Skip to main content
A Very Straight Neck film image; someone lying unconscious on the ground

A Very Straight Neck

North American Premiere

After waking from a haunting dream with horrible neck pain, a woman struggles to maintain her routine in a crumbling world.

Director
Cast

Sakura Ando, Kodachi Kitagata

Credits
Country of Origin

Japan

Year

2025

Language

In Japanese with English subtitles

18+
11 min
Cinemas of Asia Comedy Drama Human Rights & Social Justice Shorts
Nowness China

Credits & Director

Producer

Lawrence Xiao

Screenwriter

Neo Sora

Cinematography

Kaori Oda

Editor

Manaka Nagai

Neo Sora headshot

Neo Sora

Neo Sora is a filmmaker, artist, and translator living in Tokyo and New York. As a filmmaker, Neo has directed, shot, and produced short narrative films, documentaries, music videos, fashion spots, and a concert film. Filmmaker Magazine named Neo one of the 25 New Faces of Independent Film, and he was a fellow at the 2022 Sundance Screenwriters and Directors Lab. His first fiction feature, Happyend (2024), premiered at the Venice International Film Festival and played in festivals around the world.

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

A Sad and Beautiful World

Dir. Cyril Aris
110 min

This Lebanese love story chronicles the romance between a level-headed businesswoman and a romantic restauranteur across several decades in wartorn Beirut. It's funny, charming, melancholy and you'll feel it all.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Chronovisor

Dir. Kevin Walker, Jack Auen
100 min

A device so sensitive it can pick up emanations from history, the Chronovisor caused a ripple in scientific circles in the latter half of the 20th century, although most dismissed it as a hoax. But why would anyone want to suppress a hoax?

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Tokyo Taxi

Dir. Yoji Yamada
91 min

An overworked taxi driver takes 85-year-old Madame Sumire on a final journey through Tokyo, revisiting the places that shaped her life. Yoji Yamada’s 91st film is a moving, heartwarming love letter to Tokyo, nominated for nine Japanese Academy Awards.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

KAKU KAKU SHIKA JIKA fka Blank Canvas: My So-Called Artist's Journey

Dir. Kazuaki Seki
126 min

Adapted from acclaimed manga artist Akiko Higashimura’s autobiographical manga is a funny and sharply observed coming-of-age story about the creative awakening of a master of manga.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Blue Boy Trial

Dir. Kasho Iuzuka
106 min

Transgender filmmaker Kasho Iizuka revisits 1960s Japan and the sensational “Blue Boy Trial,” sparked by the arrest of a doctor performing sex reassignment surgeries. With trans actors in central roles, the film powerfully illuminates buried history, identity, dignity, and resilience.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Filipiñana

Dir. Rafael Manuel
100 min

A luxury golf course in the Philippines is the microcosm for Rafel Manuel's vastly assured feature debut, a striking composed comedy which mixes languid surrealism with pointed political satire.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema