Canadian Premiere
Two sexy Interpol agents: No St. Aubergine (Esther Garrel, Call Me By Your Name) and Chase National (Alex Zhang Hungtai, formerly of Vancouver’s Dirty Beaches) travel to Mexico to investigate a conspiracy involving deadly, poisonous gas-emitting coral. Dream Team is a bizarro homage to 90s basic cable television; a bleary-eyed binge-watch of a six-episode season that unfolds like a horny, fever dream complete with trippy, ever-changing title sequences and educational passages about the nature of coral.
Directors Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn have developed their brand of lo-fi, art house camp since the mid-aughts. They return here with another absurdist experiment in genre filmmaking; a neon-soaked VHS aesthetic that is equal parts comforting and uncanny. Not your average movie, Dream Team is a disorienting, post-modern, eco-espionage sitcom broadcast from another world; X-Files meets The Pink Opaque by way of Tim and Eric.
Supported by
Media Partner
Community Partner
Esther Garrel, Alex Zhang Hungtai, Isabelle Barbier, Fariha Roisin, Minh T Mia, John Fell Ryan
USA
2024
English
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Blake Horn, Jane Schoenbrun, Pierce Varous, Sarah Winshall
Producer
Lev Kalman
Screenwriter
Lev Kalman, Whitney Horn
Cinematography
Whitney Horn
Editor
Lev Kalman, Whitney Horn
Production Design
Whitney Horn
Original Music
John Atkinson
Lev Kalman
Whitney Horn
Lev Kalman (b. 1982) and Whitney Horn (b. 1982) have been making films together since 2003. Their distinctive style blends lo-fi 16mm photography, dreamy electronic music, philosophical musings, and steady bursts of absurdist humor. Their films Blondes in the Jungle (2009), L for Leisure (2014), and Two Plains & a Fancy (2018) have played at international festivals including Rotterdam, BFI London, and BAMCinemaFest. Kalman is based in San Diego and Horn in San Francsico.
Filmography: Blondes in the Jungle (2009); L for Leisure (2014); Two Plains & a Fancy (2018)
Missing VIFF? Check Out What's Playing at the VIFF Centre
American Doctor
One of the most powerful documentaries of the year, this puts us smack in the open wound that is Gaza, filtered through the eyes of three American surgeons (of Palestinian, Jewish and Zoroastrian backgrounds) compelled to do their utmost to alleviate harm.
The History of Concrete
After attending a workshop on pitching saccharine Hallmark movies, John Wilson tries to apply all the same best practices to his documentary about concrete. Frequently absurd and endlessly entertaining detours, asides, and digressions ensue.
La Bola Negra
A big, old-school historical melodrama gets a thrillingly modern, queer makeover from Spanish duo Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, who artfully juggle three gay protagonists across stories set in 1932, 1937, and 2017. Winner: Best Director, Cannes. Screening on 35mm.
A. Rimbaud
Patrick Wang (The Bread Factory) presents the life of French poet Arthur Rimbaud in this staggeringly adventurous and deeply considered movie, a three-hour, one-man show quite unlike anything we have seen before. "Poetic, audacious and singular."
The 39 Steps
In our new film studies series, FRAMEWORK, film scholar Michael van den Bos explores the work of Alfred Hitchcock, across four monochrome masterworks. This week: The 39 Steps (1935), a witty and fast-moving spy thriller from Hitchcock's English period.