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Calle Malaga
Calle Malaga film image; tight on a woman leaning her head on her hand

Calle Malaga

Dir. Maryam Touzani
116 min

Seventy-nine-year-old María Ángeles lives independently in Tangier's Spanish quarter. When her daughter pressures her into selling her apartment, she refuses to give in, finding in her old age a new resilience and an unexpected romantic connection.

SFU Woodwards Fifth Avenue Cinema - 19+ only

Caravaggio

Dir. David Bickerstaff & Phil Grabsky
100 min

In the latest from Exhibition on Screen, co-directors David Bickerstaff and Phil Grabsky shed light on not only on Caravaggio’s paintings, but his life, often kept half-hidden in the same chiaroscuro tones he shaded his masterpieces with.

International Village 10 Granville Island Stage
Case 137
Case 137 film image; woman looking around an outdoor crime scene

Case 137

Dir. Dominik Moll
115 min

When a teenage demonstrator is grievously injured by rubber bullets during a frenzied protest in the streets of Paris, an intrepid Internal Affairs investigator must determine whether her fellow officers employed excessive force.

Image: © Fannyde Gouville

Alliance Francaise Fifth Avenue Cinema - 19+ only International Village 10
Christy
Christy film image; woman in a boxing ring

Christy

Dir. David Michôd
135 min

Christy Martin never imagined life beyond small-town West Virginia. But then she discovers a killer left hook and knack for knocking detractors out that just might be her tickets out of there. A bruising biopic about an indomitable warrior.

Vancouver Playhouse The Rio Theatre
claire rousay, The Bloody Lady (Live Score) and Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe
headshot collage of a man and woman

claire rousay, The Bloody Lady (Live Score) and Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe

150 min

An evening of haunted sound and cinema with claire rousay performing her live score of the animated classic The Bloody Lady and composer Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe presenting a performance tethered to his cinematic sound worlds (Candyman; Seeds; After Life).

The Rio Theatre

Clan of the Painted Lady

Dir. Jennifer Chiu
101 min

Jennifer Chiu’s engrossing documentary explores the Hakka — a people, a language, and a culture that have been obscured for far too long. Tracing her own lineage back to from Canada to China, the director creates an illuminating, bravely personal film.

Fifth Avenue Cinema - 19+ only VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Closing Gala: Köln 75 With Live Performance by Chris Gestrin

Dir. Ido Fluk
155 min

Experience the transcendent power of music: Vancouver pianist Chris Gestrin performs a set of Keith Jarrett-inspired music to accompany Köln 75, which tells the story of Jarrett’s iconic concert, which became the best-selling solo album in jazz history.

Vancouver Playhouse
Cover-Up
Cover-Up film image; man talking on a corded phone with his feet up on his desk

Cover-Up

Dir. Laura Poitras & Mark Obenhaus
117 min

Oscar-winner Laura Poitras and Emmy-winner Mark Obenhaus turn their lens on legendary journalist Seymour Hersh in a riveting film that unpacks how one reporter exposed the truths behind My Lai and Abu Ghraib — and what it takes to hold power to account.

Image: © The New York Times

Fifth Avenue Cinema - 19+ only International Village 10
Cutting Through Rocks
Cutting Through Rocks film image; person riding a motorcycle backlit by a sunset

Cutting Through Rocks

Dir. Sara Khaki & Mohammadreza Eyni
95 min

Winner of Sundance’s World Cinema Documentary Grand Jury Prize, Cutting Through Rocks follows Sara Shahverdi — motorcyclist, midwife, and first-ever councilwoman elected in her Iranian village. A vérité triumph by Sara Khaki & Mohammadreza Eyni.

International Village 8 International Village 9
CycleMahesh
CycleMahesh film image; a person and a bicycle in a field on fire

CycleMahesh

Dir. Suhel Banerjee
61 min

Suhel Banerjee's documentary blends realism and reconstruction to tell the story of migrant worker Mahesh, who cycled 1,700 kilometres to return home during the COVID lockdown. A poignant look at one of India’s most significant social issues: migration.

The Cinematheque International Village 8
Dance of the Living
Dance of the Living film image; woman looking intently at a man

Dance of the Living

Dir. José Alayón
92 min

An ode to the wrestling tradition practiced by the indigenous Canarians of Fuerteventura island, this elegant and layered father-daughter drama takes us into the heart of a family crisis brought on by the untimely passing of their matriarch.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema The Cinematheque
Dead Lover
Dead Lover film image; female zombie corpse sneering at camera

Dead Lover

Dir. Grace Glowicki
83 min

A foul-smelling gravedigger’s romance ends in tragedy, spurring her to attempt a resurrection through a madcap series of science experiments. Grace Glowicki and Ben Petrie’s film is a zany DIY horror that zaps fresh life into Mary Shelley’s classic.

International Village 8 International Village 7