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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

Magic Farm

Dir. Amalia Ulman
93 min

In Amalia Ulman's playful slow burner, a Vice-like camera crew wash up in a sleepy South American village and cook up a story that isn't there with the help of cynical locals eager to take the gringos for every cent.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Caught by the Tides

Dir. Jia Zhangke
111 min

Over two decades, across China’s rapidly changing landscape, two lovers meet and part and meet again. In this magisterial film, Jia Zhangke refracts the 21st century through a reflexive, retrospective look at his era-defining filmography.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Vulcanizadora

Dir. Joel Potrykus
85 min

In Joel Potrykus's singular, edgy comedy, two old friends venture into the woods to let off some fireworks and... other things.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

The Penguin Lessons

Dir. Peter Cattaneo
110 min

Steve Coogan nails a juicy role in the true story of an English teacher in 70s Argentina who reluctantly p-p-picks up a penguin from an oil-slicked beach but finds his new friend is stickier than he looks.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Jinpa

Dir. Pema Tseden
87 min

Produced by Wong Kar-wai, Pema Tseden's offbeat fable is part road movie, part Tibetan western, as the fates of two men named Jinpa intertwine and weighty moral questions of karma and compassion hang in the balance.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

A Desert

Dir. Joshua Erkman
102 min

The visceral power of images to get under our skin lies at the heart of Joshua Erkman's striking debut feature, a scorched earth neo-noir about a jaded landscape photographer, Alex (Kai Lennox) who runs into trouble in Mojave desert.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema