Shorts from Canada, Finland, Japan, and the Netherlands.
Sept 28 & 29: Q&A with filmmakers
This short film program includes the following films:
You Can’t Get What You Want but You Can Get Me
Samira Elagoz & Z Walsh, Netherlands/Finland (13 min)
A slideshow of personal photographs and correspondence document two long-haired trans men falling in love.
Colors Under the Streetlights
Yoshimi Joya, Japan (23 min)
Late one night, two women who work at a hostess bar are approached by police.
Candle
Jérémi Roy, Canada (9 min)
David and Leonard are ex-lovers who reunite one autumn evening during a power outage.
Delta Dawn
Asia Youngman, Canada (26 min)
This documentary follows Dawn Murphy, or “Princess Delta Dawn”, who rose to fame in the 1980s and early 1990s and became the first Indigenous woman wrestler and the first Canadian woman wrestler to compete in Japan.
The Death of James
Sam Chou, Canada (14 min)
Two friends grapple with mortality as they are confronted with a dying pet ferret.
Pena’s Special Hauling
Anssi Kasitonni, Finland (12 min)
Perhaps he shouldn’t still be driving at his advanced age, but veteran truck driver Pena cannot help but get behind the wheel of his custom truck.
Salem on the Road
Étienne Galloy, Canada (20 min)
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
Various
Various
2023-2024
Various with English subtitles
Self harm
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Yunan
In this haunting mood piece, Munir is a middle-aged Syrian writer in exile in Germany. In crisis, he takes himself up to one of the Halligan islands in the North Sea, a suitable place to end it all...
The Track
In the middle of a mountain forest above Sarajevo, three boys train for the Olympics in a bullet-ridden luge track abandoned since the 1984 Winter Games. An ambitious, hopeful look at the next generation striving to overcome the sins of their fathers.
The Mother and the Bear
Johnny Ma’s film stars Kim Ho-jung as a Korean woman who flies to Winnipeg when her immigrant daughter is hospitalized there. This crowd-pleaser plays up cultural differences to hilarious effect and offers a touching take on mother-daughter tension.
It Was Just an Accident
Having offered some late-night assistance to a stranger in the wake of an auto accident, a mechanic grows convinced that he recognizes the supposed stranger’s voice as that of his torturer during a grueling prison spell.
Breaking the Waves
Kicking off our 2026 Pantheon series of the greatest films ever made, Lars von Trier's 1996 masterpiece is a devastating melodrama featuring an indelible performance from Emily Watson as the woman whose love for her husband knows no bounds.