VIFF Short Forum 8

One of America’s greatest artists, James McNeill Whistler fashioned his life as a work of art in its own right. James McNeill Whistler looks beyond his famous portraits and self-styled “nocturnes” to dive into the true depths of Whistler’s legacy.

High in the northern Alps, three women take turns caring for a mountain lodge as hikers come and go. Divided into three sections, we follow each caretaker as they settle in for their respective season and have their lives touched in different ways.

Image: © The Blue raincoat

Efraín Mojica and Rebecca Zweig set their sights on Penjamillo, Michoacán, where the annual Jaripeo — a rodeo of bull riding, drinking, and dust that serves as the town’s public theatre of masculinity — becomes a stage for queer desire.

This wry, twisty theatrical farce stars Stephen Fung as a playwright, actor, and director who writes a play based on his own past. His rich ex-lover wants to co-star, but our hero has found a sexy new actress, and he’s got a plan to get her the part…

Before anything becomes archival, it’s lived.

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.