Skip to main content
Soap Box film image; man in blue helmet

Soap Box

Boîte à savon

VIFF Short Forum

A group of young people gather to compete in the annual soapbox race on the slopes of the highest peak near their village. Hubert, 10, wants to win the race to impress Anouk, an opponent who makes his heart beat faster. Soap Box is a thrilling, wildly fun sports comedy that pays tribute to the transformative imagination of children.

 

Supported by

    

Community Partner

Director
Cast

Joey Bélanger, Valexia Boulianne, Lily-Rose Loyer, Rosemay Lefebvre, Elie Maréchal, Maguerite Laurence

Credits
Country of Origin

Canada

Year

2024

Language

In French with English subtitles

Film Contact
G

Open to youth!

17 min
Action Comedy Shorts

Credits & Director

Producer

Sonia Despars, André Kadi, Marc Biron

Screenwriter

Jimmy G. Pettigrew

Cinematography

Yannick Nolin

Editor

Jimmy G. Pettigrew

Original Music

Antoine Binette Mercier

Art Director

David Pleau

Jimmy G. Pettigrew headshot; Soap Box director

Jimmy G. Pettigrew

Jimmy G. Pettigrew graduated from film school and quickly began producing, writing, directing and editing silly short clips for the web. Since then, he’s been producing and directing short films and other fiction essays that mix live action, puppetry and animation. He mixes shadow and light, truth and lies, magic and pathos, cartoons and real people.

 

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

Calle Málaga

Dir. Maryam Touzani
116 min

Seventy-nine-year-old María Ángeles lives independently in Tangier's Spanish quarter. When her daughter pressures her into selling her apartment, she refuses to give in, finding in her old age a new resilience and an unexpected romantic connection.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema
El Suavecito
El Suavecito film image; group of people gathered in a room

El Suavecito

Dir. Fernando Méndez
99 min

Victor Parra is Roberto, "el Suavecito", the smoothie. Sprinkling his Spanish with slang and English, and sporting a Zoot suit, he's a gangster-wannabe, an obnoxious macho who isn't quite as tough as he likes to make out...

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

The Blue Trail

Dir. Gabriel Mascaro
86 min

77-year-old Tereza makes a break for the Brazilian jungle in this trippy septuagenarian fantasy, the latest from Brazilian director Gabriel Mascaro is a quirky picaresque, lushly photographed and filled with mordant humour.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Krystle dos Santos + Dawn Pemberton: Meet Me at Vie's + Union Street

Dir. Jamila Pomeroy
154 min

Enjoy a sneak preview of Krystle dos Santos's upcoming musical celebration of the Hogan's Alley Black community in Strathcona, with songs performed by Krystle and Dawn Pemberton, followed by Jamila Pomeroy's documentary Union Street.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Two Prosecutors

Dir. Sergei Loznitsa
119 min

In the midst of Stalin’s purges, a naïve prosecutor sets out to investigate a prisoner’s innocence, unaware of the labyrinthine bureaucracy awaiting him. A Kafkaesque procedural thriller about the pursuit of justice in the face of corruption.

Image: © SBS Productions

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Él (This Strange Passion)

Dir. Luis Buñuel
93 min

A seemingly genteel and highly reputable gentleman reveals his true nature on his wedding night in this searing melodrama from surrealist Luis Buñuel, one of the most shocking films from his Mexican period.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema