What's On
Edhi Alice: Take
Kim Ilrhan's doc explores the lives of two trans women. Alice is a lighting director who dreams of becoming a dancer; Edhi is a counsellor preparing for gender-affirming surgery. The film is notable for its honesty and its wealth of detail.
Everest Dark
As the death toll on Everest rises, legendary mountaineer Mingma Tsiri Sherpa leads an elite team on a life-threatening mission to retrieve the fallen and restore peace to Chomolungma, the sacred “Mother Goddess of the World".
A Moment of Innocence
Iranian master filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf stages a filmed reenactment of a political skirmish from his youth. Equal parts autobiographical comedy, Brechtian behind-the-scenes documentary, and metaphysical poem, A Moment of Innocence shines.
Blue Heron
In the late 1990s, eight-year-old Sasha and her Hungarian immigrant family relocate to a new home on Vancouver Island. Their fresh start is interrupted by increasingly dangerous behaviour from Jeremy, the family’s oldest child.
Meadowlarks
Fifty years after being separated during the Sixties Scoop, four Cree siblings reunite for the first time on a long weekend trip to Banff. Tasha Hubbard’s sensitive drama relates an emotional and life-affirming story of kinship and belonging.
Breaking the Rules: Janicza Bravo on Unconventional Narratives and Fearless Filmmaking
From her Sundance winner Gregory Go Boom to the acclaimed Zola, Janicza Bravo transforms chaos into surrealist cinema gold. Her bold vision has elevated episodes of Atlanta, The Bear, and Poker Face. Join us for a talk with this fearless storyteller.
Death Does Not Exist
A young activist abandons her comrades after a failed mission and takes a spiritual journey into the wilderness, where she’s given a second chance. A breathtaking work of hand-drawn animation and a war cry for political change.
Blood Lines
In this emotional second feature from filmmaker Gail Maurice (Rosie, VIFF 2022), a proud lesbian Métis journalist struggles to reconcile with her estranged mother, while a new entanglement with a captivating stranger threatens to upheave their lives.
Savon
This sleek, polished, jet-black comedy-thriller tells the story of Jae-in, an aspiring actress who gets in a sticky situation with her boyfriend, only to discover a soap company with a side service cleaning up bigger-than-average messes.
2: Memory & mediation
Shorts from: Canada, France, Lebanon, Netherlands, Portugal, Poland, Syria, USA.
Thanks to the Hard Work of the Elephants
High on LSD and eager to break loose, two teenage boys escape the youth treatment centre that has kept them confined. Four hundred kilometres later, they wrestle with the trauma of their experiences in director Bruce Hodgson's unsettling debut.
The Art of Adventure
The unbelievable adventure story of how painter Robert Bateman and ecologist Bristol Foster drove a Land Rover from Africa to Australia in 1957, developing a love of nature to last a lifetime. An inspirational love letter to the adventure of life itself.