Films to Watch at Vancouver's VIFF Centre in March

What are your recommendations for VIFF+ members in March?

We’re going to do a series called Generation Pixar, which features the first 11 Pixar films from 1995 to 2010. It begins with Toy Story, a landmark in the history of film animation because it was the first completely computer generated animated film. You can watch them perfecting this new technique over the course of the series, as they became more confident, and the technology improved. You see the sophistication of the animation growing and growing, and they tackle harder subjects, from toys to eventually human beings when they make Up. Of those first 11 or so films, I don’t think there’s a bad one in the bunch, and what the company stood for deserves celebration.

We’re also going to do a series dedicated to the great Italian composer Ennio Morricone. There’s a documentary about him by Giuseppe Tornatore, who made Cinema Paradiso and worked with Marconi on three or four films. It’s an epic, in-depth film about the man and his life. He’s composed over 500 film scores, it’s been a remarkable career. He went to school with director Sergio Leone, and Morricone would score Leone’s films before they were shot, and the actors would perform scenes listening to the music. And so we’re showing some of those films alongside the documentary. We’re going to show A Fistful of Dollars, Once Upon a Time in the West, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, and a few more.

International Women’s Day is coming up on March 8, what films will mark the occasion?

We are hosting GEMS Fest in the beginning of March, and on March 8 we will be showing two films directed by women. One is an Italian film called There’s Still Tomorrow, which I like very much. It’s a strange film because it’s in black and white, set in Rome in 1945 and it’s shot as if it were a neorealist film of the period. It’s about an abused housewife and mother who’s treated terribly by her family. It’s also kind of funny, in a black comedy kind of way. I don’t want to say too much, but I will say that ultimately, it’s quite uplifting.

Alongside that, we have a documentary from Ireland called Housewife of the Year, which is about a long running TV show in Ireland where women would compete for the honor of being named Housewife of the Year, and potentially win a stove… They would welcome the cameras into their home, and demonstrate their cooking, how they get the kids off to school, and their housework. The film interviews a lot of the women who competed back in those days. The show ran from the late 60s through to the mid 90s, and they look back and can’t believe that was their life. It’s funny, but it’s underpinned with a kind of sadness, because it was a hard life. It involved good times and bad, but it was a deeply sexist society.

Lightning round – what are some other stand outs in March 2025?

7 Beats per Minute was in VIFF 2024, and it’s a documentary about a deep-sea diver. We will be doing a Q&A with the filmmaker for that.

Armand was also in the festival, and it is a Norwegian first feature by the grandson of Ingmar Bergman and Liv Ullmann. It’s about a teacher who’s called to school because her son has been accused of inappropriate behavior.

Santosh is an Indian murder mystery in which a female police officer digs into the murder of a young girl who was found in a well.

Thanks so much, Tom!

Tom Charity has been the year-round programmer at the VIFF Centre since 2009. He is the author of the critical biography John Cassavetes: Lifeworks, and has written or cowritten several other film books. A former film editor and critic for Time Out London magazine and CNN.com, he has also written for The Times and Sunday Times, the Vancouver Sun, and many other publications. He contributes to Cinema Scope and Sight & Sound Magazine on a regular basis.