Now Playing
The Teacher Who Promised the Sea
Based on a true story, Patricia Font’s drama excavates a dark period in Spanish history. Antoni Benaiges takes up a village teaching position in 1935. But his new-fangled ideas about learning outrage the local priest.
Living Together
Halima Elkhatabi’s delightful documentary feature takes us to 15 apartments in Montreal, where a diverse assortment of potential roommates interview each other as they search for compatibility, authentic connections, and a place to call home.
Rioja, Land of a Thousand Wines
Directed by multiple Goya award winner José Luis Lopez-Linares, this lip-smacking tour of Spain's best known wine region dives into the push and pull between tradition and innovation in an industry that is led by family dynasties.
Image © MORENA FILMS
Little Loves
Teresa (María Vázquez) is compelled to change her holiday plans to help her proudly independent mother (Adriana Ozores), who has had a fall. Mother and daughter will spend a stifling summer disagreeing on everything -- but finding each other again.
New Spanish Cinema
Jan 3 – 7
Kick off the new year in style with a vibrant celebration of Spanish storytelling at the VIFF Centre. Featuring five premieres of standout Spanish films, the fifth annual New Spanish Cinema combines hope, heart, song, dance — and of course, wine.
Little Loves
Teresa (María Vázquez) is compelled to change her holiday plans to help her proudly independent mother (Adriana Ozores), who has had a fall. Mother and daughter will spend a stifling summer disagreeing on everything -- but finding each other again.
They Will Be Dust
When stage veteran Claudia decides she doesn't want to wait out her terminal illness, longtime partner and director Flavi calls the family together to break the news... Fantastic musical numbers and comedy offset scenes of wrenching emotion.
The Teacher Who Promised the Sea
Based on a true story, Patricia Font’s drama excavates a dark period in Spanish history. Antoni Benaiges takes up a village teaching position in 1935. But his new-fangled ideas about learning outrage the local priest.
Rioja, Land of a Thousand Wines
Directed by multiple Goya award winner José Luis Lopez-Linares, this lip-smacking tour of Spain's best known wine region dives into the push and pull between tradition and innovation in an industry that is led by family dynasties.
Image © MORENA FILMS
Citizen Artist Activist... Lino Brocka
Jan 10 – 16
One of the greatest Filipino filmmakers of all time, Lino Brocka is a figurehead for artists who champion the marginalized and the exploited even through the hardest times; who speak truth to power and refuse to back down.
This is the cinema of resistance. This is the cinema of an artist who wasn’t afraid. There is no time more well suited than now to remember his example.
Bona (New 4K Restoration)
Philippine superstar Nora Aunor plays against type as Bona, a schoolgirl infatuated with a hunky supporting actor (Phillip Salvador as the noxious Gardo) in this kicky rediscovered Lino Brocka classic.
Victor Noriega's Kuyatet + Lino Brocka's Manila in the Claws of Light
To celebrate our spotlight on Filipino director Lino Brocka, we are pairing a screening of Manila in the Claws of Light with an hour of jazz interpretations of Filipino music led by Victor Noriega, with his band Kuyatet ("Kuya" means "Brother" in Tagalog).
National Anarchist: Lino Brocka
If you don't have time to work your way through all 60-odd features Lino Brocka made between 1970 and 1991, let his compatriot and acolyte, video artist Khavn De La Cruz, fast-forward through them for you in this fragmentary, fired-up super cut.
Insiang
Jealousy and violence take center stage in this claustrophobic melodrama set in the slums of Manila. Lino Brocka crafts an eviscerating portrait of an innocent daughter and her bitter mother, used and abused by men.
Manila in the Claws of Light
A pungent slice of neo-realist noir, Manila in the Claws of Light is regarded as the greatest Philippine movie ever made. It's the story of a fisherman, Julio, who comes to the big city in the footsteps of his fiancée, who has gone missing.
Bong 1-7
Jan 17 – 23
Bong Joon-ho is one of the key filmmakers of our time. His movies are sharply satirical, violent, high concept, and yet, somehow, irrefutably human.
Join us for a complete retrospective of all seven of Bong’s features, and a bonus anthology film.
Bong 1-7 Symposium: Jan 18 & 19
Join us for a weekend of expert talks and screenings of all 7 films
Memories of Murder
Parasite director Bong Joon-ho's police procedural is the centrepiece of our retrospective and arguably his masterpiece. Certainly, among serial killer movies this one is on a par with Zodiac and The Silence of the Lambs, but more politically astute.
Barking Dogs Never Bite
Bong's first film is a genial black comedy involving the deaths -- accidental and otherwise -- of several dogs in a Seoul apartment complex. Saturday's screening will be followed by a talk by Distinguished Professor Dal Yong Jin.
First Look Fridays
Enjoy $10 tickets at the first Friday matinee screening of these films.
Grand Theft Hamlet
Jan 17
The play’s the thing in this inspired virtual production of Hamlet, staged entirely in the realm of Grand Theft Auto by a couple of under-employed British actors during lockdown. It’s very funny, wildly inventive, and surprisingly revealing.
Relaxed Screenings & Captioned Screenings
Our monthly Relaxed Screenings are open to anyone who would benefit from a sensory-friendly experience.
Our Wednesday matinee Captioned Screenings welcome Deaf and hard of hearing audiences, along with anyone who benefits from captions.
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
Relaxed Screening
Jan 19, 11:30 am
Aardman Animation’s handcrafted mix of dad jokes, slapstick, mock dramatics and understated emotion makes this return for the claymation odd couple a constant delight. The villainous Feathers McGraw is back to no good, commandeering Norbot the robot. Rated: G
Emilia Pérez
Captioned Screening
Jan 22, 1:30 pm
When a defence attorney (Zoe Saldana) is enlisted to tend to the affairs of a notorious drug lord (Karla Sofía Gascón) completing gender affirmation surgery, there will be blood, ballads, and dance numbers. A maximalist musical from Jacques Audiard.
Screens with Hearing Assistance, Open Captions
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