Encompassing free screenings on National Canadian Film Day (April 15), and a specially curated program by Sook-Yin Lee (Paying for It), our annual Canadian Film Showcase continues to expand and evolve.
Bringing back a bunch of favourites from our festival in the fall (including the documentaries Agatha’s Almanac; The Art of Adventure and Modern Whore) and presenting two world premieres from local filmmakers (David Ray’s improvised comedy Love and Money and Carl Bessai’s reflection on the art of acting, 4 or 5 Things I Want You to Know about Me), along with several more Vancouver premieres (Monica’s News; Castration Movie; Lunatic: the Luna Vachon Story), the Canadian Film Showcase includes musicals, sex comedies, murder mysteries and even “stink-o-vision”!
Our National Canadian Film Day lineup promises Intimate Moments, a selection of short films by Brendan Prost, who will be here filming for his upcoming auto-reflexive hybrid documentary, Performance of a Lifetime, and the Jubilee screening of Bruce Sweeney’s Last Wedding, with Bruce and cast and crew in attendance — as well as a restoration of Winter Kept Us Warm (1965), the first Canadian queer movie.
Multihyphenate Sook-Yin Lee returns to her old stomping grounds to present DIY: Making Movies No Matter What, a series she’s curated specifically for our VIFF Canadian Film Showcase. Boasting eight features (including her own Paying for It) and six shorts, the series platforms filmmakers who’ve relied on resourcefulness rather than resources and mobilized their communities in order to create extraordinary independent cinema.
Agatha's Almanac
Shot over six years on vibrant 16mm film, Agatha’s Almanac is an artful documentary portrait of filmmaker Amalie Atkin’s octogenarian aunt, who has fashioned herself an endearingly simple and self-sustaining lifestyle on her Manitoba farm.
The Art of Adventure
The unbelievable adventure story of how painter Robert Bateman and ecologist Bristol Foster drove a Land Rover from Africa to Australia in 1957, developing a love of nature to last a lifetime. An inspirational love letter to the adventure of life itself.
Follies
After two kids and 16 years of marriage, François and Julie decide to open up their relationship in a bid to rekindle their dwindling sex life. A painfully hilarious and brutally honest depiction of love, sex, and intimacy in the age of the internet.
Castration Movie Anthology 1: Traps
Louise Weard's underground movie is a talk-a-thon in two chapters and four hours: a sex worker contemplates having her testicles removed, and a movie production assistant pitches himself right out of a job, and other misadventures in Vancouver life.
Love and Money
David Ray's shoestring comedy is a totally improvised film, almost like a game of telephone, involving a musician searching for his missing friend and finding all kinds of weird.
Monica's News
Set in a conservative Catholic village in Nova Scotia in the early 1970s, Pamela Gallant's assured debut feature is the coming of age story of a precocious nine-year-old who stumbles across a clue to a murder on her paper route.
Modern Whore
In director Nicole Bazuin's cheeky, stylized documentary, Modern Whore-memoirist Andrea Werhun (Paying for It) recounts her experiences as an escort and stripper in Toronto, debunking misconceptions about the world’s oldest profession.
Lunatic: The Luna Vachon Story
Kate Kroll's doc is a touching tribute to wrestling legend Luna Vachon, who redefined women's wrestling but struggled with her own demons outside the ring.
Kensington Market: Heart of the City
Stuart Clarfield's DIY doc is both an oral history of the character-full working class Toronto neighbourhood and a sobering story about the economic forces that spell its likely demise.
Starwalker
Corey Payette's musical Starwalker blends drag spectacle, Indigenous storytelling, and soaring emotion in a film that celebrates chosen family and the liberating magic of performance.
Intimate Moments: Short Films by Brendan Prost
Vignettes of loneliness, desire and fleeting connection, immerse yourself in the short, bittersweet films of Brendan Prost — who will also be filming proceedings for potential inclusion in his self-reflexive doc, The Performance of a Lifetime.
Winter Kept Us Warm
Often described as the first LGBTQ+ film ever to screen at the Cannes Film Festival, David Secter's lovingly observed portrait of a burgeoning queer romance came at a time when homosexuality was still illegal in the country
Last Wedding: Jubilee Screening with Bruce Sweeney
Named the Best Canadian film of 2001 by the Vancouver and Toronto Film Critics, Bruce Sweeney's third feature took a wry look at contemporary relationships through the experiences of three thirtysomething couples whose relationships are about to implode.
4 or 5 Things I Want You to Know About Me (An Essay)
Carl Bessai's playful Godardian riff on actors and acting gives us a portfolio of dramatic portraits and monologues focused on half a dozen female performers at different points in their journey. It's a grab-bag of a film, sparky and specific.
Paying for It
Talk about a hall of mirrors! Sook-Yin Lee wittily adapts the graphic novel of the same name by her ex-boyfriend, Canadian cartoonist Chester Brown, about the end of their relationship and Brown's subsequent decision to start paying for sex.
Dead Lover
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.
Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner
When Atanarjuat displaces Oki, the Chief's son, by winning the hand of the beautiful Atuat, his brother Amaqjuaq pays the ultimate price. This cautionary tale showcases the consequences of putting personal desires ahead of community needs.
Parsley Days
Kate is ambivalent about her relationship with Ollie. While he's undeniably a great guy, she's curious about what else the world might hold. But when she discovers she's pregnant, breaking up becomes a little more complicated. A magical realist delight!
Outrageous!
Two misfits find love and support in this cult classic and landmark for Canadian queer cinema. Determined to retain her freedom after being treated for schizophrenia, Liza grows equally committed to seeing Robin realize his potential as a drag performer.
Love & Independence
A program of shorts that introduces daring new voices in Canadian cinema. Personal, playful, provocative, and self-financed, these films offer the freedom to express boldly through practices rooted in filmmaking among friends.
Endless Cookie
Are you ready for the most Canadian comedy of recent years? It's a documentary about half-siblings sharing stories, but it's mostly about interruptions, digressions, diversions, and free pizza. It's also animated, but you probably already noticed that.