Skip to main content
Presence film image; three people standing in doorway looking at one person in a room

Presence

Altered States

This event has passed

Moving into their new home, the members of the Payne family are saddled with considerable baggage. With legal trouble already looming due to her workplace misconduct, Rebekah (Lucy Liu) is called out by her husband Chris (Chris Sullivan) for the overt favouritism she bestows on their competitive, callous son Tyler (Eddy Maday). Meanwhile, daughter Chloe (Callina Liang) is left to languish in solitude as she grieves a close friend’s overdose death and questions the intentions of a new admirer (West Mulholland). With tensions simmering and melancholy assuming a stranglehold, things start to go bump in the night…

In this, his inspired first foray into ghost stories, the ever-innovative Steven Soderbergh shoots every scene from the perspective of a spectral interloper. As the camera glides through hallways, sweeps down staircases, and floats into bedrooms, a viewer is consumed by the eerie sensation of being disembodied. And as we join this phantasm in surveilling the Paynes, we come to understand what truly haunts us…

 

Supported by

Media Partner

Director
Cast

Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, Callina Liang, Eddy Maday, West Mulholland, Julia Fox

Credits
Country of Origin

USA

Year

2024

Language

English

Film Contact
19+
85 min
Horror & Sci-Fi Legendary Filmmakers
Extension 765

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits & Director

Executive Producer

David Koepp, Corey Bayes

Producer

Julie Anderson, Ken Meyer

Screenwriter

David Koepp

Cinematography

Peter Andrews

Editor

Mary Ann Bernard

Original Music

Zack Ryan

Steven Soderbergh headshot; Presence director

Steven Soderbergh

Steven Soderbergh is an American film producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, editor, and an Academy Award-winning film director. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, he gained recognition with his directorial debut, sex, lies, and videotape (1989), which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes. Later films include Kafka (1991), The Limey (1999), Erin Brockovich (2000), Traffic (2000) (Oscar, Best Director), Ocean’s Eleven (2001), Solaris (2002), and Magic Mike (2012).

Filmography: sex, lies, and videotape (1989); Erin Brockovich (2000); Traffic (2000); The Informant! (2009); The Laundromat (2019).

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

Lust, Caution

Dir. Ang Lee
158 min

Each month we showcase a movie selected by one of our VIFF+ Premium members. This month, Shanwen Yan chooses Ang Lee's erotic WWII spy 2007 thriller, starring Tany Wei, Tony Leung and Joan Chen.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema
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

Inedia

Dir. Liz Cairns
107 min

Liz Cairns makes a mesmerizing feature debut that sees a young woman suffering from mysterious food allergies join a remote island community practicing alternative healing methods. She soon realizes that not everything is as it seems.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Shall We Dance?

Dir. Masayuki Suô
137 min

Masayuki Suô's delightful and charming 1996 film was a box office smash and won 14 Japanese Academy Awards including Best Film. It's the story of a married salaryman who falls in love with... dance.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Dir. Mike Nichols
131 min

A young couple accept an invitation for a nightcap with history professor George (Richard Burton) and his wife Martha (Elizabeth Taylor). At first it's fun and games. But what passes for caustic wit soon degenerates into vicious mind games.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema
Drop Dead City
Drop Dead City film image; someone holding a newspaper up in front of a brick wall

Drop Dead City

Dir. Michael Rohatyn & Peter Yost
108 min

New York, 1975. The city is minutes away from bankruptcy and President Gerald Ford wants no part of it. Sanitation workers are on strike and cops are telling tourists it's not safe to visit. The town is going up in flames and they can't pay the firemen.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre