Welcome to VIFF

Ever Deadly is an intimate portrait of the acclaimed Inuk throat singer Tanya Tagaq, combining exceptional performance recordings with interviews, verité camerawork, archival material, and hand-drawn animation.

A realist on the surface, Edward Hopper always suggested worlds beyond his compositions, distilling a vivid, solitary sense of life in the 20th century. This doc from the Exhibition on Screen series explores America's favourite artist. World Premiere.

Unemployed and emasculated in the shadow of his father and older brother, Haider accepts a job at a theatre as a backup dancer for Biba, a trans woman trying to succeed as an erotic dancer, hiding the truth from his family as he begins an affair with her.

Based on a true story, Cioma Schönhaus, a young Jewish man living in 1942 Berlin, forges passports for Jewish people to escape the country. Instead of hiding, he impersonates military personnel so he can live life, risking discovery by the Gestapo.

In this rather special film, Lizzie MacKenzie trains her camera on octogenarian Ken Smith, who has lived more than four decades off-the-grid on the shores of Loch Treig, in the Scottish Highlands. This cheerful hermit is a personable storyteller.

Matt Sarnecki explores the murder of a Slovak reporter in a documentary that grips like a true page-turner: among the story ingredients are gangsters, crooked cops, blackmail, hidden thumb drives, and assassination plots via emoji-laced text messages.

Ten-year-old Moja has her hands full taking care of her pregnant sister Vesna and their grief-stricken father, all reeling from the sudden loss of their mother. A stirring debut by Cannes Cinéfondation alumna Sara Kern.

Aditya Vikram Sengupta explores the depths and vagaries of the human condition through an agoraphobic recluse, a young man working in a chit fund, and a TV host striking out for a new life against the backdrop of a crumbling, nostalgia-mired Calcutta.

This candid observational documentary gives us the inside story on the rise of Extinction Rebellion, the environmental protest movement which injected new urgency into climate activism. An empowering testament to the inspiring impact of direct action.

Ana Sofia Fonseca's documentary about legendary singer Cesária Évora offers a rare glimpse into the Queen of Morna's mischievous humour, her love of Capo Verde, and her extraordinary ability to translate emotion into melody.

The Rocket—a paddle steamer—has been ferrying rich and poor through Bangladesh for the best part of a century. This kinetic and artfully chaotic hybrid documentary immerses us in a two-day journey and gives us a vivid snapshot of the country.

In 1968 Czechoslovakia, a small-town notary refuses to join the Communist Party. Inspired by director Beata Parkanová's own grandparents, The Word depicts the intimate lives of Václav and Věra and their bond in the face of political intimidation.

In the Dominican Republic, Yarisa works as a maid and a nanny for a wealthy, powerful family. When she suffers a personal tragedy, she must re-evaluate the last two decades of her life and her relationship with the family to whom she has given so much.

Thirteen-year-old Opio works at a gold mine in Burkina Faso. It’s a harsh existence, and to earn the money for an education that might liberate him from it, the child must take a new, dangerous step in his occupation.

The Melt Goes On Forever chronicles the elusive and provocative African-American artist David Hammons' body of work, which is firmly rooted in the questioning of dominant culture and exposing racial injustice.

One of the best rock climbers in the world, Adam Ondra prepares for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. An intimate portrait of devotion and dedication to the art of climbing alongside the mental and physical toll it takes along the path to greatness.

After some petty theft grants three queer adolescents admission to a Toronto gay club, they are left to confront dark consequences. Joseph Amenta’s debut feature is a love letter to friendships and a testament to the queer community’s perseverance.

A New York City councilwoman, a corporate lawyer, and a newly released convict are pitted against each other in a web of blackmail as they walk the razor’s edge between their morals and the standard judicial process.

A Syrian doctor struggles to hold on to his identity as his family adjusts to life in Canada. Director Antoine Bourges (Fail to Appear) continues his social realist project, turning a lens this time to struggles faced by new immigrants to Canada.

It may sound esoteric but this is a joyous film about the historical anomaly of whimsical, eccentric, aesthetically audacious bus stops that permeated the vast Soviet Bloc, lovingly, obsessively tracked down by Canadian photographer Chris Herwig.

In this zippy doc, we learn about a new way of representing the past, and meet community curators and archivists from across BC whose mission is to share the secret, neglected, and untold histories of this place we only think we know.

In this autobiographical documentary, director Charo Mato flits between childhood stories, the science of hearing loss, and the poetry of life and language to explore the stories of the d/Deaf and hard of hearing while resisting a monolithic experience.

During Australia's apocalyptic bushfires in 2019-2020, volunteer firefighters put their lives on the line to save their communities. A clarion call about climate change and an ode to the camaraderie of strangers standing together in the midst of a crisis.

The Klabona Keepers is a fierce account of the Tahltan Nation's struggle to protect the Klabona Sacred Headwaters from commercial mining. Interspersing verité cinematography with interviews, the film documents the tactics used by the land defenders.