Skip to main content
Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie film image; two men walking down a street with a wheel of cable

Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie

This event has passed

Almost 20 years into their fruitless quest to book their band a gig at a hallowed Toronto venue, Matt (writer-director Matt Johnson) and Jay (writer-composer Jay McCarrol) decide it’s time to pull out all the stops. But after a publicity stunt parachuting from the CN Tower goes spectacularly awry, a freak accident involving Orbitz (the long-discontinued Canadian soft drink) sends them hurtling back in time to 2008 — when it all began. Displaced in the past, these serial bumblers inadvertently wreak havoc on the timeline, dramatically (and hilariously) rewriting their futures.

Overflowing with pop culture references, copyright violations, wild gags, and inspired set pieces, Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie is gloriously ridiculous, endlessly clever, and riotously entertaining. This one is for all the deranged dreamers out there.

 

Audience Award: Midnighter, SXSW 2025

 

Media Partner

Range logo     

Director
Cast

Matt Johnson, Jay McCarrol

Credits
Country of Origin

Canada

Year

2025

Language

English

Film Contact
19+
98 min
Art, Music & Photography Award Winners Comedy Horror & Sci-Fi
Zapruder Films

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits & Director

Executive Producer

Adrian Love, Kate Parkes, Jared Raab

Producer

Matthew Miller, Matt Greyson

Screenwriter

Matt Johnson, Jay McCarrol

Cinematography

Jared Raab

Editor

Curt Lobb, Robert Upchurch

Production Design

Kerry Noonan

Original Music

Jay McCarrol

Matt Johnson headshot

Matt Johnson

Filmography: The Dirties (2013); Operation Avalanche (2016); BlackBerry (2023)

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

KPop Demon Hunters: A Sing Along Event

Dir. Maggie Kang & Chris Appelhans
95 min

The surprise hit of 2025, KPop Demon Hunters is a blast of good vibes and catchy tunes -- this generation's Ghostbusters, Gorillaz, or Spice Girls -- or some delightfully unholy combination of all three. Rated PG, all ages welcome!

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Köln 75

Dir. Ido Fluk
116 min

The true story behind the greatest solo concert in jazz history, this is Keith Jarrett's legendary 1975 Köln Concert — as organized by 18-year-old rebel music promoter Vera Brandes. Fun, inventive and feminist, it's the Bend It Like Beckham of jazz films.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Orwell: 2+2=5

Dir. Raoul Peck
119 min

Oscar-nominated director Raoul Peck reimagines 1984 in this urgent essay on power, language, and control. With narration by Damian Lewis, it’s a chilling portrait of how Orwell’s warnings became our reality.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Frankenstein

Dir. Guillermo del Toro
149 min

Frankenstein and Guillermo del Toro might have been made for each other. The movie does not disappoint, a ripping yarn of grand adventure, spectacle, hubris, passion and XXL body parts, a tale of the fantastic that rings the imagination. Screening in 35mm.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Urchin

Dir. Harris Dickinson
99 min

This impressive, award-winning debut as writer-director from actor Harris Dickinson is a probing portrait of a troubled street kid trying to get his life back on track before it's too late.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
Body and Soul
Body and Soul film image; woman leaning over a man lying down

Body and Soul

Dir. Robert Rossen
104 min

Our new Film Studies series explores the subversive cinema that led to the blacklist. Mike Archibald introduces one of the great boxing films, starring proto-Method actor John Garfield.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema