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Palestine Islands film image; two people in a deserted sandy street

VIFF Short Forum 6

VIFF Short Forum

Image: Palestine Islands

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Shorts from Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Lebanon, Palestine, Slovenia, and Ukraine.

 

Oct 2 & 3: Q&A with filmmakers

 

This short film program includes the following films:

Gate 3 to 14
Karen Abou Jaoudeh, Lebanon (7 min)

Following the Beirut disaster of August 2020, two filmmakers assist with search and rescue efforts.

 


If the Sun Drowned into an Ocean of Clouds
Wissam Charaf, France/Lebanon (20 min)

Along a waterfront construction site, a security guard must prevent passersby from accessing the seaside.

 


Bright White Light
Henna Välkky & Eesu Lehtola, Finland (14 min)

Five near-death experiences are recalled through audio interviews and experimental visuals.

 


Dark Matter
Leo Berkeley, Australia (11 min)

Now in the later stages of multiple sclerosis, the director ponders existence, disability, and quantum mechanics.

 


Explosions Near the Museum
Roman Khimei & Yarema Malashchuk, Ukraine (14 min)

The camera moves through the Kherson Museum of Local Lore, which held Southern Ukraine’s largest and oldest collection of antiquities until it was looted by Russian occupational forces in 2022.

 


Three Birds
Zarja Menart, Slovenia/Croatia (8 min)

A sad girl seeks guidance from a wise bird woman.

 


Losing Your Home
Emmanuel Rioux, Canada (20 min)

Two women battle eviction notices from their respective homes.

 


Palestine Islands
Nour Ben Salem & Julien Menanteau, France/Jordan (23 min)

Living as a refugee at Balata camp in the northern West Bank, Maha choreographs a scenario to fulfill the unrealized goal of Palestinian sovereignty for her ailing blind grandfather.

 

Supported by

    

Community Partner

Director

Various

Country of Origin

Various

Year

2023-2024

Language

Various with English subtitles

Content Warning

Self harm, dug & alcohol abuse

18+
117 min
Animation Art, Music & Photography Award Winners Comedy Documentary Drama Experimental & Avant Garde Human Rights & Social Justice Q&As at VIFF Shorts Women Directors

Book Tickets

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

Agatha's Almanac

Dir. Amalie Atkins
86 min

Shot over six years on vibrant 16mm film, Agatha’s Almanac is an artful documentary portrait of filmmaker Amalie Atkin’s octogenarian aunt, who has fashioned herself an endearingly simple and self-sustaining lifestyle on her Manitoba farm.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
Modern Whore
Modern Whore film image; woman sitting at the foot of a bed

Modern Whore

Dir. Nicole Bazuin
80 min

In director Nicole Bazuin's cheeky, stylized documentary, Modern Whore-memoirist Andrea Werhun (Paying for It) recounts her experiences as an escort and stripper in Toronto, debunking misconceptions about the world’s oldest profession.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

The Art of Adventure

Dir. Alison Reid
90 min

The unbelievable adventure story of how painter Robert Bateman and ecologist Bristol Foster drove a Land Rover from Africa to Australia in 1957, developing a love of nature to last a lifetime. An inspirational love letter to the adventure of life itself.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Starwalker

Dir. Corey Payette
116 min

Corey Payette's musical Starwalker blends drag spectacle, Indigenous storytelling, and soaring emotion in a film that celebrates chosen family and the liberating magic of performance.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
4 or 5 Things I Want You to Know About Me (An Essay)
close on a woman

4 or 5 Things I Want You to Know About Me (An Essay)

Dir. Carl Bessai
71 min

Carl Bessai's playful Godardian riff on actors and acting gives us a portfolio of dramatic portraits and monologues focused on half a dozen female performers at different points in their journey. It's a grab-bag of a film, sparky and specific.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Heartbeats

Dir. Xavier Dolan
97 min

With Heartbeats, Xavier Dolan captures the beautiful absurdity of unrequited love: a friendship unravels when both sides fall in love with the same enigmatic stranger.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema