Program A-Z

Can a filmmaker depict the future without AI? Damien Hauser crafts a genre-blending Afro-speculative fable about love, war, and the future of storytelling in a resurrected African kingdom. A micro-budget epic fueled by digital invention and heart.

Ryan (Peter Dreimanis) and Andie (Leah Fay Goldstein) meet in the aftermath of a car crash, forging a friendship that slowly cruises towards something deeper. The film succeeds both as a breezy romance and a poignant reflection on commitment and freedom.

In this fresh, quirky rom-com from director Chandler Levack (I Like Movies, VIFF 2022), a young music critic (Barbie Ferreira) searches for her voice as a writer in Montreal while falling head over feet for two members of the same indie rock band.

Following a car crash that kills her boyfriend, piano student Laura is physically unhurt but emotionally distraught. Following the accident, she finds solace with a local woman who takes her in, but soon finds herself in an eerie, enigmatic family situation.

Image: © Schramm Film A4 Kopie

In director Nicole Bazuin’s cheeky, stylized documentary, Modern Whore-memoirist Andrea Werhun (Paying for It, VIFF 2024) recounts her experiences as an escort and stripper in Toronto, debunking misconceptions about the world’s oldest profession.

From the indoctrination of youth to increasing surveillance, populist ethno-nationalist and fascist ideologies continue to take root, yet dissent remains at the fore.

Intimate and unapologetic stories of women and queer lives are uncovered through provocative and deeply personal accounts that examine memory, identity, and dignity.

Moving through often uncharted (subaltern) territory, these works and their subjects carry the remnants of emotional and physical labour on their shoulders, both literally and figuratively.

Blending sci-fi and family drama, My Father's Son takes us through the past, present, and future of a computer engineer. As a child, Qiao is bullied by his father; in the present, his father is laid to rest; and in the future, he’s resurrected via AI.

Adjusting to her new life as a mother after the traumatic birth of her son, Pénélope witnesses a violent robbery that triggers visions of her sister’s death. Chloé Cinq-Mars’s debut feature is a tense psychological thriller exploring postpartum depression.

One part city symphony, one part introspective meditation, one part epistolary text, News from Home is a structuralist masterwork by Belgium’s genius of contemplation, Chantal Akerman.

Love becomes an act of defiance when a queer actor and a closeted politician discover a mutual fetish for public sex in the streets of Porto Alegre. A steamy, slow-burn erotic thriller with a dreamy neo-noir aesthetic.