Now Playing
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
American photographer Nan Goldin is famous for her empathetic pictures of intimate, exuberant, anguished urban bohemia. Today Goldin is using her celebrity to denounce the Sackler family's art-washing tactics and their role in the opioid crisis.
Part of the Pack
The wolf has always been a haunting symbol of the wild. This beautifully shot BC-made film looks at the complex and evolving relationship between wolf and human, including a focus on world famous southern Vancouver island celebrity, Takaya.
Revival 69: The Concert that Rocked the World
Incorporating live performance footage shot by the legendary DA Pennebaker, Revival 69 details the incredible behind-the-scenes story of Toronto's Woodstock, featuring John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Alice Cooper and The Doors.
Rian Johnson: Master of Misdirection
January 27 – February 2
If he wasn’t one of the best writer-directors working in Hollywood, Rian Johnson would surely find an alternative vocation as a master illusionist.
Like the best magicians, Johnson distracts us with his wit and charm, he casts a spell, hypnotizes us with our own preconceptions, and by the time he lays his cards on the table somehow it’s always a royal flush.
Join us for this classic retrospective, full of twists, turns, and a dash of mystery.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
The Skywalker saga continues as the heroes of Star Wars: The Force Awakens join the galactic legends in an epic adventure that unlocks new mysteries of the Force and shocking revelations of the past.
© & TM Lucasfilm Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Used Under Authorization
Black History Month at VIFF Centre
February 1 – 28
We hope you’ll agree, February is as good a time as any to celebrate Black film, Black film artists, Black thinkers and activists, and to highlight the legacy of slavery, white supremacy, colonization and capitalism that underpins our unjust society.
Our BHM programming this year includes two series: Icons and Dispatches, along with week-long engagements for some of last year’s most acclaimed movies.
Icons
Icons spotlights the accomplishments of American movie stars like Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Samuel L Jackson, Angela Bassett, Chadwick Boseman and others, emulating and transcending the path beaten by Sidney Poitier 60 years ago.
Dispatches
Dispatches turns from fantasy to reality, with a focus on documentaries, ideas, and social justice, including work by and about James Baldwin, Camille Billops, and two exceptional recent Canadian films, Dear Jackie and Our Dance of Revolution.
Tollywood or Bust:
The Movie Maximalism of S.S. Rajamouli
January 1 – February 12
If you’re not familiar with S.S. Rajamouli’s work, then you are in for a treat. His high voltage mash-ups spark with comedy, spectacle, conflict, passion and music. Here is a pop Cinema prodigy who doesn’t play by the rules, a movie magician who will surprise and delight.
Tollywood or Bust plays Sunday afternoons through January and February.
Baahubali: The Beginning
Rajamouli dived deep into Joseph Campbell territory here, crafting a classic epic adventure saga on a such a scale he needed two films to showcase it. The ambition of this production is breathtaking, a Telugu analogue to Avatar and Lord of the Rings.
Baahubali 2: The Conclusion
Both a sequel and a prequel (though swift recaps mean you don't need to have seen The Beginning), BB2 is structured to exploit S.S. Rajamouli's maximalist tendencies. Indeed, it became the most expensive Indian film, and India's biggest ever box office hit.
Cinema Salon
January 31
Cinema Salon is VIFF’s longest running series, almost as old as our cinema itself! Host Melanie Friesen invites a distinguished guest to present a favourite film of their choosing. The evening begins with an introduction to the movie, and our guest will stay to lead a discussion with the audience.
Black Orpheus (35mm)
1960 Academy Award Winner and winner of the Palme d’Or at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival, Black Orpheus retells the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice against the madness of Carnival in Rio de Janeiro.
Guest Presenter: Percussionist Sal Ferraras.
KDocsFF 2023
February 22 – 26
As Metro Vancouver’s premier social justice film festival, KDocsFF celebrates the power of documentary film and documentary activism.
The annual KDocsFF film festival showcases award-winning documentary films, keynote speakers, filmmakers, panelists, Q&As, exhibitors, performances, and community partners.
First Look Fridays
Enjoy $10 tickets + complimentary tea & coffee at the first Friday matinee screening of these films.
Descendant
Brown's moving film zeroes in on the descendants of the 110 slaves brought in on the last known slave ship to transport kidnapped Africans to America as human cargo, an illegal shipment undertaken as a bet by a local landowner, Timothy Meaher.
One Fine Morning
A single mother working to support her young daughter and her ailing father, navigates the labyrinthine system of care homes, with their financial and logistical burdens. Then, an encounter with an old friend blossoms into a passionate affair.
James Baldwin Abroad: Istanbul - Paris - London
These three short docs, from 1968 - 1973, offer sharp, piercing glimpses of Baldwin in private and public, sometimes in repose and relaxed but more often holding forth, embroiled in the thorny discourse of racial politics, identity and self expression.
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