World Premiere
In Tbilisi, Georgia, an apartment tower sits in a liminal state, its construction halted at a critical juncture by the global pandemic. In its shadowy alcoves, Viktor (Matt Shally), a legendary drag queen, and Tarzan (Maqzime Rauch), a teenage drifter, have embraced their collective purgatorial languor, subsisting on brief instances of intimacy. While intermittent television reports apprise them of developments from the outside world, it’s increasingly unclear whether they’re still inhabiting this plane of existence.
The first solo directorial effort from multihyphenate Felix Kalmenson (of the acclaimed Pejvak artist collective), Gamodi employs stunning chiaroscuro, exacting compositions, and intriguing sound design to conjure a legitimately dreamlike milieu. Practically every pristine shot in Kalmenson’s poetic fable invites admiration and rewards careful examination. Equally informed by the material and spiritual, Gamodi casts an enthralling spell as it unfurls, and lingers in the subconscious long after it draws to its haunting close.
October 3 & 5: Q&A with director Felix Kalmenson
Media Partner
Matt Shally, Maqsime Rauch, Luka Chachxiani
Canada/Georgia
2023
Panorama
In English and Georgian with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Executive Producer
Felix Kalmenson
Producer
Felix Kalmenson, Ketevan Kipiani, Alexandre Jordania
Screenwriter
Felix Kalmenson, Ana Gzirishvili
Cinematography
Zarina Kodzati
Editor
Sasha Putsyato
Original Music
Manana Menabde
Art Director
Polina Zhurovkova
Director
Felix Kalmenson
Felix Kalmenson (b. Saint Petersburg, Russia, 1987) is a non-binary Canadian artist and filmmaker. Their films have screened in numerous international film festivals including at São Paulo International Film Festival, Doclisboa, Sharjah Film Platform, and Kasseler Dokfest , winning awards including the Prix George at Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur, 2020. Many of their works are made in collaboration with artist and filmmaker Rouzbeh Akhbari under the collective name ‘Pejvak’.
Filmography: Threshold (2020)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Husbands
Men behaving badly: reeling from the death of a friend, three middle-aged buddies go on an epic drinking binge. It's not enough. They roll home, collect their passports, and take off for a weekend of gambling, women and booze in London.
It's Not Me
“Where are you at, Leos Carax?” To this question, the French filmmaker assembles an unpredictable essay-film made in the spirit of the late Jean-Luc Godard — an endlessly inventive self-portrait of an artist reflecting on his place in cinema history.
Nashville
With 26 actors getting more-or-less equal screen time and half of them singing their own tunes, Robert Altman's state-of-the-nation satire on bicentennial USA is a movie that repays multiple views.
Holy Motors
Carax's film a dazzler, a requiem for cinema that somehow breathes new life and new hope into the form. Denis Lavant (Beau Travail) plays 11 roles and the accordion. Absurdist, surreal, poignant and unforgettable, this is truly one of a kind.