Skip to main content
Dos Estaciones film image, director Juan Pablo González

Dos estaciones

This event has passed

Canadian Premiere

Juan Pablo González’s first narrative feature tackles the desolate effects of globalization on culture, tradition, and a generations-led tequila industry. Teresa Sánchez delivers a powerfully restrained performance about a steely and determined factory owner in Mexico fighting an uphill battle against nature, chance, and the impending global takeover of the local economy. Knowledgeable, magnanimous, and full of pride in both her craft and societal status, María Garcia (Sánchez) slowly reveals her loneliness, longing, and leashed passion while single-mindedly focused on saving her family’s legacy. Shot with the immediacy of a documentary but beautifully framed and elegantly composed in its cinematography, Dos estaciones is steeped in the specificity of Jalisco and the hypnotic rhythms of tequila-making. Winner of a Special Jury Award for acting at Sundance and the True Vision Award at the True/False Film Festival.

It’s rare when a debut feature strikes the perfect balance of ingredients, and especially rare when it does so in a distinctive and memorable way.”—Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter

 

World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award: Acting (Teresa Sánchez), Sundance 2022; True Vision Award, True/False 2022

Director
Cast

Teresa Sánchez, Rafaela Fuentes, Manuel García-Rulfo, José Galindo

Credits
Country of Origin

Mexico/France/USA

Year

2022

Language

In Spanish with English subtitles

Film Contact
Links
18+
99 min
Award Winners Drama LGBTQIA2S+

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

Fruit Gathering

Dir. Aung Phyoe
97 min

Achingly sensual and graced with fine performances, Fruit Gathering depicts embattled desire in a conservative society. Two working-class women fall into a romantic relationship in contemporary Myanmar — but is their love real, or borne of desperation?

International Village 10
Short Forum 7: War at Home
Rotation film image; upside down image of woman sitting in a field

Short Forum 7: War at Home

107 min

Truly, no one is safe until everyone is safe.

International Village 8
Turtle Island Rap
Turtle Island Rap film image; woman singing into a microphone

Turtle Island Rap

Dir. Alexandra Lazarowich
97 min

Taking us into the world of Indigenous hip-hop, this soulful doc profiles three up-and-comers in the genre. Exploring its subject’s personal lives as well as their career moves, the film is a work of complex human portraiture — and the music is terrific.

International Village 9

Send the Rain

Dir. Hayley Gray, Kaayla Whachell
94 min

In Kaayla Whachell and Hayley Gray's tender drama Send the Rain, a young Okinawan-Canadian attempts to evacuate her stubborn grandmother from a wildfire zone, forcing both women to confront family history, responsibility, and the pull of home.

Fifth Avenue Cinema - 19+ only
The Difficult Bride
The Difficult Bride film image; two women dressed in saris

The Difficult Bride

Dir. Rubaiyat Hossain
87 min

The Difficult Bride follows Zaineen, a young woman preparing for her marriage. Through a blend of feminist social commentary, psychological horror, and surreal imagery, the film explores female desire, fear, and the weight of societal expectations.

Lindsay Family Stage at Granville Island International Village 9

A Bit of Light

Dir. Ali Asgari
87 min

A Bit of Light follows a doctor who plans to end his life following his arrest and the closure of his practice. The film ultimately asks what might reconnect a person to life when faith in institutions, work, and the future have been exhausted.

The Park Theatre Fifth Avenue Cinema - 19+ only

Credits

Executive Producer

Matthew Perniciaro

Producer

Jamie Gonçalves, Ilana Coleman, Bruna Haddad, Makena Buchanan

Screenwriter

Juan Pablo González, Ana Isabel Fernández, Ilana Coleman

Cinematography

Gerardo Guerra

Editor

Lívia Serpa, Juan Pablo González

Director

Juan Pablo González headshot, Dos Estaciones director

Juan Pablo González

Juan Pablo González is a Mexican director whose work spans fiction and nonfiction. His debut short film, The Solitude of Memory (2014), received the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary Short at the 2015 Slamdance Film Festival. Dos estaciones is his feature-length debut and it had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition. He was a fellow of the Fund for Culture and Arts in Mexico (FONCA) and was awarded the 2021 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise. González is the co-director of the Film Directing program at the California Institute of the Arts.