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Set in Oregon, 1820 (and 100 years later), this is a Western unlike any you have seen before: the eponymous Jersey cow plays a pivotal role in the dreams of a baker (John Magaro) and his Chinese buddy (Orion Lee).

Kelly Reichardt's moving and exquisite debut feature stars Will Oldham and Daniel London as old friends who reunite for a weekend camping trip in the Cascades outside of Portland. Reichardt's new movie, The Mastermind, screens at VIFF.

In this slowburn comedy from Jim Jarmusch, Tom Waits and John Lurie are surly jailbirds who share a cramped cell with Roberto Benigni's Italian tourist, with transformative results. Jarmusch is back at VIFF this year with Father, Mother, Sister, Brother.

Three oddball tales centered on a single seedy Memphis hotel, this may be the most accessible and purely enjoyable Jarmusch movie, a bittersweet evocation of crumbling Americana, haunted by the ghosts of rock n roll.

A visiting filmmaker arrives a day early for a festival screening. He meets and courts a painter (Kim Minhee) and spends the evening with her. Halfway through, the movie starts over: Same people, same places, significantly different outcomes.

Kim Minhee (The Handmaiden, Right Now, Wrong Then) plays Younghee, an actress reeling in the aftermath of an affair with a married film director (an echo of her relationship with Hong in real life.)

Kit Eakle's 'Jaz'N'theViolin' String Band pay tribute to Louie Bluie, one of many fiddle players who gave birth to the new sounds of jazz and blues at the beginning of the twentieth century, followed by Terry Zwigoff's documentary portrait.

Rick Maddocks' visionary song cycle fuses indie, folk, classical music and dance, drawing inspiration from the climate emergency and the cinematic landscapes of spaghetti westerns. Followed by Sergio Sollima's The Big Gundown, starring Lee van Cleef.

Saxophone giant George Garzone celebrates free jazz with the help of the explosive Jerry Steinhilber Trio. Their set will be followed by a screening of Tom Surgal's documentary, Fire Music, featuring John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor.

Image: © Lee Tanner, The Jazz Image