Skip to main content
Magnified City film image, director Isaku Kaneko

Magnified City

Canadian Premiere

In a ruined city, a wandering Magnifying Glass Human encounters a secret society of Projector Humans with grand plans to reconnect to the past in a surviving mountaintop theatre. An absolutely stunning animated film from beginning to end, with a brilliant concept that gets more imaginative with its storytelling as it progresses. It touches on aspects of filmmaking and film projection, and how the medium is still capable of creating beautiful illusions, imagery representing another time and reality. The story is effectively told without any dialogue, enhanced by impeccable sound design that immerses you in the mechanical and lifeless environment. One of the most original and incredible works of animation to come along in years.

 

Media Partner

Community Partner

Director
Credits
Country of Origin

Japan

Year

2022

Language

No Dialogue

Film Contact
12 min

Featured in:

Island of Freedom film image, director Petr Januschka

International Shorts: Connect/Disconnect/Reconnect

The films in this shorts program are all about connections. People connecting with one another, dealing with change, or rediscovering a part of themselves and their past.

 

MORE INFO

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

The American Friend

Dir. Wim Wenders
126 min

Wim Wenders' take on Patricia Highsmith's Ripley's Game is the real deal, an authentic mittel-European neo-noir, with Dennis Hopper as the original American psycho, Tom Ripley. This Film Studies screening is introduced by Patricia Gruben.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Turner & Constable

Dir. David Bickerstaff
93 min

Filmed as a supplement to a blockbuster exhibition at Tate Britain happening right now, this doc in the popular Exhibition on Screen series allows us to view these competitive, complementary English landscape artists side by side.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
More info

Sold Out

Tough Old Broads

Dir. Stacey Tenenbaum
90 min

Tough Old Broads is a feature documentary that follows three trailblazing women as they continue to make waves well into their 70s. Because you can't keep a good woman down.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

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 - VIFF Cinema

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 - VIFF Cinema

The President's Cake

Dir. Hasan Hadi
105 min

Nine year old Lamia and her friend Saeed venture into the city to scrounge ingredients for a cake to celebrate Sadaam Hussein's birthday — a quest fraught with real peril in precarious times. Winner, Camera d'Or, Cannes.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Credits

Producer

Isaku Kaneko

ANIM

Isaku Kaneko

Original Music

Tatsukiamano

Director

Isaku Kaneko headshot, Magnified City director

Isaku Kaneko

Isaku Kaneko is an independent animator and director. In 2020, Kaneko received a master’s degree from Tama Art University’s Department of Graphic Design.