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
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 Teacher
In this potent thriller, English teacher Basem witnesses the murder of a teenager by a Israeli settler. While the subsequent investigation rolls slowly towards a foregone conclusion, the teacher is caught up in a parallel kidnapping case...
Bob Trevino Likes It
When her toxic, narcissistic dad cuts her out of his life, Lily Trevino looks him up on Facebook and happens across his namesake, Bob (John Leguizamo), a gentle, genial contractor who lives nearby, and who proves an altogether better dad...
The Encampments
When pro-Palestine protests took hold of Columbia last year, the filmmakers were there from the beginning. This documentary charts the mounting tensions between students and the administration, as the protests were picked up across North America.
Shepherds
Mathyas quits his marketing job in Montreal and goes to France with the romantic notion of becoming a shepherd. He's in for a rude awakening... Based on a true story, Deraspe's stirring film plays spiritual uplift off against some 3000 sheep and a donkey.
Our Lady of the Nile
Veronica and Virginia are inseparable friends at an elite Catholic boarding school, Our Lady of the Nile, but what binds them together is the very thing that separates them forever. We are in Rwanda, 1973, and tribal tensions are simmering ominously.
Faces
Ten years after his landmark debut, Shadows, John Cassavetes returned to the indie model, self-financing this wrenching portrait of the sexual mores and miseries of American middle class. Gena Rowlands is luminous as Jeannie, the film's emotional barometer.