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
I Plant My Hand in the Garden
Boris and Hoda, a newly married couple from Serbia and Iran, respectively, embark on a new chapter of their lives in Berlin. As they anticipate the birth of their child, they refuse to be defined by societal expectations.
Dao
Dao is a tribute to Afro-French life and custom, blending fiction and reality in its depiction of two rituals: a wedding in France and a mourning ceremony in Guinea-Bissau. Joyful and cathartic, this is a portrait of life in all its pain and beauty.
Revolutionaries Never Die
Revolutionaries Never Die is Mohanad Yaqubi’s reply to Jocelyne Saab, who passed away before the two could collaborate. Yaqubi's film serves as equal parts tribute, conversation, and partnership with the revolutionary past.
Tender Loving Care
Mike Leigh’s film depicts the lives of Amy and Rosie, best friends and fellow social workers, who care for the dispossessed with all the strength they have. Sometimes it's funny, tragic, and often it's balancing both, this is a work of humble compassion.