Live performances that push the boundaries of traditional film programming, intersecting cinema culture with music, comedy, podcasting, and performance in unique, cinema-infused live shows.
VIFF Live at the Festival
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A Note from the Curator
From reimaginings and hauntings to resonances, cosmologies, and improvisations, this year’s VIFF Live series flows through a range of thematics, sonics, and live visual presentations across five unmissable shows.
Opening with an invitation to remix and reimagine, dub icon and living legend Mad Professor performs a rare Live AV in Dub set joined by Vancouver interdisciplinary artist Saghi Ehteshamzade, who provides live visuals. The evening celebrates the 30th anniversary of No Protection, Mad Professor’s acclaimed Massive Attack remix album, and will be a hypnotic trip into the psychedelic worlds of dub and trip-hop.
Submerging deeper into the realms of haunted sound and cinema, renowned Los Angeles composer claire rousay performs the Vancouver premiere of her acclaimed live score to the 1981 Slovakian animated classic gothic horror film The Bloody Lady. Also featured is New York composer and sound artist Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe (Candyman; Seeds; After Life), whose compelling film scores conjure hypnagogic states through transformations of the human voice, modular synth improvisations, and cinematic sounds.
From there, we traverse into densely layered, ethereal, ambient soundscapes and Live AV performances. Los Angeles musician Julianna Barwick offers a lyrical inquiry and potent admixture of processed vocals, flickering imagery, and electronic sounds, while Vancouver’s beloved ambient legend loscil brings his latest album Lake Fire to life in resonant, ravishing AV form.
For its Vancouver premiere, renowned astronomer, star knowledge keeper, and author Wilfred Buck appears live in person for Star Stories — a cosmic journey into Ininew (Cree) teachings and tellings of the northern night sky. For this special VIFF Live event, a stunning work of extended reality (XR) will be projected on the dome of the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre and narrated live by Buck, followed by a conversation with him and Anishinaabe co-director Lisa Jackson.
Concluding the Live series and the VIFF festival program, Vancouver pianist Chris Gestrin performs a set of Keith Jarrett-inspired, improvised solo music to accompany the Closing Gala film screening of Köln 75, which tells the story of Jarrett’s iconic concert that became the best-selling solo album in jazz history.
I hope you can join us for these remarkable evenings of sound, cinema, and immersive live performance.
ekosi maka,
Jarrett Martineau, VIFF Live Curator
Jarrett Martineau, VIFF Live Curator
VIFF 2025 Live Events
Mad Professor: Live AV in Dub
Oct 5
Dub legend Mad Professor performs a rare live set celebrating his No Protection Massive Attack remix album’s 30th anniversary – a hypnotic trip into the psychedelic worlds of dub and trip-hop with live visuals from Vancouver artist Saghi Ehteshamzadeh.
claire rousay, The Bloody Lady (Live Score) and Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe
Oct 7
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).
Julianna Barwick and loscil
Oct 9
Acclaimed ambient, experimental musicians Julianna Barwick and loscil share the stage for the first time to immerse audiences in their ethereal soundscapes and hypnotic new live AV performances.
Wilfred Buck's Star Stories Live With Wilfred Buck and Lisa Jackson
Oct 10
Join renowned Ininew (Cree) astronomer, star knowledge keeper, and author Wilfred Buck for Star Stories: a cosmic journey into teachings and tellings of the northern night sky, narrated live by Buck, and in conversation with co-director Lisa Jackson.
Image: Courtesy of Door Number 3 Productions
Köln 75 With Live Performance by Chris Gestrin
VIFF 2025 Closing Gala | Oct 11
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.
VIFF Live Year-Round
VIFF Live Ticket Pack: See three VIFF Live events for $80!*
*Only valid on VIFF Live Year-Round; not valid for VIFF 2025 Live events
Kit Eakle’s Jaz’n’theViolin String Band
Kit Eakle's 'Jaz'N'theViolin' String Band pay tribute to Louie Bluie, one of many fiddle players who gave birth to the new sounds of jazz and blues at the beginning of the twentieth century, followed by Terry Zwigoff's documentary portrait.
Blue Horse Opera
Rick Maddocks' visionary song cycle fuses indie, folk, classical music and dance, drawing inspiration from the climate emergency and the cinematic landscapes of spaghetti westerns. Followed by Sergio Sollima's The Big Gundown, starring Lee van Cleef.
George Garzone Live
Saxophone giant George Garzone celebrates free jazz with the help of the explosive Jerry Steinhilber Trio. Their set will be followed by a screening of Tom Surgal's documentary, Fire Music, featuring John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor.
Image: © Lee Tanner, The Jazz Image
Past VIFF Live Events
Beverly Glenn-Copeland, online performance, VIFF 2020
Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin Plays Deep Red Live, VIFF 2019
On Cinema at the Cinema Live!, VIFF 2019
This is Spinal Tap: Anniversary Live Score, VIFF 2019
Song Exploder Live with Chuck D, VIFF 2019
Feminist Live Reads Some Like It Hot, VIFF 2019