Skip to main content
Shook film image; close on man

Shook

Northern Lights

This event has passed

For Ashish (Saamer Usmani), everything is complicated: he’s finished his MFA, but he’s stuck in a creative block; he’s completed a novella, but publishers keep turning it down; he’s estranged from his father, but is obligated to care for him after a grave diagnosis; he’s just met a nice girl, but she’s leaving town in three weeks. Shook follows Ash through these travails, offering a relatable portrait of life in transition as well as a loving depiction of Scarborough, Ontario.

Amar Wala’s film has the feel of lived experience—there’s an authenticity that comes through in the depictions of Ash’s urban surroundings, and there are no false assurances offered. Wala also elicits some fine performances: besides the charismatic Usmani, there are winning turns by Pamela Sinha as Ash’s strong-willed mother, Bernard White as his irreverent father, and Amy Forsyth as his partner in a romance that may be transitory but is genuine nonetheless.

 

Sept 30: Q&A with director Amar Wala

 

Presented by

Supported by

Media Partner

   

Community Partner

     

Director
Cast

Saamer Usmani, Amy Forsyth, Bernard White, Pamela Sinha, Shomari Downer, Faizan Khan

Credits
Country of Origin

Canada

Year

2024

Language

In English and Hindi with English subtitles

Film Contact
18+

At International Village

19+

At Fifth Avenue

113 min
Family Relations Romance
Scarborough Pictures, Film Forge

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits & Director

Executive Producer

Travis Farncombe, Omar Chalabi, Adrian Love

Producer

Karen Harnisch, Amar Wala

Screenwriter

Amar Wala, Adnan Khan

Cinematography

Peter Hadfield

Editor

Shaun Rykiss

Production Design

Nicole Simmons

Original Music

Kalaisan Kalaichelvan

Amar Wala headshot; Shook director

Amar Wala

Amar Wala is a writer, director, and producer who was born in Mumbai and now lives in Toronto. His many credits include the award-winning documentary The Secret Trial 5 (2014) and the TV series In the Making (2018) and Next Stop (2019-2021). Shook is his dramatic feature debut.

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

Gloria

Dir. John Cassavetes
121 min

Gena Rowlands was nominated for Best Actress for her portrait of gangster's moll Gloria Swenson: a tough, chain-smoking broad who finds herself running from her former friends in the mob to protect her next door neighbour's orphaned six-year-old kid.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

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 - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Marcella

Dir. Peter Miller
98 min

Marcella Hazan taught North Americans that there was more to Italian food than pizza and meatballs. She wrote what remains the definitive book on the subject (Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking). This is her story.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Caught by the Tides

Dir. Jia Zhangke
111 min

Over two decades, across China’s rapidly changing landscape, two lovers meet and part and meet again. In this magisterial film, Jia Zhangke refracts the 21st century through a reflexive, retrospective look at his era-defining filmography.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Sabbath Queen

Dir. Sandi Dubowski
105 min

The dynastic heir of 38 generations of Orthodox rabbis, including the Chief Rabbis of Israel, Amichai Lau-Lavie is what you might call the black sheep of the family. His sexuality led him down a different path, but its destination is surprising...

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Kryptic

Dir. Kourtney Roy
96 min

Oozing psycho-sexual anxiety, Kourtney Roy's fascinating feminist horror movie feints toward creature-feature quirk, but morphs into something much stranger. Chloe Pirrie plays a double role, or maybe Everywoman, adrift in a world of men and monsters.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema