Canadian Premiere
Set in the remote plains of rural Armenia, Maria Rigel’s striking sophomore feature takes us into the lives of young Hayk and his aunt Narine, who takes care of the quiet boy in the absence of his troubled mother. Isolated and often bullied by local punks, Hayk finds comfort in the horses he helps care for at his aunt’s farm. When his mother suddenly reappears in their lives, things are thrown off balance as the rebellious young woman refuses to observe the social customs of the conservative community.
While sparse in dialogue, the film lays out an eloquent visual and tonal palette made of carefully composed naturalistic shots that often catch characters between lines of sight, from the back, over the shoulder, in the shadows, and almost always in motion. Rigel builds on the tradition of contemporary social realist cinema with a fresh and singular infusion of a culturally distinct grammar that solidifies her standing as a bold new voice from the region.
Media Partner
Albert Babajanyan, Lusine Avanesyan, Annika Abrahamyan
Armenia
2025
In Armenian with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Credits & Director
Producer
Ernest Bagdasaryan, Maria Rigel, Gala Minasova
Screenwriter
Maria Rigel
Cinematography
Ayrat Yamilov
Editor
Aleksey Shevchenko
Original Music
Steve Brand
Maria Rigel
Maria Rigel was born in 1993. In 2015, she graduated from Moscow State University, Faculty of Philology, and in 2017 received her master’s degree at the Russian State University of Cinematography. In 2022, she moved to Armenia, where she works as a director and producer in the EMA production film company. Her debut The Dream is Gone (2021) was presented at the Shanghai International Film Festival, Lucania Film Festival, Salón Internacional de la Luz, Vittorio Veneto Film Festival, and Cottbus Film Festival.
Filmography: The Dream is Gone (2021)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
All the Lovers in the Night
A lonely proofreader's isolated world begins to open through an unlikely friendship with a gentle physics teacher. Based on Mieko Kawakami's acclaimed novel, this luminous drama is a delicate meditation on loneliness, intimacy, and self-discovery.
Clarissa
Arie and Chuko Esiri’s Clarissa brings Mrs. Dalloway to present-day Lagos, with Sophie Okonedo playing the titular society hostess opposite David Oyelowo, Ayo Edebiri, and India Amarteifio in a Nigerian vision of class, privilege, and past lives.
Image: © Courtesy of Elevation Pictures
Opening Gala: The Debut
VIFF is honoured to open the festival with this special by-invitation screening of Jesse Eisenberg's The Debut. When meek Mona (Julianne Moore) lands a part in a musical, she fully inhabits her character, but grows increasingly untethered from reality.
Árru
Set against the mountains and fjords of northern Norway, Árru follows reindeer herder Maia as a proposed copper mine threatens her Sámi community, forcing her to fight to protect both her community and the land that sustains it.
The Beloved
When Esteban Martínez, an acclaimed director with violent tendences, invites his estranged daughter to star in his latest project, the stage is set for a familial reconnection. But as tensions flare, questions about his intentions rise to the surface.
MODES 1
Archive and the land reveal other ways of seeing, ensuring that what is meant to endure cannot be erased.