The Spotlight program welcomes seven emerging directors to Vancouver and deepens the long tradition of Korean cinema as a cornerstone of VIFF programming.
Featuring new films by Park Chan-wook (No Other Choice) and Hong Sangsoo (the Canadian premiere of What Does That Nature Say to You), as well as seven films from directors to watch, including three world premieres. Deepening the long tradition of Korean cinema as a cornerstone of VIFF programming, the Spotlight program will welcome the seven emerging directors to Vancouver.
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Edhi Alice: Take
Kim Ilrhan's doc explores the lives of two trans women. Alice is a lighting director who dreams of becoming a dancer; Edhi is a counsellor preparing for gender reassignment surgery. The film is notable for its honesty and its wealth of detail.
No Other Choice
Adapting Donald E Westlake's novel of ruthless corporate head-hunting The Ax, virtuoso filmmaker Park Chan-wook whips up his trademark blend of high style, suspense, and satire, in keeping with his classics Oldboy, The Handmaiden, and Decision to Leave.
Sua's Home
In this darkly compelling drama, an orphaned tennis player is forced to be as competitive at home as she is on the court. Chosen to be the live-in trainer of a wealthy girl, teenage Young-sun soon finds herself caught up in deceit and manipulation.
Winter Light
Da-bin has a broke mother, a runaway brother, and a sister who’s going deaf, but gets by thanks to his best friend and caring girlfriend. Poignant and poetic, this is a film that explores the pain of adolescence and the stress of competing loyalties.
The Nonsense
Insurance investigator Yoo-na is working a case of death by drowning; her company claims suicide, but the truth is unclear. Confronting an eccentric beneficiary with great powers of persuasion, Yoo-na finds herself in a fog of doubt and suspicion.
What Does That Nature Say to You
VIFF mainstay Hong Sangsoo returns with another winner: a symmetrically designed, deceptively casual delight. An extended, drunken encounter between a poet and his girlfriend’s family progresses toward revelation — with many amusing stops along the way.