Bakhtiyar Panjeei, Osveh Sadeghi, Maryam Boubani
Iran
2023
In Kurdish (Sorani) with English subtitles
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits & Director
Producer
Payam Kurdistani, Bahman Rezaei
Screenwriter
Payam Kurdistani
Cinematography
Behrouz Badrouj
Editor
Hamid Najafiradi
Production Design
Amin Jahani
Payam Kurdistani
Payam Kurdistani is a Tehran-based independent filmmaker originally from Iranian Kurdistan. He’s a classic-movie enthusiast but also has a liking for experimentation with cinematic form. His long familiarity with fiction, which includes writing short stories since he was a teenager, has shaped him as a director who mostly prefers to adapt from literature. Payam considers himself a part of Kurdish cinema and is on a quest to bring a fresh expression to it — one that breaks with the naturalist, rural style characterizing Kurdish film and resonates more with an international audience.
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Mr. Nobody Against Putin
Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary, and Special Jury Prize Winner, Sundance, 2025, this exposé shot by a Russian primary teacher shows how the Putin propaganda machine works to militarize children.
Spring After Spring
Three daughters strive to live up to the standards set by their mother Marie Mimi Ho, and keep Vancouver Chinatown's Spring Parade going through thick and thin, in this enormously affectionate local documentary by Jon Chiang.
The Chronology of Water
Kristen Stewart's fearless directorial debut is based on the best-selling memoir by Lidia Yuknavitch (Imogen Poots), a chronicle of her abusive childhood, traumatized adulthood, and escapes through swimming, drugs, sex, and ultimately writing.
Sound of Falling
A remote German farmhouse is the stage for the mundane and magical experiences of four girls who call the foreboding place home at various intervals over the course of a century. In turns delicate and devastating, this is cinema at its most experiential.
Image: © Fabian Gamper
Sentimental Value
A once-revered director crashes back into his family’s lives, eager to recruit his daughter for a film role. When she declines, he finds a new muse in an eager but unpolished Hollywood star, sending his botched reconciliation spiraling into chaos.
The Painted Life of E.J. Hughes
A beautiful portrait of E.J. Hughes, who quietly helped reshape the artistic landscape of British Columbia in the 20th century. This extraordinary documentary explores Hughes’s legacy not only as an artist, but as a devoted, humble human being.


