Skip to main content

Creature

This event has passed

Canadian Premiere

Set in an abandoned Arctic research station, Creature follows a ballet in which a mysterious creature is found and captured by a military operation, becoming the subject of intense research and experimentation. Despite the physical and mental torture inflicted upon him, the creature falls in love with a cleaning woman and dreams of escape. Director Asif Kapadia captures this incredible contemporary ballet choreographed by Akram Khan and performed by the English National Ballet using agile camera movement, dramatic lighting, masterful editing, and powerful music.

Leading an outstanding cast, Jeffrey Cirio is a physical and emotional powerhouse, moving his body with pulsing precision, portraying the Creature with poignancy and wide-eyed purity. The story is mysterious, echoing Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and hinting at a near dystopia, exploring the ills and triumphs of human nature within the yearning to belong. The film sets an uncompromising, singular vision that astonishes with kinetic movement, high energy, and unfettered emotion. Creature sets the bar for a cinematic treatment of dance.

Director
Cast

Jeffrey Cirio, Erina Takahashi, Stina Quagebeur, Ken Saruhashi, Andy Serkis

Credits
Country of Origin

UK

Year

2022

Series

Showcase

Language

No Dialogue

Film Contact
18+
87 min
Art, Music & Photography Drama

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits

Executive Producer

Asif Kapadia, Heather Clark Charrington, Daniel Alicandro, Louise Shand-Brown

Producer

Uzma Hasan

Cinematography

Daniel Landin

Editor

Sylvie Landra

Original Music

Vincenzo Lamagna

Director

Asif Kapadia headshot

Photo by Andrew Leo

Asif Kapadia

Asif Kapadia is an Academy Award, four-time BAFTA Award, Grammy Award & European Film Award winning director, writer, and producer. He is best known for his documentary trilogy, Senna (2010), Amy (2015), and Diego Maradona (2019), which collectively amassed three BAFTA awards alongside the Best Documentary Oscar for Amy (2015). Kapadia’s debut film The Warrior (2001) won BAFTAs both for Outstanding British Film and Outstanding Debut by a Director, Writer or Producer.

Filmography: The Warrior (2001); Senna (2010); Amy (2015); Diego Maradona (2019)

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

Porcelain War

Dir. Brendan Bellomo & Slava Leontyev
87 min

In Canada we cannot truly comprehend a scenario in which our country is invaded and civilians compelled to take up arms. Yet for Ukrainians, this is the reality. In Porcelain War, three artists elect to stay and fight -- with cameras, yes, and with guns.

VIFF Centre - Vancity Theatre

Inay (Mama)

Dir. Thea Loo
74 min

Bold and deeply personal, Inay investigates the emotional and psychological repercussions of Canada's Live-In Caregiver Program, which attracted Filipino women migrant workers who left their children to care for strangers out of economic necessity.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

La Cocina

Dir. Alonso Ruizpalacios
139 min

First day at the Grill for undocumented Mexican Estella. The work is unremitting, the melting pot is boiling, and Julia (Rooney Mara) is due to have an abortion -- to the fury of her lover, one of the chefs...

VIFF Centre - Vancity Theatre VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Ernest Cole: Lost and Found

Dir. Raoul Peck
106 min

Raoul Peck (I Am Not Your Negro) tells the story of South African photographer Ernest Cole, who captured some of the most vivid and compelling images of the apartheid regime in the 1960s but died in near obscurity in the USA just as Mandela was released.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - Vancity Theatre

Obsessed with Light

Dir. Sabine Krayenbühl & Zeva Oelbaum
90 min

Nearly a century after her death Loie Fuller is still inspiring artists like Taylor Swift, Shakira, Bill T Jones and William Kentridge. She became world famous as an innovative dancer, combining fabric, lighting effects and movement in revolutionary ways.

VIFF Centre - Vancity Theatre VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Never Look Away

Dir. Lucy Lawless
84 min

A piercing portrait of CNN combat camerawoman Margaret Moth, who fearlessly captured images from Desert Storm, Bosnia, Rwanda, Lebanon, and never backed down, even after a near fatal bullet to the head.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre