Skip to main content
Quantum Cowboys film image, director Quantum Cowboys, starring David Arquette

Quantum Cowboys

This event has passed

Canadian Premiere

In 1870s Arizona, a pair of drifters (Kiowa Gordon and John Way) are on a quest to find a legendary musician (Howe Gelb) when they team up with an Indigenous woman (Lily Gladstone) intent on reclaiming her land. Sounds like the setup to a classic Western, right? Instead, it’s but the springboard for a deep dive into a multiverse in which a dozen different mediums—including 16mm, paper cutouts, rotoscoping, hand-drawn animation, oil paints, 8k video, collage, and digital animation—are employed to distinguish between the disparate realities navigated by an ensemble of rogues.

Cerebral, psychedelic, and just plain silly in turns, physics scholar-turned-filmmaker Geoff Marslett’s staggeringly ambitious Quantum Cowboys is overwhelming in the most exhilarating way possible: a deliriously entertaining maelstrom of metaphysical ruminations, gunplay, musical interludes (Neko Case and John Doe stop by to croon tunes), and folksy wisdom (“Planning just insults the future.”). Playing out like a peyote-fueled fever dream, it serves notice that there are still new filmmaking frontiers to be explored.

 

Best Original Music Award, Annecy 2022

 

Media Partner

Director
Cast

Kiowa Gordon, Lily Gladstone, John Way, David Arquette, Frank Mosley, Gary Farmer

Credits
Country of Origin

USA

Year

2022

Language

In English and Spanish with English subtitles

Film Contact
Links
18+

At The Cinematheque

19+

At The Rio

99 min
Animation Award Winners

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

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

The Richest Woman in the World

Dir. Thierry Klifa
123 min

Isabelle Huppert plays cosmetics CEO Marianne in this teasingly ambivalent satire inspired by the Bettancourt Affair, when L'Oreal heir Francoise Bettancourt scandalized France by frittering away her fortune on a notorious celebrity photographer.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Blue Film

Dir. Elliot Tuttle
82 min

This transgressive two hander puts an Only Fans camboy in a room with a secret admirer. Turns out they have history... Not an easy watch, but a film that will fuel discussion for those who are open to it.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Mārama

Dir. Taratoa Stappard
94 min

Set in North Yorkshire, 1859, this creepy gothic horror plays like The Piano in reverse: a young Maori woman takes up a position as a governess to a wealthy whaler's child, but finds colonial skeletons in his closets.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
More info

Sold Out

Departures

Dir. Neil Ely & Lloyd Eyre-Morgan
82 min

Two lads meet at an airport gate and begin monthly trips to Amsterdam together. Their chemistry is off the charts, but it's Jake who's calls the shots while Benji is the one who's emotionally invested. Comparisons to Pillion and Trainspotting are on mark.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

The Python Hunt

Dir. Xander Robin
91 min

Strange but true: the Florida Everglades are overrun with unwanted visitors. Not tourists, but invasive Burmese pythons decimating the local critters. The state's solution: an annual contest: $10 000 to whomever bags the most snakes in ten days.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Mistura

Dir. Ricardo de Montreuil
97 min

This foodie film from Peru tells the story of a newly single socialite reinventing herself — and the local cuisine — after her husband has left her for a younger woman. Along the way, she finds support from unexpected places...

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Credits

Executive Producer

David Arquette, Lily Gladstone, Kiowa Gordon

Producer

William Way, Melodie Sisk, Geoff Marslett

Screenwriter

Geoff Marslett

Cinematography

Jon Firestone, Adam J. Minnick

ANIM

Geoff Marslett

Editor

Matt Latham, Ian Holden, Tom Wilson

Original Music

Howe Gelb, The Colorist Orchestra, Maciej Zielinski, XIXA, Neko Case, John Doe

Director

Geoff Marslett headshot, Quantum Cowboys director

Geoff Marslett

Geoff Marslett is a Texas-born animator, director, writer, producer, and actor. His work often revolves around the romance of connection and the way exploring your universe changes you and the place you explore. He grew up a cowboy with an interest in physics, and has worked in both construction and science before becoming a filmmaker. He adores feral cats and still genuinely loves making things. He splits his time between teaching at the University of Colorado and making his own films.

Filmography: Six in Austin: Out of Bounds (2002); Mars (2010); Loves Her Gun (2012)