Canadian Premiere
Hedgehog (Panos Papadopoulos) is desperate after the loss of his mother. Eager to bring her back from the dead, he and his brothers Dummy and Japan put their heads together to build a time machine out of odds and ends in her wardrobe. Initial tests prove horrific failures, as the brothers lose a pig and half of a chicken to the rickety machine. Hedgehog is convinced he needs a human test subject and when Dummy’s girlfriend comes by to party, he sees his opportunity.
Yannis Veslemes (Norway, 2014) mixes pitch-black comedy with sticky body horror to delirious effect in this fantastical freakshow. His penchant for surreal, hallucinatory visuals and jarring tonal shifts flourishes as the brothers unleash a hellish cosmic horror into their reality. More than cheap thrills, She Loved Blossoms More is a grotesque portrait of grief from one of the most twisted minds from the Greek Weird Wave.
Supported by
Media Partner
Panos Papadopoulos, Julio Giorgos Katsis, Aris Balis, Dominique Pinon
Greece/France
2024
In Greek and French with English subtitles
At International Village
At The Rio
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Christos V. Konstantakopoulos, Ant Timpson, Andreas Zoupanos Kritikos
Producer
Fenia Costovista
Screenwriter
Yannis Veslemes, Dimitris Emmanouilidis
Cinematography
Christos Karamanis
Editor
Yorgos Mavropsaridis
Production Design
Elena Vardava
Original Music
Yannis Veslemes
Yannis Veslemes
Born in Athens in 1979, Yannis Veslemes is a film director and music composer. He has directed feature films such as She Loved Blossoms More (2024, Tribeca premiere), The Field Guide to Evil (2018, SXSW premiere), and Norway (2014, Karlovy Vary premiere). He has released music records with international labels such as Optimo Music, Invisible Inc., and Macadam Mambo. His soundtrack composition work includes the films Wednesday 04:45, Suntan, Cosmic Candy, and more.
Filmography: The Field Guide to Evil (2018); Norway (2014)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Resident Orca
Captured in Puget Sound in 1970, killer whale Lolita spent the next half century in a cramped tank in Seaquarium, Miami. The film follows a coalition of Lummi elders, animal lovers and philanthropists on a rescue mission to return her to the ocean.
No Other Land
Deemed by many critics one of the essential films of 2024, a multiple festival award winner and Academy Award winner for Best Documentary, No Other Land is a reminder that mass expulsion is by no means a new reality for Palestinians.
Misericordia
Edgy, eccentric, and unapologetically queer, this film goes from drama to comedy without putting a foot wrong. Sex and murder are the subjects, and writer-director Alain Guiraudie (Stranger by the Lake) mines them for suspense and outrageous laughs.
There's Still Tomorrow
A critical and box office sensation in Italy, Paola Cortellesi's triumphant directorial debut is the tale of a Roman housewife in 1946, who stands up against the routine sexist abuse she suffers. Funny, heartbreaking and inspiring.
The Way, My Way
All manner of pilgrims flock to France and Spain to walk the 800 km Camino de Santiago. One such is Bill, a stroppy sexagenarian Australian filmmaker who's determined to do the Camino with minimal prep, a dickey leg, and no firm idea why.