Skip to main content
When Adam Changes film image

When Adam Changes

Adam change lentement

This event has passed

Teenagers are impressionable, but Adam more than most. When he goes to visit his grandmother in the hospital for a final goodbye, she croaks her final words, a comment about his “long torso”, causing his torso to literally extend. It’s been this way all Adam’s life, whenever his body is mocked, it distorts to reflect the callous comments of relatives and the targeted vitriol of fellow teens. His physical transformations are in some ways the least of his worries as he tries to navigate teenage life in late 90s Quebec complete with an impossible crush, pool parties, summer jobs, and a bit of existential dread. In his feature debut, director Joël Vaudreuil crafts a heartfelt portrait of teenage life, as incisive of its cruelties as it is rich in wildly creative absurd visual humor. Loaded with the weight of hindsight, it’s a reflection that never fails to be as funny as it is ultimately sincere.

 

Presented by

Series Media Partner

     

Director
Cast

Simon Lacroix

Credits
Country of Origin

Canada

Year

2023

Series

Northern Lights

Language

In French with English subtitles

Film Contact
Content Warning

Bullying

18+
96 min
Animation Comedy Drama

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits

Producer

David Pierrat

Screenwriter

Joël Vaudreuil

ANIM

Nicolas Moussette, Hristo Karastoyanov

Editor

Joël Vaudreuil

Original Music

Joël Vaudreuil

Director

Joël Vaudreuil headshot

Joël Vaudreuil

When Adam Changes is the feature debut of Joël Vaudreuil. Joël’s short films include The Magnificent Life Underwater (2015), L’enfant aux six hot-dogs (2011) and La récréation du midi (2009). His film, The River’s Lazy Flow (2013), was featured in over one hundred festivals around the world, including the Annecy International Animation Festival and the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival. Joël’s work has been the subject of a retrospective at the Cinémathèque Québécoise in 2017 and another at the Carrousel international du film de Rimouski in 2021.

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

Giant

Dir. George Stevens
198 min

This was the Yellowstone of its time: a big, sweeping modern Western built around an imposing ranch and family dynamics -- except Giant is much more subversive. James Dean strikes it rich as Jett Rink, much to the disgust of his former boss, Rock Hudson.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Familiar Touch

Dir. Sarah Friedland
90 min

A loving portrait of an octogenarian transitioning into an assisted living facility, this award-winning first feature by choreographer Sarah Friedland has a simplicity and warmth that's exceptionally poignant.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Super Happy Forever

Dir. Kohei Igarashi
94 min

This beguiling film depicts a man’s return to the Japanese seaside town where he met his now-deceased wife five years earlier. He tries to relive the past, and in the film's final section -- a flashback to 2018 -- the audience is afforded that privilege.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

A Streetcar Named Desire

Dir. Elia Kazan
122 min

"I don't want realism. I want magic!" declares Blanche du Bois, the tragic heroine who meets her nemesis in her sister's husband, Stanley Kowalski, in Tennessee Williams' great play. Brando's performance as Stanley is a turning point in American acting.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema
Georgia O'Keeffe: the Brightness of Light
Georgia O’Keeffe: The Brightness of Light film image; painted reds, pinks, oranges, and yellows that combine to look like a flower

Georgia O'Keeffe: the Brightness of Light

Dir. Paul Wagner
118 min

Drawing on her copious correspondence and the world's leading scholars, this is a definitive documentary on the life and work of "the mother of American Modernism."

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

While You Weren't Looking

Dir. Catherine Stewart
72 min

The changing landscape of South African politics and lifestyles is portrayed through a trio of artfully counter-pointed relationships.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre