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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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The Blue Caftan

Dir. Maryam Touzani
122 min

Richly erotic and deeply moving, Maryam Touzani’s queer-themed film takes us to urban Morocco and into the lives of three beautiful souls. Halim is a master tailor; Mina is his loyal wife; Youssef is the man who slowly comes between them.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

The Sun Never Sets

Dir. Joe Swanberg
102 min

At the suggestion of her much older (divorced) boyfriend, Wendy (Dakota Fanning) takes a summer to reevaluate her life and date other people. She's reluctant at first, but then reconnects with an old flame... A gentle indie comedy from Joe Swanberg.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Hanging by a Wire

Dir. Mohammed Ali Naqvi
78 min

The Himalayas, Aug 22, 2023: a cable car bearing 8 passengers (six of them schoolkids) is left dangling 900 feet above the ground when two out of three cables snap. This nailbiting documentary recounts the increasingly frantic rescue attempts.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Andrei Rublev

Dir. Andrei Tarkovsky
183 min

Andrei Tarkovsky's vast and vivid episodic epic tells the story of a Russian monk and painter of religious icons 1400-1428, during the time of the Tartar invasions.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Union County

Dir. Adam Meeks
97 min

In this authentically grounded addiction recovery drama, Will Poulter and Noah Centenio are foster brothers trying to get out from their dependence on opioids through a progressive government program in Ohio.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

PULP: What Do You Do For an Encore?

Dir. Garth Jennings
90 min

Always the coolest of the Britpop bands, Jarvis Cocker's Pulp commemorated 40 years of music and friendship with a reunion tour and film, with Sing director Garth Jennings at the helm.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema