Skip to main content
Hardly Working film image, co-directors Total Refusal (Susanna Flock, Robin Klengel, Leonhard Müllner, Michael Stumpf)

Hardly Working

North American Premiere

Total Refusal returns to MODES with new work following 2020’s dazzling live performance of Operation Jane Walk, and their anti-war masterpiece, How to Disappear. In the moments when the algorithm of their existence shows inconsistencies, the Non-Playable Characters (NPCs) of the popular action-adventure game, Red Dead Redemption, break out of their routines momentarily to display their faultiness and present something touchingly human.

Director
Cast

Jacob Banigan

Credits
Country of Origin

Austria

Year

2022

Language

English

Film Contact
Links
21 min

Featured in:

Perforated Realities film image, director Gustaf Broms

MODES 3

Whimsical, questioning and utterly absorbing, a collection of animated work delving into worlds of wonder, subversion, and Marxist mystery. These works are fun and some re-construct ideas of animation, paying homage to experimentalists who came before.

 

MORE INFO

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

2026 Oscar® Shorts (Animated)

Dir. Various
83 min

The nominees for Best Animated Short Film include The Girl Who Cried Pearls, a fable from Canadian filmmakers Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski, narrated by Colm Feore.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

2026 Oscar® Shorts (Live Action)

Dir. Various
119 min

This year's contenders in the Live Action category include comedies, drama, an experimental musical, and a dystopian fantasy; films from the UK and the US, France and Israel.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

The Adventures of Prince Achmed Live Scored by Gordon Grdina & Hamin Honari

Dir. Lotte Reiniger
65 min

A handsome prince with a flying horse befriends a witch, meets Aladdin, and battles demons to win a princess' heart. Celebrate the centenary of the first animated feature film, with a new, improvised score.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Emergence: Women in the Storm

Dir. Velcrow Ripper & Nova Ami
85 min

Stories of resistance and recovery, courage, creativity and community in the face of the climate emergency gleaned from women first responders and those impacted in Western Canada, particularly Lytton and the Fraser Valley.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Nino

Dir. Pauline Locquès
97 min

Québécois actor Théodore Pellerin gives a quietly devastating performance as a young man shocked to learn he has throat cancer.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Muzizi

Dir. Jamila Pomeroy
84 min

From the director of the award-winning film Union Street, Jamila Pomeroy, Muzizi embarks on a great culinary adventure through Vancouver’s African diasporic culinary scene. Muzizi explores powerful stories of immigration, resilience, and joy.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Credits

Screenwriter

Total Refusal

Cinematography

Total Refusal

Editor

Total Refusal

Original Music

Adrian Haim

Director

Total Refusal (Susanna Flock, Robin Klengel, Leonhard Müllner, Michael Stumpf) group shot, Hardly Working co-directors

Total Refusal (Susanna Flock, Robin Klengel, Leonhard Müllner, Michael Stumpf)

The pseudo-marxist media guerilla collective Total Refusal explores and practices strategies for artistic intervention in contemporary computer games. They work with tools of appropriation and rededication of game resources. Their films and performances were presented among others at the Berlinale and at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. They received the award for Best Short Documentary Film at the 2020 Diagonale Festival of Austrian Film.