Let the Festival Begin!
The wait is over! We are excited to share with you the stellar line-up for the 45th Vancouver International Film Festival, October 1 – 11. Over 160 films, 85 shorts, VIFF Live performances, VIFF Talks, and special events will light up the screens and stages across Vancouver. Take a moment, explore the program and get ready to VIFF!
Today's Highlights
Everybody Digs Bill Evans
Oct 10 & 11
Dir. Grant Gee
“Elusive, ruminative and very absorbing,” Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
© Shane O’Connor 2026 Cowtown Pictures, Hot Property
Afterlives
Oct 10 & 11
Dir. Kevin B. Lee
An immersive, essayistic documentary, Afterlives is bursting with ideas.
Flesh and Fuel
Oct 10
Dir. Pierre Le Gall
A gay romance set in the unlikely milieu of the European trucking industry.
The Guest
Oct 10 & 11
Dir. Mads Mengel
Best Director: Special Jury Prize, Karlovy Vary 2026
© Henrik Ohsten
Kikuyu Land
Oct 10 & 11
Dir. Andrew H. Brown, Bea Wangondu
Best Documentary Feature Award, Mountainfilm Festival 2026; Best Cinematography for a Documentary Feature, Woods Hole Film Festival 2026
Ugly Cry
Oct 10 & 11
Dir. Emily Robinson
With a cheeky injection of delirium and dark humour, Ugly Cry takes a clever jab at internet-age beauty standards and gender norms.
Ticket Release
Is the movie you want to see on Standby? Check the VIFF Daily emails or this page every morning for seats to your most-wanted films! More tickets may become available throughout the Festival.
Tickets will become available online only at 12:00 pm.
Add These Films to Your Watchlist!
See something you’re interested in? Log into your VIFF account and click the heart icon to add it to your personal watchlist!
Hear the Yellow
Suna returns to her native Anatolian village for her nephew’s wedding, where the mystery of her sister’s disappearance still looms over the small community. Determined to finally get to the bottom of it, she must reckon with complicated circumstances.
Image: © Anagraffilm
Now Playing
Gabin
Filmed over 10 years, Gabin follows Gabin Jourdel from age 8 to 18 and the animals, schoolwork, chores, and imagined futures that define his youth. As he grows, his adolescence becomes a question of inheritance and choosing one’s own future.
WOLF
Narrated by Tilda Swinton, WOLF contrasts the chaotic wilderness of musician Patrick Wolf’s early career with his current cultivation of a more contemplative life. This is a tender portrait of an artist rediscovering himself to prevail against the odds.
Hear the Yellow
Suna returns to her native Anatolian village for her nephew’s wedding, where the mystery of her sister’s disappearance still looms over the small community. Determined to finally get to the bottom of it, she must reckon with complicated circumstances.
Image: © Anagraffilm
Everybody Digs Bill Evans
After taping two of the greatest jazz records in a single day, legendary pianist Bill Evans (Anders Danielsen Lie) stops playing for the first time since childhood. This is the story of what happened next for this incredibly influential and gifted artist.
Image: © Shane O’Connor 2026 Cowtown Pictures, Hot Property
Heysel 85
This harrowing drama recreates the 1985 European Cup Final in Belgium, when rival football fans clashed before a ball had even been kicked. Teodora Mihal's film captures the hubris, incompetence, and politicking that compounded the escalating chaos.
Jim Queen
When far-right activists infect gay influencer Jim Queen with a drug that turns him straight, he must join forces with a closeted follower to cure his ailment. Jim Queen is a film unafraid to skewer gay “body fascism” and bigoted conservatism alike.
Explore VIFF 2026's Film Program
View festival by genre, country, language and more
View festival on an interactive calendar grid
View festival from A to Z
Festival Encores
Coming Soon to VIFF Centre
NAZA
NAZA is a codeword euphemistically used by Israeli intelligence to indicate the number of civilians it expects will be killed in an airstrike. This chilling documentary exposes the policy and process of state-sanctioned mass killings.
Once Upon a Time in Harlem
Once Upon a Time in Harlem splices together footage shot by William Greaves in 1972 of a group of Harlem Renaissance luminaries in conversation at Duke Ellington’s townhouse. The film is a living archive of memory, disagreement, style, and Black genius.
Possible Love
Lee Chang-dong’s first film since Burning (2018) is a sardonic, slow-burning satire about two couples: a documentary filmmaker married to a wealthy businessman, and a working-class family struggling to make ends meet after the husband has been laid off.
The History of Concrete
After attending a workshop on pitching saccharine Hallmark movies, John Wilson tries to apply all the same best practices to his documentary about concrete. Frequently absurd and endlessly entertaining detours, asides, and digressions ensue.
La Bola Negra
A big, old-school historical melodrama gets a thrillingly modern, queer makeover from Spanish duo Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, who artfully juggle three gay protagonists across stories set in 1932, 1937, and 2017. Winner: Best Director, Cannes. Screening on 35mm.
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