After his impassioned outbursts on the ice ruin his chances of playing professional hockey, Dean Youngblood gets one last shot playing for the Hamilton Mustangs. Desperate to prove himself, the 18-year-old rookie struggles to reconcile the overbearing influence of his father with his coach’s rigorous expectations. A talented goal-scorer who never backs down from a fight on or off the ice, Youngblood finds his standoffish attitude challenged by a budding romance with Jessie, the coach’s daughter, whose own experience pursuing her dreams causes him to reconsider the chip on his shoulder.
Ostensibly a remake of the 1986 film starring Rob Lowe, director Hubert Davis (2022’s Black Ice) takes the source material and elevates it. Stepping into the director’s chair following the passing of Charles Officer, Davis balances high-octane hockey action with subtle, character-driven drama and nuanced explorations of race, gender, and prejudice within the sport. A rousing, feel-good sports drama about overcoming adversity and taking responsibility, Youngblood could be a new Canadian classic.
Ashton James, Blair Underwood, Henri Picard, Shawn Doyle, Tamara Podemski, Donald MacLean Jr.
Canada
2025
English
Racism, bullying
At International Village
At Fifth Avenue
Book Tickets
Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Bill O’Dowd, Emerson Davis, Mark Slone, Zanne Devine, Allan Fung
Producer
Anthony Leo, Andrew Rosen
Screenwriter
Josh Epstein, Kyle Rideout, Seneca Aaron, Charles Officer
Cinematography
Stuart James Cameron
Editor
Matt Lyon
Production Design
Adriana Bogaard
Original Music
Todor Kobakov
Hubert Davis
Filmography: Invisible City (2009); Giants of Africa (2016); Black Ice (2022); The Well (2025)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
The President's Cake
Nine year old Lamia and her friend Saeed venture into the city to scrounge ingredients for a cake to celebrate Sadaam Hussein's birthday — a quest fraught with real peril in precarious times. Winner, Camera d'Or, Cannes.
Sinners
2025's unexpected box office sleeper is that rare beast, a genre movie full of bold invention and surprise. We are in Mississippi in the early 1930s, and the opening of a new blues joint on the edge of town is the signal for all hell to break out.
Montreal, ma belle
In this Valentine to discovering love later in life, the ever-elegant Joan Chen plays Feng Xia, a 53-year-old Chinese immigrant and mother in Montreal whose world is turned upside down when she meets and falls in love with a young Quebecoise.
The Secret Agent
Having run afoul of an influential bureaucrat in Brazil’s military dictatorship circa 1977, Marcelo decamps to Recife to live under an assumed name — but he’ll soon come to understand precisely how rampant the country’s corruption has become.
Antonia's Line
This month's Pantheon selection spotlights the first woman to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, the Dutch feminist filmmaker Marleen Gorris, and her charming, vibrant tale of an emancipated farmer who refuses to conform.
Oscars® Party 2026
Experience the Academy Awards in style at the VIFF Centre! Watch the ceremony live on the big screen with a red carpet, a fully licensed bar and live hosts.