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Wild Goat Surf film image

Northern Lights

Image: Wild Goat Surf, VIFF 2023

The next wave of Canadian and Indigenous storytellers

A scintillating collection of cinema that includes debut features from past VIFF award winners and the Vancouver bows for films that launched at major international festivals. Two of our own world premieres harness the province’s cinematic potential to stunning effect, while a third investigates our city’s cultural erasure of Black communities. Throw a full-blown musical and some shapeshifting animation into the mix, and this year’s Northern Lights proves to be truly prismatic.

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Richelieu

Drama Human Rights & Social Justice

Witnessing the brutal treatment of migrant workers while working at a corn plant in the Richelieu Valley in Quebec, French-to-Spanish translator Ariane (Ariane Castellanos) is forced to decide between risking her job and sticking up for the labourers.

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6:00 pm
Fri Sep 29
International Village 8
Guests/Q&As Hearing Assistance Subtitles U18 May Attend
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3:15 pm
Sat Sep 30
International Village 8
Guests/Q&As Hearing Assistance Subtitles U18 May Attend
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Wild Goat Surf

Drama Women Directors

Scrounging and scheming her way through the summer, 12-year-old Goat talks a big game about becoming a world-class surfer... Despite having never actually surfed or even seen the ocean. A charming tale about trying to slip the shackles of circumstance.

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6:00 pm
Fri Sep 29
The Rio Theatre
Guests/Q&As Hearing Assistance U18 May Attend
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3:45 pm
Tue Oct 03
International Village 10
Guests/Q&As Hearing Assistance U18 May Attend
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In Flames

Drama Horror & Sci-Fi

Returning to his birthplace, Karachi, Pakistan, writer-director Zarrar Kahn immerses us a tense tale of a mother and daughter trying to survive malevolent patriarchal forces.

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8:45 pm
Fri Sep 29
International Village 8
Guests/Q&As Hearing Assistance Subtitles
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12:00 pm
Sun Oct 01
International Village 8
Guests/Q&As Hearing Assistance Subtitles
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Seagrass

Drama Women Directors

With their parents tending to their crumbling marriage, 11-year-old Stephanie is drawn to a pack of unruly teens, while six-year-old Emmy answers an eerie cave's siren call. A deftly orchestrated, deeply moving portrait of a family about to implode.

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9:00 pm
Fri Sep 29
The Rio Theatre
Guests/Q&As Hearing Assistance
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9:00 pm
Sun Oct 01
SFU Woodwards
Guests/Q&As Hearing Assistance
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Float

Romance Women Directors

The summer before college, a city girl finds herself in Tofino, alienated by the local beach culture—that is, until she falls for the charming local lifeguard, which throws her carefully planned future into question.

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6:00 pm
Sat Sep 30
The Rio Theatre
Guests/Q&As Hearing Assistance
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1:00 pm
Mon Oct 02
International Village 10
Hearing Assistance
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I Don't Know Who You Are

LGBTQIA2S+

A gay Toronto musician is sexually assaulted one night and is in a panicked race against time to pay for HIV-preventive PrEP treatment, all the while trying to navigate the legal system and deal with the emotional aftermath of the trauma.

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8:15 pm
Sat Sep 30
International Village 8
Closed Captioning Guests/Q&As Hearing Assistance
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3:15 pm
Mon Oct 02
International Village 8
Closed Captioning Guests/Q&As Hearing Assistance
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Fitting In

Drama Women Directors

16 and ready to lose her virginity, Lindy is distressed to learn she has a rare condition which means she will never conceive and penetrative sex will require intervention. McGlynn's raw, funny film resonates with debates around sex and gender conformity.

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6:00 pm
Sun Oct 01
The Rio Theatre
Guests/Q&As Hearing Assistance
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3:45 pm
Mon Oct 02
International Village 10
Hearing Assistance
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Union Street

Black Cinema Documentary Human Rights & Social Justice Women Directors

Interspersing interviews with archival footage, Union Street documents the history of Vancouver’s Hogan’s Alley, the formerly Black neighbourhood which was destroyed by the construction of the Georgia viaduct in the 1970s.

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8:45 pm
Mon Oct 02
SFU Woodwards
Guests/Q&As Hearing Assistance Subtitles U18 May Attend
Book Now
6:30 pm
Wed Oct 04
Studio Theatre
Hearing Assistance Relaxed Screening Subtitles U18 May Attend
Book Now
3:30 pm
Sat Oct 07
The Rio Theatre
Guests/Q&As Hearing Assistance Subtitles U18 May Attend
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I Used to Be Funny

Comedy Drama

Sam Cowell (Rachel Sennott) used to spend her nights working the comedy clubs of Toronto and her days as an au pair for Brooke (Olga Petsa). Now Sam hides from the world, tormented by PTSD and grappling with the news of Brooke’s disappearance.

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8:45 pm
Tue Oct 03
The Rio Theatre
Guests/Q&As Hearing Assistance
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9:15 pm
Thu Oct 05
International Village 10
Closed Captioning Guests/Q&As Hearing Assistance
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Hey Viktor!

Comedy Drama

25 years after the success of the iconic film Smoke Signals, a disheveled former child actor decides to create a sequel to relive his fame. This mockumentary follows him on the chaotic uphill journey to do whatever it takes to make it big again.

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9:15 pm
Wed Oct 04
International Village 10
Guests/Q&As Hearing Assistance
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6:00 pm
Thu Oct 05
International Village 9
Guests/Q&As Hearing Assistance
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Aitamaako'tamisskapi Natosi: Before the Sun

Documentary Women Directors

A thrilling portrait of a young Siksika woman as she trains for one of the most dangerous horse races in the world: on bareback. Logan Red Crow is an Indian Relay rider who vaults from horse to horse in exhilarating races. She is a champion in the making.

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4:00 pm
Thu Oct 05
International Village 10
Closed Captioning Guests/Q&As Hearing Assistance Subtitles
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6:15 pm
Sat Oct 07
International Village 9
Closed Captioning Guests/Q&As Hearing Assistance Subtitles
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4:15 pm
Sun Oct 08
Studio Theatre
Hearing Assistance Relaxed Screening Subtitles
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Les Filles du Roi

Drama

Corey Payette's rousing microbudget musical (adapted from the Urban Ink stage production he cowrote with Julie McIsaac) chronicles the friendship between a seventeenth century French woman and a Mohawk trader and his sister.

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8:45 pm
Thu Oct 05
SFU Woodwards
Guests/Q&As Hearing Assistance Subtitles
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12:30 pm
Sun Oct 08
The Rio Theatre
Guests/Q&As Hearing Assistance Subtitles
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When Adam Changes

Animation Comedy Drama

Most teenagers are impressionable, but Adam's body literally morphs in response to mockery. Called fat, his waist grows. But in some ways this is the least of his problems, in this delightfully absurd reflection on teen life in the 1990s.

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9:30 pm
Thu Oct 05
International Village 8
Hearing Assistance Subtitles
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8:30 pm
Sat Oct 07
The Cinematheque
Hearing Assistance Subtitles
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Someone Lives Here

Documentary Human Rights & Social Justice

In the summer of 2021, Khaleel Seivwright, a carpenter, decided to build tiny homes for Toronto’s homeless population. Soon afterwards, the city closed him down. An important story for our times of housing insecurity.

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6:15 pm
Fri Oct 06
SFU Woodwards
Hearing Assistance
Book Now
3:30 pm
Sun Oct 08
International Village 8
Closed Captioning Hearing Assistance
Book Now