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Image: Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat, at VIFF Centre

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Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat

Dir. Johan Grimonprez
150 min

In January 1961, seven months after Congolese independence, Patrice Lumumba is assassinated. In excavating the history of this political murder, this essay-film traces the complex and unlikely intersections of American jazz and Cold War geopolitics.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

The Seed of the Sacred Fig

Dir. Mohammad Rasoulof
167 min

A tense mystery and an act of radical protest, this film tells the story of an Iranian lawyer who’s lost his handgun and knows someone in his family took it. With every moment, his wife and daughters grow more afraid of him–yet none of them will confess…

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

To Kill a Mockingbird

Dir. Robert Mulligan
129 min

Robert Mulligan's beloved film adaptation of Harper Lee's novel is the tale of a white lawyer, Atticus Finch, defending an innocent black man accused of rape in a small southern town in the 1930s. As selected by VIFF Premium member Margot Pratt.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Every Little Thing

Dir. Sally Aitken
93 min

If you thought Flow was an emotional rollercoaster, wait til you meet Cactus and Wasabi, baby hummingbirds fighting for their lives under the loving care of hummingbird-whisperer Terry Masear, an Angelino who makes it her mission to nurse injured birds.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Universal Language

Dir. Matthew Rankin
89 min

In a wintery, Farsi-speaking city that’s equal measures Winnipeg and Tehran, storylines entangle and the concepts of space, time, and identity grow increasingly opaque. Inventive and absurd, Rankin's poetic fable reminds us that Winnipeg is a wonderland. Rated: G

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

LIZA: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story

Dir. Bruce David Klein
104 min

Even if you think you know about Liza Minnelli, you're guaranteed to glean unexpected insights into this admiring portrait of pizzazz personified.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Black History Month

The VIFF Centre marks Black History Month with a vibrant line-up of live events, guest-curated series, music documentaries, and more.

Feven Kidane & Tiny Pyramids Play the Music of Sun Ra

Dir. John Coney
160 min

Celebrate the music of Sun Ra with legendary local trumpeter Feven Kidane and Tiny Pyramids, a group of interstellar travellers featuring Dan Gaucher on drums, Colin Cowan on bass, Mary Ancheta on keyboards, and Tom Wherrett on guitar. This performance will be paired with a screening of Space is the Place.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Luther: Never Too Much

Dir. Dawn Porter
101 min

There is a lot more to soul superstar Luther Vandross than his honeyed hits. This definitive doc sheds light on his work with artists including David Bowie, Diana Ross and Aretha Franklin, his struggles with his image and sexuality, and remarkable gifts.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Play It Loud! How Toronto Got Soul

Dir. Graeme Mathieson
84 min

Legendary Toronto soul, funk, and ska singer Jay Douglas leads us through an energizing history of Canadian Caribbean music. Join us Friday night and meet Jay in person, along with producer Andrew Munger!

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Mami Wata + Drexciya

Dir. C.J. "Fiery" Obasi
119 min

Fiery Obasi's tremendous, dreamy fable, shot in inky, lustrous black and white, is an elemental tale of magic, devotion, and generational unease set in a traditional Nigerian village.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

The Pirogue

Dir. Moussa Touré
87 min

When offered the chance to lead one of the many Senegalese pirogues bound for Europe via the Canary Islands, Baye Laye reluctantly accepts the job, knowing full-well the many perils that lie ahead.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Mother of George

Dir. Andrew Dosunmu
107 min

Following their joyous wedding, complications arise for a Nigerian couple living in Brooklyn when they're unable to conceive a child - a problem that devastates their family, defies cultural expectations, and leads the wife to make a shocking decision.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Film Studies: Adaptation, Innovation & Evolution

Monday Afternoons Feb 3 – Mar 10

Filmmaker and educator Patricia Gruben unpacks the different approaches to writing for the screen when adapting from literary sources.

Explore Series

Tickets: $18

Series Pass $80

Pride & Prejudice

Dir. Joe Wright
128 min

In the first of a new six-week series on Monday afternoons, filmmaker and educator Patricia Gruben looks at different approaches to literary adaptation to the screen, beginning with Joe Wright's 2005 film of Pride & Prejudice.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Throne of Blood

Dir. Akira Kurosawa
109 min

In this week's Film Studies talk, filmmaker and educator Patricia Gruben considers how Shakespeare's dramas have been translated to feudal Japan (in Kurosawa's Throne of Blood), New York gangs in the 1950s, and to occupied Kashmir, among other examples.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

The Hours

Dir. Stephen Daldry
115 min

Patricia Gruben leads us on an investigation into translating interior monologue to the screen, taking the case study of how Virginia Woolf inspired the Academy Award winning film The Hours by way of Michael Cunningham's best-selling novel.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

The Sweet Hereafter

Dir. Atom Egoyan
112 min

Patricia Gruben traces the history of Atom Egoyan's acclaimed movie back through Russell Banks' novel, all the way to its source in a real-life tragedy.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Full Metal Jacket

Dir. Stanley Kubrick
116 min

Kubrick's famous Vietnam war film was inspired by two sources, Gustav Hasford's semi-autobiographical novella The Short-Timers, and Dispatches, a nonfiction account by Michael Herr. Both writers worked separately on the script, which Kubrick consolidated.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Poor Things

Dir. Yorgos Lanthimos
142 min

Patricia Gruben wraps up our Film Studies series on the art of screen adaptation with this carnivalesque feminist take on the Frankenstein myth, Tony McNamara and Yorgos Lanthimos's film of Alasdair Gray's novel.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Oscars® at VIFF Centre

Catch these Oscar®-nominated films on the big screen!

Flow

Dir. Gints Zilbalodis
84 min

In this wordless and gorgeously atmospheric animated feature, a solitary black cat survives a tsunami and must confront his fear of water whilst sailing through a flooded world with a group of misfit animals. An enchanting adventure film for all ages. Rated: G

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

The Seed of the Sacred Fig

Dir. Mohammad Rasoulof
167 min

A tense mystery and an act of radical protest, this film tells the story of an Iranian lawyer who’s lost his handgun and knows someone in his family took it. With every moment, his wife and daughters grow more afraid of him–yet none of them will confess…

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat

Dir. Johan Grimonprez
150 min

In January 1961, seven months after Congolese independence, Patrice Lumumba is assassinated. In excavating the history of this political murder, this essay-film traces the complex and unlikely intersections of American jazz and Cold War geopolitics.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Sugarcane

Dir. Julian Brave Noisecat & Emily Kassie
107 min

"Deeply impactful", Sugarcane is an important contribution to the ongoing process of Truth & Reconciliation in this country, a compassionate, sensitive account of the investigation into residential school abuse at Williams Lake, BC.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

No Other Land

Dir. Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham & Rachel Szor
96 min

Deemed by many critics one of the essential films of 2024, a multiple festival award winner and a nominee for the Academy Award for Best Documentary, No Other Land is a reminder that mass expulsion is by no means a new reality for Palestinians.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

First Look Fridays

Enjoy $10 tickets at the first Friday matinee screening of these films.

Explore VIFF's Year-Round Series

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Get the latest updates on our Festival, year-round programming and more – and get $5 off two VIFF Centre year-round film tickets.