North American Premiere
As nurse Floria (Leonie Benesh, The Teacher’s Lounge) patrols a Swiss hospital’s surgical ward, her preternatural composure is rivalled only by the devotion she demonstrates for her patients. Time and again, she proves herself levelheaded in a milieu where the stakes are very much life or death. But when a colleague fails to show on a night when the ward is at capacity, the increased demands on Floria have her careening between demanding patients, pushing her ever closer to a breaking point that few suspected she possessed.
The film’s Swiss German title Heldin translates to “heroine”, and director Petra Volpe (The Divine Order) employs a bracing 88 minutes to certify that Floria is fully deserving of that designation. Unfolding at an exhilarating pace as Floria whirls through the ward’s labyrinthian halls navigating a succession of seemingly impossible decisions, Late Shift quickens the pulse more frequently than most multiplex action films. And, rather than a fleeting hit of adrenaline, it instils a deep sense of admiration for selfless souls like Floria.
Oscar Submission: Switzerland
Supported by
Community Partner
Leonie Benesch, Sonja Riesen, Alireza Bayram, Selma Aldin, Urs Bihler, Margherita Schoch
Switzerland/Germany
2025
In German with English subtitles
At International Village
At Fifth Avenue
Book Tickets
Credits & Director
Producer
Reto Schaerli, Lukas Hobi
Screenwriter
Petra Volpe
Cinematography
Judith Kaufmann
Editor
Hansjörg Weissbrich
Production Design
Beatrice Schulz
Original Music
Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch
Petra Volpe
Screenwriter and director Petra Volpe studied at the Konrad Wolf Film University in Potsdam-Babelsberg. Her feature film debut, Dreamland (2014), was nominated for four Swiss Film Awards, and in 2017, Volpe gained worldwide attention with her film The Divine Order, which became a major box office success in Switzerland and screened around the world. She wrote the screenplays for the film Heidi (2015), the successful SRF series Labyrinth of Peace (2020), and The Golden Years (2022), which became the most successful Swiss feature film of 2022 in German-speaking Switzerland and was sold internationally, including to the US.
Filmography: Kleine Fische (2007); Schönes Wochenende (2006); Frühling im Herbst (2009); Dreamland (2013); The Divine Order (2017)
Photo by Salvatore Vinci
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Agatha's Almanac
Shot over six years on vibrant 16mm film, Agatha’s Almanac is an artful documentary portrait of filmmaker Amalie Atkin’s octogenarian aunt, who has fashioned herself an endearingly simple and self-sustaining lifestyle on her Manitoba farm.
Calle Málaga
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.
The Art of Adventure
The unbelievable adventure story of how painter Robert Bateman and ecologist Bristol Foster drove a Land Rover from Africa to Australia in 1957, developing a love of nature to last a lifetime. An inspirational love letter to the adventure of life itself.
The Blue Trail
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.
Follies
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 in the age of the internet.
Castration Movie Anthology 1: Traps
Louise Weard's underground movie is a talk-a-thon in two chapters and four hours: a sex worker contemplates having her testicles removed, and a movie production assistant pitches himself right out of a job, and other misadventures in Vancouver life.