Fear, doubt, and loneliness give way to pleasure, empowerment, and reclamation—or, is it the other way around?
Q&A Oct 2 & Oct 4
This short film program includes the following films:
i see me watching
Sidney Gordon, BC (8 min)
Through formal experimentation based on the artist’s personal struggle with gender identity, a singular self has been split into two.
Scaring Women at Night
Karimah Zakia Issa, ON (11 min)
Two strangers walking alone at night in the same direction notice each other. While one becomes increasingly afraid, the other tries—unsuccessfully—to appear less threatening.
Blond Night
Gabrielle Demers, QC (17 min)
Worlds entwine when Victor, an autistic man who resides in a housing community, goes for a walk and meets Jessy, a sex worker ejected from a customer’s vehicle.
Adore
Beth Warrian, ON (11 min)
Luci, a queer Peruvian-Canadian woman, gives her beloved nephew the Christmas gift of his dreams: a beautiful sequined dress. But when he tries to show the rest of the family, Luci finds herself enacting the same restrictions and shaming she has experienced herself.
First Months of Freedom
Kriss Li, QC (10 min)
Cat, a transgender woman in Tennessee, has completed parole. Using phone videos, Skype calls, archival material, and footage shot by a friend, a portrait emerges of the challenges posed by her newfound freedom.
Tongue
Kaho Yoshida, BC (2 min)
Tired of her date’s racist and sexist comments, a woman decides to liberate his tongue.
Patty Vs. Patty
Chris Strikes, ON (19 min)
In 1985, Jamaican bakers went head-to-head with the Canadian government over the name of the beef patty, as recounted by Michael Davidson of Kensington Patty Palace.
Minus Twenty
Jack Parker, AB (7 min)
A day in the life of a cold storage facility worker.
Sikiitu
Gabriel Allard Gagnon, QC (21 min)
A coming-of-age story in the small Arctic village of Ivujivik, where teenage Ali would rather spend his time dreaming of being a hip-hop superstar instead of going hunting with his dad.
Supported by
Community Broadcast Partner
Community Partner
Various
Canada
2021-2022
Various with English subtitles
Sexual Violence, Racial Discrimination
Open to youth!
Book Tickets
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Montreal, ma belle
In this Valentine to discovering love later in life, the ever-elegant Joan Chen plays Feng Xia, a 53-year-old Chinese immigrant and mother in Montreal whose world is turned upside down when she meets and falls in love with a young Quebecoise.
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Mixing documentary and reenactment, this film powerfully evokes the desperate attempts of the Red Crescent to rescue a six year old child trapped in a car under Israeli military fire. Oscar nominee: Best International Film
One Battle After Another
PT Anderson's breathless satire is the best political action movie of 2025, a defiantly anti-MAGA rallying cry featuring a six pack of crackerjack performances. They'll still be talking about this one 50 years from now.
Turner & Constable
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.


