Skip to main content
The Fruit Tree film image, director Isabelle Tollenaere

The Fruit Tree

Canadian Premiere

For Sharleece, looking out of the window of a house for rent in a desert town where she lives evokes unexpected memories of her childhood home in Los Angeles. The passing of time is ever-present.

Director
Cast

Sharleece Bourne, Alexis Bolden

Credits
Country of Origin

Belgium

Year

2022

Language

English

Film Contact
14 min

Featured in:

Parasite Family film image, director Prapat Jiwarangsan

MODES 2

Looking closer at archival images and stories from the past, these artists re-examine and re-create to establish history anew. A daring mix of approaches that excavate new ways of seeing old perspectives.

 

MORE INFO

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

Tenor: My Name Is Pati

Dir. Rebecca Tansley
104 min

Exploring the humble origins of renowned Samoan opera singer Pene Pati, Tenor: My Name is Pati is a charming underdog story about devotion to music and pursuing your dreams.

International Village 10
The Tree of Life
The Tree of Life film image; woman walking across sand towards a sunset

The Tree of Life

Dir. Terrence Malick
139 min

The Tree of Life follows Jack as he reflects on his 1950s Texas childhood and the death of his younger brother. Deeply spiritual and poetic, Malick’s film moves through grief, memory, time, and space. And there are dinosaurs.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Sometimes, I Imagine Them All at a Party

Dir. Daniela Magnani Hüller
91 min

Fourteen years ago, Daniela Magnani Hüller survived an attempted femicide by a schoolmate. Now a filmmaker, she revisits the events surrounding that fateful incident, creating a moving collage of interviews, personal recollections, and archival material.

Image: © Bildersturm

International Village 8
Queen at Sea
Queen at Sea film image; two people staring at one another

Queen at Sea

Dir. Lance Hammer
121 min

An academic is pitted against her stepfather in a moral crisis over the care of her mother, who lives with dementia. Winner of the Silver Bear Jury Prize and Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance at the 2026 Berlinale.

Image: © Seafaring

Vancouver Playhouse

Light Pillar

Dir. Xu Zao
90 min

Xu Zao’s mellow, melancholy film follows a bottom-tier employee at a decaying film studio as he gets pulled into an online obsession. Mixing animation with live action, this is a whimsical satire and a lament for the pre-digital world.

International Village 9
The Story of Documentary Film – The 2000s
The Story of Documentary Film film image; man in a war zone

The Story of Documentary Film – The 2000s

Dir. Mark Cousins
117 min

The Story of Documentary Film – The 2000s enters a decade shaped by 9/11, war, fear, and politics. Through films such as The Cove and Grizzly Man, these chapters trace the documentary medium's encounter with modernity as it begins to unravel.

Image: © Iraq in Fragments, 2006, dir. James Longley, USA, Daylight Factory Typecast-Pictures

SFU Woodwards

Credits

Producer

Bo De Group, Hans Everaert

Screenwriter

Isabelle Tollenaere

Cinematography

Isabelle Tollenaere, Grimm Vandekerckhove

Editor

Isabelle Tollenaere

Original Music

Hendrick Lasure

Art Director

Nicklas Nilsson

Director

Isabelle Tollenaere headshot, The Fruit Tree director

Photo by Jana Coorevits

Isabelle Tollenaere

Isabelle Tollenaere is an independent filmmaker and artist from Belgium. Her work playfully moves between the codes and conventions of documentary and fiction, film, and contemporary art. Her films have been widely presented and awarded at the Berlinale Forum, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Centre Pompidou, Vienna International Film Festival, Visions du Réel, FID Marseille, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, and Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival (CPH:DOX).

Filmography: Battles (2015); Victoria (2020)