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VIFF Short Forum: Program 5

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Growing up is hard to do, often harder as we get older.

 

Q&A Oct 5 & Oct 9

 

This short film program includes the following films:

Reste
Ginger Le Pêcheur, QC (8 min)

Alone in a messy home, a young girl spends the day playing by herself.

 


Pro Pool
Alec Pronovost, QC (8 min)

Charles-Olivier, a recent graduate who had majored in Viking history, begins a new job at a pool shop.

 


Agony
Arnaud Beaudoux, QC (13 min)

Over the course of 15 days on a commercial trawler, a hyper-intimate portrayal of life and death on the high seas is documented.

 


The Faraway Place
Kenny Welsh, BC (14 min)

A young woman and her father, both of whom have horns, flee from a violent cult on a mission to eradicate their kind.

 


I Empower as a Mother
Inder Nirwan, Dani Barker, BC (11 min)

Patricia Massy, the founder and director of Massy Arts Society and co-founder of Indigenous Brilliance collective, shares aspects of her life, work, and business, Massy Books.

 


Brasier
Amélia Raposo, Tiago Freire Brosseau, QC (19 min)

After joining a high school soccer team made up of older girls, 11-year-old Pierre-Amelia is exposed to teenager sex talk. This precipitates her sexual awakening, and she develops an unexpected, taboo crush.

 


The Passing
Jackson Harvey, QC (6 min)

A dairy farmer searches for one of his cows that has wandered off in a blizzard.

 


Rocket Fuel
Jessie Posthumus, ON (12 min)

Three siblings decide to collect the cans and bottles left over from they backyard party their parents hosted the previous night. On their journey to the bottling depot, obstacles arise.

 


Heartbeat of a Nation
Eric Janvier, AB (21 min)

Honouring the Dene Drum, this documentary celebrates the healing of a community and nation through the reclamation and passing down of traditional teachings within a Dene family.

 

Supported by

Community Broadcast Partner

Community Partner

Director

Various

Country of Origin

Canada

Year

2021-2022

Language

Various with English subtitles

Content Warning

Incest

Open to youth!

112 min
Shorts

Book Tickets

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

The Chronology of Water

Dir. Kristen Stewart
128 min

Kristen Stewart's fearless directorial debut is based on the best-selling memoir by Lidia Yuknavitch (Imogen Poots), a chronicle of her abusive childhood, traumatized adulthood, and escapes through swimming, drugs, sex, and ultimately writing.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Nino

Dir. Pauline Locquès
97 min

Québécois actor Théodore Pellerin gives a quietly devastating performance as a young man shocked to learn he has throat cancer.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

The Voice of Hind Rajab

Dir. Kaouther Ben Hania
89 min

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

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Sentimental Value

Dir. Joachim Trier
135 min

A once-revered director crashes back into his family’s lives, eager to recruit his daughter for a film role. When she declines, he finds a new muse in an eager but unpolished Hollywood star, sending his botched reconciliation spiraling into chaos.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Sinners

Dir. Ryan Coogler
137 min

2025's unexpected box office sleeper is that rare beast, a genre movie full of bold invention and surprise. We are in Mississippi in the early 1930s, and the opening of a new blues joint on the edge of town is the signal for all hell to break out.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Mr. Nobody Against Putin

Dir. David Borenstein & Pavel Talankin
90 min

Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary, and Special Jury Prize Winner, Sundance, 2025, this exposé shot by a Russian primary teacher shows how the Putin propaganda machine works to militarize children.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre