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VIFF Short Forum: Program 5

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Cosmological, geological, and speculative potentials provide hope in periods of doubt and hardship.

 

October 6 & 7: Q&A with the film teams

 

This short film program includes the following films:

Baigal Nuur – Lake Baikal
Alisi Telengut, QC (9 min)

North of the Mongolian border, the ancient Siberian Lake Baikal is reimagined through hand-made animation, featuring the voice of a Buryat woman speaking in her endangered Buryat-Mongolian language.

 


Gentle Hum of Spring
Simon Garez, SK (10 min)

As the spring thaw approaches in Saskatchewan, a young beekeeper struggles to maintain his bee colonies.

 


My Tomato Heart
Benoît Le Rouzès Ménard, QC (15 min)

Due to a serious heart condition, Madeleine is forced to retire from her beloved job at the neighbourhood grocery store. How will her last day end?

 


Take Care
Tony Massil, BC (19 min)

A recently divorced and deflated James moves in with his grandmother Patty, a fiercely independent octogenarian. Despite Patty’s declining physical abilities, she is reluctant to give up her autonomy.

 


Return to Ombabika
Ma-Nee Chacaby, Zoe Gordon, Shayne Ehman, ON (22 min)

Two spirit Oji-Cree elder, activist and artist Ma-Nee Chacaby journeys home to Ombabika, Ontario. She reflects on the land, her personal healing and the impacts of colonization.

 


Defining Human
Daniel Code, BC (15 min)

As Earth reaches its environmental breaking point, Mia, a talented black astronaut, must make a difficult decision: to stay with her ailing father, or leave for the unknown potentials of space exploration.

 


Soleil de Nuit
Fernando Lopez Escriva, Maria Camila Arias, QC (13 min)

During a training exercise in an abandoned open-pit mine, a crew of Canadian astronauts are interrupted by an Atikamekw elder, who asks them to deliver an important message to the spirit of his community on the moon.

 


Dickinsonia
Charline Dally, QC (17 min)

This speculative investigation of the titular 500-million-year-old ocean species is an invitation for embodied listening — to open one’s unconscious in order to find what is embedded deep within our memories.

 

Supported by

Community Partner

Director

Various

Country of Origin

Canada

Year

2022-2023

Series

VIFF Short Forum

Language

Various with English subtitles

18+
120 min
Shorts

Book Tickets

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

Palestine '36

Dir. Annemarie Jacir
118 min

An epic historical drama from director Annemarie Jacir that follows an ensemble of rural villagers who face off against British colonial forces during the 1936 Palestinian revolt.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other

Dir. Manon Ouimet & Jacob Perlmutter
100 min

This intimate and candid film by a younger husband and wife artist team is a delicate and immensely moving dual portrait of two artists, husband and wife, together and apart, at that point in life when the end casts a shadow over even the sunniest day.

Image: © Manon et Jacob and Final Cut For Real

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Lingua Franca

Dir. Isabel Sandoval
95 min

Lingua Franca is a tender portrait of intimacy shaped by migration, vulnerability, and the quiet negotiations of belonging. Centered on an undocumented Filipina trans woman living in New York, the film moves with delicate restraint.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Erupcja

Dir. Pete Ohs
72 min

Charli xcx headlines this indie gem about a young English couple coming unmoored over a few days in Warsaw. Will means to propose. Beth has cold feet -- and an escape hatch she has barely admitted to herself... Think Before Sunrise 2025.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Everyone Is Lying to You for Money

Dir. Ben McKenzie
89 min

In which former OC star Ben McKenzie brushes off his economics degree and digs into the cryptocurrency conundrum. If bitcoin is truly all about transparency, how come no one can explain it?

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Suburban Fury

Dir. Robinson Devor
120 min

Sara Jane Moore was a 1970s housewife who took the unusual step of trying to assassinate the President of the United States. An action that cost her dearly. This is her story.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre