Skip to main content
The Maiden film image, director Graham Foy

The Maiden

This event has passed

On the heels of a worldwide festival run that included Venice and Toronto, Graham Foy returns to VIFF with a feature debut that rolls in like a breath of fresh air in its understated, lyrical exploration of teenagers’ inner lives and captures with exquisite softness the emotional reverberations of a generation in mourning.

Reminiscent of early Linklater and Korine, the film opens with an evocative sequence of two boys on a casual suburban prowl. But the air of youthful abandon comes to an abrupt halt as a life is tragically claimed. As the initial shock wears off, another world opens, and we are gradually introduced to a web of delicate teenage bonds in a small suburban community.

Employing a fragmented structure that unfolds like a series of narrative echoes, Foy’s visually arresting and gentle touch reframes the fickle nature of this particularly vulnerable period in life to reveal an achingly tender side of adolescence.

 

BNL for Cinema of the Future Award, Venice 2022 (Giornate degli Autori)

 

Q&A Oct 1 & Oct 3

 

Presented by

Media Partner

Global BC Logo

Director
Cast

Jackson Sluiter, Marcel T. Jiménez, Hayley Ness

Credits
Country of Origin

Canada

Year

2022

Language

English

Film Contact
18+
117 min
Award Winners Drama

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

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

Urchin

Dir. Harris Dickinson
99 min

This impressive, award-winning debut as writer-director from actor Harris Dickinson is a probing portrait of a troubled street kid trying to get his life back on track before it's too late.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Köln 75

Dir. Ido Fluk
116 min

The true story behind the greatest solo concert in jazz history, this is Keith Jarrett's legendary 1975 Köln Concert — as organized by 18-year-old rebel music promoter Vera Brandes. Fun, inventive and feminist, it's the Bend It Like Beckham of jazz films.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Orwell: 2+2=5

Dir. Raoul Peck
119 min

Oscar-nominated director Raoul Peck reimagines 1984 in this urgent essay on power, language, and control. With narration by Damian Lewis, it’s a chilling portrait of how Orwell’s warnings became our reality.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Frankenstein

Dir. Guillermo del Toro
149 min

Frankenstein and Guillermo del Toro might have been made for each other. The movie does not disappoint, a ripping yarn of grand adventure, spectacle, hubris, passion and XXL body parts, a tale of the fantastic that rings the imagination. Screening in 35mm.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

After Life

Dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda
119 min

This month's Talking Pictures title is a profoundly beautiful meditation on memory and happiness from Japan, the second feature film by the acclaimed writer-director Hirokazu Kore-eda.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
More info

Sold Out

KPop Demon Hunters: A Sing Along Event

Dir. Maggie Kang & Chris Appelhans
95 min

The surprise hit of 2025, KPop Demon Hunters is a blast of good vibes and catchy tunes -- this generation's Ghostbusters, Gorillaz, or Spice Girls -- or some delightfully unholy combination of all three. Rated PG, all ages welcome!

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Credits

Producer

Daiva Žalnieriunas, Dan Montgomery

Screenwriter

Graham Foy

Cinematography

Kelly Jeffrey

Editor

Brendan Mills

Production Design

Erika Lobko

Director

Graham Foy headshot, The Maiden director

Photo by Seth Fluker

Graham Foy

Graham Foy is a writer and director based in Toronto. His short film August 22, This Year (2020) was presented at Cannes’ Semaine de la Critique and the New York Film Festival. In 2022, his debut feature The Maiden won the TRT First Cut+ Award for works-in-progress at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival prior to its world premiere in the Venice Film Festival’s Giornate degli Autori.