Canadian Premiere
Arkansas, 2002. Unmoored by a traumatic event in the summer before her senior year, Minnie (Katherine Mallen Kupferer, Ghostlight), a bashful working-class teenager, forms a complicated bond with her friend’s sophisticated mother Helen (Sophie Okonedo, Hotel Rwanda), a former classical pianist. Hungry for connection, Helen offers to train Minnie to perform in Callie’s honour at her school’s cabaret. But the shadow of the girl who defined both their lives looms between them. Who are they without her?
This intimate and beautifully grounded drama from co-directors Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson (Saint Frances, VIFF 2020) features Iman Vellani (Ms. Marvel) as Minnie’s empathetic crush, and a dryly witty turn from David Hyde Pierce (Frasier) as her perceptive drama teacher. A dreamy score from Hamilton Leithauser evokes the last breaths of summer, while Nate Hurtsellers’ cinematography poignantly magnifies our heroines’ emotional transformations as they wade through the unpredictable ebbs and flows of grief.
Oct 6: Filmmaker Q&A
An ultra-naturalistic movie warmed by the summer sun.
David Rooney, Variety
Showcase Series Supported by
Kelly O’Sullivan, Alex Thompson
Sophie Okonedo, Katherine Mallen Kupferer, Chloe Coleman, Tara Mallen, Iman Vellani, David Hyde Pierce
USA
2026
English
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Producer
Chelsea Krant, Alex Thompson, Pierce Cravens, Abigail Rose Solomon, Alex Wilson, Bonnie Comley, Ian Keiser, Steven A. Jones, Stewart F. Lane
Screenwriter
Kelly O’Sullivan
Cinematography
Nate Hurtsellers, Luke Dyra
Editor
Michael S. Smith
Production Design
Linda Lee
Original Music
Hamilton Leithauser
Missing VIFF? Check Out What's Playing at the VIFF Centre
Possible Love
Lee Chang-dong’s first film since Burning (2018) is a sardonic, slow-burning satire about two couples: a documentary filmmaker married to a wealthy businessman, and a working-class family struggling to make ends meet after the husband has been laid off.
Once Upon a Time in Harlem
Once Upon a Time in Harlem splices together footage shot by William Greaves in 1972 of a group of Harlem Renaissance luminaries in conversation at Duke Ellington’s townhouse. The film is a living archive of memory, disagreement, style, and Black genius.
The Secret in Their Eyes
This month's Talking Pictures screening is a multi-layered, poignant thriller interweaving the personal lives of a prosecution investigator (Ricardo Darin) and a judge, with a manhunt spanning twenty-five years. Stay for cookies, coffee and a chat after!
The Haunting
Directed by Robert Wise in 1963, The Haunting is a classic exercise in the suggestive power of cinema, adapted from Shirley Jackson's 1959 best-seller, The Haunting of Hill House, a provocative blend of supernatural and psychological horror.
