Skip to main content
Lucky Star film image; two people playing cards

Lucky Star

Northern Lights

This event has passed

Lucky (Terry Chen) once had a streak of fortune as wide as the sky. A tattooed former gambler, he has since settled down with a mortgage, wife, and two daughters. But it’s winter in Calgary and, with his family to look after and a fledgling electronics repair shop incurring numerous bills, he’s feeling under pressure from all sides. When he falls for a tax scam, Lucky scrambles to recover his losses and goes all in at the card table, risking his livelihood and marriage in the process. Meanwhile, his wife Noel (Oliva Cheng) and eldest daughter Grace (Conni Miu) face their own moral dilemmas…

A vibrant and essential addition to Asian-Canadian film, Lucky Star is a complex examination of a Chinese-Canadian family at a crossroads. Director Gillian McKercher helms a tense and gripping narrative about familial bonds, deceit, and sacrifice, exploring the crucial choices a person can make to change their life, for the better – or for worse.

 

Oct 3: Q&A with director Gillian McKercher and actors Terry Chen, Austyn van De Kamp, Conni Miu & Olivia Cheng

Oct 5: Q&A with director Gillian McKercher and actor Summer Ly

 

Presented by

Media Partner

   

Director
Cast

Terry Chen, Olivia Cheng, Conni Miu, Andrew Phung

Credits
Country of Origin

Canada

Year

2024

Language

English

Film Contact
18+
85 min
BC Spotlight Drama Family Relations Q&As at VIFF Women Directors
Kino Sum, Notable Content

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits & Director

Executive Producer

Terry Chen, Olivia Cheng, Sidney Chiu

Producer

Guillaume Carlier, Amanda Verhagen, Matt Drake, Nicola Waugh

Screenwriter

Gillian McKercher

Cinematography

Charles Hamilton

Editor

Xi Feng

Production Design

Dale Marushy

Original Music

Rebecca Bruton, Meredith Bates

Gillian McKercher headshot; Lucky Star director

Gillian McKercher

Gillian McKercher is a Canadian writer, director, producer, and co-founder of Kino Sum Productions. Before she dedicated herself entirely to cinema, she worked in engineering and the DIY Calgary arts scene. Gillian’s work often explores family, labour, and the intersection of energy and the environment. Her first feature film as writer/director, Circle of Steel, won an Audience Award at the 2018 Calgary International Film Festival. She developed her sophomore feature, Lucky Star, while a resident at the Canadian Film Centre with the support of the CFC/Netflix Project Development Accelerator and Harold Greenberg Fund.

Filmography: Circle of Steel (2018)

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

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
The Other
The Other film image; two people looking out at sandy dunes

The Other

Dir. Joy Sela
100 min

Filmed from 2017-2024, including post October 7 and during the subsequent war, Joy Sela's documentary is an inspiring testament to how human beings -- even in the worst circumstances -- can transcend difference to forge connection and understanding.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
#Skoden
#Skoden film image; close on hand holding a tiny photo of a boy

#Skoden

Dir. Damien Eagle Bear
75 min

Pernell Bad Arm was a man, and much more than the provocative meme (captioned #Skoden: Let's go then) which went viral about a decade ago. Damien Eagle Bear gives us a warm and respectful portrait of the man he knew.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

On the Waterfront

Dir. Elia Kazan
108 min

Marlon Brando's definitive performance as Terry Malloy, a New York dockworker (and once a promising boxer) who loses faith in his union and his smarter but corrupt older brother Charlie (Rod Steiger) after a whistleblower is murdered.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Stories of Our Lives

Dir. Jim Chuchu
138 min

Stories of Our Lives (62 mins) documents personal stories of lovers, fighters and rebels and the community histories that characterize the queer experience in Kenya. This is preceded by the touching and resonant 38-minute Nigerian love story, Ìfé.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
Gondola
Gondola film image; two women staring intently at one another sitting in a gondola

Gondola

Dir. Veit Helmer
85 min

In this whimsical comedy two cable car conductors fall in love as they criss cross a beautiful Georgian valley every half hour.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre