Skip to main content
Acid City film image; street sign covered in graffiti

Acid City

Canadian Premiere

In the middle of a toxic sea, a city and its inhabitants have adapted to a scorched and submerged earth.

Director
Credits
Country of Origin

USA

Year

2026

Language

English

18+
13 min
Animation Experimental & Avant Garde Sci-Fi Shorts
Laser Days Studio

Credits & Director

Producer

Tom Brown

Screenwriter

Jack Wedge

Cinematography

Jack Wedge

Editor

Kima Hilbert

Original Music

Will Freudenheim, Ben Shirken, Dasychira, Galcher Lustwerk

Jack Wedge, Will Freudenheim joint headshot

Jack Wedge

Jack Wedge is an award-winning filmmaker and animator from New York. His work focuses on environmental storytelling and world building, seeking to portray environments as not just a setting but a living character. Wedge has been making animated films since a young age, and he studied at the NYU Kanbar Institute of Film & Television, graduating in 2019. In 2020, he created six episodes of the web series Domo Dreams for Adult Swim, and in 2021 he co-founded Laser Days Studio. He has created short films, music videos, and installations that have screened around the world.

Will Freudenheim

Will Freudenheim is a game designer and researcher based in New York. His work focuses on creating experimental games and virtual environments that bring together human, artificial, and biological participants, and his work as a game designer has enabled Laser Days to create interactive live performances, digital puppets, and physical installations. Freudenheim holds a master’s degree in media studies from MIT and is the editor of Interplay, a newly published book on game engines, machine creativity, and inter-species collaborative design. He has shared work at game festivals, exhibited in art galleries, and spoken at film festivals and universities around the world.

Missing VIFF? Check Out What's Playing at the VIFF Centre

American Doctor

Dir. Poh Si Teng
93 min

One of the most powerful documentaries of the year, this puts us smack in the open wound that is Gaza, filtered through the eyes of three American surgeons (of Palestinian, Jewish and Zoroastrian backgrounds) compelled to do their utmost to alleviate harm.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
The History of Concrete
The History of Concrete film image; man smoothing just-poured concrete sidewalk

The History of Concrete

Dir. John Wilson
101 min

After attending a workshop on pitching saccharine Hallmark movies, John Wilson tries to apply all the same best practices to his documentary about concrete. Frequently absurd and endlessly entertaining detours, asides, and digressions ensue.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
La Bola Negra
La Bola Negra film image; man playing a trumpet

La Bola Negra

Dir. Javier Ambrossi, Javier Calvo
155 min

A big, old-school historical melodrama gets a thrillingly modern, queer makeover from Spanish duo Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, who artfully juggle three gay protagonists across stories set in 1932, 1937, and 2017. Winner: Best Director, Cannes. Screening on 35mm.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
A. Rimbaud
A. Rimbaud film image; man lighting a pipe

A. Rimbaud

Dir. Patrick Wang
175 min

Patrick Wang (The Bread Factory) presents the life of French poet Arthur Rimbaud in this staggeringly adventurous and deeply considered movie, a three-hour, one-man show quite unlike anything we have seen before. "Poetic, audacious and singular."

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Shrek Cabaret

180 min

Dig out your greenest glad rags to celebrate Shrek. Before the movie, enjoy the ale of your choice at the Shrek Cabaret: expect songs, gags, acrobat princesses, a juggling Pinocchio, maybe even a talking ass... uh, donkey. It's a fairy tale come true!

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

The 39 Steps

Dir. Alfred Hitchcock
86 min

In our new film studies series, FRAMEWORK, film scholar Michael van den Bos explores the work of Alfred Hitchcock, across four monochrome masterworks. This week: The 39 Steps (1935), a witty and fast-moving spy thriller from Hitchcock's English period.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre