Skip to main content
Salem on the Road film image; woman wearing pink fuzzy sleep mask

Salem on the Road

Salem sur la route

VIFF Short Forum

World Premiere

While experiencing a major depersonalization episode, Salem embarks on a solo cycling journey across the Gaspé Peninsula with the intent of ending her life.

 

Supported by

    

Community Partner

Director
Cast

Lyna Khellef, Rémi Goulet, Stéphane Breton, Étienne Galloy

Credits
Country of Origin

Canada

Year

2024

Language

In French with English subtitles

Film Contact
Content Warning

Self harm

18+
19 min
Drama Shorts

Credits & Director

Producer

Étienne Galloy, Laura Michaud

Screenwriter

Étienne Galloy, Lyna Khellef

Cinematography

Barry Russell

Editor

Laurent Ouellette

Original Music

Jean-Raphaël Côté

Art Director

Laurence Girard, Étienne Galloy, Lyna Khellef, Laura Michaud

Étienne Galloy headshot; Salem on the Road director

Étienne Galloy

Étienne Galloy is one of the youngest winners of Telefilm Canada’s Talents en vue program. He co-wrote, co-directed and co-produced his first feature film The Marina (2019) and is distributed by Les Films Opales in 2021, now available on the CRAVE platform. Étienne has also directed and produced several short films, including I am in love with my memories (2021), that won several festival awards. His next short film Salem on the Road (2024) will premiere at the 43rd Vancouver International Film Festival.

 

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

Prosecution

Dir. Faraz Shariat
113 min

When a young German prosecutor of Korean origin is attacked, she suspects a racist conspiracy and pursues the truth in defiance of her superiors. Prosecution is a film for our moment: a thriller that confronts the far-right head-on.

International Village 8
Rebecca Horn – the Secret Life of Things
Rebecca Horn film image; woman in a empty room holding out her arms with makeshift scissorhands

Rebecca Horn – the Secret Life of Things

Dir. Claudia Müller
90 min

Rebecca Horn's extraordinary biography is interwoven with her surreal oeuvre. An essential document of one of the 20th century's most influential artists, Rebecca Horn – The Secret Life of Things celebrates the unsung legacy of a pioneering visionary.

Image: © Rebecca Horn

International Village 10
What Remains
What Remains film image; woman looking out at the water

What Remains

Dir. Yeşim Ustaoğlu
126 min

Stuck in a big city in a mind-numbing domestic routine, a young poetess finds herself at crossroads when her role as a mother and wife starts to overshadow her identity as an artist.

International Village 9
School for Defectors
School for Defectors film image; person standing by a desk speaking

School for Defectors

Dir. Jeremy Workman
92 min

School for Defectors is an intimate and quietly uplifting documentary that follows a group of 20 teenagers, children of North Korean defectors, as they adjust to life and education at Jangdaehyun School in Busan, South Korea.

Fifth Avenue Cinema - 19+ only

Fruit Gathering

Dir. Aung Phyoe
97 min

Achingly sensual and graced with fine performances, Fruit Gathering depicts embattled desire in a conservative society. Two working-class women fall into a romantic relationship in contemporary Myanmar — but is their love real, or borne of desperation?

International Village 10
Short Forum 7: War at Home
Rotation film image; upside down image of woman sitting in a field

Short Forum 7: War at Home

107 min

Truly, no one is safe until everyone is safe.

International Village 8