Canadian Premiere
Ten years after Super Typhoon Haiyan, many Filipinos are still crawling from the wreckage. But some can still muster the will to dance amidst the devastation. Jaya, a non-binary teacher and former television comedian, is one of those indomitable souls. In a final bid for fame, they set off across the Philippines to compete in a beauty pageant only to encounter Arnel, a former student, en route. Banding together, this unlikely duo learn to support one another in a world at the brink of collapse.
Drawing on a decade of collaboration with Jaya and Arnel, Seán Devlin (himself a Juno-nominated comedian) stocks his hybrid film with super typhoon survivors, ensuring that it not only honours their experiences, but is infused with their resilience. Dizzying and deeply felt, Asog nimbly dances between the comic, sorrowful, and political. Both inspired and impacted by climate chaos, it recognizes the unprecedented circumstances we live in and responds with a film quite unlike anything we’ve ever seen.
Asog is the film we need right now. It is full of such passion and urgency and humour and love that it gurgles out of the screen and into your soul. I’m honoured to be an executive producer as I want every single person I know and many, many I don’t to see this thing of scarred beauty and queer, savage joy.
Alan Cumming, Executive Producer
September 30 & October 1: Q&A with director Seán Devlin & crew
Jaya, Arnel Pablo, Ricky Gacho Jr.
Canada/Philippines
2023
Spectrum
In Tagalog and Waray with English subtitles
Coarse Language, Violence
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Executive Producer
Adam McKay, Alan Cumming, Joel Kim Booster, Matthew Krysko, Cecilia R. Mejia
Producer
Amanda Ernst, Seán Devlin
Screenwriter
Seán Devlin, Jaya, Arnel Pablo
Cinematography
Anna MacDonald
Editor
Yap Sei-Been
Director
Seán Devlin 叶 世民
Seán’s debut feature When The Storm Fades earned him two jury prizes for Best Director and the Emerging Canadian Director prize at VIFF. His films have been presented at Cannes Docs, Tribeca, Cairo and Sao Paulo International Film
Festivals. He is an alum of the Rotterdam Producers Lab. His debut album Airports. Animals was nominated for the 2022 Juno award for Comedy Album of the Year. He was a Consulting Producer on Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm.
Filmography: When The Storm Fades (2018)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Ghost Elephants
Everyone's favourite German adventurer, Werner Herzog goes on the hunt for the largest land mammal on the planet, the fabled "ghost elephant" of the Angolan highlands -- that may, or may not, exist.
The Things You Kill
Thirty-something professor Ali leads an apparently stable life. But when his ailing mother dies under ambiguous circumstances, he starts to unravel, resulting in an act that shatters our understanding of his person.
Miroirs No. 3
Following a car crash that kills her boyfriend, piano student Laura is physically unhurt but emotionally distraught. A local woman takes her in, but she gradually realizes she's in the midst of an eerie, mysterious family situation.
Image: © Schramm Film A4 Kopie
Analogue Revolution: How Feminist Media Changed the World
Bonnie Thompson, Bonnie Sherr Klein, Moira Simpson, Zainub Verjee, Judy Rebick are among the Canadian feminist creatives who recount tales from the trenches, the gory glory days of 1970s, 80s and 90s, before the internet changed everything.
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 Painted Life of E.J. Hughes
A beautiful portrait of E.J. Hughes, who quietly helped reshape the artistic landscape of British Columbia in the 20th century. This extraordinary documentary explores Hughes’s legacy not only as an artist, but as a devoted, humble human being.