Skip to main content
Mother's Skin film image, director Leah Johnston

Mother's Skin

World Premiere

Six-year-old Molly copes with her father’s alcoholic rage and mother’s worsening depression. One day, Molly and her mother discover a secret hidden underneath the floor grate.

 

Supported by

Community Broadcast Partner

Community Partner

Director
Cast

Briar Mosher, Rhiannon Morgan, Joel Thomas Hynes

Credits
Country of Origin

Canada

Year

2022

Language

English

Film Contact
Links
Content Warning

Domestic Violence; nudity

G
20 min

Featured in:

From Chile to Canada film image

VIFF Short Forum: Program 1

What kind of alchemy occurs to transform hardship into fortune? Here, the extraordinary burn brightly.

 

MORE INFO

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

M

Dir. Fritz Lang
110 min

A sophisticated and gripping suspense drama about the hunt for a child murderer, played with disturbing compassion by the great Peter Lorre. M was Fritz Lang's first sound film, and you can sense his excitement at the possibilities.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

The Wizard of the Kremlin

Dir. Olivier Assayas
156 min

This sleekly speculative political drama traces the inexorable rise to power of Vladimir Putin (Jude Law) through his unerring grasp of modern propaganda tech.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Amrum

Dir. Fatih Akin
93 min

Twelve-year-old Nanning (Jasper Billerbeck) sets himself a mission to secure bread and honey for his mother to snap her out of her depression. It is 1945. The war is all but lost, and such luxuries are not easy to find on the remote island of Amrum...

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

The Power of Restitution: The Spoils

Dir. Jamie Kastner
185 min

Join us for a special free screening of The Spoils, an acclaimed documentary about German-Jewish art dealer Max Stern, followed by a live panel discussion exploring the urgent and evolving global movement for art restitution.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

The Music Room

Dir. Satyajit Ray
159 min

Devan Scott continues his journey through the history of lighting. This week, he credits Indian director of photography Subrata Mitra for profound innovations that laid the foundation for ideas of motivated lighting + screening of The Music Room.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Everyone Is Lying to You for Money

Dir. Ben McKenzie
89 min

In which former OC star Ben McKenzie brushes off his economics degree and digs into the cryptocurrency conundrum. If bitcoin is truly all about transparency, how come no one can explain it?

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Credits

Producer

Leah Johnston, Jason Buxton

Screenwriter

Leah Johnston

Cinematography

Jason Buxton

Editor

Leah Johnston

Director

Leah Johnston headshot, Mother's Skin director

Leah Johnston

Leah Johnston is an award-winning filmmaker from Nova Scotia. Her most recent short film, Ingrid and the Black Hole (2016), premiered at the Fantasia Film Festival and was showcased at over 20 film festivals, winning eight awards, including Best Canadian Short at the Edmonton International Film Festival. She is the recipient of the Corus Fearless Female Filmmaker Award, the Bravofact/WIFT Prize, and the National Screen Institute Drama Prize. She has a BFA from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.