Canadian Premiere
There’s no place like home for the holidays and the extended Balsano family gathers to celebrate Christmas Eve together for perhaps the last time. The traditional Xmas party: the ladies gossip in the kitchen, the men smoke cigars outside the garage, and the children play video games in the basement. Snapshots of rituals: games with Grandma, the fire truck adorned in colourful lights, an enormous feast, and a home video screening.
Rich with nostalgia and full of life, Tyler Taormina’s sophomore film focuses on the details that make Christmas feel like home—quickly shifting in tone and perspective to highlight private moments in a crowded house. Shot with warm colours and a soft focus by Carson Lund (whose directorial debut Eephus is also at VIFF) and featuring a stellar ensemble cast, Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point feels like a warm blanket, a fireplace, and a cup of hot cocoa (or spiked eggnog).
Taormina‘s delightful stocking-stuffer is as alive to the domesticated magic of holiday tradition as any Nat King Cole seasonal classic. From a soundtrack spackled with Sinatra and ’60s pop classics to the hyper-romantic, gauzy visuals… there is no War on Christmas here, just a wholehearted surrender to its folksy, kitschy pleasures.
Jessica Kiang, VarietyEdited
Matilda Fleming, Michael Cera, Elsie Fisher, Francesca Scorsese, Gregg Turkington, Sawyer Spielberg
USA
2024
English
At International Village
At The Rio
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Jospeh Lipsey IV, Brock Pierce, Jason Stone, Jeremy Gardner
Producer
Tyler Taormina, Eric Berger, Kevin Anton, Rob Rice, Michael Cera, David Entin, Calogero Carucci, Krista Minto, David Croley Broyles, Duncan Sullivan, David Sabot, Oliver Toy
Screenwriter
Tyler Taormina, Eric Berger
Cinematography
Carson Lund
Editor
Kevin Anton
Production Design
Paris Peterson
Original Music
Sebastien Pan
Tyler Taormina
Tyler Taormina is a film director, screenwriter and producer based in Los Angeles, California. He is one of the leading members of Omnes Films collective. His directed works include Ham on Rye (2019) and Happer’s Comet (2022) both of which received critical acclaim. Four projects that Taormina produced are slated to premiere in 2024, including his own Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point and Eephus by Carson Lund, both of which premiered at the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes.
Filmography: Ham on Rye (2019); Happer’s Comet (2022)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
The Things You Kill
Thirty-something professor Ali leads an apparently stable life. But when his ailing mother dies under ambiguous circumstances, he starts to unravel, resulting in an act that shatters our understanding of his person.
Analogue Revolution: How Feminist Media Changed the World
Bonnie Thompson, Bonnie Sherr Klein, Moira Simpson, Zainub Verjee, Judy Rebick are among the Canadian feminist creatives who recount tales from the trenches, the gory glory days of 1970s, 80s and 90s, before the internet changed everything.
Nika & Madison
Two young Indigenous women become fugitives following an act of self-defence and are forced to flee into the wilderness. Inspired by Thelma and Louise, this compelling story of unbreakable friendship sheds light on systemic injustices.