As time moves ever the more forward, histories are revisited. Some continue to be honoured while others are called for a reckoning.
September 29 & October 1: Q&A with the film teams
This short film program includes the following films:
Our Grandmother the Inlet
Jaime Leigh Gianopoulos, Kayah George, BC (9 min)
Kayah George, a young Tsleil-Waututh woman and her grandmother Ta7a, daughter of the late Chief Dan George, reflect on their relationship to water, culture, and land.
Unspeakable Heap
Kara Ditte Hansen (14 min)
An accumulation of histories is explored via the filmmaker’s uncle, a retired Grego-Roman Olympian wrestler who lives in a sinking house built atop a decommissioned landfill.
Master of the House
Dylan Maranda, BC (17 min)
A young sommelier struggles to balance friendship and ambition on the night an acclaimed restaurant critic dines at his work — Reclamation, a restaurant hyped on reinventing Indigenous cuisine.
The Company We Keep
Wojtek Jakubiec, QC (6 min)
An intimate portrait of a ceramics artist and her dog.
Modern Goose
Karsten Wall, MB (20 min)
The adaptive behaviours of the Canadian geese are examined as city co-habitants affected by human intervention and climate change.
Outside Center
Eli Jean Tahchi, QC (21 min)
Finding community via his gay rugby league, Jamaican-born Desmond navigates life, love, and identity as an immigrant living in Munich, Germany.
Death Mask
John Greyson, ON (10 min)
This experimental opera reenacts the lesser known history of Chinese medical student Li Shiu Tong, and his lover Magnus Hirschfeld, a much older German sexologist and gay rights pioneer during Nazi Germany.
All the Days of May
Miryam Charles, QC (7 min)
Following the production of a documentary on the death of her daughter, a mother reflects on life, grief, and time.
Mothers and Monsters
Edith Jorisch, QC (16 min)
In this surrealist satire, a celebratory banquet hosted for and by new mothers is disrupted by a series of strange disturbances.
Supported by
Community Partner
Various
Canada
2023
VIFF Short Forum
Various with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Searching for Satyrus
Award-winning filmmaker and photographer Rena Effendi embarks on a quest to track down the very rare Satyrus Effendi, a butterfly discovered by her father in the mountains of Aberbaijain. But what she finds is altogether more personal, and more upsetting.
Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World
Sasha Waters' documentary takes us through the life of America's best-selling late twentieth century poet, a private woman who shared her innermost thoughts and made them indispensable.
Palimpsest: The Story of a Name
Drawing on home movies and diaries from the 1930s, 40s, 50s and 60s, Canadian filmmaker Mary Stephen (Eric Rohmer's editor for many years) investigates the origins of her surname. After all, she was born in Hong Kong to Chinese parents. Or were they... ?
Schindler Space Architect
RM Schindler is now recognized as one of the most important modernist architects of the era, the man who laid the groundwork for what is now considered the epitome of California indoor-outdoor living. This doc sheds light on a previously unsung genius.
Out of Sight
Adapted from Elmore Leonard's novel about the mutual attraction between an escaped bank robber and the FBI agent on his tail, Out of Sight is sexy and romantic, cosmopolitan, and full of Soderbergh's sleight of hand, shuffling time like a card sharp.
The Big Lebowski
The Coens' whacky, warped slacker generation riff on Raymond Chandler, a shaggy dog story which delights in going sideways at every turn. Jeff Bridges is the Dude, and what he really wants is to get his rug back...