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The Cavalry film image; red silhouette of two people riding horses

MODES 1

MODES

Image: The Cavalry

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The veracity of history is made visible, audible, and tangible. Embodying the principle of “Art as modes of truth production,” strap in for a sensory examination of the varying forms of aggression enacted by those with power as a means of dominance.

 

Sept 28: Q&A with filmmakers

 

This short film program includes the following films:

The Cavalry
Alina Orlov, Canada/USA/Israel (17 min)

Using a semi-documentary approach, newcomer Alina Orlov highlights the brutal desensitization techniques used to condition Israeli police horses in the West Bank.

 


Flowers
José Cardoso, Ecuador/South Africa (30 min)

Filmmaker José Cardoso streams disparate details of a war in Ukraine, “justified” by a string of seemingly unconnected events as an ethnocide unfolds in the Amazon. The duties of parenthood routinely interrupt the onslaught of tense imagery, granting gentle moments in the garden with his young son.

 


Man Number 4
Miranda Pennell, UK (10 min)

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.

 


The Diary of a Sky
Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Lebanon (45 min)

A self-described ‘Private Ear,’ Turner Prize winner Lawrence Abu Hamdan gathers, investigates, and analyzes audio and video recordings of Israeli fighter jets illegally infringing on the otherwise peaceful skies above Lebanon.

 

Community Partner

Director

Various

Country of Origin

Various

Year

2024

Language

Various with English subtitles

18+
102 min
Documentary Experimental & Avant Garde Human Rights & Social Justice Shorts Women Directors

Book Tickets

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

Orwell: 2+2=5

Dir. Raoul Peck
119 min

Oscar-nominated director Raoul Peck reimagines 1984 in this urgent essay on power, language, and control. With narration by Damian Lewis, it’s a chilling portrait of how Orwell’s warnings became our reality.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Köln 75

Dir. Ido Fluk
116 min

The true story behind the greatest solo concert in jazz history, this is Keith Jarrett's legendary 1975 Köln Concert — as organized by 18-year-old rebel music promoter Vera Brandes. Fun, inventive and feminist, it's the Bend It Like Beckham of jazz films.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Urchin

Dir. Harris Dickinson
99 min

This impressive, award-winning debut as writer-director from actor Harris Dickinson is a probing portrait of a troubled street kid trying to get his life back on track before it's too late.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Frankenstein

Dir. Guillermo del Toro
149 min

Frankenstein and Guillermo del Toro might have been made for each other. The movie does not disappoint, a ripping yarn of grand adventure, spectacle, hubris, passion and XXL body parts, a tale of the fantastic that rings the imagination. Screening in 35mm.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

KPop Demon Hunters: A Sing Along Event

Dir. Maggie Kang & Chris Appelhans
95 min

The surprise hit of 2025, KPop Demon Hunters is a blast of good vibes and catchy tunes -- this generation's Ghostbusters, Gorillaz, or Spice Girls -- or some delightfully unholy combination of all three. Rated PG, all ages welcome!

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema
Body and Soul
Body and Soul film image; woman leaning over a man lying down

Body and Soul

Dir. Robert Rossen
104 min

Our new Film Studies series explores the subversive cinema that led to the blacklist. Mike Archibald introduces one of the great boxing films, starring proto-Method actor John Garfield.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema