The camera eye knows no bounds in these stories that push the limits of gravity and grace.
Q&A Oct 3 & Oct 5
This short film program includes the following films:
Tidal
Chloe Van Landschoot, NS (10 min)
Examining the cyclical nature of workplace trauma and the relentlessness of health care work, the daily grind of a bedside nurse is embodied through movement, rhythm, and dance.
Chasing Birds
Una Lorenzen, QC/Iceland (8 min)
A hand-drawn animation of parallel universes in which strangers, unaware of each other’s presence, share the use of a long table as their worlds gradually merge.
Paco
Kent Donguines, BC (15 min)
While keeping a secret from his family overseas, Paco struggles to uphold his responsibilities and aspirations.
Hills and Mountains
Salar Pashtoonyar, ON (8 min)
Filmed on location in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, an Afghan woman recalls how the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan led to her forced displacement and marriage.
Dhulpa
Kunsang Kyirong, BC (18 min)
Narrative and documentary elements are woven together to tell the stories of a Tibetan immigrant community working at a local laundry facility.
Square Peg
Christian Bunea, ON (8 min)
The countdown is on as a freshman international student tries to print their essay before heading in to an exam.
Horse Brothers
Milos Mitrovic, Fabian Velasco, MB (8 min)
A tale of sibling betrayal and revenge as told by a ranch horse (voiced by Guy Maddin).
Terror/Forming
Rylan Friday, BC (24 min)
Parker and his boyfriend Darren make a disturbing discovery on their way to Parker’s late kokum’s cabin, setting the stage for how the night will unfold.
Supported by
Community Broadcast Partner
Community Partner
Various
Canada
2021-2022
Various with English subtitles
Animal Cruelty, Gender or Sexual Discrimination
Open to youth!
Book Tickets
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
All the Lovers in the Night
A lonely proofreader's isolated world begins to open through an unlikely friendship with a gentle physics teacher. Based on Mieko Kawakami's acclaimed novel, this luminous drama is a delicate meditation on loneliness, intimacy, and self-discovery.
Clarissa
Arie and Chuko Esiri’s Clarissa brings Mrs. Dalloway to present-day Lagos, with Sophie Okonedo playing the titular society hostess opposite David Oyelowo, Ayo Edebiri, and India Amarteifio in a Nigerian vision of class, privilege, and past lives.
Image: © Courtesy of Elevation Pictures
Opening Gala: The Debut
VIFF is honoured to open the festival with this special by-invitation screening of Jesse Eisenberg's The Debut. When meek Mona (Julianne Moore) lands a part in a musical, she fully inhabits her character, but grows increasingly untethered from reality.
Árru
Set against the mountains and fjords of northern Norway, Árru follows reindeer herder Maia as a proposed copper mine threatens her Sámi community, forcing her to fight to protect both her community and the land that sustains it.
The Beloved
When Esteban Martínez, an acclaimed director with violent tendences, invites his estranged daughter to star in his latest project, the stage is set for a familial reconnection. But as tensions flare, questions about his intentions rise to the surface.
MODES 1
Archive and the land reveal other ways of seeing, ensuring that what is meant to endure cannot be erased.


