Skip to main content
Blue Moon film image; man talking to a woman standing over him

Blue Moon

This event has passed

On the night of March 31, 1943, famed lyricist Lorenz Hart — the scribe of such hits as “My Funny Valentine” and “Blue Moon” — holds court at Broadway’s iconic Sardi’s bar, reminiscing about past successes. Oklahoma!, a new musical by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, has just premiered, marking the first collaboration of Rodgers without Hart. Marooned in his own shattered present, Hart confronts on a world transformed by war, dimmed by alcoholism, and plagued by unrequited love.

Unfolding in real time over that single evening, Richard Linklater’s sardonic drama features a larger-than-life performance by Ethan Hawke as the ailing, alcoholic, and sexually ambiguous Hart. Featuring memorable supporting turns by Andrew Scott as Rodgers and Margaret Qualley as Hart’s protégé Elizabeth, Blue Moon is at once a lacerating study of solipsism and a bittersweet meditation on the vicissitudes of friendship and art.

 

Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance (Andrew Scott), Berlinale 2025

Director

Richard Linklater

Cast

Ethan Hawke, Margaret Qualley, Bobby Cannavale, Andrew Scott

Credits
Country of Origin

USA/Ireland

Year

2025

Language

English

Film Contact
18+
100 min
Art, Music & Photography Award Winners Comedy Drama Legendary Filmmakers
Detour Filmproduction

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits

Executive Producer

Steven Farneth, Macdara Kelleher, John Keville, Donna Eperon, Lisa Crnic, David Kingland, Aaron Wiederspahn

Producer

Mike Blizzard, John Sloss, Richard Linklater

Screenwriter

Robert Kaplow

Cinematography

Shane F. Kelly

Editor

Sandra Adair

Production Design

Susie Cullen

Original Music

Graham Reynolds

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

Whatcha Want
Whatcha Want film image; two women staring at something offscreen

Whatcha Want

Dir. Mina Shum
90 min

Whatcha Want, a hip-hop-infused drama from award-winning Vancouverite Mina Shum (Meditation Park), sees a restless trophy wife from Hong Kong rise above her wealthy husband’s infidelity by rekindling her passion for dance.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre The Rio Theatre

James McNeill Whistler

Dir. David Bickerstaff
90 min

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.

International Village 8

Agridulce (Bittersweet)

Dir. Frank Pavich
98 min

Four aspiring young musicians in the Dominican Republic find fulfilment in the study of bachata music. Tinged with melancholy but full of joy, Agridulce (Bittersweet) is rooted in hopefulness of a bright future through music.

International Village 10

Let Them Be Seen

Dir. Nolitha Refilwe Mkulisi
74 min

Let Them Be Seen is an absurdist portrait of the town of Tapoleng in South Africa’s Eastern Cape, moving through churches, spaza shops, and a Jam Alley re-enactment to document a village reshaping faith and community in post-apartheid life.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Yugo Goes to America

Dir. Filip Grujić, Aleksa Borković
87 min

In Yugo Goes to America, millennials from Belgrade drive a Yugo — Yugoslavia’s notoriously unreliable vehicle — from New York to Los Angeles. Their freewheeling road trip traces the car’s volatile history alongside the breakup of Yugoslavia itself.

International Village 9 SFU Woodwards

Elephants in the Fog

Dir. Abinash Bikram Shah
108 min

In a remote Nepalese village, Pirati takes charge in the search for a missing girl belonging to her family of third-gender Kinnar women. A densely atmospheric thriller and a moving portrait of an embattled but resilient community.

Fifth Avenue Cinema - 19+ only