On June 15, 2011, we witnessed Vancouverites’ capacity for anarchy. Hours after the Vancouver Canucks lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, there was panic in the streets, shattered glass on the sidewalks, and smoke and pepper spray in the air as rioters left police cars ablaze and laid waste to blocks of downtown. As thousands of smartphone photos were posted online in the wake of the mayhem, social media platforms became the equivalent of old-fashioned “Wanted” posters. It turned out that concerned citizens’ handheld devices had unwittingly turned them into Big Brother.
In this absorbing documentary, Kathleen S. Jayme (The Grizzlie Truth) and Asia Youngman revisit the events of that chaotic night through interviews with the likes of Roberto Luongo, Jon Ronson, and Alexandra Samuel, and track down several of the then-young offenders who became the poster children for the riots and paid mightily for their misdeeds. In doing so, they make the compelling argument that mob mentalities flourish as readily and destructively online as they do in the streets.
October 2 & 5: Q&A with directors Kathleen S. Jayme & Asia Youngman & crew
Canada
2023
Special Presentations
English
Coarse Language, Violence, Nudity
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Executive Producer
Asia Youngman, Kathleen S. Jayme, Marsha Cooke, John Dahl, Rob King, Brian Lockhart, Burke Magnus
Producer
Michael Tanko Grand, James Brown, Gentry Kirby, Mike Johnston
Cinematography
Kaayla Whachell
Editor
Greg Ng, Katie Chipperfield
Production Design
Ryan MacInnes
Original Music
Taylor Swindells, Jordan Klassen
Art Director
Matt Carson
Directors
Kathleen S. Jayme
Kathleen Jayme is an award-winning Filipina-Canadian filmmaker. Her short Finding Big Country won the Audience Award at VIFF (2018), as did her first feature film The Grizzlie Truth (winner of the 2019 TIFF Pitch This! Competition) three years later. Her sophomore feature (co-directed with Asia Youngman), I’m Just Here for the Riot, is an ESPN 30/30 that had its World Premiere at Hot Docs 2023. Kathleen has gone on to direct for the NBA, CBC, NFB, and ESPN.
Filmography: Finding Big Country (2018); The Grizzlie Truth (2022)
Asia Youngman
Asia Youngman is an award-winning Indigenous filmmaker from Vancouver, Canada. Some of her previous short films include This Ink Runs Deep (2019) and N’xaatikw (2022) which both premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Her first feature-length documentary I’m Just Here For The Riot (2023) is part of ESPN’s acclaimed 30 for 30 series.
Missing VIFF? Check Out What's Playing at the VIFF Centre
The History of Concrete
After attending a workshop on pitching saccharine Hallmark movies, John Wilson tries to apply all the same best practices to his documentary about concrete. Frequently absurd and endlessly entertaining detours, asides, and digressions ensue.
NAZA
NAZA is a codeword euphemistically used by Israeli intelligence to indicate the number of civilians it expects will be killed in an airstrike. This chilling documentary exposes the policy and process of state-sanctioned mass killings.
I Am Not a Witch
Rungano Nyoni's acclaimed debut feature is a visually striking satire about a 9-year-old orphan accused of witchcraft in contemporary Zambia. Screening in the latest African Cinema Now! series, The Witch at the Edge of the Screen.
Akashi
In Mayumi Yoshida’s tender drama, struggling artist Kana journeys to Tokyo to attend her grandmother’s funeral. While there, she reconnects with her childhood love and stumbles across a family secret that prompts her to reconsider her place in the world.
Queen at Sea
An academic is pitted against her stepfather in a moral crisis over the care of her mother, who lives with dementia. Winner of the Silver Bear Jury Prize and Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance at the 2026 Berlinale.
Image: © Seafaring