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Big Day film image

International Shorts: Relational Baggage

Image: Big Day, VIFF 2023

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The short films in this program illustrate some of the barriers or difficulties people run into with their personal relationships.

 

October 1 & 3: Q&A with the film teams

 

This short film program includes the following films:

Hedgehog
D. Mitry, USA (17 min)

As the war starts in Ukraine a young girl is taken to stay with her grandmother. In the shack outside, she discovers a badly wounded Russian soldier.

 


Nowhere
Garin Hovannisian, Armenia/USA (12 min)

A teacher and a young barista are too prudent to say anything about their mutual attraction, but after dark a world emerges where their shadows come alive.

 


Hide Your Crazy
Austin Kase, USA (14 min)

A young man’s surprise birthday dinner for his girlfriend is not met with the response he was expecting, which leads to the most frightful night of their lives.

 


Big Day
Chung Chieh Chiang, Taiwan (23 min)

An older couple take a walk to file their divorce papers and on the way reflect on how their lives came to this.

 


Snif & Snüf
Michael J Ruocco, USA (5 min)

Two characters discover an interesting new object that teaches them a lot about themselves and what it means to share.

 


Sushi
Iván Morales, Spain (22 min)

A young man goes out for sushi dinner with a community policeman who has never had sushi before, but the mystery of their connection takes a while to be revealed.

 


Pisko the Crab Child Is in Love
Makoto Nagahisa, Japan (17 min)

A young woman whose father was a crab takes us on a whirlwind tour of her struggle to find love and acceptance.

 

Community Partner

Director

Various

Country of Origin

Various

Year

2022-2023

Series

International Shorts

Language

Various with English subtitles

18+
110 min
Shorts

Book Tickets

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Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

Concrete Land
Concrete Land film image; person sitting on a grassy hill

Concrete Land

Dir. Asmahan Bkerat
101 min

Filmed over eight years, Concrete Land follows the Najar family, one of Jordan’s last Afro-Palestinian-Bedouin families, as luxury villas close in on their grazing space outside Amman. Asmahan Bkerat preserves their way of life in the face of erasure.

SFU Woodwards Alliance Francaise

Farruquito: a Flamenco Dynasty

Dir. Santi Aguado, Reuben Atlas
90 min

Legendary flamenco dancer Farruquito struggles to reconcile his past with his family legacy. Revelling in the artistry of Romani music and dance, Farruquito: A Flamenco Dynasty explores family dynamics and the pursuit of greatness.

International Village 9 International Village 8
La Gradiva
La Gradiva film image; man standing next to a large marble statue

La Gradiva

Dir. Marine Atlan
145 min

Winner of the Grand Prize at Cannes’ Critics’ Week, Marine Atlan's feature debut follows a class of French high-school students on a trip to Naples. While learning about the ruins of Pompeii by day, a different kind of education takes place at night.

Image: © Films du poisson, Bibi Film TV, Arte France Cinema

Alliance Francaise International Village 9 Lindsay Family Stage at Granville Island
Short Forum 3: Workers of the World
The Lion Does Not Concern Himself film image; three people staring at something

Short Forum 3: Workers of the World

111 min

The grind of the working class in a system that betrays its promises.

International Village 8

TAKKUUK

120 min

Arctic Indigenous artists reckon with culture, colonialism, and a rapidly changing world in this visually explosive film, featuring a hypnotic Bicep score. With a live performance from Greenlandic rapper Tarrak.

SFU - Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre

Nina Roza

Dir. Geneviève Dulude-De Celles
103 min

Mihail, a contemporary art expert, has been living in Montreal since he left Bulgaria with his daughter almost thirty years ago. When he is commissioned to authenticate the work of an 8-year-old painting prodigy, he returns to Bulgaria for the first time.

International Village 10 Alliance Francaise