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Thanks to the Hard Work of the Elephants

Dir. Bryce Hodgson
91 min

High on LSD and eager to break loose, two teenage boys escape the youth treatment centre that has kept them confined. Four hundred kilometres later, they wrestle with the trauma of their experiences in director Bruce Hodgson's unsettling debut.

SFU Woodwards International Village 7
The Art of Adventure
The Art of Adventure film image; person talking to someone leaning out of a dusty bus window

The Art of Adventure

Dir. Alison Reid
90 min

The unbelievable adventure story of how painter Robert Bateman and ecologist Bristol Foster drove a Land Rover from Africa to Australia in 1957, developing a love of nature to last a lifetime. An inspirational love letter to the adventure of life itself.

Vancouver Playhouse Granville Island Stage
The Blue Trail
The Blue Trail film image; woman admiring a giant garden sculpture of a human face

The Blue Trail

Dir. Gabriel Mascaro
86 min

In a near-future Brazil, elderly citizens are forcibly relocated to live out their days in a senior housing colony. When 77-year-old Tereza learns that she will soon be taken away, she embarks on a fantastical odyssey into the Amazon.

International Village 9 Alliance Francaise Granville Island Stage
The Bora
The Bora film image; concerned man in a room full of papers

The Bora

Dir. Mohammad Esmaeili
85 min

The discovery of a dead body during a mountain expedition unravels a 15-year-old murder mystery linked to the victim’s friend. This sharply scripted arthouse procedural marks a sophisticated spin on the endlessly popular true crime trope.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema The Cinematheque
The Condor Daughter
The Condor Daughter film image; person laying their head on another person's shoulder in a vehicle under purple lighting

The Condor Daughter

Dir. Álvaro Olmos Torrico
103 min

In the Bolivian Andes, a teen raised by a midwife longs to trade ancestral birth songs for a spotlight in the city. Álvaro Olmos Torrico’s The Condor Daughter is a lyrical, tender story of inheritance, ambition, and the power to choose your own path.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema Fifth Avenue Cinema - 19+ only Granville Island Stage
The Essence of Eva
The Essence of Eva film image; woman pressing her arm to her mouth

The Essence of Eva

Dir. Malcolm Willis & Alex Fegan
85 min

Tragically dying years before she’d rise to global fame, Eva Cassidy was an uncompromising artist whose transcendent voice still resonates. With never-before-heard recordings and footage, this intimate portrait captures the person behind the legend.

Granville Island Stage International Village 9

The Great North

Dir. Jenn Nkiru
52 min

Jenn Nkiru’s The Great North transforms Manchester into a portal of memory, labour, and resistance, where red brick echoes with diasporic histories. A radical, rhythmic debut rooted in Afro-surrealism and ancestral recall.

International Village 7 International Village 10

The Ice Tower

Dir. Lucile Hadžihalilović
118 min

In Lucile Hadžihalilović’s spellbinding fantasy drama, an orphan (Clara Pacini) becomes enthralled by a movie star (Marion Cotillard) playing the Snow Queen in a fairy tale film adaptation. Winner of the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution.

The Cinematheque Alliance Francaise
The Ivy
The Ivy film image; woman combing a man's hair

The Ivy

Dir. Ana Cristina Barragán
98 min

Azucena seeks to reconnect with her 18-year-old son, Julio, whom she abandoned at an orphanage after giving birth to him at age 13. The pull is undeniable as the two find their way back into each other's lives, but unresolved issues loom.

International Village 7 International Village 8 International Village 10
The Last One for the Road
The Last One for the Road film image; three people drinking at a bar

The Last One for the Road

Dir. Francesco Sossai
100 min

Two middle-aged drunkards drive across the Veneto region on a freewheeling bender, taking a young college student along for the ride. A celebration of the spirit of drink and the kinds of stories told around a table of old friends and too much wine.

International Village 9 Alliance Francaise Granville Island Stage
The Little Sister
The Little Sister film image; woman leaning against a colourful mosaic tiled wall

The Little Sister

Dir. Hafsia Herzi
107 min

The youngest of three sisters in a conservative Franco-Arab household, Fatima is absorbed in her studies and resisting the family pressure to be married off. But the pull to explore sensual realms grows stronger by the day.

Image: © Entract Films

International Village 10 Fifth Avenue Cinema - 19+ only
The Love That Remains
The Love That Remains film image; group of people hiking down a grassy mountaintop

The Love That Remains

Dir. Hlynur Pálmason
109 min

Anna and Magnús have separated, leaving her to raise their three children as he spends long stretches at sea, working as a fisherman. As the seasons pass, their emotions ebb and flow. A richly conceived story with unexpected delight and humour.

Image: © Hlynur Pálmason

Fifth Avenue Cinema - 19+ only International Village 9
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