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VIFF Short Forum: Program 2

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Get in for a rollercoaster journey through the depths of struggle and perseverance. Not for the faint of heart, this collection is as difficult as it is beautiful.

 

October 1 & 2: Q&A with the film teams

 

This short film program includes the following films:

Sisters
Marisa Hoicka, ON (3 min)

Mid-century advertisements, public service announcements, and product demonstrations are stitched together to create an unsettling narrative of two sisters.

 


Four Mile Creek
Ryan McKenna, QC (21 min)

Aurore Cormier was a settler child who died from smallpox at the turn of the 20th century, near what is now known as Thunder Bay. 100 years later, her relatives search for her grave.

 


Cloud Striker
A.W. Hopkins, BC (17 min)

Set in the 1930s, Chief Cloud Striker is on a quest to find his son Elijah, who has been forcibly taken from home and placed in Saint Ignatius Indian Residential School.

 


Conviction
Bruce Thomas Miller, AB (13 min)

Following release from prison, Joseph is faced with the challenges of reintegration into society.

 


Black Box Investigations
Paige Smith, BC (3 min)

Form and function are deconstructed through the artist’s interventions with the camera.

 


Autre Chose
Étienne Lacelle, QC (26 min)

Following a crippling motorcycle accident that killed his lover, a young man rebuilds his bike to take one last ride deep into the Canadian wilderness.

 


The Great Kind Mystery
Ella Morton, NL (17 min)

Inuk and Mi’kmaw artist Amy Hull reflects on her hometown of Daniel’s Harbour, Newfoundland and her connection to the natural world through the Mi’kmaq language.

 


Element
Will Niava, QC (22 min)

Struggling to make a living in the markets of Abidjan, a group of young men decide to step up their hustle and cast a spell in order to make some real money.

 

Supported by

Community Partner

Director

Various

Country of Origin

Canada

Year

2022-2023

Series

VIFF Short Forum

Language

Various with English subtitles

18+
122 min
Shorts

Book Tickets

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Akashi
Akashi film image; woman looking out from the back window of a car

Akashi

Dir. Mayumi Yoshida
105 min

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.

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The History of Concrete
The History of Concrete film image; man smoothing just-poured concrete sidewalk

The History of Concrete

Dir. John Wilson
101 min

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.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Sunless

Dir. Chris Marker
103 min

Chris Marker's dazzling and discursive essay film ranges across Japan, Africa, San Francisco, Iceland, politics, philosophy, ritual, movies and memory. It's a film for the permanently curious.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema
NAZA
Naza film image; two people sitting in a foggy night with skyscrapers in the background

NAZA

Dir. Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
80 min

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.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

I Am Not a Witch

Dir. Rungano Nyoni
93 min

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.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
Queen at Sea
Queen at Sea film image; two people staring at one another

Queen at Sea

Dir. Lance Hammer
121 min

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

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