World Premiere
During the summer before college, city girl Waverly (Andrea Bang) finds herself in Tofino, completely alienated by the local beach culture. Things start to look up when she meets the local lifeguard Blake (Robbie Amell), who welcomes her into his life. And when he finds out that she doesn’t know how to swim and takes it upon himself to teach her, she discovers a new world of possibilities which throws her carefully planned future into question.
Adapted from Kate Marchant’s hit novel, a smash success on the self-publishing platform Wattpad, Float is a tender romance grounded in the universal theme of becoming, but here centered on the specific experiences of a young Asian woman, allowing filmmaker Sherren Lee to bring her own background into Waverly’s story. Lee, here making her feature debut, directs with remarkable assurance, while Bang and Amell turn in luminous lead performances. Filmed right here in BC, this is a film that finds new depths in a classic story.
September 30: Q&A with director Sherren Lee
Presented by
Series Media Partner
Robbie Amell, Sarah Desjardins, Andrew Bachelor
Canada
2023
Northern Lights
English
At International Village
At The Rio
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Executive Producer
Emily Alden, Sandra Desrosiers Karr, Noah Segal, Lindsey Ramey, Allen Lau, Jamie D. Greenberg
Producer
Jeff Chan, Robbie Amell, Aron Levitz, Aaron Au, Shawn Williamson, Chris Paré, Matthew Kariatsumari
Screenwriter
Sherren Lee, Jesse LaVercombe
Cinematography
Alfonso Chin
Editor
Simone Smith
Production Design
Jessica Fish
Original Music
Jesse Zubot, Dan Mangan
Director
Sherren Lee
Sherren Lee is a writer-director born in Taiwan, bred in Montreal and currently based in Toronto. Her first feature film Float will be released by Lionsgate in 2024. Sherren directed the poignant short films Benjamin (TIFF 2015) and The Things You Think I’m Thinking (SXSW 2017), which has screened at over 70 film festivals across the globe, won a dozen awards, was selected as a Vimeo Staff Pick and has over 2 million views on YouTube’s Omeleto Channel. Sherren is a member of the Director’s Guild of Canada, is a 2014 Alumna of the CFC Directors Lab and was named as one of Hollywood Reporter’s Fifteen Canada’s Rising Stars of 2018.
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
The Ice Tower
In Lucile Hadžihalilović's spellbinding fantasy drama, an orphan (Clara Pacini) becomes enthralled by a movie star (Marion Cotillard) playing the Snow Queen in a fairy tale film adaptation. Winner of the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution.
Where to Land
Hal Hartley's first new film in a decade is a melancholy farce about mortality and what we'll call "late middle-age". Bill Sage is a semi-retired filmmaker who isn't dying faster than the rest of us but who behaves like he might be.
The Secret Agent
Having run afoul of an influential bureaucrat in Brazil’s military dictatorship circa 1977, Marcelo decamps to Recife to live under an assumed name — but he’ll soon come to understand precisely how rampant the country’s corruption has become.
La Grazia
A contemplative, mournful but richly imagined movie about a retiring Italian President (Toni Servillo from The Great Beauty) facing two thorny ethical decisions that may define his legacy.
Image: © Andrea Pirrello