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 Blue Trail
77-year-old Tereza makes a break for the Brazilian jungle in this trippy septuagenarian fantasy, the latest from Brazilian director Gabriel Mascaro is a quirky picaresque, lushly photographed and filled with mordant humour.
Two Prosecutors
In the midst of Stalin’s purges, a naïve prosecutor sets out to investigate a prisoner’s innocence, unaware of the labyrinthine bureaucracy awaiting him. A Kafkaesque procedural thriller about the pursuit of justice in the face of corruption.
Image: © SBS Productions
Calle Málaga
Seventy-nine-year-old María Ángeles lives independently in Tangier's Spanish quarter. When her daughter pressures her into selling her apartment, she refuses to give in, finding in her old age a new resilience and an unexpected romantic connection.
El Suavecito
Victor Parra is Roberto, "el Suavecito", the smoothie. Sprinkling his Spanish with slang and English, and sporting a Zoot suit, he's a gangster-wannabe, an obnoxious macho who isn't quite as tough as he likes to make out...
Krystle dos Santos + Dawn Pemberton: Meet Me at Vie's + Union Street
Enjoy a sneak preview of Krystle dos Santos's upcoming musical celebration of the Hogan's Alley Black community in Strathcona, with songs performed by Krystle and Dawn Pemberton, followed by Jamila Pomeroy's documentary Union Street.