The 45th Vancouver International Film Festival returns this fall with a star-studded lineup. Check out a sneak peek of five films at this year’s festival.
As our exceptional team of curators puts the finishing touches on this year’s film program, we couldn’t be more excited to unveil our first five official selections. We’re honoured to host the Canadian premieres of these outstanding films, many of which have already earned accolades at major festivals. In championing vital, progressive narrative filmmaking, we’re platforming both icons and iconoclasts, and inviting rising talents to be presented alongside venerable directors who’ve served as cinema’s standard bearers for decades. In turn, our documentary selections honour the form’s landmark works, while also exploring the possibilities presented by the nonfiction form.
Curtis Woloschuk, Director of Programming
Mark your calendars! Our full roster of special presentations, features, documentaries, shorts, and special events will be announced on August 26. Ticket Packs and Passes go on sale August 7 and single tickets are on sale online from noon on August 27.
Don’t Miss Out!
Film Spotlight
Full line-up will be announced on August 26
Crocodile
The Critics, Pietra Brettkelly, Nigeria/New Zealand
In Crocodile, a group of young, self-taught filmmakers turn Kaduna’s streets, homes, and residents into the raw materials of sci-fi cinema. This Tribeca Viewpoints winner examines filmmaking as a means to overcome a city’s constraints.
Nowhere to Lay My Eyes
Hong Sangsoo, South Korea
South Korea’s leading auteur crafts an intricately calibrated fractured family drama about an estranged daughter reuniting with her mother, only to encounter her stepfather (a documentarian) and stepsister (an aspiring painter) for the first time.
Rose
Markus Schleinzer, Austria/Germany
Sandra Hüller delivers a deft and deeply affecting performances in this visually arresting, exquisitely suspenseful period piece concerning an enigmatic soldier employing deception to earn hard-won acceptance from a cloistered farming community.
The Story of Documentary Film (The 2000's)
Mark Cousins, UK/USA
Mark Cousins’ intrepid exploration of the history of nonfiction filmmaking culminates with an incisive look at the aesthetics, approaches, and indelible works of the 21st Century, an era in which reality is increasingly open to interpretation.
Take Me Home
Liz Sargent, USA
Drawing from her lived experience, Liz Sargent delivers a remarkably intimate drama about a disabled Korean woman (Sargent’s sister, Anna) striving for independence, caring for her ageing adoptive parents, and encountering healthcare’s systemic failures.
© Farhad Ahmed Dehlvi
Guest Curator Spotlight
For each edition of VIFF, a celebrated Canadian filmmaker is invited to curate and present four international features that influenced their creative journey. Having scored major awards at Locarno, TIFF, and VIFF last fall, Sophy Romvari’s Blue Heron has enjoyed a highly successful theatrical that’s seen it hailed by The Hollywood Reporter as “the most acclaimed film of 2026.”
“On the heels of Blue Heron’s triumphant run at art houses, we are thrilled to welcome Sophy Romvari back to VIFF as our guest curator for this year’s Leading Lights program. Sophy is a singular talent with an innate understanding of cinema’s complexities and possibilities. We can’t wait to have her back in Vancouver to present her curated selection of films by Jacques Doillon, Abbas Kiarostami, Terrence Malick, and Michael Roemer.” Curtis Woloschuk, Director of Programming
Sophy Romvari, Guest Curator
Sophy Romvari is a Canadian-Hungarian filmmaker based in Toronto. Since 2015, her critically acclaimed short films have screened at festivals internationally, earning her recognition as one of Canada’s most exciting emerging filmmakers. A collection of her short films, including her critically acclaimed thesis film Still Processing, are currently available on the Criterion Channel, as well as select films on MUBI and The New Yorker. Her debut feature, Blue Heron, premiered at the Locarno Film Festival in 2025, where it won the Swatch First Feature Award. It went on to make its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in the Centrepiece section, where it received the Best Canadian Discovery Award, among other international honours. Blue Heron is distributed by Janus Films and has received widespread critical acclaim, including recognition from The New Yorker, Variety, and The New York Times, which named it a Critics’ Pick. The Hollywood Reporter described it as “the most acclaimed film of the year so far.”
All of the films I’ve selected hold a special place in my cinematic soul and it’s an honour to be able to present them to my hometown community at VIFF.
Sophy Romvari, Guest Curator
