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

Clubfoot
Clubfoot film image; three people at the end of an aisle in a library

Clubfoot

Dir. Nathan Donovan
70 min

An adopted teen and his friend coerce a younger adoptee to go for a drive out to the countryside — but things turn violent. With a fragmented structure and unresolved questions, Clubfoot reflects the uncertainty and isolation that often follow adoption.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema
Smudge the Blades
Smudge the Blades headshot; hockey players in a faceoff

Smudge the Blades

Dir. Cody Lightning
96 min

This rousing hockey drama centres on the Treaty 6 Blades, a team of Indigenous youth on a quest for redemption. Blessed with a terrific cast, this is a crowd-pleaser in which victory is about much more than winning the game.

International Village 9

Congo Boy

Dir. Rafiki Fariala
91 min

Congo Boy is a deeply moving coming-of-age drama about Robert, a 17-year-old Congolese refugee in the Central African Republic balancing school, odd jobs, and the care of his four younger siblings — while dreaming of success as a musician.

Image: © 2026 MAKONGO FILMS UNITÉ KIRIPIFILMS KARTA FILM CANAL

Lindsay Family Stage at Granville Island

Sweet Milk Lake

Dir. Harvey Zielinski
94 min

In Sweet Milk Lake, a trans man is mistaken for his cisgender twin in a darkly comic thriller about deception, gender, and dangerous wish fulfilment.

Fifth Avenue Cinema - 19+ only International Village 9

Ba's Book

Dir. Ashley Duong
102 min

A TIFF Docs world premiere and Cannes Docs award winner, Ba’s Book follows Vietnamese-Canadian filmmaker Ashley Duong as she brings her father’s memoir to Vietnam and recreates it with her family, blending documentary and staged scenes.

International Village 8

Family Fears Another Night of Terror

Dir. Cristian Ponce
83 min

Night after night, a family of four is tormented by an unseen presence inside their home — or so it seems. Family Fears Another Night of Terror transforms the aesthetics of a late-night television special into an analogue nightmare.

International Village 10