Visions of dark impulses are given the spotlight and invite an opportunity to reflect on the personal in relation to the political, examining structural inequity and its impact on the individual, as well as individual acts and their impacts on our structures. From Congo to China, and the Philippines to Poland, the end is nigh.
This short film program includes the following films:
Lake of Fire
NEOZOON, Germany (11 min)
Fear of death and interpretations of hell filter through online social bubbles to distill a singular divine message.
The Stopover
Collectif Faire-part, Belgium/DR Congo (14 min)
Travelling from Kinshasa to Frankfurt, filmmakers Paul Shemisi and Nizar Saleh find themselves unjustly relegated to airport purgatory.
Very, Very, Tremendously
Guangli Liu, China/France (12 min)
Virtual currency and digital junk, along with virtual acts of production and consumption, interact with systems in our lived reality, highlighting their coexistence in geopolitical conflicts.
It’s Raining Frogs Outside
Maria Estela Paiso, Philippines (14 min)
Forced to return to the Philippines as the world abruptly closes, Maya recedes into a terrorizing solitude and a fever dream of mixed animation ensues.
The Earth Will Swallow it All
Dominik Ritszel, Poland (9 min)
A period of rapid modernization in Poland in the 1990s brought with it anxiety and fears inflicted by hegemonic order and a complete disregard for the social costs or traumatic after-effects.
Watch the Fire or Burn Inside it
Caroline Poggi, Jonathan Vinel, France (19 min)
In Corsica, a woman chooses to care for the earth by burning it.
Various
Various
2021-2022
Various with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other
This intimate and candid film by a younger husband and wife artist team is a delicate and immensely moving dual portrait of two artists, husband and wife, together and apart, at that point in life when the end casts a shadow over even the sunniest day.
Image: © Manon et Jacob and Final Cut For Real
Blue Road - The Edna O'Brien Story
Judging by this candid, funny, passionate biographical documentary, it would have been a wild ride to have been Irish novelist Edna O'Brien, or even to have been in her circle of friends and lovers. Well, for an hour and a half we can pretend we were.
Erupcja
Charli xcx headlines this indie gem about a young English couple coming unmoored over a few days in Warsaw. Will means to propose. Beth has cold feet -- and an escape hatch she has barely admitted to herself... Think Before Sunrise 2025.
Tony Wilson's The Homeless Project
Combining music, text, still photography, and film to shine a sympathetic light on Canada's urban dispossessed, The Homeless Project is the third in composer, guitarist Tony Wilson's series of multimedia projects addressing pressing social issues.