Welcome to VIFF

A conversation about the terminology denoting the MENA/SWANA region.

Geographies explores our direct relationship to nature and how our survival is deeply interconnected with the land. These films discuss how climate change impacts our relationships to both natural and human made spaces, and the creatures we share them with.

A Middle-Eastern medical school student, new to Montreal, puts his relationship with his father at risk when he forfeits his education after being forever changed by two young women. Montréal Girls follows his journey and his quest for love and enlightenment.

Foragers moves between documentary and fiction to depict the dramas between the Israeli Nature Protection Authority and Palestinian foragers. With a wry sense of humor, the film captures the inherited love, resilience and knowledge of these traditions, over an eminently political backdrop.

By tracing the development work of the new choreographic performance by choreographer Bouziane Bouteldja, the film sheds light on the dancers' questions about identity in a conservative Moroccan society that believes in traditional jobs and family stability.

A conversation on returning to Indigenous sovereignty through the reclamation of traditional foods and land-based cultural practices from Turtle Island and Palestine, with the documentary Foragers as a starting point.