The films in this shorts program are all about discovery. Beautiful and thought-provoking voyages of internal and external discovery that honour relations and history, while encountering stimuli that promote a new understanding of self.
Q&A Oct 4 & Oct 6
This short film program includes the following films:
Before Birth
Álex Mena, Carmen Jiménez, Spain (20 min)
A documentary/diary film that focuses on one of the directors, Álex Mena, who journeys to her grandmother’s village looking for a closure never realized after she died.
Firecracker Bullets
Chad Charlie, USA (14 min)
In this personal documentary, Indigenous comedian Chad Charlie goes to participate in the Standing Rock occupation and has a transformative experience.
Ponto Final
Miguel López Beraza, Spain/Portugal (23 min)
The director returns to his parents’ home and talks them into playing roles in a film he is making, addressing delicate personal and familial subjects in the process.
Will You Look at Me
Shuli Huang, China (20 min)
A 25-year-old gay man returns to his hometown in China after film school, and reflects how his coming out as gay affected (and continues to affect) his mother.
For You Today the Light of the Sun Will Not Shine
Andrea Bordoli, Switzerland (19 min)
Two construction workers wander through a hybrid natural-industrial zone by day and night, exploring and discovering seemingly insignificant details.
Empire of My Melodious Mind
Jeannette Louie, USA (9 min)
The odds and ends within a single cabinet spark an interior rumination of the self, family, and culture that form the identity of an American-born Asian woman.
Community Partner
Various
Various
2021-2022
Various with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
The Blue Star
In crisis, a popular singer quits Spain to backpack in Argentina. There he comes under the spell of a veteran musician, who teaches him the art of chacareras, zambas and vidalas. It's a journey of musical kinship and spiritual reawakening.
The Mother and the Bear
Johnny Ma’s film stars Kim Ho-jung as a Korean woman who flies to Winnipeg when her immigrant daughter is hospitalized there. This crowd-pleaser plays up cultural differences to hilarious effect and offers a touching take on mother-daughter tension.
Forastera
In this mysterious and subtle coming of age drama, teenager Cata is soaking up the sun, smoking furtive cigarettes, and enjoying a summer break with her grandparents and her younger sis in Mallorca. That is, until Cata's beloved abuela collapses...