Skip to main content
Man Number 4 film image; blurry shot of someone's feet

Man Number 4

MODES

North American Premiere

A startling confrontation with a photograph taken in Gaza, in December 2023 (which now exists on social media), triggers questions about what it means to be an onlooker. Focusing on pixilated details, the incoherent forms begin to take shape, while the human and un-human implications of this scene reveal a historical context that cannot be unseen. Accomplice, accessory, abettor. Does the passive or active observer play a role in these transgressions?

 

Community Partner

Director
Credits
Country of Origin

UK

Year

2024

Language

English

Film Contact
Links
Content Warning

Graphic violence

18+
10 min
Art, Music & Photography Experimental & Avant Garde Human Rights & Social Justice Shorts Women Directors

Credits & Director

Screenwriter

Miranda Pennell

Editor

Miranda Pennell

Miranda Pennell headshot; Man Number 4 director

Miranda Pennell

Miranda Pennell is a London-based filmmaker whose work often recycles images from British colonial archives to reflect on contemporary situations. Her films emphasise the role of the imagination in the interpretation of historical documents,
recently drawing on genre-fiction as a way of engaging with troubled histories.

Pennell received an MA in visual anthropology in 2010 from Goldsmiths College, University of London, and she completed her PhD research at the University of Westminster in 2016.

Her films have screened at Viennale, Rotterdam International Film Festival, New York Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival, FID Marseille, London International Film Festival and among others.

Recent selected group exhibitions include Evil Eye: The Parralel Histories of Optics and Ballistics (2023) Tabakalera, San Sebastian; The Light Becomes The Eye (2023), EUCA Annex, London.

 

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

Boxcutter

Dir. Reza Dahya
88 min

The first feature from former Toronto Flow OTA Live host and producer Reza Dahya is a boisterous, sometimes bruising day-in-the-life of wannabe rapper Rome (Ashton James), set on meeting megastar Richie Hill (Rich Kidd).

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Endless Cookie

Dir. Seth Scriver & Peter Scriver
97 min

Are you ready for the most Canadian comedy of recent years? It's a documentary about half-siblings sharing stories, but it's mostly about interruptions, digressions, diversions, and free pizza. It's also animated, but you probably already noticed that.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Palestine '36

Dir. Annemarie Jacir
118 min

An epic historical drama from director Annemarie Jacir that follows an ensemble of rural villagers who face off against British colonial forces during the 1936 Palestinian revolt.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

The Art of Adventure

Dir. Alison Reid
90 min

The unbelievable adventure story of how painter Robert Bateman and ecologist Bristol Foster drove a Land Rover from Africa to Australia in 1957, developing a love of nature to last a lifetime. An inspirational love letter to the adventure of life itself.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Chasing Ice

Dir. Jeff Orlowski-Yang
75 min

This visually stunning film follows renowned National Geographic photographer James Balog on a harsh Arctic expedition where he captures a multi-year record of the world's changing glaciers — undeniable evidence that our planet is in crisis. The screening will be introduced by James Balog.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Dead Lover

Dir. Grace Glowicki
83 min

A foul-smelling gravedigger's romance ends in tragedy, spurring her to attempt a resurrection through a madcap series of science experiments. Grace Glowicki and Ben Petrie’s film is a zany DIY horror that zaps fresh life into Mary Shelley's classic.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre