A celebrated Canadian filmmaker curates a selection of international films that influenced their artistic journey
I’m deeply honored to introduce the Leading Lights program for the 2024 edition of the Vancouver International Film Festival. I had the privilege of visiting Vancouver for the first time with VIFF last year, when I brought my debut feature film, In Flames, to the festival. I returned later in the year for our theatrical release – and both times was awed by the beauty of the city and the engagement of Vancouver audiences. I’m thrilled to be back this year in the role of guest curator.
I was invited to share four films that helped shape my debut feature — inspirations that span continents and genres, but are tied together by the lasting impact they left on me: Hyenas by Djibril Diop Mambéty’s, Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts by Mouly Surya, Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion by Elio Petri, and The Big City by Satyajit Ray.
These films will take you across time and space, from the rolling hills of rural Indonesia to the glamourous mod-apartments of Rome. You will meet people who, at first, may feel quite distant from yourself — but as they embark on their journeys, fighting for justice, for dignity, and for humanity — I hope they become less than strangers.
I grew up between Canada and Pakistan, and have experienced life as a child, teenager, and adult in both these worlds. I’ve found the universality of the human experience to be consistent. Justice is personal, existence is political and societies tend to work as they are intended to. I hope these films move you as they did me, and make you question your place in the world — but also remind you, as only the best of cinema can, that you are not alone.
— Zarrar Kahn, Guest Curator
Zarrar Kahn, Curator
Photo: Captured by @norman__wong in the Official #TIFF23 Portrait Studio at @fairmontroyalyork, powered by @canoncanada
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The Big City
Satyajit Ray’s first portrayal of contemporary life in his native Kolkata, The Big City follows the personal triumphs and frustrations of Arati, who decides, despite the protests of her bank-clerk husband, to take a job to help support their family.
Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion
A police chief murders his mistress, in an effort to prove that his position in society makes it impossible for him to be caught. Petri’s Cannes and Oscar-winning 1970 film is part pitch-black satire, part police-procedural, part psychological thriller.
Hyenas
Mambéty’s follow-up to Touki-Bouki is a mocking satire on post-colonial Senegal: a now-rich woman returns to her poor desert hometown to propose a deal: her fortune, in exchange for the death of the man who abandoned her and left her with his child.
Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts
In the deserted hills of an Indonesian island, a young widow is raped and robbed. In defending herself, Marlina kills several of the attacking gang, then sets out to find justice. Surya's spectacular revenge movie coopts western tropes to feminist ends.