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The Quiet Applause

Dir. Byun Sung-bin
81 min

This gentle, lyrical film stars Yang Hae-bom as San, an adorable toddler living in the countryside. Her life is peaceful save for the aggressive outbursts of her brother, whose autism has created tension between the parents…

SFU Woodwards International Village 9
The Story of Documentary Film – The 2000s
The Story of Documentary Film film image; man in a war zone

The Story of Documentary Film – The 2000s

Dir. Mark Cousins
117 min

The Story of Documentary Film – The 2000s enters a decade shaped by 9/11, war, fear, and politics. Through films such as The Cove and Grizzly Man, these chapters trace the documentary medium's encounter with modernity as it begins to unravel.

Image: © Iraq in Fragments, 2006, dir. James Longley, USA, Daylight Factory Typecast-Pictures

International Village 9 SFU Woodwards
The Story of Documentary Film – The 2010s & 2020s
The Story of Documentary Film film image; man walking into a black smoking battleground

The Story of Documentary Film – The 2010s & 2020s

Dir. Mark Cousins
181 min

In The Story of Documentary Film – The 2010s & 2020s, Mark Cousins follows nonfiction into phones, GoPros, YouTube, TikTok, live streams, and feeds to look at bodily autonomy, surveillance, racism, borders, and truth after vérité.

Image: © Fire of Love, 2022, dir. Sara Dosa, Canada, USA, Sandbox Films, Cottage M, Intuitive Pictures, National Geographic Documentary Films

International Village 9 SFU Woodwards
The Tree of Life
The Tree of Life film image; woman walking across sand towards a sunset

The Tree of Life

Dir. Terrence Malick
139 min

The Tree of Life follows Jack as he reflects on his 1950s Texas childhood and the death of his younger brother. Deeply spiritual and poetic, Malick’s film moves through grief, memory, time, and space. And there are dinosaurs.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

The Wind's Thirst

Dir. Alejandro Valbuena
86 min

In The Wind’s Thirst, three Indigenous Wayuu guardians confront mining and energy corporations exploiting Colombia’s La Guajira desert to defend their water, sacred sites, and right to remain.

Fifth Avenue Cinema - 19+ only VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema
Trial of Hein
Trial of Hein film image; large crowd of people standing on a beach looking out to the water

Trial of Hein

Dir. Kai Stänicke
122 min

After 14 years on the mainland, Hein returns to the cloistered fishing village where he grew up. But when he arrives, he goes unrecognized. Amid mounting suspicion and hostility, the community holds a three-day trial to verify his identity.

The Cinematheque Fifth Avenue Cinema - 19+ only
Turtle Island Rap
Turtle Island Rap film image; woman singing into a microphone

Turtle Island Rap

Dir. Alexandra Lazarowich
97 min

Taking us into the world of Indigenous hip-hop, this soulful doc profiles three up-and-comers in the genre. Exploring its subject’s personal lives as well as their career moves, the film is a work of complex human portraiture — and the music is terrific.

International Village 9
Ugly Cry
Ugly Cry film image; reflection in a rear-view mirror of a woman sobbing

Ugly Cry

Dir. Emily Robinson
94 min

When her ugly cry costs an aspiring actor her dream role, she takes desperate measures in pursuit of perfection. A cheeky injection of dark humour and delirium, this genre-bending psychological thriller takes a clever jab at internet-age beauty standards.

The Rio Theatre International Village 9
Vengeance Is Mine
Vengeance Is Mine film image; woman sitting on a plane

Vengeance Is Mine

Dir. Michael Roemer
118 min

Michael Roemer’s Vengeance Is Mine follows Jo, a troubled young woman returning to her Rhode Island hometown to confront childhood wounds. An attempt to confront one family's past gradually becomes entangled with another family's dysfunction.

The Cinematheque

We Are All Strangers

Anthony Chen
157 min

Anthony Chen tells the soulful story of a father and son in contemporary Singapore, each of whom gets married for very different reasons. This is a film about the human cost of poverty — poignant, relatable, and profound.

Lindsay Family Stage at Granville Island International Village 9 The Park Theatre
What Remains
What Remains film image; woman looking out at the water

What Remains

Dir. Yeşim Ustaoğlu
126 min

Stuck in a big city in a mind-numbing domestic routine, a young poetess finds herself at crossroads when her role as a mother and wife starts to overshadow her identity as an artist.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema International Village 9
Whatcha Want
Whatcha Want film image; two women staring at something offscreen

Whatcha Want

Dir. Mina Shum
90 min

Whatcha Want, a hip-hop-infused drama from award-winning Vancouverite Mina Shum (Meditation Park), sees a restless trophy wife from Hong Kong rise above her wealthy husband’s infidelity by rekindling her passion for dance.

The Park Theatre Fifth Avenue Cinema - 19+ only The Rio Theatre
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