Skip to main content
Resurrection film image; man holding out his arms facing a curtain

Resurrection

狂野时代

Showcase

This event has passed

Canadian Premiere

In this broken-mirror reality, humans have achieved immortality, but at the cost of their ability to dream. The only outliers still capable of slipping into the dreamworld are monsters branded Fantasmers, who are privy to visions no one else can see and capable of being reincarnated. We follow one Fantasmer (Jackson Yee) over the course of a century as he takes various forms — a vampire, a card shark — all as a mysterious woman (Shu Qi) monitors his exploits and grows more sympathetic to his fateful odyssey…

While Bi Gan (Kaili Blues; Long Day’s Journey into Night) has never lacked ambition, his third feature represents the year’s most astonishing and audacious epic. Spanning 100 years and segmented into six chapters — each a nod to a particular era of cinema (be it silent films laden with enchanting practical effects or action fare elevated by a bravura single take) — the transcendent Resurrection pays homage to legends like Méliès and Murnau while cementing the Chinese auteur’s status as one of his generation’s most incandescent talents.

 

Special Prize, Cannes 2025

Director
Cast

Jackson Yee, Shu Qi, Mark Chao, Li Gengxi, Huang Jue, Chen Yongzhong

Credits
Country of Origin

China/France

Year

2025

Language

In Mandarin with English subtitles

Film Contact
18+

At SFU Woodwards

19+

At Fifth Avenue

156 min
Award Winners Cinemas of Asia Drama Horror & Thriller
Huace Pictures, Dangmai Films, CG Cinéma

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits & Director

Executive Producer

Bi Gan, Wan Juan

Producer

Shan Zuolong, Charles Gillibert, Yang Lele

Screenwriter

Bi Gan, Zhai Xiaohui

Cinematography

Dong Jingsong

Editor

Bi Gan, Bai Xue

Production Design

Liu Qiang, Tu Nan

Original Music

M83

VIFF Logo

Bi Gan 毕赣

Born 1989 in Kaili, China, Bi Gan made his first film tests in Kaili, where he set up a video workshop and directed the short film Diamond Sutra (2012). His first feature film, Kaili Blues (2015), was selected by 70 festivals and received rave reviews, winning the Best Emerging Filmmaker Award in the Cinéaste du Présent section at the Locarno Festival, among other awards. In 2018, he released Long Day’s Journey Into Night, a monumental fresco in 3D. The film was presented in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival to widespread acclaim.

Filmography: Tiger (2011); Kaili Blues (2015); Long Day’s Journey Into Night (2018)

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

Two Prosecutors

Dir. Sergei Loznitsa
119 min

In the midst of Stalin’s purges, a naïve prosecutor sets out to investigate a prisoner’s innocence, unaware of the labyrinthine bureaucracy awaiting him. A Kafkaesque procedural thriller about the pursuit of justice in the face of corruption.

Image: © SBS Productions

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

The Blue Trail

Dir. Gabriel Mascaro
86 min

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.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Calle Málaga

Dir. Maryam Touzani
116 min

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.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema
El Suavecito
El Suavecito film image; group of people gathered in a room

El Suavecito

Dir. Fernando Méndez
99 min

Victor Parra is Roberto, "el Suavecito", the smoothie. Sprinkling his Spanish with slang and English, and sporting a Zoot suit, he's a gangster-wannabe, an obnoxious macho who isn't quite as tough as he likes to make out...

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Krystle dos Santos + Dawn Pemberton: Meet Me at Vie's + Union Street

Dir. Jamila Pomeroy
154 min

Enjoy a sneak preview of Krystle dos Santos's upcoming musical celebration of the Hogan's Alley Black community in Strathcona, with songs performed by Krystle and Dawn Pemberton, followed by Jamila Pomeroy's documentary Union Street.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Él (This Strange Passion)

Dir. Luis Buñuel
93 min

A seemingly genteel and highly reputable gentleman reveals his true nature on his wedding night in this searing melodrama from surrealist Luis Buñuel, one of the most shocking films from his Mexican period.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema