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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 Shorts Women Directors

Book Tickets

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

All the Lovers in the Night
All the Lovers in the Night film image; man and woman touching the backs of their hands together

All the Lovers in the Night

Dir. Yukiko Sode
139 min

A lonely proofreader's isolated world begins to open through an unlikely friendship with a gentle physics teacher. Based on Mieko Kawakami's acclaimed novel, this luminous drama is a delicate meditation on loneliness, intimacy, and self-discovery.

International Village 9 Fifth Avenue Cinema - 19+ only International Village 10

Árru

Dir. Elle Sofe Sara
95 min

Set against the mountains and fjords of northern Norway, Árru follows reindeer herder Maia as a proposed copper mine threatens her Sámi community, forcing her to fight to protect both her community and the land that sustains it.

Lindsay Family Stage at Granville Island Fifth Avenue Cinema - 19+ only

Heysel 85

Dir. Teodora Ana Mihai
91 min

This harrowing drama recreates the 1985 European Cup Final in Belgium, when rival football fans clashed before a ball had even been kicked. Teodora Mihal's film captures the hubris, incompetence, and politicking that compounded the escalating chaos.

Fifth Avenue Cinema - 19+ only International Village 9 Alliance Francaise

Yellow Letters

Dir. İlker Çatak
128 min

Derya and Aziz, a theatre couple based in Ankara, are celebrating the premiere of their latest play when they find themselves targeted by state investigations. Their lives change practically overnight, they find their political convictions put to the test.

Image: © EllaKnorz ifProductions Alamode Film

The Park Theatre Lindsay Family Stage at Granville Island

Heat

Dir. Jacqueline Zünd
85 min

Heat explores the unequal realities of a warming planet. Taking a sensory approach to its subject, director Jacqueline Zünd reveals how extreme heat intersects with labour rights, migration, and social inequality.

International Village 10
Into the Jaws of the Ogre
Into the Jaws of the Ogre film image; man playing a guitar

Into the Jaws of the Ogre

Dir. Mahsa Karampour
87 min

Having left Iran for France, filmmaker Mahsa Karampour now reunites with her musician brother in America. Mixing the structure of a road movie with the brashness of a punk anthem, this intimate documentary is humanist filmmaking of the highest order.

International Village 8