Skip to main content

Resident Orca

This event has passed

In 2019, Simon Schneider and Sarah Sharkey Pearce set out to make a film about the last living Southern Resident Killer Whale in captivity, an orca named Lolita (or “Toki”), who had been captured in Puget Sound in 1970. Lolita spent more than half a century in the Miami Seaquarium’s “Whale Bowl’, a tank that measured 80 x 35 foot, and only 6 metres deep. As filming progressed, they joined a coalition of environmentalists, billionaire philanthopists, disenchanted ex trainers, and Lummi elders, all fighting to have the aging and ailing orca returned to her ocean home. It proves a long and painful odyssey, but also provides remarkable insights into how humans and animals feel about each other.

 

Apr 2: Q&A with director Simon Schneider & Tah-Mahs Ellie Kinely

Directors

Sarah Sharkey Pearce & Simon Schneider

Featuring

Squil-le-he-le Raynell Morris, Tah-Mahs Ellie Kinely

Credits
Country of Origin

Canada

Year

2024

Language

English

19+
97 min

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits

Screenwriter

Sarah Sharkey Pearce, Simon Schneider

Cinematography

Simon Schneider

Editor

Tony Kent

Original Music

Josh Zubot, Jesse Zubot

Also Playing

The Balconettes

Dir. Noémie Merlant
105 min

In this flamboyant black comedy set in Marseille during a heatwave, writer-director-star Noémie Merlant and her two besties have to cover up the unpleasant evidence of a disastrous night partying with the hunk across the way.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Lady Bird

Dir. Greta Gerwig
94 min

Greta Gerwig's first film as writer-director is a delightful, painful comedy about "Lady Bird" McPherson (Saoirse Ronan), a Sacramento teen on the point of swapping high school for college, and her hard-working mom, Marion (Laurie Metcalf).

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Dir. Céline Sciamma
120 min

Céline Sciamma's queer costume drama -- about a painter covertly studying a young noblewoman who refuses to sit for her portrait -- was voted 30th Greatest Film Ever Made in a 2022 poll, the highest ranking film of the past decade.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Synecdoche, New York

Dir. Charlie Kaufman
124 min

Charlie Kaufman wrote Being John Malkovich, Adaptation and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind -- all great, all successful -- then turned director with Synecdoche, which is a masterpiece and which basically went unseen. It's overdue rediscovery.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Matt Grinke's Happiest Jazz Quintet Play Classic Disney Songs

Dir. Wolfgang Reitherman
160 min

Enjoy a set of beloved Disney movie tunes given the Matt Grinke treatment, and after the live music, groove to the original 1967 version of The Jungle Book, featuring songs like I Wanna Be Like You, The Bare Necessities and Trust In Me.

Image: © 1967, Disney

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Monk in Pieces

Dir. Billy Shebar & David C Roberts
95 min

A playful and engaging portrait of the avant-garde singer, composer, choreographer and performance artist Meredith Monk. Philip Glass, David Byrne and Bjork share their observations.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre