Skip to main content
Apple Cider Vinegar film image; woman examines small marble with magnifying glass

Apple Cider Vinegar

Spectrum

This event has passed

Canadian Premiere

Upon finding the rare Antarctic mineral Weddellite in her kidney stone, a retired nature documentary narrator is inspired to return to the field to tell one last story. She invites us to join her in exploring the hidden world of stones: where Palestinian granite quarry workers unearth ancient fish fossils, and geologists in the UK linger by roadcuts to examine meteorite pieces. In Cape Verde, Fogo islanders inhabit homes partially engulfed in volcanic rock, while along the beaches of Cornwall, an artist assumes the daily task of picking up shards of plastic waste to remold into sculptures.

Buoyed by Siân Phillips’ affably soothing voiceover performance, director Sophie Benoot’s quirky hybrid essay film offers up both a micro- and macroscopic view of the mesmerizing connections between geological structures and living beings. In turns thought-provoking, droll, and affecting, Apple Cider Vinegar gently nudges the viewer to contemplate ecological grief, while training our eyes to find beauty in unexpected places.

Apple Cider Vinegar is an essay film if there ever was one, at the intersection of Chris Marker and Patrício Guzman for its philosophical gravitas and Agnès Varda and Laurie Anderson for its playfulness.

Diego Semerene, Slant Magazine

Director
Featuring

Siân Phillips

Credits
Country of Origin

Belgium/Netherlands

Year

2024

Language

In English, Arabic and Portuguese with English subtitles and open captions

Film Contact
Links
18+
84 min
Art, Music & Photography Documentary Women Directors
Inti Films, Pieter van Huystee Film

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits & Director

Executive Producer

Peter Krüger

Producer

Peter Krüger

Screenwriter

Sofie Benoot

Cinematography

Jonathan Wannyn

Editor

Sofie Benoot, Liyo Gong

Original Music

Guillaume Graux

Sofie Benoot headshot; Apple Cider Vinegar director

Sofie Benoot

Sofie Benoot (Bruges, 1985) lives and works in Brussels. Her films are patchworks of different stories, carefully assembled to reveal hidden connections. Fronterismo (2007), Blue Meridian (2010) and Desert Haze (2014) played at Visions du Réel (Switzerland), Camden International Film Festival (USA), Torino FD (Italy), and BAFICI (Argentina). Benoot teaches in the Film master’s programme at LUCA School of Arts in Brussels. She co-directed Victoria (2020), which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and won the Caligari Prize.

Filmography: Fronterismo (2007); Blue Meridian (2010); Desert Haze (2014); Victoria (2020)

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

That They May Face the Rising Sun

Dir. Pat Collins
111 min

John and Kate have moved from London to a farm in Ireland, to the bemusement of the locals. This lyrical Irish reverie taps deep wells of feeling in the stuff of everyday life.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Secret Mall Apartment

Dir. Jeremy Workman
91 min

The stranger-than-fiction true story of a group of artists who built and furnished a hidden apartment inside a mall, remaining undetected for years. This is an absurdly fun and surprisingly profound film about gentrification and art.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

The Encampments

Dir. Michael T. Workman & Kei Pritsker
82 min

When pro-Palestine protests took hold of Columbia last year, the filmmakers were there from the beginning. This documentary charts the mounting tensions between students and the administration, as the protests were picked up across North America.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

The Teacher

Dir. Farah Nabulsi
118 min

In this potent thriller, English teacher Basem witnesses the murder of a teenager by a Israeli settler. While the subsequent investigation rolls slowly towards a foregone conclusion, the teacher is caught up in a parallel kidnapping case...

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Bob Trevino Likes It

Dir. Tracie Laymon
102 min

When her toxic, narcissistic dad cuts her out of his life, Lily Trevino looks him up on Facebook and happens across his namesake, Bob (John Leguizamo), a gentle, genial contractor who lives nearby, and who proves an altogether better dad...

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
A Duke Ellington Tribute with the Mike Braverman Sextet
man posed to play a piano

A Duke Ellington Tribute with the Mike Braverman Sextet

150 min

After a scintillating session of Duke standards performed by The Mike Braverman Sextet, enjoy a roundup of Ellingtonia on Film: his first short sound films from the late 20s and 30s, and clips from the scores he composed in the 50s and 60s.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema