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Island of Freedom film image, director Petr Januschka

International Shorts: Connect/Disconnect/Reconnect

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The films in this shorts program are all about connections. People connecting with one another, dealing with change, or rediscovering a part of themselves and their past.

 

Q&A Oct 2 & Oct 4

 

This short film program includes the following films:

Bye Bye
Amélie Bonnin, France (25 min)

A man who left his native Normandy to build a bigger life for himself in Paris returns to his hometown, where he runs into an old flame.

 


A Different Place
Sophie Black, UK (14 min)

On a clandestine date, a 40-something woman battling with her identity embarks on a journey of rediscovery that she cannot ignore nor fully encompass.

 


Island of Freedom
Petr Januschka, Czech Republic (27 min)

It’s 1981 in Czechoslovakia, and a young man surprisingly reunites with his teen love on board a charter flight to Cuba.

 


The Ceremony
Lisle Turner, UK (10 min)

Written by Iman Qureshi, The Ceremony is a searingly honest take on non-binary marriage, with a twist.

 


The Cormorant
Lubna Playoust, France (23 min)

A mother and son live in a secluded house on an isolated island, where memory merges with the present, intertwining two moments of their lives—youth and maturity.

 


Magnified City
Isaku Kaneko, Japan (12 min)

In a ruined city, a wandering Magnifying Glass Human encounters a secret society of Projector Humans with grand plans to reconnect to the past in a surviving mountaintop theatre.

 

Community Partner

Director

Various

Country of Origin

Various

Year

2021-2022

Language

Various with English subtitles

18+
111 min
Shorts

Book Tickets

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

Whatcha Want
Whatcha Want film image; two women staring at something offscreen

Whatcha Want

Dir. Mina Shum
90 min

Whatcha Want, a hip-hop-infused drama from award-winning Vancouverite Mina Shum (Meditation Park), sees a restless trophy wife from Hong Kong rise above her wealthy husband’s infidelity by rekindling her passion for dance.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre The Rio Theatre

James McNeill Whistler

Dir. David Bickerstaff
90 min

One of America’s greatest artists, James McNeill Whistler fashioned his life as a work of art in its own right. James McNeill Whistler looks beyond his famous portraits and self-styled “nocturnes” to dive into the true depths of Whistler’s legacy.

International Village 8

Agridulce (Bittersweet)

Dir. Frank Pavich
98 min

Four aspiring young musicians in the Dominican Republic find fulfilment in the study of bachata music. Tinged with melancholy but full of joy, Agridulce (Bittersweet) is rooted in hopefulness of a bright future through music.

International Village 10

Let Them Be Seen

Dir. Nolitha Refilwe Mkulisi
74 min

Let Them Be Seen is an absurdist portrait of the town of Tapoleng in South Africa’s Eastern Cape, moving through churches, spaza shops, and a Jam Alley re-enactment to document a village reshaping faith and community in post-apartheid life.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Yugo Goes to America

Dir. Filip Grujić, Aleksa Borković
87 min

In Yugo Goes to America, millennials from Belgrade drive a Yugo — Yugoslavia’s notoriously unreliable vehicle — from New York to Los Angeles. Their freewheeling road trip traces the car’s volatile history alongside the breakup of Yugoslavia itself.

International Village 9 SFU Woodwards

Elephants in the Fog

Dir. Abinash Bikram Shah
108 min

In a remote Nepalese village, Pirati takes charge in the search for a missing girl belonging to her family of third-gender Kinnar women. A densely atmospheric thriller and a moving portrait of an embattled but resilient community.

Fifth Avenue Cinema - 19+ only