North American Premiere
Sitting by the window of a Parisian apartment willed to her by a late friend, a young woman observes the world passing her by. Trapped by her grief and untethered from the world, she begins a series of video correspondences with two filmmakers, Blake Williams in Toronto and Burak Çevik in Istanbul, whose words and images begin to form a kind of escape.
With co-directors Çevik and Williams, director Sofia Bohdanowicz crafts a spiritual sequel to her 2017 film Maison du bonheur. Here, Bohdanowicz once again employs cinematic alter-ego Audrey Benac, blurring lines between diary film and traditional narrative. The film unfolds like an epistolary novel, each correspondence filmed and narrated by the filmmakers using their respective cinematic approaches: saturated, foggy 16 millimeter; icy sharp 4K HD; and the simulated depth of stereoscopic 3D images.
With a loving fondness for Bressonian techniques, Bohdanowicz, Williams, and Çevik offer a collaborative meditation on grief and the vital role of community in healing.
Q&A Oct 2
Deragh Campbell, Mustafa Akkaya, Mehmet Ayısıgı, Burak Çevik, Dorota Lech, Juliane Sellam, Emilia Szydło
Canada/Turkey
2022
In English and Turkish with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Sentimental Value
A once-revered director crashes back into his family’s lives, eager to recruit his daughter for a film role. When she declines, he finds a new muse in an eager but unpolished Hollywood star, sending his botched reconciliation spiraling into chaos.
The Ice Tower
In Lucile Hadžihalilović's spellbinding fantasy drama, an orphan (Clara Pacini) becomes enthralled by a movie star (Marion Cotillard) playing the Snow Queen in a fairy tale film adaptation. Winner of the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution.
La Grazia
A contemplative, mournful but richly imagined movie about a retiring Italian President (Toni Servillo from The Great Beauty) facing two thorny ethical decisions that may define his legacy.
Image: © Andrea Pirrello
Innocence
Lucile Hadžihalilović's first feature is a suggestive, subversive fairy tale set in a private school for young girls, the kind of film David Lynch might have made, if he'd been born a French woman in the early 1960s.
Where to Land
Hal Hartley's first new film in a decade is a melancholy farce about mortality and what we'll call "late middle-age". Bill Sage is a semi-retired filmmaker who isn't dying faster than the rest of us but who behaves like he might be.
La venue de l'avenir
Four cousins are tapped to investigate an abandoned house that is their joint inheritance. As they explore, they learn their story of their ancestor Adele (Suzanne Lindon) and her foray into Paris in the age of Impressionism.
Credits
Executive Producer
Marco Gualtieri, Selman Nacar, Dominga Sotomayor
Producer
Sofia Bohdanowicz, Burak Çevik, Blake Williams
Screenwriter
Sofia Bohdanowicz, Burak Çevik, Blake Williams
Cinematography
Sofia Bohdanowicz, Burak Çevik, Blake Williams
Editor
Blake Williams
Original Music
Sarah Davachi
Art Director
Dorota Lech
Directors
Sofia Bohdanowicz
Sofia Bohdanowicz is a Canadian filmmaker. Her experimental shorts and narrative features have screened internationally, including venues such as the Toronto International Film Festival, Locarno Film Festival, New York Film Festival, the Berlinale, and the Harvard Film Archive. She is the recipient of the Jay Scott Prize (2017) and was recently named as one of The 22 Most Influential People in Canadian Film in The Globe and Mail. She is currently in development on her fifth feature film titled Opus 28.
Filmography: Never Eat Alone (2016); Maison du bonheur (2017); MS Slavic 7 (2019)
Burak Çevik
Burak Çevik is a filmmaker based in Istanbul. He founded Fol Cinema Society, curated experimental and arthouse film screenings, and was a lecturer at Istanbul Bilgi University between 2018 and 2020. His films The Pillar of Salt (2018) and Belonging (2019) premiered at Berlinale Forum. His video works have screened at various festivals, such as Locarno Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, and New York Film Festival.
Filmography: The Pillar of Salt (2018); Belonging (2019)
Blake Williams
Blake Williams is a Toronto-based artist and filmmaker. He is the co-founder of the production company BlueMagenta Films, and contributes criticism to the Canadian film publication Cinema Scope magazine. His shorts, features, and installations have been exhibited internationally, including venues such as the Berlinale, Toronto International Film Festival, New York Film Festival, Locarno Film Festival, Jeonju International Film Festival, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Filmography: Prototype (2017)