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Muljil: Diving film image; person riding a moped down a deserted street

5: The absurd & spiritual

VIFF Short Forum

Image: Muljil: Diving

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Shorts from: Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Finland, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Poland, Portugal.

 

Oct 7 & 8: Q&A

 

This short film program includes the following films:

The Light of Immortality
Mikołaj Janik, Poland (25 min)

A man’s obsession with collecting vintage lamps slowly unravels the shadow of what is real and what is not, as his family, for decades, has quietly supported and adapted to his ever-growing fantasy.

 


Tears Burn to Ash
Natalie Murao, Canada (15 min)

An encounter with a doppelganger in Japan cracks open the edges of reality, as a return to the homeland becomes a search through memory, absence, and the ghosts of identity.

 


My Dad is an Astronaut
Bianca Rose Cheung, Canada (14 min)

Through dreamy textures and thermal imaging, the film hums with quiet longing, lost signals, and the strange intimacy of distance.

 


Mother of Dawn
Clara Trevisan, Belgium/Brazil/Finland/Portugal (9 min)

In the dead of night, a hungry creature searches for food — until something breaks the cycle.

 


Bleat!
Ananth Subramaniam, Malaysia/Philippines/France (16 min)

An elderly couple faces a dilemma when their male goat, destined for ceremonial slaughter, turns out to be pregnant.

 


Muljil: Diving
Young Eun Yoo (Yooye), South Korea (26 min)

Yang Young-sam, a 77-year-old haenyeo (female freediver) battling dementia, prepares for a final ritual goodbye.

 

Supported by

Community Partner

         

Director

Various

Country of Origin

Various

Year

2024 & 2025

Language

Various

Content Warning

Animal cruelty, graphic violence

18+
105 min
Animation BC Spotlight Cinemas of Asia Documentary Drama Experimental & Avant Garde Family Relations LGBTQIA2S+ Shorts Women Directors

Book Tickets

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

The Kneeling Goddess
The Kneeling Goddess film image; young bride with a veil draped across her face

The Kneeling Goddess

Dir. Roberto Gavaldón
82 min

In which wealthy industrialist Arturo de Cordova purchases the titular nude sculpture of his lover (María Félix) as an anniversary gift for his innocent, adoring wife. Soon enough the wife is dead, though untangling just how and why is part of the fun.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
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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

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 - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
Crepúsculo
Crepúsculo film image; man staring down at a cross head stone

Crepúsculo

Dir. Julio Bracho
108 min

A brain surgeon (Arturo de Córdova) begins to doubt his own sanity when the woman he's in love with (Gloria Marin) marries his brother — and he starts fantasizing about murder.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Stranger by the Lake

Dir. Alain Guiraudie
97 min

Stranger by the Lake unfolds like a slow-burning spell. Set around a secluded cruising beach, Alain Guiraudie's modern classic explores desire, danger, and the strange intimacy between strangers.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Victims of Sin

Dir. Emilio Fernández
84 min

This movie is a hot scramble of piety and passion, sentimentality and sleaze. Ninón Sevilla plays Violeta, a rumba sensation who oversteps when she rescues a newborn from the trash. This gets her fired and wins the enmity of the pimp who fathered the kid.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre