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Human Rights & Social Justice

Unlikely Allies

Dir. Anthony Pedone
95 min

What does it take to unite right-wing billionaire Charles Koch with hip hop legend Snoop Dogg? This urgent and uplifting film documents an extraordinary response to an appalling injustice: a young man sentenced to 55 years for three marijuana sales.

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3:30 pm
Thu Oct 03
International Village 10
Hearing Assistance
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The In Between

Dir. Robie Flores
82 min

After the death of her brother, filmmaker Robie Flores is drawn back to USA/Mexico border town of Eagle Pass, and, while processing her grief, finds echoes and reverberations of her own memories in the hopes, dreams, and daily lives of the youth there.

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4:00 pm
Thu Oct 03
VIFF Centre - Vancity Theatre
Closed Captioning Guests/Q&As Hearing Assistance Subtitles
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Coconut Head Generation

Dir. Alain Kassandra
89 min

In Nigeria's oldest university, a student film club presents work by Med Hondo, John Akomfrah, Mahamet-Saleh Haroun and others, which spark passionate criticial conversations around ethnicity, gender, colonialism and housing.

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4:15 pm
Thu Oct 03
International Village 8
Hearing Assistance Open Captioning Subtitles
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Secret Mall Apartment

Dir. Jeremy Workman
91 min

The stranger-than-fiction true story of a group of artists who built and furnished a hidden apartment inside a mall, remaining undetected for years. This is an absurdly fun and surprisingly profound film about gentrification and art.

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6:45 pm
Thu Oct 03
The Rio Theatre
Hearing Assistance
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The Seed of the Sacred Fig

Dir. Mohammad Rasoulof
167 min

A tense mystery and an act of radical protest, this film tells the story of an Iranian lawyer who’s lost his handgun and knows someone in his family took it. With every moment, his wife and daughters grow more afraid of him–yet none of them will confess…

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8:45 pm
Thu Oct 03
Vancouver Playhouse
Hearing Assistance Subtitles
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8:30 pm
Sat Oct 05
SFU Woodwards
Hearing Assistance Subtitles
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12:00 pm
Sun Oct 06
SFU Woodwards
Hearing Assistance Subtitles
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The Stand

Dir. Christopher Auchter
95 min

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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8:45 pm
Thu Oct 03
SFU Woodwards
Guests/Q&As Hearing Assistance Subtitles
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3:15 pm
Sat Oct 05
International Village 9
Guests/Q&As Hearing Assistance Subtitles
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Happyend

Dir. Neo Sora
113 min

Neo Sora (Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus) fuses teen high school comedy and political protest to winning effect in this raucous, creative, and poignant "story of the near future." It features earthquakes, digital surveillance, thumping techno music, and more...

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9:00 pm
Thu Oct 03
Fifth Avenue Aud 3
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Searching for Amani

Dir. Nicole Gormley & Debra Aroko
80 min

Years after his father's murder while working in Kenya’s largest private wildlife sanctuary, 13-year-old Simon Ali searches for the killers. An unflinching chronicle of postcolonial upheaval and one family’s choice to search for peace.

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10:30 am
Fri Oct 04
International Village 8
Closed Captioning Guests/Q&As Hearing Assistance Subtitles U18 May Attend
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7:00 pm
Sat Oct 05
International Village 8
Closed Captioning Guests/Q&As Hearing Assistance Subtitles U18 May Attend
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Fish War

Dir. Jeff Ostenson, Charles Atkinson & Skylar Wagner
79 min

This deep dive into the contentious history of fishing rights in Washington State proves richly rewarding. It's a genuinely compelling film about the transformative Boldt decree of 1974, which granted PNW bands equal status in fish management.

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1:00 pm
Fri Oct 04
Fifth Avenue Aud 3
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Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat

Dir. Johan Grimonprez
150 min

In January 1961, seven months after Congolese independence, Patrice Lumumba is assassinated. In excavating the history of this political murder, this essay-film traces the complex and unlikely intersections of American jazz and Cold War geopolitics.

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2:30 pm
Fri Oct 04
Vancouver Playhouse
Hearing Assistance Open Captioning Subtitles
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To a Land Unknown

Dir. Mahdi Fleifel
106 min

In this outstanding crime drama, two Palestinian cousins are exiled in Athens and in dire need of funds for fake passports to move their family to Germany. A slippery slope of moral compromise awaits as they resort to human smuggling and hostage-taking.

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4:00 pm
Fri Oct 04
The Rio Theatre
Hearing Assistance Subtitles
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Pol Pot Dancing

Dir. Enrique Sánchez Lansch
101 min

The story of a boy and future dictator, and the woman who saved Khmer classical dance after the brutal Cambodian genocide, Enrique Sánchez Lansch’s documentary is a stunning achievement that sheds new light on one of the darkest moments of history.

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6:00 pm
Fri Oct 04
International Village 8
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