What's On
The Players
In this intense semi-autobiographical debut feature, teenager Emily (the remarkable Stefani Kimber) joins an experimental theatre troupe led by the charismatic Reinhardt (Eric Johnson). It will be a rite of passage fraught with menace. Rated: PG
Field Sketches
A Vancouver architect (Vincent Gale) goes into a midlife tailspin when his business fails and his younger girlfriend walks out. Trying to get back on track, he resolves to tough out a Saskatchewan winter on the farm where he and his brother grew up.
Young Werther
"Based on the smash hit 1774 novel of tragic romance," as the opening text declares, this delightfully arcane Toronto rom-com is one of the most unexpected debut features of the past year, and a low-key triumph on top.
Are We Done Now?
Down River director Ben Immanuel returns with a wry, self-aware Covid comedy in which a socially distant Vancouver documentarian checks in with a stressed-out therapist (Gabrielle Miller) and several of her patients over the course of the pandemic.
Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story
An R&B star who eclipsed Etta James and Little Richard, trans soul singer Jackie Shane blazed an extraordinary trail with an unbreakable commitment to her truth. Forty years after vanishing from public view, this lost icon finally gets her second act.
The Little Prince
Join us for VIFF Kids Club's family matinee with fun activities at 11am and a 12pm screening of The Little Prince, a beautiful animated film that explores a young girl's adventures and life lessons through a pilot’s tale of a magical young prince. Rated: G
Seven Veils
Haunted by disturbing memories Jeanine allows her repressed trauma to reshape the present as she re-enters the opera world in order to remount her former mentor's most famous work, Salome. Atom Egoyan's latest is a fractured mirror of abuse and catharsis.
Image: © Amanda Matlovich
Biboye Onanuga Plays Monk
Returning to the VIFF stage, Biboye Onanuga, presents The Music of Monk. The Edmonton-based drummer is joined by an iconoclastic ensemble of Vancouver musicians prior to a screening of the documentary Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser.
Matt and Mara
Featuring terrific performances from Deragh Campbell and Matt Johnson, this is a film that buzzes with vitality. In exploring the fraught, ambiguous relationship between two writers, director Kazik Radwanski produces indelible, deeply relatable moments.
Red-Headed Woman
The second stop on our tour of Hollywood's pre-Code naughty neighbourhood is a racy rendezvous with Jean Harlow as the lustfully liberated "Red" who turns on her titillating allure for advancement in upper society. Introduced by Michael van den Bos.
Who by Fire
Jeff, a 17-year-old aspiring filmmaker, goes on vacation with his friend Max and his family to an isolated lodge. Philippe Lesage’s film is a tense, mesmerizing tour de force that is both agonizing and cathartic. A Berlinale award winner.
