A Welcome Distraction

In the middle of a mountain forest above Sarajevo, three boys train for the Olympics in a bullet-ridden luge track abandoned since the 1984 Winter Games. An ambitious, hopeful look at the next generation striving to overcome the sins of their fathers.

Kunsel, an introverted young woman in Toronto’s Tibetan community, commits petty theft and spies on her neighbours. When a newcomer moves into the neighbourhood with her older husband, however, Kunsel is gradually drawn out of her solitary existence.

In the late 1990s, eight-year-old Sasha and her Hungarian immigrant family relocate to a new home on Vancouver Island. Their fresh start is interrupted by increasingly dangerous behaviour from Jeremy, the family’s oldest child.

High on LSD and eager to break loose, two teenage boys escape the youth treatment centre that has kept them confined. Four hundred kilometres later, they wrestle with the trauma of their experiences in director Bruce Hodgson's unsettling debut.

In Mayumi Yoshida’s tender drama, struggling artist Kana journeys to Tokyo to attend her grandmother’s funeral. While there, she reconnects with her childhood love and stumbles across a family secret that prompts her to reconsider her place in the world.

Timothy Yeung’s film tells the story of four Hong Kong immigrants living in Scarborough, Ontario. With exceptional performances from its four leads, the film explores the Asian diaspora, social malaise, and the hardships of life under late capitalism.

Filipino Canadian filmmaker Kent Donguines returns to the Philippines to explore Indigenous Kalinga tattoos. Guided by 107-year-old artist Apo Whang-od, he discovers the strong role it has come to symbolize for Filippino cultural identity worldwide.

Hemela is a tender documentary celebrating resilience and cultural memory in a diasporic community. Through food, laughter, and tradition, Pirouz Nemati crafts a luminous portrait of a woman whose everyday life radiates extraordinary warmth and joy.

Jennifer Chiu’s engrossing documentary explores the Hakka — a people, a language, and a culture that have been obscured for far too long. Tracing her own lineage back to from Canada to China, the director creates an illuminating, bravely personal film.

Two young Indigenous women become fugitives following an act of self-defence and are forced to flee into the wilderness. Inspired by Thelma and Louise, this compelling story of unbreakable friendship sheds light on systemic injustices.

In the wake of a personal tragedy, a young man living in Vancouver does whatever he can to avoid reconnecting with his family. An ambient ode to our city, and a sensitive and relatable portrait of life within it.

In director Nicole Bazuin’s cheeky, stylized documentary, Modern Whore-memoirist Andrea Werhun (Paying for It, VIFF 2024) recounts her experiences as an escort and stripper in Toronto, debunking misconceptions about the world’s oldest profession.

Adjusting to her new life as a mother after the traumatic birth of her son, Pénélope witnesses a violent robbery that triggers visions of her sister’s death. Chloé Cinq-Mars’s debut feature is a tense psychological thriller exploring postpartum depression.

After two kids and 16 years of marriage, François and Julie decide to open up their relationship in a bid to rekindle their dwindling sex life. A painfully hilarious and brutally honest depiction of love, sex, and intimacy.