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The Nonsense

Dir. Lee Je-hui
115 min

Insurance investigator Yoo-na is working a case of death by drowning; her company claims suicide, but the truth is unclear. Confronting an eccentric beneficiary with great powers of persuasion, Yoo-na finds herself in a fog of doubt and suspicion.

The Cinematheque International Village 8
The Painted Life of E.J. Hughes
The Painted Life of E.J. Hughes film image; man painting by a river

The Painted Life of E.J. Hughes

Dir. Jenn Strom
82 min

A beautiful portrait of E.J. Hughes, who quietly helped reshape the artistic landscape of British Columbia in the 20th century. This extraordinary documentary explores Hughes’s legacy not only as an artist, but as a devoted, humble human being.

SFU Woodwards Granville Island Stage VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
The Plague
The Plague film image; boy holding onto the side of a swimming pool while in the water

The Plague

Dir. Charlie Polinger
95 min

At a water polo camp, Ben is plunged into the deep end of toxic peer pressure. Terrified of incurring his campmates’ wrath, he joins them in tormenting a kid whose skin rash has been branded “the plague”. But then he experiences a breakout of his own...

The Rio Theatre International Village 9
The President's Cake
The President's Cake film image; girl holding a rooster while talking to a man sitting across from her

The President's Cake

Dir. Hasan Hadi
105 min

Winner of the Caméra d’Or and Director’s Fortnight Audience Award at Cannes, Hasan Hadi’s fable-like drama set in 1990s Iraq follows an impoverished child's quest into the city to scrounge up ingredients for birthday cake for Saddam Hussein.

Fifth Avenue Cinema - 19+ only Granville Island Stage International Village 10
The Scout
The Scout film image; two people standing at a distance in a bedroom

The Scout

Dir. Paula González-Nasser
89 min

This charming film presents a core sample from the life of a NYC location scout: leafletting, awkward interviews, and traffic trouble galore... The social interactions, which range from cozy to creepy, are portrayed with a casual, ingratiating naturalism.

The Cinematheque VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema
The Secret Agent
The Secret Agent film image; a man talking on a pay phone by a wall of people's headshots

The Secret Agent

Dir. Kleber Mendonça Filho
158 min

Having run afoul of an influential bureaucrat in Brazil’s military dictatorship circa 1977, Marcelo decamps to Recife to live under an assumed name — but he’ll soon come to understand precisely how rampant the country’s corruption has become.

Vancouver Playhouse
The Shadow Scholars
The Shadow Scholars film image; person in sunglasses looking out from the backseat of a car

The Shadow Scholars

Dir. Eloïse King
98 min

Academic ghostwriting is a billion-dollar industry, just not for those doing the writing. Directed by Eloïse King and executive produced by Steve McQueen, this is a gripping documentary about brilliance, erasure, and global inequality.

International Village 10

The Sparrow in the Chimney

Dir. Ramon Zürcher & Sylvan Zürcher
117 min

Preparations are afoot for an extravagant celebration. But as the house fills up, tensions mount and it becomes a veritable pressure cooker of familial strife. Ramon Zürcher delivers precise formal play and acute psychological mystery.

The Cinematheque
The Strange Little Cat
The Strange Little Cat film image; excited young girl at a breakfast table

The Strange Little Cat

Dir. Ramon Zürcher
72 min

This droll, perfectly executed comedy chronicles a day in the life of a multigenerational family prepping a celebratory dinner in their cramped Berlin apartment. Putting daily life’s absurdities on display, it's an exciting choreography of the quotidian.

The Cinematheque

The Things You Kill

Dir. Alireza Khatami
113 min

Thirty-something professor Ali leads an apparently stable life. But when his ailing mother dies under ambiguous circumstances, he starts to unravel, resulting in an act that shatters our understanding of his person.

International Village 10 International Village 7 Alliance Francaise

The Track

Dir. Ryan Sidhoo
91 min

In the middle of a mountain forest above Sarajevo, three boys train for the Olympics in a bullet-ridden luge track abandoned since the 1984 Winter Games. An ambitious, hopeful look at the next generation striving to overcome the sins of their fathers.

SFU Woodwards Granville Island Stage

Thus Spoke the Wind

Dir. Maria Rigel
92 min

Set in the remote plains of rural Armenia, Maria Rigel’s sharp sophomore feature takes us into the lives of young Hayk, his aunt Narine, and Hayk's rebellious mother, who has returned from a long stay in the country, throwing things off balance.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema
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