Skip to main content
Sharp Corner film image; man looking into a car at the driver

Sharp Corner

Showcase

This event has passed

Jason Buxton’s thriller stars Ben Foster as Josh, a husband and father who comes unmoored from the safety of middle-class life. When he, his wife Rachel (Cobie Smulders), and their young son Max (William Kosovic) move into a home on the outskirts of town, they discover something the realtor hadn’t flagged: the road in front of their property contains the sharp corner of the title. A deadly car accident happens on their first night of occupancy, and things get worse from there…

Less a film about physical danger than one about emotional pathology, Sharp Corner gains in power as Josh becomes increasingly obsessed with car crashes—not out of fear, as a more conventional film might portray, but rather out of a perverse attraction. Foster plays the role with just enough understatement to match the film’s mode of escalating menace, and Buxton directs with a terrific feel for social tension, escalating derangement, and the small but decisive shifts with which we can go over the edge.

 

Sept 27: Q&A with director Jason Buxton and producer Paul Barkin

Sept 28: Q&A with director Jason Buxton

Director
Cast

Ben Foster, Cobie Smulders, Gavin Drea, William Kosovic

Credits
Country of Origin

Canada/Ireland

Year

2024

Language

English

Film Contact
18+

At International Village

19+

At Fifth Avenue

110 min
Drama Q&As at VIFF
Alcina Pictures, Shut Up & Colour Pictures, Kobalt Films, Workhorse Pictures

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits & Director

Executive Producer

Cameron MacLaren, Kristen Figeroid, Marc Schaberg, Noah Segal, Adrian Love, Laurie May, Peter Graham, Stephen Hays, Donald Johnston, Sheila Johnston, Robert Munroe

Producer

Paul Barkin, Marc Tetreault, Jason Levangie, Jason Buxton, Susan Mullen

Screenwriter

Jason Buxton

Cinematography

Guy Godfree

Editor

Jorge Weisz

Production Design

Jennifer Stewart

Original Music

Stephen McKeon

Jason Buxton headshot; Sharp Corner director

Jason Buxton

Jason Buxton was born in England and raised in Nova Scotia. He studied film at Simon Fraser University, and holds a BFA from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. His debut feature Blackbird (2012) won Best Canadian First Feature at TIFF.

Filmography: Blackbird (2012)

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

That They May Face the Rising Sun

Dir. Pat Collins
111 min

John and Kate have moved from London to a farm in Ireland, to the bemusement of the locals. This lyrical Irish reverie taps deep wells of feeling in the stuff of everyday life.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Secret Mall Apartment

Dir. Jeremy Workman
91 min

The stranger-than-fiction true story of a group of artists who built and furnished a hidden apartment inside a mall, remaining undetected for years. This is an absurdly fun and surprisingly profound film about gentrification and art.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

The Encampments

Dir. Michael T. Workman & Kei Pritsker
82 min

When pro-Palestine protests took hold of Columbia last year, the filmmakers were there from the beginning. This documentary charts the mounting tensions between students and the administration, as the protests were picked up across North America.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

The Teacher

Dir. Farah Nabulsi
118 min

In this potent thriller, English teacher Basem witnesses the murder of a teenager by a Israeli settler. While the subsequent investigation rolls slowly towards a foregone conclusion, the teacher is caught up in a parallel kidnapping case...

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Bob Trevino Likes It

Dir. Tracie Laymon
102 min

When her toxic, narcissistic dad cuts her out of his life, Lily Trevino looks him up on Facebook and happens across his namesake, Bob (John Leguizamo), a gentle, genial contractor who lives nearby, and who proves an altogether better dad...

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
A Duke Ellington Tribute with the Mike Braverman Sextet
man posed to play a piano

A Duke Ellington Tribute with the Mike Braverman Sextet

150 min

After a scintillating session of Duke standards performed by The Mike Braverman Sextet, enjoy a roundup of Ellingtonia on Film: his first short sound films from the late 20s and 30s, and clips from the scores he composed in the 50s and 60s.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema