Skip to main content
Municipal Relaxation Module film image, director Matthew Rankin

Municipal Relaxation Module

Ken has a perfect spot for a city bench, and is calling the city to share his idea.

 

Supported by

Community Broadcast Partner

Community Partner

Director
Cast

Trevor Anderson, Maurice Krank

Credits
Country of Origin

Canada

Year

2022

Language

English

Film Contact
Links
Content Warning

Coarse language

PG
6 min

Featured in:

From Chile to Canada film image

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

No Other Land

Dir. Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham & Rachel Szor
96 min

Deemed by many critics one of the essential films of 2024, a multiple festival award winner and Academy Award winner for Best Documentary, No Other Land is a reminder that mass expulsion is by no means a new reality for Palestinians.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

The Way, My Way

Dir. Bill Bennett
93 min

All manner of pilgrims flock to France and Spain to walk the 800 km Camino de Santiago. One such is Bill, a stroppy sexagenarian Australian filmmaker who's determined to do the Camino with minimal prep, a dickey leg, and no firm idea why.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
Heart of Gold
Heart of Gold film image; woman crouching by a burning miniature house

Heart of Gold

Dir. Patricia Gruben
80 min

Writer-director Patricia Gruben explores the history of an American deserter in 1969 who escapes to BC and finds shelter with a Russian dissident community.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Resident Orca

Dir. Sarah Sharkey Pearce & Simon Schneider
97 min

Captured in Puget Sound in 1970, killer whale Lolita spent the next half century in a cramped tank in Seaquarium, Miami. The film follows a coalition of Lummi elders, animal lovers and philanthropists on a rescue mission to return her to the ocean.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Misericordia

Dir. Alain Guiraudie
103 min

Edgy, eccentric, and unapologetically queer, this film goes from drama to comedy without putting a foot wrong. Sex and murder are the subjects, and writer-director Alain Guiraudie (Stranger by the Lake) mines them for suspense and outrageous laughs.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

The Stand

Dir. Christopher Auchter
95 min

This rousing doc explores a 1985 dispute over logging in the Haida Gwaii. Taking us from canny retrospective commentary to the thick of the action, director Chris Auchter employs animation and a wealth of archival footage to riveting effect.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Credits

Producer

Matthew Rankin, Sacha Ratcliffe

Screenwriter

Matthew Rankin

Cinematography

Matthew Rankin

Editor

Matthew Rankin

Director

Matthew Rankin headshot, Municipal Relaxation Module director

Matthew Rankin

Matthew Rankin was born in Winnipeg and educated at McGill University and Université Laval. He is the director of some 30 short films and one feature, which have been presented at Sundance, TIFF, SXSW, Annecy International Animation Film Festival, the Berlinale, Cannes Critics’ Week, and on the Criterion Channel. His debut feature, The Twentieth Century (2019) was awarded the Best Canadian First Feature Film at TIFF and the FIPRESCI Prize at the Berlinale.