The next wave of Canadian and Indigenous storytellers
Boasting seven world premieres, Northern Lights cements its status as the festival circuit’s premier platform for emerging Canadian and Indigenous filmmakers. That said, many of this year’s directors are already known quantities to Vancouver’s knowledgeable cinephiles, having garnered accolades at past editions of VIFF. The films presented here prove enrapturing: outsiders navigate strange lands, families face crucibles, the isolated yearn for connection and community, and unlikely guardians defend what they hold sacred.
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Village Keeper
In Karen Chapman’s sensitive debut feature, a widowed mother desperate to shelter her teenage daughter and son from a surge of gun violence in Toronto takes it upon herself to cleanse the blood from crime scenes in her Lawrence Heights neighbourhood.
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The Heirloom
A struggling filmmaker and his girlfriend (real-life couple Ben Petrie and Grace Glowicki) adopt a traumatized rescue dog during the COVID lockdown. Petrie’s hilarious debut is a perfect mix of quarantine comedy, dog movie, and boldly meta autofiction.
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Bonjour Tristesse
With the utmost grace and aplomb, debut director Durga Chew-Bose adapts Françoise Sagan’s classic French novel. Our heroine is teenager Cécile (Lily McInerney), and the film conveys her coming of age in terms of sexual awakening and spiritual corruption.
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There, There
An elderly Nova Scotian woman struggling with dementia and her lonely, pregnant caretaker leave an indelible impression on each other in Heather Young’s sophomore feature drama, an endearing and bittersweet portrait of two women overlooked by society.
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Seeds
In this wild home invasion comedy thriller, Ziggy is a young Mohawk social media influencer who runs into danger when she returns to her family’s place on the rez and comes under attack by a mysterious stranger trying to steal her family’s heirloom seeds.
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7 Beats per Minute
While attempting a world record freedive in 2018, Jessea Lu lost consciousness and stopped breathing for four minutes. Years later, Jessea returns to the site of her near-death experience, ready to dive again and become reborn.
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Living Together
Halima Elkhatabi’s delightful debut documentary feature takes us to 15 apartments in Montreal, where a diverse assortment of potential roommates interview each other as they search for compatibility, authentic connections, and a place to call home.
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Inay (Mama)
Bold and deeply personal, Inay investigates the emotional and psychological repercussions of Canada's Live-In Caregiver Program, which attracted Filipino women migrant workers who left their children to care for strangers out of economic necessity.
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Lucky Star
Former gambler Lucky has settled down with a mortgage, a wife and daughters. After falling for a tax scam, he goes all in at the card table. Gillian McKercher helms a tense and gripping narrative about Asian-Canadian familial bonds, deceit and sacrifice.
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The Stand
This rousing doc explores a 1985 dispute over clearcut logging on Haida Gwaii. Taking us from canny retrospective commentary to the thick of the action, director Chris Auchter employs animation and a wealth of archival footage to riveting effect.
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Preface to a History
This short experimental feature applies minimalist dramatic techniques to a fraying millennial relationship with rich, fulsome cinematography and a sophisticated sound mix to explore the destabilising dichotomy between our interior and external selves.
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