Skip to main content
Death Does Not Exist film image; animated boy standing in front of a giant golden wolf

Death Does Not Exist

La mort n’existe pas

Altered States

This event has passed

A small group of armed activists travel through the woods to siege the compound of a wealthy landowner. Hélène is tasked with providing cover from the bushes while the others storm the gates, but when she clams up and can’t pull the trigger, the mission ends in disaster. Knocked out during her retreat, Hélène awakens to a ghost who takes her on a spiritual journey and offers her a second chance. Will she be ready to do the right thing when the opportunity arrives?

The winds of revolution blow with an angry fervour through Félix Dufour-Laperrière’s exquisite feature. Animated in painstaking detail (over six years!) using a muted colour palette, hand-painted textures, and raw, kinetic energy, Death Does Not Exist is a metaphysical journey into the wilderness of the afterlife. A breathtaking work of 2D animation and a war cry for political change.

 

Supported by

ZAK logo

Media Partner

Community Partner

           

Director
Cast

Zeneb Blanchet, Karelle Tremblay, Mattis Savard-Verhoeven, Barbara Ulrich, Félix Dufour-Laperrière

Credits
Country of Origin

Canada/France

Year

2025

Language

In French with English subtitles

Film Contact
Links
18+
72 min
Action & Suspense Animation Experimental & Avant Garde
Embuscade Films

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits & Director

Producer

Nicolas Dufour-Laperrière, Félix Dufour-Laperrière, Emmanuel-Alain Raynal, Pierre Baussaron

Screenwriter

Félix Dufour-Laperrière

Editor

Félix Dufour-Laperrière

Original Music

Gabriel Dufour-Laperrière, Jean L’Appeau

Félix Dufour-Laperrière headshot

Félix Dufour-Laperrière

Félix Dufour-Laperrière is a filmmaker, screenwriter, and producer who co-founded Embuscade Films in 2013. His works include the documentary Transatlantique (2014) and the animated films Ville Neuve (2018) and Archipelago (2021). His most recent feature, Death Does Not Exist, premiered in the 2025 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.

Filmography: Transatlantique (2014); Ville Neuve (2018); Archipel (2021); Cette Maison (2022)

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

O Brother, Where Art Thou? + The Soda Crackers

Dir. Joel & Ethan Coen
107 min

Join us for a fun afternoon of bluegrass music with the Soda Crackers, followed by a special 25th anniversary screening of the Coen brothers' beloved Homeric comedy, O Brother, Where Art Thou? starring George Clooney, John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Meadowlarks

Dir. Tasha Hubbard
91 min

Fifty years after being separated during the Sixties Scoop, four Cree siblings reunite for the first time on a long weekend trip to Banff. Tasha Hubbard’s sensitive drama relates an emotional and life-affirming story of kinship and belonging.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Mistress Dispeller

Dir. Elizabeth Lo
94 min

Sensing her husband has strayed, a Chinese woman hires a mistress dispeller to insinuate herself between the lovers and sow enough doubt to break up the liaison. A documentary.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Left-Handed Girl

Dir. Shih-Ching Tsou
109 min

Co-written and edited by Sean Baker (Anora), Shi-Ching Tsou's heartwarming solo feature debut follows a single mom in Taipei who is too consumed with her noodle stand to keep tabs on her five-year-old daughter's burgeoning shoplifting habit.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Measures for a Funeral

Dir. Sofia Bohdanowicz
142 min

When a young academic discovers a personal link to Canadian violinist Kathleen Parlow, she is compelled to dig deeper. Her investigations lead her on the trail of an elusive concerto, lost for over a century, but which she is determined to bring to light.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Jay Kelly

Dir. Noah Baumbach
130 min

In Noah Baumbach's wise and witty comedy, George Clooney plays Jay Kelly, a world-famous movie star touring Europe with his friend and manager, Ron (Adam Sandler). Faced with nagging dissatisfaction, Jay starts to ask himself some tough questions.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema