiar situations in unfamiliar places, it feels both eerily recognizable yet far from anything resembling real life. Cast Rita Cortese, Valeria Lois, Sergio Prina, Sebastián Arzeno, Edgardo Castro Prod Juan Pablo Miller, Paula Hernández
A Tale of Love and Desire Unclenching the Fists
AYTEN AMIN, EGYPT/TUNISIA/GERMANY, 2021, 96 MIN.
FRI, OCT 1 SAT, OCT 9 OCT 1-11
FRI, OCT 1 SAT, OCT 9 OCT 1-11
The Siamese Bond
4:45 PM 12:30 PM
CINE HWD CONN
Canadian Premiere. This haunting drama features Bassant Ahmed in the title role; she’s a beautiful, brittle young woman trapped between religious repression and the dubious freedoms of social media. Eventually, things reach the point of crisis, and it’s then that director Ayten Amin changes the focus to Souad’s younger sister Rabab (Basmala Elghaiesh) and her attempt to confront a dark mystery. Amin shows a strong talent for the subtly decisive moment, and her film is finely attuned to the contradictions of online life. Cast Bassant Ahmed, Basmala Elghaiesh, Hussein Ghanem, Hager Mahmoud, Sarah Shedid, Carol Ackad Prod Sameh Awad
Une histoire d’amour et de désir
KIRA KOVALENKO, RUSSIA, 2021, 97 MIN.
LEYLA BOUZID, FRANCE/TUNISIA, 2020, 103 MIN.
MON, OCT 4 MON, OCT 11
8:45 PM 3:15 PM
HWD KMEK
International Premiere. Ahmed is a serious young man, French of Algerian descent, completely smitten by Farah, a classmate at the Sorbonne; a confident, cosmopolitan Tunisian. Smitten, and confused: when it comes to love, she’s streets ahead. They share a passion for the 12th century Arabic poetry they’re studying, but that’s confusing too, to someone schooled in contemporary Islamic morality—this hedonistic literature seems inexplicably, excitingly, alien. Leyla Bouzid’s sensuous tale of first love traces a lexicon of longing. Cast Sami Outalbali, Zbeida Belhajamor, Diong-Kéba Tacu, Aurélia Petit, Mahia Zrouki, Bellamine Abdelmalek Prod Sandra da Fonseca
TUE, OCT 5 THU, OCT 7 OCT 1-11
6:30 PM 9:00 PM
23
STU CINE CONN
Winner of the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes, Kira Kovalenko’s raw, realist film centres on Ada (Milana Aguzarova), a vulnerable teenager tending to her aging, domineering father and her brother in a cramped apartment in a battle-scarred corner of North Ossetia in the Russian Federation. When she’s not minding a corner shop (and sometimes when she is) Ada’s fending off the advances of a would-be Lothario, and pining for the return of Akim (Soslan Khugaev), her best hope for breaking free. Cast Milana Aguzarova, Alik Karaev, Soslan Khugaev, Khetag Bibilov, Arsen Khetagurov, Milana Pagieva Prod Alexander Rodnyansky, Sergey Melkumov
LAURA SAMANI, ITALY/FRANCE/SLOVENIA, 2021, 89 MIN.
MON, OCT 4 SUN, OCT 10 OCT 1-11
4:15 PM 6:30 PM
CINE CINE CONN
On a journey to rescue her infant daughter’s soul from the darkness of limbo, Agata, a young woman in early twentieth century rural Italy, encounters the powers of greed and generosity locked in a never-ending struggle. Navigating various obstacles and characters along the way, the story plays as a myth from antiquity. Director Laura Samani presents Agata’s odyssey as an unstoppable force of nature, propelled by the strength of a mother’s devastating grief and love. Cast Celeste Cescutti, Ondina Quadri Prod Nadia Trevisan, Alberto Fasulo
What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? Ras vkhedavt, rodesac cas vukurebt?
ALEXANDRE KOBERIDZE, GERMANY/GEORGIA, 2021, 150 MIN.
MON, OCT 4 SUN, OCT 10 OCT 1-11
8:30 PM 8:45 PM
VCT CINE CONN
Canadian Premiere. Falling in love at first sight, Lisa and Giorgi wake up in new bodies, unrecognizable even to themselves. Will love draw them back together? This playful contemporary fairy tale is a love story smitten with the peculiarities of place: the ancient city of Kutaisi, Georgia, its people, its dogs and children, its passion for soccer, and for music. Director Alexandre Koberidze is entranced by all he sees, and we, too, are transported. Cast Ani Karseladze, Giorgi Bochorishvili, Oliko Barbakadze, Giorgi Ambroladze, Vakhtang Panchulidze Prod Mariam Shatberashvili
Asian Focus
Canadian Perspective
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Kay Meek (West Vancouver)
Vancity Theatre @ VIFF Centre
Studio Theatre @ VIFF Centre
SFU's Goldcorp
Rio Theatre
Vancouver Playhouse
Hollywood
The Cinematheque
Annex Theatre
Sunday, Oct 3, 2021
Sunday, October 03
Kay Meek (West Vancouver)
Vancity Theatre @ VIFF Centre
Studio Theatre @ VIFF Centre
SFU's Goldcorp
Rio Theatre
Vancouver Playhouse
Hollywood
The Cinematheque
Annex Theatre
Saturday, Oct 2, 2021
Saturday, October 02
Kay Meek (West Vancouver)
Vancity Theatre @ VIFF Centre
Studio Theatre @ VIFF Centre
SFU's Goldcorp
Rio Theatre
Vancouver Playhouse
Hollywood
The Cinematheque
Annex Theatre
Friday, Oct 1, 2021
Friday, October 01
10:00AM
10:00AM
10:00AM
3:00PM
5:00PM
1:30pm 118min p22
10:00am 165min p39
8:45pm 176min p21
9:00pm 110min p40
Bipolar
9:15pm 127min p18
Worst Person in the World
8:30pm 92min p31
6:30pm 72min p31
3:45pm 99min p31
8:45pm 80min p22
The In-Laws
8:45pm 93min p31
Learn to Swim
Ayukawa ...
6:30pm 95min p19
11:00PM
Fabian - Going to the Dogs
9:00pm 110min p36
The First 54 Years:...
9:00pm 106min p21
Celts
10:00PM
Portraits From...
9:00PM
9:00pm 92min p35
Brighton 4th Returning Home
4:15pm 95min p34
Yuni
Havel 8:45pm 104min p22
6:00pm 135min p39
6:30pm 90min p36
Time 9:00pm 99min p34
The Endless Moment ...
5:30pm 95min p29
Coextinction
Flee
6:00pm 103min p14
All My Puny Sorrows
The Last Tourist
3:00pm 90min p36
12:00pm 97min p17
3:30pm 115min p34
My Childhood...
1:00pm 80min p40
Night Raiders
Three Sisters
3:00pm 92min p39
12:00pm 113min p15
Kicking Blood
Charlotte
Everything Went Fine
6:00pm 107min p21
Compartment No.6
6:15pm 94min p31
The Beta Test 3:30pm 91min p19
3:15pm 110min p36
Wife of a Spy
8:00PM 6:15pm 114min p41
Islands
4:00pm 81min p42
1:15pm 118min p41
7:00PM
Shorts: Have We... Just a Movement
MODES 2
Shorts: Animation
Miracle
6:00PM
6:00pm 107min p21
4:00PM
Compartment No.6
12:45pm 115min p34
1:00PM
From the... 9:00pm 78min p35
White Cube
3:00pm 102min p18
Night Raiders
11:00PM
9:30pm 97min p17 9:00pm 91min p40
8:15pm 79min p39 6:00pm 110min p36
Quickening 9:15pm 90min p31
Strawberry Mansion
Venetian... Just a Movement
10:00PM MODES 2 9:00pm 80min p42
9:00PM
6:30pm 68min p37
6:00pm 99min p31
The Last Tourist
6:30pm 83min p22
Him
6:30pm 111min p13
Electrical Life of...
Sanctity of Space
3:00pm 136min p15
11:15am 179min p15
2:00PM
3:15pm 98min p21
12:45pm 98min p33
3:45pm 92min p32
Girl and the Spider
1:15pm 99min p19
Money Has Four Legs
See for Me
3:30pm 104min p15
Book of Delights
Mothering Sunday
6:30pm 113min p33
4:00pm 86min p32
12:30pm 72min p31
A Chat
6:15pm 118min p41
Shorts: Animation Zo Reken
4:00pm 83min p42
Memoria
12:00PM
8:00PM
Girlfriends 6:15pm 92min p21
7:00PM
Hit the Road 8:45pm 93min p22
6:15pm 80min p23
5:00PM
8:30pm 106min p21
The Siamese Bond
Brighton 4th
1:30pm 100min p19
4:00PM
8:45pm 102min p18
Clara Sola
Sanctity of Space
The In-Laws 6:30pm 80min p22
Kicking Blood 9:00pm 80min p40
9:15pm 96min p33
6:30pm 91min p19
6:30pm 111min p13
Electrical Life of...
11:00PM
Spaghetti Code Love
9:15pm 85min p42
MODES 1
10:00PM
The Beta Test
9:00PM
4:00pm 95min p19
6:00PM
7:15pm 78min p23
Memoria 6:15pm 136min p15
4:45pm 96min p23
Sinkhole 3:30pm 114min p33
Queen of Glory
8:00PM
Souad
6:15pm 100min p32
7:00PM
4:00pm 92min p37
6:00PM Wildhood
5:00PM
The Velvet Queen
4:00PM
MODES 1
3:00PM
3:00PM
Azor
2:00PM
2:00PM
Returning Home
1:00PM
1:00PM
Drive My Car
12:00PM
12:00PM
Nine Sevilles
11:00AM
11:00AM
11:00AM
12:00AM
12:00AM
12:00AM
Kay Meek (West Vancouver)
Vancity Theatre @ VIFF Centre
Studio Theatre @ VIFF Centre
SFU's Goldcorp
Rio Theatre
Vancouver Playhouse
Hollywood
The Cinematheque
Annex Theatre
Thursday, Oct 7, 2021
Thursday, October 07
Kay Meek (West Vancouver)
Vancity Theatre @ VIFF Centre
Studio Theatre @ VIFF Centre
SFU's Goldcorp
Rio Theatre
Vancouver Playhouse
Hollywood
The Cinematheque
Annex Theatre
Wednesday, Oct 6, 2021
Wednesday, October 06
Kay Meek (West Vancouver)
Vancity Theatre @ VIFF Centre
Studio Theatre @ VIFF Centre
SFU's Goldcorp
Rio Theatre
Vancouver Playhouse
Hollywood
The Cinematheque
Annex Theatre
Tuesday, Oct 5, 2021
Tuesday, October 05
Kay Meek (West Vancouver)
Vancity Theatre @ VIFF Centre
Studio Theatre @ VIFF Centre
SFU's Goldcorp
Rio Theatre
Vancouver Playhouse
Hollywood
The Cinematheque
Annex Theatre
Monday, Oct 4, 2021
Monday, October 04
10:00AM
10:00AM
10:00AM
10:00AM
11:00AM
11:00AM
11:00AM
11:00AM
12:00PM
12:00PM
12:00PM
12:00PM
3:00PM
1:00PM
8:00PM
8:00PM
10:00PM
8:30pm 92min p37
8:45pm 116min p31 6:00pm 90min p35
Hands That Bind The Velvet Queen
CT: Family Law
6:30pm 83min p35 6:00pm 120min p47
Faya dayi 8:30pm 120min p36
Secrets From...
The Scary... 9:00pm 81min p40
9:15pm 136min p15
Records
Behind the...
11:00PM
11:00PM
11:00PM
Memoria
9:00pm 97min p23
Unclenching the...
9:00pm 90min p43
VIFF Short Forum 4
9:00PM
6:15pm 87min p39
Benediction 6:00pm 137min p14
6:15pm 105min p29
Bergman Island 3:15pm 102min p14
3:15pm 95min p29
6:30pm 106min p33
The Drunken Birds
3:45pm 95min p36
Coextinction
Barbarian Invasion
King of North Sudan
6:30pm 80min p32
7:00PM 4:00pm 90min p43
6:00PM
Ste. Anne
5:00PM
Bone Marrow 8:45pm 107min p19
6:00pm 103min p14
8:30pm 120min p47
All My Puny Sorrows
6:30pm 83min p29
VIFF Talk:...
8:30pm 84min p29
VIFF Short 3
4:00PM
4:00pm 81min p29
Damascus Dreams Be Still
Rock Bottom... 6:00pm 70min p39
9:00pm 128min p17
6:15pm 93min p29
9:15pm 92min p39
Charlotte
9:00pm 98min p33
Money Has Four Legs
8:45pm 81min p43
Red Rocket
One Second 6:30pm 104min p17
10:00PM VIFF Short 3
9:00PM
The Boathouse
3:45pm 107min p21
6:30pm 106min p23
Compartment No.6
Paris, 13th District 4:15pm 80min p23
6:45pm 89min p35
4:30pm 92min p37
The Siamese Bond
Little Palestine:...
Taming the Garden
6:30pm 80min p35
7:00PM 4:00pm 90min p43
6:00PM
9:00pm 113min p15
Blue Box
5:00PM
Everything Went Fine 6:00pm 114min p17
8:45pm 95min p29
Official Competition
6:00pm 95min p36
Darkroom
To the Moon 8:30pm 76min p39
6:30pm 97min p23
King of North Sudan
Unclenching the...
9:00pm 103min p40
6:00pm 114min p33
9:00pm 128min p17
Red Rocket
9:00pm 103min p21
Father Pablo
9:00pm 90min p43
Tin Can
VIFF Short Forum 2
4:00PM
10:00PM VIFF Short Forum 2
9:00PM
Sinkhole
6:15pm 102min p14
3:45pm 90min p36
6:30pm 88min p21
3:45pm 90min p36
Bergman Island
Bye Bye Morons
My Childhood... Flee
6:30pm 81min p29
3:45pm 94min p31
1:15pm 95min p29
3:00PM
7:00PM
Bootlegger
Bootlegger
2:00PM
6:00PM 6:15pm 121min p41
Darkroom
2:00PM
8:00PM
8:30pm 150min p23
Godavari 8:30pm 113min p22
Ayukawa ... 6:00pm 92min p35
6:00pm 107min p37
What Do We See When We...
9:00pm 89min p35
The Six
Little Palestine:...
A Chat 6:30pm 113min p33
Islands
3:00pm 116min p31
Drive My Car
11:00PM
8:45pm 179min p15
See for Me
4:00pm 76min p43
12:30pm 93min p31
A Tale of Love... 8:45pm 103min p23
8:45pm 92min p32
Shorts: Seniors Day
Hands That Bind
1:00PM
5:00PM
Zo Reken 9:00pm 86min p32
6:15pm 98min p21
VIFF Short 1
4:00PM
Learn to Swim
2:00PM
10:00PM VIFF Short 1
9:00pm 90min p43
9:00PM
Girl and the Spider
5:45pm 114min p17
3:00pm 99min p34
Maya 6:15pm 85min p36
Official Competition
Time
Clara Sola
6:30pm 84min p29
3:15pm 106min p21
Damascus Dreams
Small Body 4:15pm 89min p23
3:15pm 100min p32
1:00PM
8:00PM
6:15pm 112min p41
7:00PM
3:30pm 114min p41
6:00PM Shorts: Life Labs
5:00PM
Shorts: Have We...
4:00PM
12:30pm 90min p31
3:00PM
3:00PM
Wildhood
2:00PM
Quickening
1:00PM
12:00AM
12:00AM
12:00AM
12:00AM
Kay Meek (West Vancouver)
Vancity Theatre @ VIFF Centre
Studio Theatre @ VIFF Centre
SFU's Goldcorp
Rio Theatre
Vancouver Playhouse
Hollywood
The Cinematheque
Annex Theatre
Monday, Oct 11, 2021
Monday, October 11
Kay Meek (West Vancouver)
Vancity Theatre @ VIFF Centre
Studio Theatre @ VIFF Centre
SFU's Goldcorp
Rio Theatre
Vancouver Playhouse
Hollywood
The Cinematheque
Annex Theatre
Sunday, Oct 10, 2021
Sunday, October 10
Kay Meek (West Vancouver)
Vancity Theatre @ VIFF Centre
Studio Theatre @ VIFF Centre
SFU's Goldcorp
Rio Theatre
Vancouver Playhouse
Hollywood
The Cinematheque
Annex Theatre
Saturday, Oct 9, 2021
Saturday, October 09
Kay Meek (West Vancouver)
Vancity Theatre @ VIFF Centre
Studio Theatre @ VIFF Centre
SFU's Goldcorp
Rio Theatre
Vancouver Playhouse
Hollywood
The Cinematheque
Annex Theatre
Friday, Oct 8, 2021
Friday, October 08
10:00AM
10:00AM
10:00AM
10:00AM
4:00PM
1:00PM
2:00PM
Yuni 1:30pm 95min p34
Barbarian Invasion 11:00am 106min p33
Three Sisters
8:45pm 150min p23
9:00pm 72min p13
Petite Maman
9:00pm 103min p14
All My Puny Sorrows
9:00pm 93min p22
Hit the Road
8:30pm 86min p29
10:00PM
In Front of...
6:00pm 85min p36
3:15pm 103min p23
6:30pm 76min p39
8:30pm 72min p13
Petite Maman
8:30pm 118min p22
Miracle
TBA
8:45pm 85min p33
9:15pm 127min
8:45pm 120min
Maya
11:00PM
The Power of the Dog
9:00pm 113min p15
Everything Went Fine
9:00pm 68min p37
Venetian...
8:45pm 94min p35
Her Socialist...
9:00PM
8:30pm 106min p23
Paris, 13th District
TBA To the Moon
11:00PM
What Do We See When We...
9:15pm 70min p39
Rock Bottom...
10:00PM
8:45pm 107min p19
6:00pm 120min
6:30pm 85min p19
Brother's Keeper
6:15pm 127min p18
Worst Person in the World
6:15pm 115min p34
A Tale of Love...
3:45pm 97min p33
Fortune Favors...
Bone Marrow 4:00pm 107min p19
1:30pm 72min p31
3:00pm 137min p14
12:15pm 105min p17
Returning Home
Benediction
One Second
The White... 3:30pm 89min p32
Night Blooms
6:15pm 118min p39
6:30pm 83min p35 3:30pm 120min p33 1:00pm 98min p31
9:00pm 89min p32
Bone Marrow
Handle With Care:...
7:30pm 90min p52
8:00PM
Keep Rolling
4:30pm 80min p35
Secrets From...
7:00PM
Moneyboys
2:00pm 106min p21
6:00PM
TBA The White...
8:45pm 120min
TBA
6:00pm 88min p21
Blue Box
9:00pm 127min p18
White Cube 9:00pm 79min p39
8:45pm 120min
3:15pm 88min p22
4:00PM
Drive My Car 8:45pm 179min p15
Worst Person in the World
9:00PM
AMP: Laura Karpman
Moneyboys
11:00PM
9:15pm 120min p33
TBA
Bye Bye Morons
Celts
3:00PM
10:00PM Ste. Anne 9:00pm 80min p32
9:00PM
6:00pm 120min
6:15pm 113min p22
Lamya's Poem
5:00PM
3:30pm 95min p32
1:15pm 66min p36
Godavari
6:00pm 92min p21
Sin La Habana
3:30pm 81min p40
Daughter...
2:00pm 210min p52
1:00PM
Petite Maman 6:30pm 72min p13
Girlfriends
3:00pm 114min p17
The Scary...
Official Competition
Belfast 12:30pm 97min p14
6:15pm 115min p34
Wife of a Spy
6:30pm 89min p23
6:30pm 112min p41 3:45pm 93min p29
Records 3:30pm 87min p39
Behind the... 1:15pm 90min p35
10:00am 176min p21
12:00PM
8:00PM Shorts: Life Labs
7:00PM
Small Body
6:00PM
The Boathouse
VIFF AMP Day 2
11:00AM
5:00PM 4:00pm 90min p44
4:00PM
1:00pm 121min p41
3:00PM
VIFF Short 6
2:00PM Shorts: Seniors Day
Fabian - Going to the Dogs
12:00PM
6:00pm 104min p15
3:45pm 83min p22
6:00pm 135min p39
Mothering Sunday
Him
2:00pm 210min p52
TBA The Endless Moment ...
6:15pm 120min
6:45pm 97min p33
Fortune Favors...
6:45pm 78min p23
Queen of Glory
6:00pm 111min p13
Electrical Life of...
Nine Sevilles
10:30am 96min p33
11:00AM
Red Rocket 6:00pm 128min p17
1:00pm 165min p39
1:00pm 92min p31
4:15pm 91min p40
Lamya's Poem 4:00pm 88min p22
Portraits From...
1:30pm 98min
3:15pm 102min p18
Strawberry Mansion
Sanctity of Space Passing
12:30pm 106min p23
3:00pm 105min p29
6:30pm 94min p32
4:00pm 110min p40
6:30pm 78min p44
VIFF Short 6
7:00PM
8:30pm 99min p19
6:00PM
Book of Delights
6:00pm 85min p19
8:00pm 120min p47
Brother's Keeper
Sin La Habana
Paris, 13th District
The Drunken Birds
Souad 12:30pm 96min p23
8:30pm 92min p37
8:00PM
Taming the Garden CT: BC Untold History
Her Socialist... 6:15pm 94min p35
Bipolar
4:00pm 90min p44
1:00pm 84min p42
5:00PM
VIFF Short Forum 5
3:00PM
4:30pm 83min p29
8:45pm 193min p40
In Front of... 9:00pm 85min p33
Daughter... 6:30pm 66min p36
6:30pm 84min p40
9:00pm 86min p29
Handle With Care:...
9:00pm 103min p40
Tin Can
9:00pm 90min p44
11:00PM
Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: ...
6:15pm 104min p15
10:00PM
VIFF Short Forum 5
9:00PM
Saloum
Mothering Sunday
Azor 6:30pm 100min p19
Havel 3:45pm 104min p22
The Six
6:15pm 98min p31
3:30pm 103min p21
3:30pm 107min p37
Night Blooms
Father Pablo
2:00pm 90min p52
2:00PM
8:00PM
6:30pm 120min p36
7:00PM
4:00pm 90min p43
6:00PM Faya dayi
5:00PM
VIFF Short Forum 4
4:00PM
Be Still
3:00PM
AMP: Linda Perry
2:00PM
Reel Youth...
1:00PM
1:00PM
VIFF AMP
12:00PM
12:00PM
Spaghetti Code Love
11:00AM
11:00AM
12:00AM
12:00AM
12:00AM
12:00AM
AB BO
Welcome to VIFF 2021!
TT
CA MB IE
HASTINGS
You can buy tickets, ticket packs and passes at viff.org. VIFF’s mission is to celebrate excellence in cinematic storytelling and we pride ourselves on offering our guests unique and unforgettable experiences.
PENDER
BEATTY
CAMBIE
HAMILTON
With this in mind, we all have a part to play in ensuring that our members, volunteers, guests, and staff are treated with respect and are able to experience a festival free of any kind of harassment or discrimination. VIFF takes our responsibility to create an inclusive and welcoming environment seriously and we appreciate your support.
DUNSMUIR
Have a great festival! GEORGIA
Locations VCT
ROBSON
VIFF Centre (Vancity Theatre & Studio) 1181 Seymour PARKING:
Metered street • ENTRANCE: Street level • WHEELCHAIR: 2-4 spaces (Vancity), 3 spaces (Studio) • WASHROOMS: Fully accessible
The Vancouver Playhouse 600 Hamilton PLAY
PARKING: Metered street and underground paid • ENTRANCE: Street level • WHEELCHAIR: 4-5 spaces • WASHROOMS: Fully accessible
SMITHE
NELSON NELSON
Annex 823 Seymour
Ramp from courtyard, street level from Hastings, elevator • WHEELCHAIR: 4-6+ spaces • WASHROOMS: Fully accessible
RICHARDS
PARKING: Metered street • ENTRANCE:
SEYMOUR
PARKING: Metered street • ENTRANCE: Ramp at street level • WHEELCHAIR: 2 spaces • WASHROOMS: Fully accessible
GRANVILLE
SFU's Goldcorp for the Arts 149 W Hastings
HOWE
CINE
The Cinematheque 1131 Howe
HELMCKEN
PARKING: Metered street • ENTRANCE:
ANEX
DAVIE
Elevator to the 2nd floor • WHEELCHAIR: 3 spaces • WASHROOMS: Fully Accessible
Downtown Vancouver N.
GR
AN
DV
IE
W
W. BROADWAY
E BROADWAY
W. 10TH
E 10TH
VICTORIA
COMMERCIAL
LAWSON
W. 8TH
BAYSWATER
TRUTCH
BALACLAVA
MATHERS
KINGS 15 ST
17 ST
West Vancouver
Kitsilano
Kay Meek Arts Centre 1700 Mathers Ave KMEK
PARKING: Parking lot accessible via Inglewood Ave. Additional parking available after 5pm and on weekends • ENTRANCE: Accessible entrance at Mathers Ave. • WHEELCHAIR: 4-8 spaces • WASHROOMS: Fully accessible
East Vancouver
Hollywood Theatre 3123 W Broadway HWD
PARKING: Metered street • ENTRANCE:
Street level • WHEELCHAIR: 4 spaces • WASHROOMS: Main floor accessible
Rio Theatre 1660 E Broadway RIO
PARKING: Metered street • ENTRANCE:
Street level WHEELCHAIR: 4-6 spaces • WASHROOMS: Limited accessibility
North
True
29 Presented by
Be Still
The Boathouse
Bootlegger
ELIZABETH LAZEBNIK, CANADA, 2021, 83 MIN.
HANNAH CHEESMAN, CANADA, 2021, 93 MIN.
CAROLINE MONNET, CANADA, 2021, 81 MIN.
WED, OCT 6 FRI, OCT 8 OCT 1-11
6:30 PM 4:30 PM
VCT VCT CONN
WED, OCT 6 SUN, OCT 10 OCT 1-11
6:15 PM 3:45 PM
RIO CINE CONN
TUE, OCT 5 WED, OCT 6 OCT 1-11
Coextinction 6:30 PM 4:00 PM
GLORIA PANCRAZI, ELENA JEAN, CANADA, 2021, 95 MIN.
CINE VCT CONN
SUN, OCT 3 THU, OCT 7 OCT 4-11
5:30 PM 3:15 PM
SFU HWD CONN
World Premiere. In 19th century Victoria, grief-stricken Hannah Maynard (Piercey Dalton) finds solace in her art. Already a successful portrait photographer, she now sets about reinventing the art form by investigating its more surreal possibilities, crafting macabre collages and uncanny self-portraits. Channeling her own profound connection with Maynard’s work, Elizabeth Lazebnik conjures a monochromatic phantasmagoria in which the bounds of time, memory, and reality collapse, inspiring indelible images and sensations.
When Anne (Michaela Kurimsky) is hired by her missing music professor’s husband (Alan Van Sprang) as a live-in nanny, she becomes entangled in the family’s secrets and begins to mentally unravel. Ostensibly stranded at a remote lakeside cottage, she’s driven to consider the circumstances behind her mentor’s disappearance. Employing a nonlinear narrative, Hannah Cheesman’s old-school psychological thriller keeps Anne teetering on the brink of an implosion as she hurtles towards a reckoning with the past.
World Premiere. Looking to complete her thesis, Mani (Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs) leaves Montreal for the Algonquin community where she spent her youth. Her reintegration is complicated by a conflict with Laura (Pascale Bussières), a settler bootlegger, and a contentious referendum over alcohol sales on the reserve. Deftly outlining the dissenting perspectives and implications of this standoff, Caroline Monnet’s first feature explores how patriarchal oppression, self-determination, and sovereignty take myriad forms.
Canadian Premiere. Captivating images of the Salish Sea tell a tale of epochal survival for its apex species: the southern resident killer whale. From the northern edges of Vancouver Island to Oregon’s Lower Snake Rivers, two passionate filmmakers connect with activists, Indigenous leaders, and renowned scientists to understand the fate of the orcas and find solutions to our most pressing environmental threats. A vital, eye-opening analysis of interdependence, humbly offering the next generation a conscientious path forward.
Cast Piercey Dalton, Daniel Arnold, James McDougall, Sophie Merasty, Amber Tyler, Meredith HamaBrown Prod Sara Blake
Cast Michaela Kurimsky, Jack Fulton, Taylor Puterman, Krista Bridges, Alan Van Sprang Prod Amos Adetuyi, Floyd Kane
Cast Pascale Bussières, Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs, Samian, Jacques Newashish, Dominique Pétin, Joséphine Bacon Prod Catherine Chagnon
Prod Gloria Pancrazi, Elena Jean, Andrew Luba, Nicholas Castel, Victoria Obermeyer
Damascus Dreams
Darkroom
Drunken Birds
ÉMILIE SERRI, CANADA, 2021, 84 MIN.
LUKAS MAIER, CANADA, 2021, 95 MIN.
Handle With Care: The Legend of the Notic Streetball Crew
MON, OCT 4 WED, OCT 6 OCT 1-11
6:30 PM 8:30 PM
CINE STU CONN
North American Premiere. Prompted by the civil conflict in Syria, filmmaker Émilie Serri’s father fled to Canada over 30 years ago. Serri grew up estranged from her cultural heritage. In the liminal crevices between reality and myth, dream and nightmare, past and future, rests a homeland that is almost accessible. Deeply personal, Damascus Dreams invigorates the form of documentary, focusing on questions of memory, loss, and identity, finding communal resonance around subtle feelings that are otherwise difficult to articulate. Prod Audrey-Ann Dupuis-Pierre
TUE, OCT 5 WED, OCT 6 OCT 1-11
8:45 PM 1:15 PM
Les Oiseaux ivres
VCT VCT CONN
World Premiere. Sarajevo native Sofija (Dina Mušanović) is stretched thin between her work at a local hostel, side hustle as a photographer, and dealing with the logistics of her late father’s (Izudin Bajrović) possessions. Reimmersing herself in the world she walked away from opens old wounds and sets the stage for a poignant examination of the complex father-daughter dynamic, family legacy, and our capacity to distort memories. Cast Dina Mušanović, Izudin Bajrović, Selma Alispahić, Džana Pinjo, Davor Sabo, Admir Šehović Prod Lukas Maier
IVAN GRBOVIC, CANADA, 2021, 105 MIN.
THU, OCT 7 SAT, OCT 9 OCT 1-11
6:15 PM 3:00 PM
HWD HWD CONN
When Willy (Jorge Antonio Guerrero), a Mexican cartel henchman, falls for Marlena (Yoshira Escárrega), his boss’ wife, the starcrossed lovers must separate and go to ground. Convinced that Marlena is secreted away in Montreal, Willy becomes a migrant worker at a Quebec farm. Employing an intricate narrative structure and visually arresting sequences, Ivan Grbovic examines how new beginnings often run afoul of cycles of exploitation. Impressionistic yet immediate, Drunken Birds is exhilarating cinema. Cast Jorge Antonio Guerrero, Hélène Florent, Claude Legault, Marine Johnson, Maxime Du Montier, Amaryllis Tremblay Prod Kim McCraw, Luc Déry
JEREMY SCHAULIN-RIOUX, KIRK THOMAS, CANADA, 2021, 86 MIN.
FRI, OCT 8 SUN, OCT 10 OCT 1-11
9:00 PM 8:30 PM
PLAY RIO CONN
World Premiere. Vancouver’s The Notic basketball collective overcame all odds to achieve global fame 20 years ago. In defiance of their coaches’ desire for conformity, the group burst onto asphalt courts, unleashed an arsenal of tricks, and birthed the video “mixtape” that would become “the bible of streetball.” Assemblers of that influential compilation, Jeremy Schaulin-Rioux and Kirk Thomas now chronicle the group’s rise, fall, and rebirth in a documentary that’s equally euphoric and cathartic. Prod Ryan Sidhoo
Three different types of financing. Three different funds. All from one source.
rogersgroupoffunds.com
North
True
31
Presented by
Hands That Bind
Islands
The Last Tourist
KYLE ARMSTRONG, CANADA, 2021, 116 MIN.
MARTIN EDRALIN, CANADA, 2021, 94 MIN.
TYSON SADLER, CANADA, 2021, 99 MIN.
TUE, OCT 5 THU, OCT 7 OCT 1-11
3:00 PM 8:45 PM
VCT VCT CONN
SUN, OCT 3 TUE, OCT 5 OCT 1-11
6:15 PM 3:45 PM
CINE CINE CONN
SAT, OCT 2 SUN, OCT 3
6:00 PM 3:45 PM
Still living with his aging parents, Joshua (Rogelio Balagtas), a Filipino immigrant, prays every night for God to rid him of his shyness. The Almighty seemingly answers his petition when his beatific cousin Marisol (Sheila Lotuaco) arrives on his doorstep and slowly transforms Joshua’s house back into a home. As Joshua is incrementally lured from his shell, Martin Edralin fashions a disarmingly tender, deeply nuanced character study that achieves an exquisite balance of gentle humour and humane drama.
Cast Paul Sparks, Susan Kent, Landon Liboiron, Nicholas Campbell, Will Oldham, Bruce Dern Prod Blake McWilliam
Cast Rogelio Balagtas, Sheila Lotuaco, Esteban Comilang, Pablo S.J. Quiogue, Vangie Alcasid, Bianca Yambanis Prod Martin Edralin, Priscilla Galvez
Night Blooms
Portraits From a Fire
Quickening
STEPHANIE JOLINE, CANADA, 2021, 98 MIN.
TREVOR MACK, CANADA, 2021, 92 MIN.
HAYA WASEEM, CANADA, 2021, 90 MIN.
6:15 PM 1:00 PM
CINE HWD CONN
SUN, OCT 3 SAT, OCT 9 OCT 1-11
8:30 PM 1:00 PM
SFU SFU CONN
THYRONE TOMMY, CANADA, 2021, 93 MIN.
SFU KMEK
World Premiere. As the world is poised to reopen for international travel and we consider how to move forward in the face of mounting global challenges, could tourism be a part of the solution? Traversing some of the most remote, ancient, and stunning locales on the planet, The Last Tourist addresses the myriad moral and ethical dilemmas at play when sojourning to different cultures. Travelling our vast world will soon have its revival—tourism is dead, long live tourism!
Toiling as a farmhand, Andy (Paul Sparks) sees his dreams of inheriting land dashed when his boss’ embittered son (Landon Liboiron) returns to begrudgingly claim his birthright. Andy’s personal apocalypse is mirrored by unsettling developments: mutilated cows, a devastating drought, and strange lights in the night sky. Kyle Armstrong conjures a prairie gothic that elevates rural mundanity into something mythical. A parable about the hazards of principles, it’s also a testament to the power of the land.
FRI, OCT 8 MON, OCT 11 OCT 1-11
Learn to Swim
Featuring Dr. Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Becker, Judy Kepher-Gona, Bruce Poon Tip, Costas Christ Prod Marc Swenker
SAT, OCT 2 MON, OCT 4 OCT 1-11
SUN, OCT 3 TUE, OCT 5 OCT 1-11
8:45 PM 12:30 PM
VCT VCT CONN
In wee hours after a gig, Dezi (Thomas Antony Olajide), a talismanic saxophonist, runs headlong into Selma (Emma Ferreira), an incendiary vocalist. Their romantic chemistry is instant but combustible, sparking incidents with ramifications that reverberate through time. Punctuated by glorious jazz sequences, Thyrone Tommy’s seductive, surreal romantic drama sweeps us up in its melodic melancholy as it illustrates the euphoria of artistic expression while interrogating the toll that creativity can take. Cast Thomas Antony Olajide, Emma Ferreira, Andrea Davis Prod Alona Metzer
Returning Home 9:15 PM 12:30 PM
SEAN STILLER, CANADA, 2021, 72 MIN.
CINE VCT CONN
Teenage Carly (Jessica Clement) subsists on quickies with her boyfriend and all-night hangs with her bestie Laura (Alexandra McDonald). When Laura’s newly sober dad, Wayne (Nick Stahl), recommits himself to parenthood, Carly sets about seducing him, threatening to shake two broken homes to their foundations. Stephanie Joline capably translates the milieu and inner workings of teenage girls into an emotionally charged narrative that navigates the moral murkiness of agency, consent, and accountability.
Undaunted by the paltry audiences that turn up to watch his DIY films on the Tl’etinqox Reserve, teenage Tyler (Wiliam Magnus Lulua) remains convinced that he’s bound for bigger things. But when a DV tape resurfaces that casts new light on his family’s history, Tyler must abandon escapism in favour of unearthing difficult truths. Mingling authenticity and invention, this accomplished openhearted first feature by Trevor Mack asserts that where there is trauma, there is also the opportunity for healing.
Pursuing a career in performing arts much to her parents’ dismay, Sheila (Arooj Azeem), a Pakistani-Canadian university student, enters a psychological tailspin when she becomes convinced that she’s pregnant. Haya Waseem’s focused character study offers piercing insights into the mental health struggles that plague many immigrants and first-generation Canadians who are straddling two cultures and balancing self-expression with familial obligations. It’s a potent reminder of how elusive belonging can be.
Cast Jessica Clement, Nick Stahl, Alexandra Mcdonald Prod Marc Tetreault, Jason Levangie
Cast Nathaniel Arcand, Wiliam Magnus Lulua, Asivak Koostachin, Sammy Stump, Pauline Bob-King, Melanie Bobby Prod Kate Kroll, Rylan Friday, Trevor Mack
Cast Arooj Azeem, Bushra Azeem, Dounia Alryani, Owen Daniel Douglas, Ashir Azeem, David Disher Prod Yona Strauss
SAT, OCT 2 SUN, OCT 3 MON, OCT 11 OCT 1-11
12:30 PM 6:30 PM 1:30 PM
PLAY KMEK SFU CONN
Intertwining narratives concerning residential school survivors, including Orange Shirt Day founder Phyllis Jack-Webstad, and Indigenous peoples’ relationship with imperiled wild Pacific salmon, Sean Stiller’s documentary is a revelatory testament to resilience. Through stunning cinematography and clear-eyed testimonies, it lays bare the ravages of colonialism, illustrates what it means to be in good relationship with the land, and shares how healing people and healing the natural world are synonymous. Prod Gilles Gagnier, Andrew Lovesey
Presented by
North
True
32
See for Me
Sin La Habana
Ste. Anne
RANDALL OKITA, CANADA, 2021, 92 MIN.
KAVEH NABATIAN, CANADA, 2020, 95 MIN.
RHAYNE VERMETTE, CANADA, 2021, 80 MIN.
SAT, OCT 2 MON, OCT 4 OCT 1-11
3:45 PM 8:45 PM
RIO RIO CONN
When Sophie (Skyler Davenport), who is visually impaired, is targeted by home invaders, she activates a new app that allows a volunteer to remotely serve as her eyes. Fortuitously, she’s connected with Kelly (Jessica ParkerKennedy), a military vet who now applies her tactical acumen to first-person shooter video games. Abetted by Kelly’s combat know-how, Sophie flips the script as director Randall Okita serves up a progressive portrait of female camaraderie that knows how to throw one hell of a sucker punch. Cast Skyler Davenport, Kim Coates, Jessica Parker-Kennedy, Natalie Brown, Pascal Langdale, Joe Pingue, George Tchortov, Laura Vandervoort Prod Matt Code, Krisy Neville
SAT, OCT 9 SUN, OCT 10 OCT 1-11
6:30 PM 3:30 PM
A young, impoverished Afro-Cuban couple dreams of wealth and success outside Cuba. An Iranian-Canadian divorcée yearns for personal freedom. These three lives converge in Sin La Habana, a film that explores the lengths people go to in order to achieve their life goals. The film is a visual feast: the stunning cinematography captures the vibrant heat and colours of Cuba in sun-drenched scenes and pulsing rhythms, and the chill grey and the white blowing snow of a Montreal winter. Cast Yonah Acosta, Evelyn Castroda O’Farrill, Aki Yaghoubi Prod Gabrielle Tougas-Fréchette, Ménaïc Raoul
Best BC Film
Best Canadian Film
• $10,000 award from Creative BC • $15,000 in post-production services credit supplied by Company 3
• $15,000 award presented by the Directors Guild of Canada
Emerging Canadian Director BC Emerging Filmmaker • $5,000 award from UBCP/ACTRA • $10,000 equipment credit supplied by William F. White International inc.
/
CINE SFU CONN
• $3,000 award presented by the Directors Guild of Canada
Best Canadian Documentary • $15,000 award presented by the Rogers Group of Funds
Canadian Awards
THU, OCT 7 SAT, OCT 9 OCT 1-11
The White Fortress 6:30 PM 9:00 PM
Tabija
ANEX ANEX CONN
Returning to the Métis community she turned her back on, Renée (director Rhayne Vermette) is branded an outsider and left to navigate fraught reunions and drift through once-familiar landscapes that have grown abstract. Vermette employs painterly shots, abstract flourishes, and evocative collages to lend impressionistic invention to this tale of a prodigal. A heady melange of personal details and singular sensibilities, this is an immersive, meditative expedition into family histories and myths.
IGOR DRLJAČA, CANADA/BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA, 2021, 89 MIN.
SAT, OCT 9 MON, OCT 11 OCT 1-11
9:00 PM 3:30 PM
VCT HWD CONN
In Sarajevo, young Faruk (Pavle Čemerikić) is on the cusp of joining the local crime boss’ inner circle. He just needs to drive a young girl from point A to B and back again. But seeing her bruises makes Faruk wary of the shady business he’s about to enter. Especially when the potential new recruit, Mona (Sumeja Dardagan), turns his world upside down, underscoring his lack of prospects and making him re-evaluate life goals.
Cast Isabelle d’Eschambault, Dolorès Gosselin, Valerie Marion, Jack Theis, Roger Vermette
Cast Pavle Čemerikić, Sumeja Dardagan, Jasmin Geljo, Kerim Čutuna, Alban Ukaj, Irena Mulamuhić Prod Albert Shin, Igor Drljača, Borga Dorter, Jordan Barker, Adis Đapo, Amra Bakšić Čamo
Wildhood
Zo Reken
BRETTEN HANNAM, CANADA, 2021, 100 MIN.
FRI, OCT 1 MON, OCT 4 OCT 1-11
6:15 PM 3:15 PM
EMANUEL LICHA, CANADA, 2021, 86 MIN.
ANEX VCT CONN
SAT, OCT 2 MON, OCT 4 OCT 1-11
4:00 PM 9:00 PM
CINE CINE CONN
When Link (Phillip Lewitski) discovers that, contrary to his abusive dad’s claims, his Mi’kmaw mother may still be alive, he and his half-brother Travis (Avery WintersAnthony) finally have purpose. On the road to Mi’kma’ki, they pick up Pasmay (Joshua Odjick), a gregarious drifter who represents Link’s best chance of locating his mom and finally accepting his Two-Spirit nature. Bretten Hannam crafts a compelling road movie in which both the journey and destination offer opportunities for self-discovery.
The passenger seat of a Toyota Land Cruiser, NGOs’ favorite 4x4 vehicle, provides a window into the intimate daily exchanges of Haitian citizens ruminating on everything from the state of the country to neocolonialism and the counterproductive effects of humanitarian aid. Winning Hot Docs’ Best Canadian Feature Award, the jury stated, “Emanuel Licha uses cinematic metaphor to evoke the dignity of a people.” Eliciting lush, minimalist auteur stylings, the film unpacks a political can of worms.
Cast Phillip Lewitski, Joshua Odjick, Michael Greyeyes, Joel Thomas Hynes, Steve Lund, Avery Winters-Anthony Prod Bretten Hannam, Gharrett Patrick Paon, Julie Baldassi
Prod Emanuel Licha
33
Gateway
Barbarian Invasion
A Chat
TAN CHUI MUI, MALAYSIA/HONG KONG/PHILIPPINES, 2021, 106 MIN.
WANG XIDE, CHINA, 2021, 113 MIN.
THU, OCT 7 MON, OCT 11
6:30 PM 11:00 AM
CINE VCT
Canadian Premiere. Writer-director Tan Chui Mui puts herself in the spotlight with this delightful showbiz satire. She plays Lee Yoon Moon, a Southeast Asian movie star who has been cast in a rip-off of The Bourne Identity and must learn to perform her own martial arts stunts. What unfolds is a journey of self-discovery that contains some jarring surprises. Loopy, hypnotic, and quietly thrilling, this is a film to savour. Cast Pete Teo, Tan Chui Mui, Bront Palarae, James Lee, Zhiny Ooi, Nik Hadiff Dani Prod Woo Ming Jin, Bianca Balbuena
SAT, OCT 2 MON, OCT 4 OCT 1-11
6:30 PM 6:30 PM
CINE STU CONN
International Premiere. With laid-back rhythm and solemn black-and-white images, A Chat conjures a serene, reflective female space inhabited by an independent divorcee and her niece. Qing runs her own tailoring shop in a quiet Southern Chinese town. One summer, her niece Yue comes to stay with Qing and learn her craft. Family secrets surface in atmospheric reveries and haunt them in an empty movie theatre. The two leads’ gentle, hushed performances evoke women’s dignity as they strive to live without the support or burden of men.
Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko SAT, OCT 9 MON, OCT 11
6:45 PM 3:45 PM
Moneyboys
Sinkhole
MAUNG SUN, MYANMAR, 2020, 98 MIN.
C.B. YI, AUSTRIA/FRANCE/TAIWAN/BELGIUM, 2021, 120 MIN.
SAT, OCT 9 MON, OCT 11 OCT 1-11
9:15 PM 3:30 PM
CINE CINE CONN
Canadian Premiere. Inspired by a Burmese proverb mocking how money eludes the poor, this sassy comedy on the trials of indie filmmaking pits an idealistic director up against tyrannical censors and crass producers, triggering one of the goofiest heists in Southeast Asian cinema. Besides capturing daily life in Yangon with frantic gusto, Money Has Four Legs is Myanmar’s most important film in years, as it tellingly alludes to the corruption, inequality, and dysfunction that gave rise to the country’s current unrest.
North American Premiere. Moneyboys takes a revelatory glimpse at China’s hushed-up gay sex industry. Fei (Kai Ko) works tirelessly as a rentboy to send money home, but his family humiliates him while pocketing his earnings. Loneliness, police crackdowns, and fickle friendships erode short-lived joys of youth and furtive liaisons. Shot in Taiwan and dripping with tropical sensuality, this breathtaking debut by C.B. Yi caught critical attention at Cannes for its incisive, formal beauty.
Cast Okkar, Khin Khin Hsu, Phay, Ko Thu Prod Ma Aeint
Cast Kai Ko, Chloe Maayan, Yufan Bai, JC Lin Prod Gabriele Kranzelbinder, Barbara Pichler, Guillaume de la Boulaye, Patrick Mao Huang, André Logie
SFU VCT
From the director of Children of the Sea (VIFF 2019) comes another visual wonder with a gossamer whiff of magic realism. Unlike the esoteric Children, this is a kid-friendly comedy that sizzles with the most appetizing Japanese cuisine that animation can render. Nikuko (‘Meat-girl’) is a plus-sized single mother who adores food, Japanese wordplay, and shifty men, and never loses her joie de vivre. When she and daughter Kikuko settle in an idyllic fishing village, they’re almost undone by a buried secret.
Money Has Four Legs SFU CINE CONN
FRI, OCT 8 MON, OCT 11
AYUMU WATANABE, JAPAN, 2021, 97 MIN.
Cast Shinobu Otake, Cocomi, Natsuki Hanae
12:45 PM 9:00 PM
HONG SANGSOO, SOUTH KOREA, 2021, 85 MIN.
Gyokou no Nikuko-chan
Cast Ying Ze, Mu Ruini, Xu Tao, Yao Bolan, Hou Yisong Prod Si Niang
SAT, OCT 2 WED, OCT 6 OCT 1-11
In Front of Your Face SFU SFU
Canadian Premiere. There is a mystery at the heart of Hong Sangsoo’s latest film. Sang-ok (Lee Hyeyoung) is in Seoul for the first time in years to meet a director about a comeback role. She schedules what she can around this appointment. Hong’s many films prime us to expect a narrative game—a large gathering over soju, or an unearthed romance—but instead we hear Sang-ok’s internal mantra: “Every moment is beautiful.” As the day passes, we wonder at the reasons behind the powerful restraint of Lee’s performance. Cast Lee Hyeyoung, Cho Yunhee, Kwon Haehyo, Shin Seokho, Kim Saebyeok, Ha Seungguk Prod Hong Sangsoo
Spaghetti Code Love
Sing-keu-hol
TAKESHI MARUYAMA, JAPAN, 2021, 96 MIN.
KIM JI-HOON, SOUTH KOREA, 2021, 114 MIN.
FRI, OCT 1 TUE, OCT 5
9:00 PM 8:45 PM
3:30 PM 6:00 PM
HWD RIO
Canadian Premiere. From the Korean master of disaster movies (2012’s The Tower) comes a new blockbuster depicting the elusive dream of homeownership with spectacular visual effects and stunts. Middle-manager Dong-won saved up for 11 years to buy a home in Seoul for his family of three. During his housewarming party, the building collapses and sinks into a nearly bottomless pit below. The survivors have to improvise and cooperate to get out alive. To date, it’s South Korea’s second highest grossing domestic film of 2021. Cast Cha Seoung-won, Kim Sung-kyun, Lee Kwangsoo, Kim Hye-jun Prod Lee Soo-nam, Kim Yang-yeon
FRI, OCT 1 SAT, OCT 9 OCT 1-11
9:15 PM 10:30 AM
CINE VCT CONN
Canadian Premiere. Hyperlink cinema gets a shot in the arm in this fluid glance at the lives of 13 characters, each of whose diverse lives and problems diverge and converge with all the exuberance, anxieties, and untrammeled emotionalism of youth. Weaving his camera freely between stories, Takeshi Maruyama’s tight but sprawling ensemble piece captures the pains of growth and the possibilities of compassion in both its structure and its intimate personal insights. Cast Yuki Kura, Toko Miura, Hiroya Shimizu, Rikako Yagi, Nino Furuhata, Yuzu Aoki Prod Hideki Harada, Tomoyuki Miike, Yoshiteru Horie
34
Gateway
Three Sisters
Time
LEE SEUNG-WON, SOUTH KOREA, 2021, 115 MIN.
RICKY KO, HONG KONG, 2021, 99 MIN.
SUN, OCT 3 MON, OCT 11 OCT 1-11
3:30 PM 6:15 PM
RIO HWD CONN
Canadian Premiere. A blistering indictment of patriarchy laced with poisonous black humour. Three wildly different sisters are hit by life crises and their reactions aren’t pretty. Self-harming doormat Hee-sook is diagnosed with cancer. Mi-yeon, a church choirmaster and model of piety, discovers her husband’s affair. A PTA meeting forces alcoholic Mi-oak to confront the trainwreck she is. The cause of each person’s dysfunction is revealed at their father’s birthday, when the youngest brother exhibits another level of crazy. Cast Moon So-ri, Kim Sun-young, Jang Yoon-ju Prod Kim Sang-su
Wife of a Spy
SAT, OCT 2 MON, OCT 4 OCT 1-11
9:00 PM 3:00 PM
Cast Patrick Tse, Petrina Fung, Lam Suet, Chung Suet Ying, Sam Lee, Jia Xiaochen Prod Lam Ka Tung, Kevin Tse
Three cheers to our amazing Volunteers! Nothing can stop these fine folks from donating their time and talents to make VIFF a reality. From behind the scenes to front of house, VIFF Volunteers do it all.
THANK YOU VOLS 8.25 viff.org x 3.9688 Learn More
VCT PLAY CONN
Thanks to Hong Kong’s lack of senior citizen welfare, a trio of dagger-throwing, whip-cracking and ace-driving geriatric assassins find a lucrative, if morally dodgy way to restart their careers. But a meddling teenager threatens to derail their business. A riotous party of 60s movie nostalgia, this action-packed dramedy is also a dazzling comeback for Patrick Tse and Petrina Fung, the Cary Grant and Shirley Temple of Cantonese cinema, while Lam Suet adds grassroots grit to their glamour.
viff.org
Yuni
Spy no Tsuma
KAMILA ANDINI, INDONESIA/SINGAPORE/FRANCE/ AUSTRALIA, 2021, 95 MIN.
KIYOSHI KUROSAWA, JAPAN, 2020, 115 MIN.
SUN, OCT 3 SUN, OCT 10 OCT 1-11
12:45 PM 6:15 PM
HWD HWD CONN
An espionage drama in the league of Hitchcock’s Notorious, a romance as glorious as David Lean’s epics, and a metafilmic charade touting cinema as savior of modern civilization. In WWII, a Japanese industrialist discovers a shocking secret in the labs of Manchuria. To turn the tide of war, his wife must outwit a ruthless secret police chief who adores her. This film explores the existential horror of humans with a conscience in a morally compromised society under fascist tyranny. Cast Yu Aoi, Issey Takahashi, Ryota Bando, Yuri Tsunematsu, Minosuke Hyunri, Masahiro Higashide, Takashi Sasano Prod Keisuke Tsuchihashi, Takashi Sawada, Satoshi Takada, Tamon Kondo
SUN, OCT 3 MON, OCT 11 OCT 1-11
4:15 PM 1:30 PM
VCT VCT CONN
Yuni is a typical high school girl who loves fashion, makeup, the color purple, and the martial art silat. She studies hard for a coveted college scholarship. But how much longer can she turn down marriage proposals from unfamiliar men? Two of Indonesia’s most brilliant feminist creators, Kamila Andini (The Seen and Unseen, VIFF 2018) and screenwriter Prima Rusdi, have teamed up for a devastating cri de coeur from women whose dreams of education and autonomy are systematically stifled. Cast Arawinda Kirana, Kevin Ardilova, Dimas Aditya, Marissa Anita, Asmara Abigail, Muhammad Khan Prod Ifa Isfansyah
35
Impact
Ayukawa - The Weight of Life TU NEILL, JIM SPEERS, NEW ZEALAND/UK/JAPAN, 2021, 92 MIN.
SUN, OCT 3 MON, OCT 4 OCT 1-11
9:00 PM 6:00 PM
STU KMEK CONN
World Premiere. At once tranquil and bracing, Tu Neill and Jim Speers’ film is a portrait of a seaside town and its vanishing way of life. Though it is now slowly emptying, Ayukawa was once a thriving coastal community, its success based on the practice of whaling. Neill and Speers favour curiosity over judgment in their approach to the subject; their work is inquisitive, challenging, and profoundly humane. It may not change your mind, but it will certainly expand your horizons.
Behind the Headlines
Blue Box
DANIEL ANDREAS SAGER, GERMANY, 2021, 90 MIN.
MICHAL WEITS, ISRAEL/CANADA/BELGIUM, 2021, 80 MIN.
THU, OCT 7 SUN, OCT 10 OCT 1-11
6:00 PM 1:15 PM
KMEK HWD CONN
Daniel Andreas Sager’s film showcases journalism at its most vital. The main subjects are a pair of high-profile German reporters; we follow them as they investigate a shadowy arms dealer, the murder of a colleague, and flagrant corruption in Viennese politics. Sager’s focus is on process: he portrays the cultivation of whistleblowers, crafting of copy, and painstaking revisions that go into producing exposés. This doc is a tribute without glamourization—a sharp, clear-eyed depiction of public heroism. Prod Marc Bauder
WED, OCT 6 MON, OCT 11 OCT 1-11
From the Wild Sea 6:30 PM 4:30 PM
ANEX ANEX CONN
Director Michal Weits recalls being raised on the myth of her great-grandfather Joseph as the father of Israel’s forests, a pioneer who established Jewish settlements under the slogan of “a land without a people for a people without a land.” Through a fascinating combination of family interviews, archival footage, and her great-grandfather’s diary excerpts, Weits chronicles the deeper complexities of her family’s legacy and Israel’s national history. A profound and haunting journey of discovery.
Fra det vilde hav
ROBIN PETRÉ, DENMARK, 2021, 78 MIN.
SAT, OCT 2 OCT 1-11
9:00 PM
SFU CONN
Canadian Premiere. One end point of climate change causality gets a bracing look in this debut from Danish documentarian Robin Petré. Petré and editor Charlotte Munch Bengtsen (The Truffle Hunters, The Act of Killing) have shaped a cyclical account of the North Atlantic beaches, coastlines, and cliffs where porpoises, seals, and whales now run aground with alarming frequency, and the marine life rescuers that triage, autopsy, and record data with powerful implications. Prod Malene Flindt Pedersen
Prod Assaf Amir, Ina Fichman, Eric Goossens, Frederik Nicolai, Uri Smoly
Prod Tu Neill, Jim Speers, Kentaro Yamada
Impact Award • $5,000 award presented by the Lochmaddy Foundation
Her Socialist Smile JOHN GIANVITO, USA, 2021, 94 MIN.
FRI, OCT 8 MON, OCT 11 OCT 1-11
6:15 PM 8:45 PM
STU ANEX CONN
We might know Helen Keller, the activist. But what John Gianvito suggests in his new film is that we have barely begun to account for Keller’s importance as a mature writer, thinker, and challenger of assumptions. “A beautifully executed portrait of a major figure ... someone whose rougher edges have been sanded away, both by the general homogenizing tendencies of time, and the inherent sexism, ableism, and anti-leftism that defines the dominant discourse.”–MICHAEL SICINSKI, MUBI NOTEBOOK
Feat Carolyn Forché
Little Palestine: Diary of a Siege ABDALLAH AL-KHATIB, LEBANON/FRANCE/QATAR, 2021, 89 MIN.
MON, OCT 4 WED, OCT 6 OCT 1-11
9:00 PM 6:45 PM
STU CINE CONN
North American Premiere. Yarmouk district in Damascus was home to the largest concentration of Palestinian refugees in the world until 2018. Besieged during the Syrian Civil War, the community does their best to resist despair in the face of hunger, poverty, and the constant threat of bombing. Director Abdallah Al-Khatib’s eloquent approach over four years of filming recognizes how the inhabitants of Yarmouk, full of music, stoic joy, and an unshakeable solidarity with each other, find meaning in the face of destruction. Prod Mohammad Ali Atassi, Jean-Laurent Csinidis
Secrets From Putumayo AURÉLIO MICHILES, BRAZIL, 2021, 83 MIN.
THU, OCT 7 MON, OCT 11 OCT 1-11
6:30 PM 6:30 PM
STU ANEX CONN
In 1910, Roger Casement, Britain’s Consul in Brazil, was ordered to investigate a Peruvian company leading South America’s burgeoning rubber trade. His report detailed the untold horrors of slave labour he witnessed toward Indigenous Amazonians. Narrated by Stephen Rea, director Aurélio Michiles’ film culls from journal passages, archival material, historian postulations, and moving oral histories of descendants of the enslaved to connect with the living narrative of Indigenous peoples. Prod Patrick Leblanc
Rob Stewart Eco Warrior Award • $5,000 cash prize presented by Cineplex and RBC.
International Awards
36
Insights
Daughter of a Lost Bird
Faya dayi
BROOKE PEPION SWANEY, USA, 2020, 66 MIN.
JESSICA BESHIR, ETHIOPIA/USA/QATAR, 2021, 120 MIN.
FRI, OCT 8 SUN, OCT 10 OCT 1-11
6:30 PM 1:15 PM
SFU SFU CONN
Over seven years of collaborative filmmaking, director Brooke Pepion Swaney balances the heartwarming story of Kendra reuniting with her birth mother April and her extended family in the Lummi Nation with America’s legacy of settler-colonialism, genocide, and racism towards Indigenous peoples. “There’s a real sense of collaboration between Kendra and Swaney, and accountability on Swaney’s part to tell this story truthfully, which is refreshing to see in nonfiction filmmaking.”–ORLA SMITH, SEVENTH ROW
THU, OCT 7 FRI, OCT 8 OCT 1-11
8:30 PM 6:30 PM
STU ANEX CONN
This breakout documentary feature from Brooklyn-based Jessica Beshir is a story of rural isolation in the khat fields outside Harar, Ethiopia, where Oromo labourers dream of relief. Associative montage guides hundreds of details and dozens of stories, all built to service a meditative atmosphere, aided by Beshir’s black-and-white cinematography. “An immersive success ... an arresting arrival for its solo director-writer-producer-DP.”–GUY LODGE, VARIETY
The First 54 Years: An Abbreviated Manual for Military Occupation AVI MOGRABI, FRANCE/FINLAND/ISRAEL/GERMANY, 2021, 110 MIN.
SUN, OCT 3 OCT 1-11
9:00 PM
CINE CONN
Canadian Premiere. Addressing the audience directly, Avi Mograbi offers a “how-to” guide to civilian subjugation along ethnic and religious lines, through the example of the Israeli occupation of Palestine. This is a jet black, ice-cold affair. But the harrowing statements of 38 former Israeli military personnel must be taken at face value as testimony of decades of statelicensed crimes against humanity. A film to be reckoned with.
Prod Brooke Pepion Swaney, Jeri Rafter, Kendra Mylnechuk Potter
Prod Jessica Beshir
Just a Movement
The King of North Sudan
Maya
DANNY ABEL, USA/CHINA/EGYPT/THAILAND, 2021, 95 MIN.
JAMSHID MOJADDADI, ANSON HARTFORD, UK/IRAN, 2020, 85 MIN.
Juste un mouvement
VINCENT MEESSEN, BELGIUM/FRANCE, 2020, 110 MIN.
SAT, OCT 2 SUN, OCT 3 OCT 1-11
6:00 PM 3:15 PM
VCT CINE CONN
Senegalese revolutionary Omar Blondin Diop was murdered in a Dakar prison in 1973, six years after his appearance in Jean-Luc Godard’s new wave masterpiece La Chinoise. Belgian artist Vincent Meessen fashions a freeform cover version of Godard’s film, this time with Diop at its heart, but coursing with passionate reflections on Africa today, still shaped and scarred by colonialism, capitalism, and corruption. The imagery is rich, the ideas complex, compelling, and on point. Prod Vincent Meessen, Inneke Van Waeyenberghe, Geneviève de Bauw, Olivier Marboeuf, Javier Packer Comyn, Samuel Feller
Prod Serge Lalou, Camille Laemle, Annie OhayonDekel
TUE, OCT 5 THU, OCT 7 OCT 1-11
6:00 PM 3:45 PM
VCT CINE CONN
MON, OCT 4 MON, OCT 11 OCT 1-11
6:15 PM 6:00 PM
HWD KMEK CONN
World Premiere. Danny Abel’s doc tells the incredible story of Jeremiah Heaton, who claims 500,000 acres of land between Egypt and Sudan in order to establish a kingdom and make his daughter a princess. What follows is media attention, a movie deal with Disney, and a shift in motivation: Heaton decides to create a bonafide nation, with industry, a military, and more. Hilarious, disturbing, and richly suggestive, this is a tale of American hubris scaled to the dimensions of one solitary man.
Canadian Premiere. An Iranian zookeeper takes Maya, a Bengal tiger he has raised from birth, on her first trip out of the Mashhad Zoo for a film shoot by the Caspian Sea—once home to the now-extinct Caspian tiger. As Maya prowls through the open fields, savouring her first taste of freedom, her latent instincts awaken, and the close ties between tiger and trainer begin to unravel. Full of twists and turns, Maya is an intimate and empathetic portrait of an endangered animal in captivity.
Prod Brett Blake
Prod Hugh Hartford
Flee JONAS POHER RASMUSSEN, DENMARK/SWEDEN/ NORWAY/FRANCE, 2021, 90 MIN.
SUN, OCT 3 TUE, OCT 5
6:30 PM 3:45 PM
RIO PLAY
Amin Nawabi, the pseudonymous subject of Flee, says the diary where he first documented what happened to him during the Soviet-Afghan war is written in Dari, a language he now only barely recollects. Flee, then, is not strictly Amin’s story—forced departure from Kabul, fearful year waiting in Russia, eventual asylum in Denmark. Instead, it is an attempt by filmmaker Jonas Poher Rasmussen (a longtime friend of Amin’s) to illustrate how the incomplete nature of this story profoundly shapes Amin’s daily life. Cast Daniel Karimyar, Fardin Mijdzadeh, Milad Eskandari, Belal Faiz, Elaha Faiz, Zahra Mehrwarz, Sadia Faiz Prod Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen
My Childhood, My Country - 20 Years in Afghanistan PHIL GRABSKY, SHOAIB SHARIFI, AFGHANISTAN/UK, 90 MIN.
SUN, OCT 3 TUE, OCT 5 OCT 1-11
3:00 PM 3:45 PM
SFU HWD CONN
International Premiere. This film documents two decades of a precious life—and, beyond that, the tumultuous recent history of a nation. When directors Phil Grabsky and Shoaib Sharifi discovered him, Mir Hussein was just a headstrong little boy living in rural Afghanistan. He and his family agreed to be recorded, and the result is a work of intimate proximity and epic timespan. The directors have, in collaboration with Mir himself, created a rich human portrait and a powerful political statement. Feat Harmid Karzai, Tony Blair, Robert Gates Prod Phil Grabsky
37
Insights
The Six
Taming the Garden
The Velvet Queen
ARTHUR JONES, CHINA, 2020, 107 MIN.
SALOMÉ JASHI, SWITZERLAND/GERMANY/GEORGIA, 2021, 92 MIN.
MARIE AMIGUET, VINCENT MUNIER, FRANCE, 2021, 92 MIN.
MON, OCT 4 FRI, OCT 8 OCT 1-11
6:00 PM 3:30 PM
VCT PLAY CONN
North American Premiere. The Titanic sank in 1912, leaving only 705 survivors. Among them were six Chinese men whose stories were previously lost to history after they were denied entry to America due to the Chinese Exclusion Act. Masterfully intertwining the history of American immigration policy at the time of the Titanic to contemporary views on race and citizenship, The Six uncovers the sacrifices and discrimination these men suffered, finally granting them their rightful place in history. Feat Steven Schwankert, Grace Zhang, James Cameron, Paul Wade, Matthew Baren, David Lee Prod Luo Tong
WED, OCT 6 FRI, OCT 8 OCT 1-11
4:30 PM 8:30 PM
CINE STU CONN
In a small town on the Georgian coast of the Black Sea, a team of lifelong labourers are assigned the monumental task of excavating gigantic trees to be shipped to the property of a former Prime Minister and billionaire for his personal garden. Director Salomé Jashi unleashes an astonishing sequence of events with both fantastical visuals and unwavering honesty as we are invited to sit quietly and observe man’s attempt to conquer giants. Prod Vadim Jendreyko, Erik Winker, Martin Roelly, Salomé Jashi
FRI, OCT 1 THU, OCT 7
4:00 PM 8:30 PM
Venetian Molecules ANEX KMEK
Canadian Premiere. Within the vast, mountainous region of the Tibetan plateau, Vincent Munier, a wildlife photographer, and Sylvain Tesson, a travel writer, are determined to find and photograph one of the region’s most elusive creatures: the snow leopard. As we are treated to glimpses of these stunning landscapes, the pair and director Marie Amiguet begin to consider man’s position within nature and humanity’s place on earth, mourning a time when “beasts, humans, and gods conducted a common conversation.” Feat Vincent Munier, Sylvain Tesson
High School Program Each year, VIFF welcomes hundreds of secondary students to experience exceptional international cinema at the festival. In answer to the past year’s challenges, we’re now offering our education programming to British Columbia classes both incinema and online via our VIFF Connect streaming platform. From stories of Indigenous youth exploring identity to films that capture historic events as they’re unfurling, great world cinema challenges our perspectives, confronts our preconceptions, promotes inquiry, develops critical thinking skills, and ignites imaginations. Be they set in China, on board the Titanic, or right here in Canada, this year’s selected films present stories that connect youth with the most powerful forces shaping our contemporary world and identities. Exclusive Dialogue with Filmmakers and Subject Experts After seeing the film, students will have the rare opportunity to be part of a Q&A with directors, producers, or subject experts connected to the film. Educational Resources We have selected these films for their bold approach to pressing social and environmental concerns, and for their thought-provoking connections to multiple subjects across the BC curriculum. Prior to the screenings, teachers will have access to resource guides tailored to each film. Written with the curriculum in mind, these resources will facilitate engaged discussion and are built to open up in-depth exploration that connects the cinema and the classroom. How to Book This year, we are pleased to offer free access for all school groups who wish to book, selecting either to stream in school from our VIFF Connect platform or to book for an in-person morning screening at our VIFF theatre. Please note that some films are only available in-person. Capacity for all films is limited. Full film details and resource materials can be found at goviff.org/education.
Molecole
ANDREA SEGRE, ITALY, 2020, 68 MIN.
SAT, OCT 2 MON, OCT 11 OCT 1-11
6:30 PM 9:00 PM
STU CINE CONN
Andrea Segre’s memoir film, which begins with the unanswered questions posed by his late father’s early photographs, began shooting in February 2020, when the pandemic arrived with full force in Italy. So instead of answers, Segre is met by silence, dead ends, and detours, left to wander the tourist-emptied and suddenly placid canals of his father’s city. “An interlude of mournful and mirrorlike tranquillity ... and also a diary, soaked in personal reminiscence.”–ANTHONY LANE, THE NEW YORKER
Prod Andrea Segre
Gala & Special Presentations Audience Award
Contemporary World Cinema Audience Award
True North Audience Award
Gateway Audience Award
Impact Audience Award
Insight Audience Award
M/A/D Audience Award
Altered States Audience Award
Audience Awards VIFF’s Audience Awards allow you to take your festival experience to the next level by championing your favourite films. At the end of the festival, we’ll announce audience award-winners for every one of our series. So be sure to vote after every screening, be it online or in-person.
Fine Art Films Supported by
39
M/A/D
Charlotte ERIC WARIN, TAHIR RANA, CANADA/FRANCE/ BELGIUM, 2021, 92 MIN.
SUN, OCT 3 WED, OCT 6
3:00 PM 9:15 PM
PLAY PLAY
The tragically short life of German Jewish artist Charlotte Salomon (voiced by Keira Knightley) and her remarkable body of autobiographical work (including her masterpiece Life? Or Theatre?) are honoured in this expressively animated biopic by Eric Warin and Tahir Rana. Despite the hardship endured by its namesake in World War II, Charlotte serves as an inspirational testament to what can be achieved if one lives and creates as if there was no tomorrow. Cast Keira Knightley, Brenda Bleythyn, Jim Broadbent, Sam Claflin, Eddie Marsan, Helen McCrory, Sophie Okonedo, Mark Strong Prod Julia Rosenberg, Jérôme Dopffer, Eric Goossens, Anton Roebben
The Endless Moment The Painter Rolf Kuhlmann CLAUDIA SCHMID, GERMANY/GREECE, 2020, 135 MIN.
SUN, OCT 3 SAT, OCT 9 OCT 1-11
6:00 PM 6:00 PM
STU VCT CONN
International Premiere. In her remarkable documentary, Claudia Schmid spends a year following realist painter Rolf Kuhlmann as he visits German forests, and ancient archeological sites and refugee camps in Greece. The Endless Moment takes the viewer along on an extraordinary creative journey in the creation of ambitious double triptych paintings, capturing the moments of conception, rumination, execution, and revision, as pieces coalesce to make a luminous whole.
Keep Rolling MON, OCT 11 OCT 1-11
6:15 PM
Prod Jacqueline Liu, Man Lim Chung
To the Moon
FERN SILVA, USA, 2021, 70 MIN.
TADHG O’SULLIVAN, IRELAND, 2020, 76 MIN.
World Premiere. Twenty-one years after his groundbreaking first feature documentary Vinyl, Alan Zweig returns to the topic of compulsive record collecting with newfound introspection and a sunnier disposition. Punctuated by his signature mirror-confessionals, Records compiles colourful interviews with vinyl enthusiasts, swirling around the proverbial maxim that music has the power to connect us all. Prod Felicity Justrabo, Kevin McMahon, Michael McMahon
GONZALO GARCÍA PELAYO, PEDRO G. ROMERO, SPAIN/FRANCE, 2020, 165 MIN.
SUN, OCT 3 SAT, OCT 9 OCT 1-11
10:00 AM 1:00 PM
VCT STU CONN
Canadian Premiere. An exhilarating celebration of the city that birthed flamenco, Nine Sevilles features nine vibrant artists and thinkers walking us through the meandering streets of Seville. At once playful and loose, the filmmakers’ love of the city and its art is indelible. At the heart of this movie are the glorious rhythms of palmas, powerful percussive footwork, the melodic flourishes of the guitar, and the passionate, soaring voice of the cantes.
Prod Claudia Schmid
Rock Bottom Riser RIO HWD CONN
Nueve Sevillas
Prod Roberto Butragueño, Nathalie Trafford, Joaquín Vázquez
ALAN ZWEIG, CANADA, 2021, 87 MIN.
6:15 PM 3:30 PM
CINE CONN
Canadian Premiere. The recipient of Venice Film Festival’s 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award, Ann Hui’s 40-year artistic trajectory not only mirrors the roller-coaster ride that is Hong Kong cinema, but parallels the poignant yet resilient course of its history. Hui displays her storytelling genius not only with celluloid but in humourous, candid conversation. This documentary seamlessly weaves interviews and archival material into a Who’s Who of Asian cinema, and is catnip for cinephiles anywhere.
Records THU, OCT 7 SUN, OCT 10 OCT 1-11
Nine Sevilles
MAN LIM CHUNG, HONG KONG, 2020, 118 MIN.
WED, OCT 6 SUN, OCT 10 OCT 1-11
6:00 PM 9:15 PM
STU ANEX CONN
TUE, OCT 5 MON, OCT 11 OCT 1-11
8:30 PM 6:30 PM
White Cube STU VCT CONN
Canadian Premiere. Since 2014, an enormous telescope has been under construction on the peak of a dormant Hawaiian volcano, one held as sacred in the archipelago’s native culture. Protests and debates have followed, forming the bedrock for Fern Silva’s new essay film. Rather than a conventional overview of its complicated subjects, Rock Bottom Riser adopts its own telescopic view of earthbound themes, erupting in volcanic textures and playful associations, from island flowers to smoke rings to the crawl of molten rock.
Canadian Premiere. Admirers of Christian Marclay’s The Clock and Kogonada’s video essays will find themselves in familiar territory with Tadhg O’Sullivan’s To the Moon, an archival supercut with a literary bent. You could say it’s a survey of the ways cinema cameras have watched people watching the moon, from the silent era onward. “Gracefully edited ... O’Sullivan has carefully woven the fabric of his film so it pulls you along in the same imperceptible way as the moon draws the tides.”–AMBER WILKINSON, SCREEN INTERNATIONAL
Prod Fern Silva
Prod Clare Stronge
RENZO MARTENS, NETHERLANDS/BELGIUM, 2020, 79 MIN.
SAT, OCT 2 SAT, OCT 9 OCT 1-11
8:15 PM 9:00 PM
STU SFU CONN
Canadian Premiere. In his project The Repatriation of the White Cube, Dutch ironist Renzo Martens seeks out Congolese workers at two Unilever palm oil plantations and suggests a profit-share model where the workers will get paid for their art, which will be shown in galleries in the West. Martens casts himself as salesman, but also knowingly steps aside for a moving portrait of sculptor Matthieu Kasiama. Prod Pieter van Huystee
Altered States
40
Saloum
Kicking Blood
JEAN LUC HERBULOT, SENEGAL, 2021, 84 MIN.
BLAINE THURIER, CANADA, 2021, 80 MIN.
FRI, OCT 1 SUN, OCT 3
Bipolar
QUEENA LI, CHINA, 2021, 110 MIN.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 3 SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9 OCTOBER 1-11
9:00 PM 4:00 PM
RIO CINEMATHEQUE VIFF CONNECT
Canadian Premiere. In the Tibetan capital of Lhasa on a luxury pilgrimage, a broken-hearted musician (Chinese star Leah Dou) impulsively decides to liberate a sacred rainbow lobster from a cramped tank in hopes of returning it to the ocean. The catch? The endless kilometres of weirdness that lay between them and the water. A legitimate trip that asserts “travelling is just like dreaming,” Queena Li’s hallucinatory road movie is delightfully all over the map as it sends the Orpheus myth crashing through the looking glass. Cast Leah Dou, Giver He Prod Queena Li, Zhang Linhan, Zhang Xu, Chang Bin
9:00 PM 1:00 PM
Cast Yann Gael, Evelyne Ily Juhen, Roger Sallah, Mentor Ba Prod Pamela Diop
Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror
Tin Can
ALBERT BIRNEY, KENTUCKER AUDLEY, USA, 2021, 91 MIN.
SETH A. SMITH, CANADA, 2020, 103 MIN.
Canadian Premiere. When two college friends (Madeline Quinn and Betsey Brown) secure a cheap Manhattan apartment, it’s not only too good to be true but worse than they could’ve ever imagined: the suite was previously Jeffrey Epstein’s love nest and is now home to other malevolent forces. Transmitting on frequencies both sinister and comic, Dasha Nekrasova’s outrageous psychosexual thriller employs ‘70s giallo and grindhouse aesthetics to take dead aim at contemporary gender dynamics, internet culture, and power structures. Cast Betsey Brown, Madeline Quinn, Dasha Nekrasova, Mark Rapaport Prod Adam Mitchell, Mark Rapaport
SAT, OCT 2 SAT, OCT 9
9:00 PM 4:15 PM
RIO RIO
RIO RIO
Cast Alanna Bale, Luke Bilyk, Benjamin Sutherland, Ella Farlinger, Vinessa Antoine, Shaun Austin-Olsen, Rosemary Dunsmore Prod Jennifer Jonas
Strawberry Mansion
RIO RIO CONN
6:30 PM 1:00 PM
Having successively orchestrated a coup, extracted a foreign drug lord, and absconded with a gold bounty, the Bangui Hyenas find their run of good luck ends abruptly when they’re shot down over Senegal’s Sine Saloum region. Taking refuge at a holiday camp, the mercenaries instantly arouse suspicion and soon unleash something otherworldly. As supernatural chaos rains down and predatory creatures wreak havoc, Jean Luc Herbulot orchestrates an action-horror film that’s a heady mix of mysticism and mayhem.
DASHA NEKRASOVA, USA, 2021, 81 MIN.
9:00 PM 3:30 PM
FRI, OCT 8 SUN, OCT 10
When Anna (Alanna Bale), a high-on-hemoglobin vampire, becomes enchanted by Robbie (Luke Bilyk), a despondent alcoholic, she nurtures his sobriety and considers forsaking her immortality. But her newfound nurturing instincts and fascination with humanity don’t sit well with her blood-sucking brethren. Sensual and soulful, Blaine Thurier’s latest idiosyncratic genre piece explores the more metaphorical elements of vampirism with considerable inventiveness and precisely the right measure of irreverence.
The Scary of Sixty-First THU, OCT 7 SUN, OCT 10 OCT 1-11
RIO RIO
TUE, OCT 5 FRI, OCT 8 OCT 1-11
9:00 PM 9:00 PM
RIO CINE CONN
In 2035, James (Kentucker Audley) audits people’s dreams, assessing them back taxes for their fantasies. Diving into the deep end of an archive of dreams belonging to elderly Bella (Penny Fuller), he embarks on a rollicking adventure featuring seafaring rats, mythical beasts, and a younger Bella (Grace Glowicki). Transforming practically every shot into a showcase of candy-coloured sets, analog technology, and stop-motion creatures, Audley and Albert Birney have dreamt up a beguilingly absurd confection.
Racing to find a cure for a global outbreak, a parasitologist (Anna Hopkins) is abducted and awakens in a suspended animation chamber. As she kicks and screams her way to freedom—or whatever the plague has laying in wait—Tin Can trades claustrophobic tension for undiluted nightmare fuel. Seth A. Smith (The Crescent) confirms his credentials as one of genre cinema’s most singular voices with this deftly executed, undeniably deranged wedding of classic body horror and contemporary anxieties over isolation.
Cast Penny Fuller, Kentucker Audley, Grace Glowicki, Linas Phillips, Reed Birney Prod Emma Hannaway, Matisse Rifai, Sarah Winshall, Taylor Ava Shung
Cast Anna Hopkins, Simon Mutabazi, Michael Ironside, Tim Dunn, Amy Trefry, Sam Vignault, Chik White Prod Nancy Urich
KIER-LA JANISSE, USA, 2021, 193 MIN.
FRI, OCT 8 OCT 1-11
8:45 PM
RIO CONN
Tracing folk horror’s winding path from the influential likes of The Wicker Man to more recent fare like Midsommar, Kier-La Janisse has fashioned an astonishingly ambitious deep dive into every recess of one of the genre cinema’s most spiritually resonant and culturally specific strains. Assembling clips from 200 films and insights from 50 interviewees, Woodlands Dark explores how these works are deeply rooted in myriad storytelling traditions and alternately embrace and interrogate chequered histories. Prod Kier-La Janisse, Winnie Cheung
International
41
Shorts Neko and Flies
Wake
Chants From a Holy Book
Al-Sit
Animation
Have We Ever Learned?
Life Labs
TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 118 MIN.
TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 114 MIN.
TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 112 MIN.
SAT, OCT 2 SUN, OCT 3 OCT 1-11
6:15 PM 1:15 PM
ANEX ANEX CONN
SUN, OCT 3 MON, OCT 4 OCT 1-11
6:15 PM 3:30 PM
ANEX ANEX CONN
MON, OCT 4 SUN, OCT 10 OCT 1-11
Seniors Day 6:15 PM 6:30 PM
TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 121 MIN.
ANEX ANEX CONN
TUE, OCT 5 SUN, OCT 10 OCT 1-11
6:15 PM 1:00 PM
ANEX ANEX CONN
Anyhow, Anyway
The Black Disquisition
Apart, Together
Al-Sit
CATARINA ROMANO, PORTUGAL, 13 MIN.
QUINCY G. LEDBETTER, USA, 11 MIN.
OLIVIA HANG ZHOU, USA/CHINA, 19 MIN.
SUZANNAH MIRGHANI, SUDAN/QATAR, 20 MIN.
A lonely woman has a routine to her days, though she rarely leaves her apartment.
A traumatic event in a boy’s life underlies a surprising answer to a guidance counselor’s question.
A teen girl and her mother from China are in Los Angeles, searching for her older sister who was abandoned as a baby.
In a cotton-farming village, a girl’s arranged marriage to a businessman requires approval by the village matriarch.
ZACH DORN, USA, 2021, 13 MIN.
Chants From a Holy Book
Carrier
All Dogs Die
A 1970s folk singer’s life is transformed when a current pop star records one of her songs.
CASSIANA DER HAROUTIOUNIAN, CESAR GANANIAN, BRAZIL, 2021, 25 MIN.
MAX OVASKA, FINLAND, 2020, 23 MIN.
NINNA PÁLMADÓTTIR, ICELAND, 2020, 17 MIN.
A woman takes advantage of her pregnancy to smuggle drugs through customs for her brother.
On a foggy weekend in an isolated part of Iceland, an aged farmer and his dog confront mortality.
Goodbye Tornio
Charon
EMILIA HERNESNIEMI, FINLAND, 2021, 15 MIN.
YANNICK KARCHER, FRANCE, 2020, 15 MIN.
A girl who just graduated from high school is moving to the big city, leaving her family and her best friend behind.
A recently retired man is spurred into action by the fear of death and boredom, so he initiates a crazy project.
MeTube: August Sings ‘Una Furtiva Lagrima’
Don vs Lightning
Charlotte
FALL OF THE IBIS KING MIKAI GERONIMO, JOSH O’CAOIMH, IRELAND, 2021, 10 MIN.
The antagonist of a dark opera is unsettled following the return of the lead actor.
Flowing Home SANDRA DESMAZIÈRES, FRANCE/CANADA, 2021, 15 MIN.
Two sisters from Vietnam, separated by war, exchange letters and relive the tragedy for 20 years.
Granny’s Sexual Life URŠKA DJUKIC, ÉMILIE PIGEARD, SLOVENIA/FRANCE, 2021, 14 MIN.
Five women reflect on old times and how different sexual relations between men and women were.
In the film’s own words, “the objective is to recreate in five chants the synergy that generates revolutions.”
The Following Year MIGUEL CAMPAÑA, SPAIN, 2021, 22 MIN.
On his anniversary, a widowed farmer receives a clone of the woman he lost under tragic circumstances years ago.
The Night I Left America LAKI KARAVIAS, USA, 2020, 14 MIN.
A teen immigrant boy starts questioning the American Dream while his mother awaits the decision on her visa.
A Quiet Man NYIMA CARTIER, FRANCE, 2021, 15 MIN.
The Monkey
Looking out an office building window, voices speculate about a man sitting on a park bench down below.
LORENZO DEGL´INNOCENTI, XOSÉ ZAPATA, PORTUGAL/SPAIN, 2021, 17 MIN.
A Roll in the Hay
1588. A shipwrecked member of the Spanish Armada is found washed up on shore and alive.
GEOFFREY FIGHIERA, FRANCE, 2020, 19 MIN.
Nuevo Rico KRISTIAN MERCADO FIGUEROA, USA, 2021, 16 MIN.
Twin musicians on the run steal a magical contract that will make them reggaetón stars.
Unnecessary Things DMYTRO LISENBART, UKRAINE, 2020, 14 MIN.
Could intelligent robots grow as thinking entities with needs and desires?
Wake MARK BOSTON, UK, 2020, 6 MIN.
The creation of nine fantastical paintings is depicted as they evolve and transform.
A man takes his mistress to his country house for the weekend where a surprise awaits.
Your Street GÜZIN KAR, SWITZERLAND, 2020, 8 MIN.
A nondescript street in Bonn is linked to one of the most painful episodes in the history of reunified Germany.
BIG RED BUTTON, UK, 2021, 13 MIN.
A pair of intergalactic music nerds with telekinetic powers hijack an opera performance.
All Don wants is a quiet life in the Scottish Highlands. Unfortunately, the universe has other plans.
Neko and Flies
Dona
TSAO SHIH HAN, TAIWAN, 2020, 25 MIN.
MARGA MELIÀ, SPAIN, 2020, 20 MIN.
In the brutal summer heat, a security guard looks after boats tied up at a dock and a sex worker with an intellectual disability.
After a lifetime of silence, an elderly woman in a mental hospital decides to confess her family secrets to a doctor.
Quality Time
Roy
OMER BEN-DAVID, ISRAEL, 2020, 22 MIN.
TOM BERKELEY, ROSS WHITE, UK, 2021, 16 MIN.
When his mother goes away on vacation, a stoner teenager and his recently retired father are forced to spend time together.
Trapped in a lonely existence, a reclusive widower desperately seeks brief moments of companionship.
DANIEL MOSHEL, AUSTRIA, 2020, 8 MIN.
The Saverini Widow LOÏC GAILLARD, FRANCE, 2020, 20 MIN.
In the 1890s, an older widowed midwife lives a quiet life with her son and dog in a Corsican town until one eventful night.
42
International Shorts + MODES
Best Canadian Short Film • $2,000 award presented by VIFF
Best BC Short Film
• $2,500 award presented by Pass-Through Productions inc.
Short Film Awards
Neon Phantom
Reel Youth Film Festival TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 84 MIN.
SAT, OCT 9 OCT 1-11
Help Raise $40,000 for our 40th Festival! Make a donation during VIFF’s landmark 40th edition and the Reel Friends Giving Society will match your gift up to a total of $40,000.
1:00 PM
ANEX CONN
The Reel Youth Film Festival is a collection of short films made by emerging youth filmmakers from around the world. Chosen by an international selection panel from 400 submissions and 30 countries, this collection will show you the world through the eyes of an incredibly gifted group of young media-makers. This year we are featuring 25% BC films, 50% Canadian films, and Indigenous stories from across Turtle Island.
Pitoc e icinakosian EYE ROBOT A Letter to Hong Kong All Alone Sophie and Jacob Christopher Hunte The art of being in a world of not being Witch’s Hunt Day 10am kwenánet né? Kamayan The Secret of Colors hahuupacakukqin The Moments Wicket From the North Music for the end of the world
The Canyon
MODES 1
MODES 2
TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 85 MIN.
FRI, OCT 1 SAT, OCT 2 OCT 1-11
9:15 PM 4:00 PM
TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 81 MIN.
ANEX ANEX CONN
9:00 PM 4:00 PM
ANEX ANEX CONN
I’ve Been Afraid
The Coast
CECELIA CONDIT, MEXICO, 7 MIN.
SOHRAB HURA, INDIA, 18 MIN.
Since the cult sounds of Possibly in Michigan, Cecelia Condit employs her catchy musical stylings to align the imposing allure of emojis as critique of abuse and why victims stay.
The margin between land and water becomes a point of release as the ocean washes away emotional multitudes, shedding the masquerade.–LOST HEAD & THE BIRD (MODES 2018), BITTERSWEET
Once Upon a Screen: Explosive Paradox KEVIN B. LEE, GERMANY/USA, 2020, 10 MIN.
A family outing to see Platoon sets the scene for a minimalist and personal video essay underscoring how past and present interrupt one another, like movies being perpetually edited.
New Abnormal SORAYOS PRAPAPAN, THAILAND/SOUTH KOREA/ SINGAPORE, 2021, 15 MIN.
The reality of COVID-19 in Thailand collides with entrenched and absurd political polemics. –DIGITAL FUNERAL: BETA VERSION (MODES 2020)
Motorcyclist’s Happiness Won’t Fit Into His Suit GABRIEL HERRERA, MEXICO, 2021, 10 MIN.
Poking fun at the hubris of Spanish colonial forces on Indigenous lands, a modern motorcyclist flips the script, vainly exclaiming himself the sole explorer.
In Flow of Words ELIANE ESTHER BOTS, NETHERLANDS, 2021, 23 MIN.
Interpreters of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia retrace their responsibility to perpetrators of heinous war crimes and their victims.
Neon Phantom LEONARDO MARTINELLI, BRAZIL, 2021, 20 MIN.
A rousing musical rendition of life as a pedalpowered delivery man, João dreams of something more.
goviff.org/donate
SAT, OCT 2 SUN, OCT 3 OCT 1-11
(MODES 2019)
Happiness Is a Journey IVETE LUCAS, PATRICK BRESNAN, USA/ESTONIA, 2021, 12 MIN.
The independent contractors comprising the foundation of Austin’s dwindling newspaper delivery service have to work on Christmas Eve. –ROADSIDE ATTRACTION (MODES 2017)
Show Me Other Places RAJEE SAMARASINGHE, SRI LANKA/USA, 2021, 12 MIN.
Shot on various cameras and a video synthesizer, a Sri Lankan woman accesses multiple spaces in digital form. Relationships between creator, tool, and subject are questioned, shattered, and reconstructed.
Adversarial Infrastructure ANNA ENGELHARDT, RUSSIA, 2020, 10 MIN.
Deepfake Putin exclaims the underlying impetus to erect the Crimean Bridge (in an offline landscape) as an artifact of Russian colonial violence.
The Canyon ZACHARY EPCAR, USA, 2021, 15 MIN.
A portrait of urban residential development as it slips into oblivion.
Corps Samples ASTRID DE LA CHAPELLE, FRANCE, 2021, 14 MIN.
Fossilized remains of brief organic lives signify transformation of life to mineral, and viceversa—a temporal existence. Is man looking at stone, or is stone looking at man?
Short Forum Nalujuk Night
Militant Mother
VIFF Short Forum: Programme 1 MON, OCT 4 TUE, OCT 5 OCT 1-11
9:00 PM 4:00 PM
TUE, OCT 5 WED, OCT 6 OCT 1-11
9:00 PM 4:00 PM
Kiri and the Girl
VIFF Short Forum: Programme 3
TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 71 MIN.
ANEX ANEX CONN
Community Broadcast Partner
Flower Boy
VIFF Short Forum: Programme 2
TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 76 MIN.
43
VIFF Short Forum: Programme 4
TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 81 MIN.
ANEX ANEX CONN
WED, OCT 6 THU, OCT 7 OCT 1-11
8:45 PM 4:00 PM
TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 90 MIN.
ANEX ANEX CONN
THU, OCT 7 FRI, OCT 8 OCT 1-11
9:00 PM 4:00 PM
ANEX ANEX CONN
Canucks Riot I
Bad Seeds
Flower Boy
Evan’s Drum
LEWIS BENNETT, CANADA, 2021, 10 MIN.
CLAUDE CLOUTIER, CANADA, 2020, 7 MIN.
ANYA CHIRKOVA, CANADA, 2020, 17 MIN.
OSSIE MICHELIN, CANADA, 2021, 15 MIN.
The chaos on the streets of Vancouver that unfolded in the wake of the Canucks’ loss in the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals is revisited from dozens of perspectives.
In a bizarre world where carnivorous plants can change shapes, a shocking duel is peppered with allusions to the Western, the Cold War, board games, and much more.
In this intimate look at Inuit family and culture, seven year-old Evan Winters from Happy Valley-Goose Bay learns the once-lost tradition of Labrador Inuit drum dancing from his mom.
Jean Swanson: We Need a New Map
Boobs
As August creeps in, Nav forms intimate bonds with an audacious painter and a middle-aged laser tag arena owner. Just as he begins to find himself, summer abruptly comes to an end.
TERESA ALFELD, CANADA, 2021, 8 MIN.
Veteran activist and first-term Vancouver city councillor Jean Swanson works alongside the next generation of anti-poverty activists fighting systemic inequality.
Mary Two-Axe Earley: I Am Indian Again COURTNEY MONTOUR, CANADA, 2021, 34 MIN.
Mary Two-Axe Earley spent much of her life fighting against the injustices that the Indian Act created for Status Indian women. Her work eventually led to the passing of Bill C-31 in 1985, an amendment to the Indian Act to correct gender discrimination.
Nalujuk Night JENNIE WILLIAMS, CANADA, 14 MIN.
Every January 6th, the Inuit community of Nain, Labrador, awaits the Nalujuit, eerie figures that come in from the sea dressed in tattered fur clothing, frightfully descend on homes, and playfully chase locals with sticks and chains.
Solitary Skies AMANDA CASSIDY, CANADA, 2021, 10 MIN.
A meditative stop-frame animation exploring our connection to the natural world through sound and slow movement.
MARIE VALADE, CANADA, 2021, 8 MIN.
A surrealist journey through a woman’s lovehate relationship with her breasts, her body, her femininity.
Defund KHADIJAH ROBERTS-ABDULLAH, ARAYA MENGESHA, CANADA, 15 MIN.
Millennial twins are trapped in their apartment, watching the BLM uprisings unfold on their phones. Fed up with sitting on the sidelines, they head out under the cover of night.
Hatha ASIA YOUNGMAN, CANADA, 2020, 10 MIN.
After a near collision at an intersection, two women find themselves face-to-face and at each other’s throats in a yoga class.
Militant Mother CARMEN POLLARD, CANADA, 2021, 8 MIN.
To get to class on time, children from the Raymur social housing project were forced to cross perilous train tracks. Twenty-five mothers made their voices heard by blockading CN Rail.
A Safe Distance GLORIA MERCER, CANADA, 2020, 8 MIN.
Trudging through a forest, two blood-splattered women stop to wash themselves, smoke a joint, and share thoughts about men, relationships, and bodily autonomy.
The Untouchable AVAZEH SHAHNAVAZ, IRAN/CANADA, 2021, 15 MIN.
Yassi is in the middle of a busy street, jumping in front of cars as she desperately searches for someone. The police try to contain the situation but only send things spiraling into further chaos.
Indigenous Dads PETER BRASS, CANADA, 2021, 12 MIN.
Four Indigenous dads candidly discuss their fears and hopes in raising their kids in today’s world.
News From Home SARA WYLIE, CANADA, 2021, 9 MIN.
Two phone calls between a mother and daughter on opposite sides of the country, recorded in March 2020.
Srikandi ANDREA NIRMALA WIDJAJANTO, CANADA/INDONESIA, 2020, 9 MIN.
Teenage Anjani reunites with her late father’s spirit through the puppets he left behind and sets out to realize her own future—becoming a modern Srikandi.
Things We Feel But Do Not Say LAUREN GRANT, CANADA, 2021, 10 MIN.
A woman struggles with the isolation of her grief following a miscarriage.
Tla-o-qui-aht Dugout Canoe STEVEN DAVIES, CANADA, 2021, 11 MIN.
After working as a clearcut logger in the Clayoquot Sound, master carver and land defender Joe Martin reconciles his past by revitalizing the ancestral knowledge and artistic practice of the traditional Tla-o-qui-aht dugout canoe.
Together ALBERT SHIN, CANADA/SOUTH KOREA, 13 MIN.
Two anonymous strangers meet in a motel room by the sea.
The Horses LIZ CAIRNS, CANADA, 13 MIN.
After several horses are euthanized at her barn, a woman must find a mare to put with the sole remaining horse.
The Isobel Imprint ALI GRANT, CANADA, 2021, 7 MIN.
Years after her sister’s devastating suicide, Ali Grant travels back through old letters, photos, and home movies to arrive at a pivotal moment in their intertwined destinies—Toronto in the summer of 1978.
Kiri and the Girl GRACE DOVE, CANADA, 2021, 22 MIN.
Inspired by the experiences of Tlingit artist Kiri Geen, this is the story of a young girl navigating the loss of her mother, reclaiming her Indigenous heritage, and becoming her true self.
Like the Ones I Used to Know ANNIE ST-PIERRE, CANADA, 2021, 18 MIN.
December 24, 1983, 10:50pm: everyone has had too much sugar, Santa Claus is late, and Denis, alone in his car, is anxious about setting foot in his ex-in-law’s house to pick up his kids.
The Mohel CHARLES WAHL, CANADA, 2020, 15 MIN.
Family expectations and financial strain force James to confront the transactional nature of religion, and the realities of maintaining old traditions in a modern world.
Short Forum
44
On Either Side
VIFF Short Forum: Programme 6 TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 78 MIN.
TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 79 MIN.
FRI, OCT 8 SAT, OCT 9 FRI, OCT 1-11
9:00 PM 4:00 PM
ANEX ANEX CONN
Ajjigiingiluktaaqtaugut (We Are All Different) LINDSAY MCINTYRE, CANADA, 2021, 17 MIN.
Using antique wind-up bears, layered animation, and analogue techniques, this animated documentary explores identity and belonging, by Inuit both inside and outside of community.
Big Things ERIC PETERSON, CANADA, 2021, 18 MIN.
An aspiring musician experiences the loss of his grandfather, annoying coworkers, and the anticipation of “big things.”
On Either Side ELISA JULIA GILMOUR, CANADA, 2021, 12 MIN.
A Torontonian of Corsican-Moroccan descent learns he must renew his late grandfather’s expired cemetery plot in Corsica. As he considers unearthing a cadaver, he contends with his own fears of displacement.
Personals SASHA ARGIROV, CANADA, 13 MIN
When an encounter at a glory hole sparks an unexpected connection, two socially anxious loners must risk vulnerability to find the intimacy they yearn for.
Twelve Hours PAUL SHKORDOFF, CANADA, 2021, 14 MIN.
Sequestered to the confines of a hotel room, an overworked healthcare worker struggles to find relief amidst the incessant demands of her day to day life.
Without You MINA SHUM, CANADA, 2020, 5 MIN.
A love letter to all the humans.
SAT, OCT 9 SUN, OCT 10 OCT 1-11
6:30 PM 4:00 PM
This year, we’re welcoming 15 emerging local filmmakers to enjoy an immersive introductory film festival experience. The VIFF Catalyst mentorship program is designed to open doors and eliminate barriers for up-and-coming filmmakers, offering opportunities to those who are often under- or misrepresented in the film industry. Through exclusive, intimate sessions, our diverse cohort will develop a network of peers and mentors from Vancouver and beyond as part of their tailored festival experience.
Heavy Petting
VIFF Short Forum: Programme 5
Catalyst Program
ANEX ANEX CONN
We’re excited to include:
The Blactor RUKIYA BERNARD, CANADA, 2021, 14 MIN.
On her way to another demeaning audition for another stereotypical role, a Black actress is stopped by an undercover cop who believes she’s involved in a break and entry.
Anna Anaka
Mariam Barry
Kathleen Edwards
Jamuna Galay-Tamang
Jenny Lee-Gilmore
Mily Mumford
Natalie Murao
Sean Patterson
Hân Phạm
Rosie Pidcock
Rachel Rose
Morgan Strug
Ian Tan
Cole Vandale
Andrea Nirmala Widjajanto
chocolate CHARLENE MOORE, CANADA, 2021, 4 MIN.
A study of shedding away colonial patterns in order to find truth within the ways of life of one’s natural self.
Heavy Petting BRENDAN PROST, CANADA, 2020, 17 MIN.
An eerie, bifurcated character drama about a queer encounter between two lonely cat enthusiasts, and a macabre test of one’s social obscurity.
Meneath: The Hidden Island of Ethics TERRIL CALDER, CANADA, 2021, 20 MIN.
A young girl of mixed ancestry endures a challenging journey of self-discovery through an unflinching examination of the European and Indigenous ethics embedded inside her.
Prometheus MARIE FARSI, CANADA, 2020, 7 MIN.
This radical visual adaptation and re-imagining of the Greek myth recasts Prometheus as a woman and crafts a poem about resilience, the reclamation of the natural order, and of feminine power inside the patriarchy.
A Void DOMINIQUE VAN OLM, CANADA, 16 MIN
While working as a caretaker at an old concert hall one summer, an anxiety-prone young woman invites an otherworldly presence into her life.
Presented by
Supported by
45
Community Broadcast Partner
Supported by
Mare of Easttown: Directing Masterclass with Craig Zobel MONDAY, OCTOBER 4
5:00 PM
The Green Knight: Production Design Masterclass with Jade Healy VIFF CONNECT
MONDAY, OCTOBER 4
7:00 PM
VIFF CONNECT
Emmy-nominated director Craig Zobel has helmed multiple episodes of Westworld, The Leftovers, and American Gods, plus the feature films The Hunt and Z for Zachariah. Craig also directed the Emmy-nominated HBO crime drama Mare of Easttown. We’re excited to hear from Craig about shaping the look and feel of a crime show that leaves room for the human drama, shooting emotional and technically daunting scenes, and working with DOP Ben Richardson on letting character guide the shot styles.
Canadian award-winning production designer Jade Healy has created the look of some of our favourite films, including A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Marriage Story, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, A Ghost Story, Pete’s Dragon, Mississippi Grind, and Ain’t Them Bodies Saints. 2021 sees her reunite with her frequent collaborator David Lowery on the visual masterpiece and epic fantasy adventure, The Green Knight. Come hear about Jade’s process in designing the look, feel, and shape of a fantasy realm.
GUEST
HOST
GUEST
HOST
Craig Zobel Director
Zach Lipovsky Director, Freaks
Jade Healy Production Designer
Sophie Jarvis Production Designer The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open
Presented by
Creator Talk: Sierra Teller Ornelas, Rutherford Falls TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5
5:00 PM
VIFF CONNECT
Sierra Teller Ornelas is the co-creator/showrunner/executive producer of the Peacock show Rutherford Falls which, when it aired during the pandemic, made Sierra the first Native American showrunner in history. The series is a Native-centred story with Native talent both in front of and behind the camera. Join us for a deep dive into Sierra’s process in creating a sitcom that breaks down Indigenous stereotypes through humor playing out on mainstream TV and running a writers’ room. GUEST
HOST
Sierra Teller Ornelas Co-Creator/Showrunner
Duana Taha Writer/Producer
Supported by
Presented by ACFC WEST, LOCAL 2020 UNIFOR
The Suicide Squad: Editing Masterclass with Fred Raskin WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6
2:30 PM
VIFF CONNECT
BAFTA-nominated editor Fred Raskin is best known for his collaborations with Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood, Kill Bill, The Hateful Eight), Justin Lin (The Fast and the Furious films), and James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy 1 and 2). The Suicide Squad is Fred’s most recent collaboration with Gunn. Fred will talk about how the story takes its final shape in the editing room, collaborating with directors, his favourite scenes from The Suicide Squad, and his advice to emerging editors. GUEST
HOST
Fred Raskin Editor
Matthew Hannam Editor, Possessor
Presented by
You have skills. The film industry has jobs.
goviff.org/plus
When you become a VIFF+ member, you help us share the power and joy of exceptional storytelling.
OURWORK
As a member, you’ll join a VIFF community of inspired film lovers and share experiences that extend beyond the theatre. Whether you see a few films or dozens of films each year, there is a membership level just for you.
.ca
Join Today!
47
Community Broadcast Partner
Supported by
Creator Talk: Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Flee WED, OCT 6
5:00 PM
VIFF Talk: Out of the Box: Stories That Transform Us CONN
Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning Flee tells the personal story of Amin Nawabi as he grapples with a painful secret that threatens to derail the life he has built for himself and his husband-to-be. Through the animation of director Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Amin tells the story of his journey as a child refugee from Afghanistan. Jonas joins us to talk about how he blended animation and archive footage, blurred the line between documentary and narrative filmmaking styles, and his unique editing process.
WED, OCT 6
8:30 PM
Creator Talk: Julie Cohen, My Name Is Pauli Murray VCT
Director Corey Payette and guests discuss their journeys as changemakers pushing artistic boundaries while working in both the theatre and film sectors. The conversation will follow the world premiere screening of Stories That Transform Us by Urban Ink. GUEST
Corey Payette Director
THU, OCT 7
GUEST
Jonas Poher Rasmussen Director
Julie Cohen Director/Writer
THU, OCT 7
6:00 PM
VCT
We’re thrilled to screen Episode 1 of Global TV’s Family Law from creator/showrunner Susin Nielsen. The show follows a lawyer and recovering alcoholic struggling to put her career and family back together after hitting rock bottom. The result is a dysfunctional family law firm helping other families with their own dysfunctions. After the screening, the show’s writing team talk about their roles, breaking stories, and blending character drama and procedural elements to create a satisfying episode. GUESTS
Susin Nielsen – Creator/Showrunner • Sonja Bennett – Writer/Supervising Producer • Jordan Hall – Writer/Junior Story Editor • Ken Craw – Writer/Supervising Producer • Miriam van Emst – Executive Producers’ and Writers’ Assistant • Sarah Dodd – Writer/Co-Executive Producer • Corey Liu – Writer/ Executive Story Editor HOST
Jennica Harper Co-Creator/Showrunner, Jann Supported by
The Many Saints of Newark: Directing Masterclass with Alan Taylor FRI, OCT 8
6:00 PM
HOST
Alan Taylor Director
Tim Southam Director The Good Doctor
Presented by
HOST
Kevin Eastwood Writer/Director British Columbia: An Untold History
Creator Talk: British Columbia: An Untold History FRI, OCT 8 CONN
Emmy-winning director Alan Taylor has helmed some of our favorite episodes from such shows as Game of Thrones, Mad Men, Boardwalk Empire, and, of course, The Sopranos, HBO’s landmark award-winning series. On October 1, Tony Soprano is back! The Many Saints of Newark debuts in theatres and is the much-anticipated movie prequel to The Sopranos with Alan Taylor directing. Watch the film and join us for a behindthe-scenes look Alan’s directing style and some of his favourite scenes. GUEST
CONN
We’re thrilled to host Oscar-nominated filmmaker Julie Cohen to talk about her latest documentary, My Name Is Pauli Murray that was co-directed by Betsy West. The film is about the trailblazing LGBTQ and civil rights activist Pauli Murray. Told largely in Pauli’s own words, the film is a candid recounting of her unique and extraordinary journey as a pioneering attorney, activist, priest, and dedicated memoirist who shaped landmark litigation—and consciousness—around race and gender equity.
GUEST
Creator Talk: In the Writers’ Room with Family Law
3:00 PM
8:00 PM
VCT
British Columbia: An Untold History is an immersive four-part documentary series centred on retelling the history of British Columbia from a diverse and inclusive perspective by the people who lived it and those who have studied it. The project, commissioned by Knowledge Network, is led with a pluralistic and multi-narrative approach that highlights the history, the people, the rebels, and the dreamers that shaped this province. VIFF will premiere Episode 1, followed by a talk with the creative team. GUESTS
HOST
Trish Dolman Executive Producer Kevin Eastwood Writer/Director Leena Minifie Producer
Naveen Girn Community Engagement Strategist
Presented by
Supported by
YOUR WORK INSPIRES OUR WORK WarnerMedia is here and interested in the stories you want to tell. Access Canada is present all across Canada to find talent like you. Shape your story here. WarnerMedia is a proud supporter of the Vancouver International Film Festival.
D O W NTO W N VA N C O U V E R
A PROUD SPONSOR OF THE VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
@downtownvan dtvan.ca
49
Community Broadcast Partner
Supported by
Detailing how indie creators guide their ambitious projects from the page to the screen, Totally Indie Day offers the next generation of filmmakers insights into how to employ both vision and resourcefulness. The one-day conference is an opportunity to share stories, gain insights, and learn more about the art and business of cinema.
Case Study: Portraits From a Fire OCT 2
10:00 AM
CONN
Join us for a behind-the-scenes look at the the making of Portraits From a Fire, the debut feature of Tsilhqot’in filmmaker Trevor Mack. The film tells the story of a teenage boy on a reserve who fights through distorting realities as a family secret unravels. The film’s director, producer, cinematographer, and editor will share their experiences about the development, financing, and production of the feature, plus the importance of partnering the film’s key creatives with Indigenous talent. PRESENTERS
Trevor Mack – Writer/Director • Kaayla Whachell – Cinematographer • Kate Kroll – Producer • Elad Tzadok – Editor • Rylan Friday – Producer Presented by
Opportunity Knocks: Below-the-line Talent OCT 2
1:30 PM
OCT 2
Ever driven by a film set and wondered, “who are all those people with walkie talkies?” The below-the-line (BTL) crew are involved with the day-to-day operations of getting a series made and are some of the most creative people on set! These are the folks turning the showrunners’ vision into a reality. Meet BTL talent from hit Warner Bros. shows as we discuss some specific careers in the industry, their roles in a production, collaborations with departments, and opportunities for career advancement. PRESENTERS
Graysen Sangster – Assistant Location Manager, Superman & Lois • Maya Mani – Costume Designer, Batwoman • Erika Kumar – Program Manager, WarnerMedia Access to Action Canada • Marnie Gee – BC Film Commissioner + Director of Production Services • Roxanne Rejfek – 2nd AD, Superman & Lois • Amanda McGowan – Key Makeup Artist, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow Presented by
OCT 2
11:15 AM
CONN
Award-winning director Jim Cummings (Thunder Road, The Wolf of Snow Hollow) is a multi-hyphenate, having worked pretty much every job one can on a film set. He is an expert on crowdfunding and self-distribution, collaborative approaches to team building, and employing great DIY strategies to getting an indie film off the ground. His latest film, The Beta Test, co-written/co-directed with PJ McCabe, is a comedy thriller about the packaging fight between the agencies and the Writers Guild of America. PRESENTERS
Jim Cummings – Writer/Director/Actor/Editor • PJ McCabe – Director/Writer/Actor • Albert Shin – Director, Together
/
Behind the Scenes of Cryptozoo CONN
Deep Dive: The Beta Test
2:45 PM
CONN
Indie Spirits OCT 2
4:00 PM
CONN
Dash Shaw is a cartoonist and animator whose latest feature, Cryptozoo, premiered at Sundance to rave reviews, won the NEXT Innovator Award, and continues to receive critical acclaim. The film features the voice talents of Lake Bell, Zoe Kazan, Michael Cera, and Louisa Krause, among others. We’re excited to hear Dash share his singular process of conceiving, writing, drawing, animating, voicing, and directing his psychedelic, groovy, and dazzling animated film, Cryptozoo.
From stories of immigration and spiritual journeys into the highlands of Harar to the drama of a young woman joining a scrap metal crew to pay for her education, our featured writer/ directors have unique perspectives that speak to bigger issues. They’ve risen to the challenge of debuting their films in a disrupted marketplace, earned multiple awards, and garnered critical acclaim along the way. We’re thrilled to chat with them about their process in bringing their stories to the screen.
PRESENTERS
PRESENTERS
Dash Shaw – Writer/Director • Ann Marie Fleming – Writer/ Director, Window Horses
Nicole Riegel – Writer/Director, Holler • Megan Park – Writer/ Director, The Fallout • Jessica Beshir – Writer/Director, Faya dayi • Nana Mensah – Writer/Director, Queen of Glory •Curtis Woloschuk – Associate Director of Programming, VIFF
We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada and Canada’s private radio broadcasters. Nous reconnaissons l’appui financier du gouvernement du Canada et des radiodiffuseurs privés du Canada.
51
Community Broadcast Partner
Supported by
Expanding the festival experience beyond the cinema screen, VIFF Immersed showcases the power of XR technology. Immerse yourself in exceptional virtual and augmented reality stories from around the globe, available for free across six online platforms as part of the VIFF Immersed Exhibition. In addition, the VIFF Immersed XR Market provides a platform for XR creators to connect with industry leaders, distributors, investors, producers, and executives to accelerate the next wave of immersive storytelling.
XR Market The VIFF Immersed XR Market connects top XR creators and industry leaders with their colleagues from around the globe. Hosted at the Museum of Other Realities, the Market features a showcase of live-action, documentary, and animated VR/AR content from the next wave of XR creators. Selected artists are given the opportunity to pitch their projects in front of investors, distributors, producers, and curators, as well as compete for the VIFF Immersed Grant. Presented by
Produced by
Exhibition The VIFF Immersed Exhibition honours VR and AR storytelling at its finest. Transport yourself to other worlds from the comfort of your home, with cinematic live-action, animation, documentaries, and cuttingedge virtual reality and augmented reality. Held across six online platforms, this is one of the most widely accessible festival programs for XR. Included are the finalists from the Immersed Competition and content produced in British Columbia, home to the second largest XR ecosystem in the world.
Baba Yaga
Beat
Namoo
The Passengers: The Kit
dir. Eric Darnell (United States) Canadian Premiere
dir. Keiskuke Itoh (Japan) Canadian Premiere
dir. Erick Oh (United States) Canadian Premiere
dir. Ziah Touma (Canada) Canadian Premiere
Red Eyes
Uku Pacha
Hydrocosmos
Symphony VR
dir. Sngmoo Lee (Republic of Korea) North American Premiere
dir. Diego Bonilla (Ecuador) World Premiere
dir. Milad Tangshir (Italy) North American Premiere
dir. Igor Cortadellas (Spain) North American Premiere
Inside COVID19
Don’t Forget Me
Mission to Mars AR
Crime Door: The Delphi Murders
dir. Gary Yost (United States) B.C. Premiere
dirs. George Brent, Ken Winikur (United States) B.C. Premiere
dirs. Piotr Baczyński, Bartosz Rosłoński (United States) North American Premiere
dir. Neil Mandt (United States) World Premiere
A New Normal
Chord VR dir. Ryan Atimoyoo (Canada) Canadian Premiere
Awaken the Giants: Sinisteria & Shrek
Jingle Ville
dir. Asavari Kumar (India/United States) World Premiere
JURORS
Valerie Creighton – President and CEO, Canada Media Fund Jenni Ogden – Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder of 4D FüN, Inc. and President, Executive Producer of Eye Q Productions Loc Dao – Executive Director, DigiBC Alton Glass – CEO, Storyteller, GRX Immersive Labs Eric Cheng – Immersive Media Lead, Facebook Reality Labs Alexey Marfin – Film Director Loretta Todd – Creative Director, IM4 Tamara Shogaolu – Founder, Creative Director, Ado Ato Pictures Jingshu Chen – Co-Founder, VeeR Exhibition pieces will be available to view through Oculus TV, VeeR VR, Museum of Other Realities, SideQuest, rad., Kreis Immersive and YouTube VR between October 1–11, 2021. Further instructions on how to access content on each platform will be provided on viff.org closer to the Exhibition opening. Curated by
dir. Julianna Loh (Canada) World Premiere | BC Showcase
dir. Julianna Loh (Canada) World Premiere | BC Showcase
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The VIFF AMP summit covers every angle of screen music, from composition to artist management to having your songs featured in film, TV, advertising, and gaming. Composers, music supervisors, managers, filmmakers, and students are given the opportunity to step up their film music game with pro tips, case studies, and networking opportunities through a program of masterclasses, Q&A’s, panel discussions, and music showcases.
Supported by
AMP Opening Keynote: Linda Perry OCT 8 OCT 8
2:00 PM 2:00 PM
VCT CONN
PRESENTERS
Aamina Gant – Music Supervisor, Salt-N-Pepa, Love Island • Janine Scalise Boyd – Music Supervisor • Evelin Garcia – Music Director, Reminiscence, Godzilla vs. Kong, Peter Rabbit 2 • Everton Lewis, Jr. – Music Supervisor, Anyone’s Game, Yo! MTV Raps, All or Nothing • Rob Calder – AMP Program Curator • Tony Scudellari – Senior VP Television Music, Sony Pictures Entertainment
Presented by
2:00 PM 2:00 PM
VCT CONN
Hosted by Tarun Nayar (Delhi 2 Dublin, Snakes x Ladders, 5X Festival), we return to this popular panel with a new group of artists who will share their experiences on how they have successfully made the crossover from the pop world to working in music for media: Dean “DC” Charles (J Cole, Patti LaBelle, Raphael Saadiq), Dan “The Automator” Nakamura (Gorillaz, Deltron 3030, Dr. Octagon) and Isa Summers (Florence and The Machine).
PRESENTERS
Isa Summers – Songwriter, Composer, Little Fires Everywhere, Physical, Sex/Life • Dan “The Automator” Nakamura – Producer, Composer, Engineer, and DJ, Booksmart, and Always Be My Maybe • Dean “DC” Charles – Composer, Producer, The Boondocks, CSI: Miami • Tarun Nayar – Manager, Artist, Snakes x Ladders
Community Broadcast Partner
Presented by Music BC, SOUNDOFF is a platform for our most promising local musicians with a focus on song placement and sync licensing in film and TV. Local artists perform songs and connect with music supervisors at this expansive yet intimate live gathering.
OCT 9 OCT 9
What do P!nk, Celine Dion, Alicia Keys, James Blunt, Christina Aguilera, Adele, and Gwen Stefani all have in common? All have recorded songs by the legendary Linda Perry. Perry has also composed songs and musical scores for film and television. AMP is honoured to open our weekend of programming with a one-onone conversation between this musical icon and Producers Lounge creative director Jane Aurora to go over Perry’s career and do a deep dive into her working process. Linda Perry – Producer, Songwriter • Jane Aurora – Producer, Musician
MUSIC BC’s SOUNDOFF
AMP’s Stages to Screens: The Sequel
AMP Masterclass: The Music for “Daughter of a Lost Bird” OCT 10 OCT 10
2:00 PM 2:00 PM
VCT CONN
A look inside the process of creating the evocative score for the film Daughter of a Lost Bird with director Brooke Pepion Swaney and composer Laura Ortman. Swaney and Ortman will share their process of working together and the importance of cultural identity and sensitivity in creating a film about personal discovery in the context of Indigenous culture. PRESENTERS
Laura Ortman – Composer, Daughter of a Lost Bird • Brooke Pepion Swaney – Director, Daughter of a Lost Bird • Tony Scudellari – Senior VP Television Music, Sony Pictures Entertainment • Rob Calder – AMP Program Curator
PRESENTERS
AMP’s The Art of Composition: Scoring Epically OCT 10 OCT 10
4:00 PM 4:00 PM
VCT CONN
In 2021, how do we define superheroes and how does a composer score a superhero project to reflect this new era? Scoring a superhero project has its unique set of challenges and opportunities. Moderated by composer and Sound Composers Guild of Canada Vice President Adrian Ellis, Natalie Holt (Loki) and Laura Karpman (What If…?, Lovecraft Country) will share what it means to score epically in today’s world of film and television. PRESENTERS
Laura Karpman – Composer, Ask Your Mama, What If...?, Lovecraft Country • Natalie Holt – Composer, Loki • Adrian Ellis – Composer, Vice President, SCGC • Nora Kroll Rosenbaum – Composer, Bird Karma, Lenny, Stockholm Pennsylvania
AMP’s The Art of Music Supervision: Theatrical Trailers OCT 9 OCT 9
4:00 PM 4:00 PM
VCT CONN
Did you know that music supervision for theatrical trailers requires an approach vastly different from music supervision for the film and television world? Learn about the process, including sound design and what music supervisors for trailers look for when choosing music. Our panel will have three of the top talents in the business of theatrical trailer music supervision: Disney’s Brian Vickers, SILO Music’s Reuben Sears, and Wild Card’s Evelin Garcia. PRESENTERS
Evelin Garcia – Music Director, Reminiscence, Godzilla vs. Kong, Peter Rabbit 2 • Reuben Sears – SVP, Trailers and Promos, SILO Music • Brian Vickers – Music Supervisor, Walt Disney Studios • Tony Scudellari – Senior VP Television Music, Sony Pictures Entertainment
AMP Closing Keynote: Laura Karpman OCT 10 OCT 10
7:30 PM 7:30 PM
VCT CONN
VIFF AMP closes our programming with a conversation about music and culture with Vancouver Symphony Orchestra President and CEO Angela Elster and Grammy and Emmy Award-winning composer Laura Karpman. Karpman’s music is on the cutting edge of various musical genres (film and television scoring, symphonic music, opera, jazz, and pop) and she has been one of the leaders in the fight for greater diversity and inclusion in the entertainment industry. PRESENTERS
Laura Karpman – Composer, Ask Your Mama, What If...?, Lovecraft Country • Angela Elster – President and CEO, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
Buy tickets and read full film descriptions at viff.org
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FIÈRE DE PROMOUVOIR ET DE FAIRE RAYONNER LES TALENTS CANADIENS ET LEURS HISTOIRES AU PAYS COMME À L’ÉTRANGER. TÉLÉFILM EST AU CŒUR DE L’INDUSTRIE AUDIOVISUELLE CANADIENNE. A PROUD CHAMPION OF CANADIAN TALENT AND STORIES, AT HOME AND ABROAD. TELEFILM IS AT THE HEART OF THE CANADIAN AUDIOVISUAL INDUSTRY.
TELEFILM.CA
