World Premiere
Erika, a young Okinawan-Canadian animator living in Vancouver, makes an unexpected road trip to rural BC when her stubborn Oba refuses to evacuate the family farm as wildfires close in. As Erika tries to convince her grandmother to leave, vignettes of vivid memories reveal Oba’s past — from her departure from Okinawa, Japan during the war, to the tumultuous childhood of Erika’s mother and the bittersweet reality of strawberry picking. Fielding urgent calls to evacuate from her sister Hanna, Erika must reckon with the complicated ties that bind her to the farm.
Written and Directed by Hayley Gray and Kaayla Whachell, Send the Rain is a tender, quietly funny portrait of a family negotiating history, responsibility, and the pull of home. Caleb Chan’s evocative score deepens the film’s sense of place, while Whachell and Gray’s understated direction lets generational tensions emerge organically. Unfolding entirely in the BC interior, Send the Rain finds its drama in the gap between knowing when to let go and when to stay.
Oct 2 & 8: Filmmaker Q&A
Presented by
Media Partner
Community Partner
Erika Prevost, Sachiko Tsujimoto, Dylan Playfair
Canada
2026
English
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
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Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Jake Labow, Erika Prevost
Producer
Mike Johnston
Screenwriter
Hayley Gray, Kaayla Whachell
Cinematography
Kaayla Whachell
Editor
Michael Vidler
Production Design
Ryan MacInnes
Original Music
Caleb Chan
Hayley Gray
Hayley Gray is a Vancouver-based writer, director, producer, and film programmer (DGC). Her scripted, documentary, and commercial works have won awards around the world and aired on Telus Optik, Knowledge Network, CBC, and AMI. Her NFB-produced documentary Unarchived premiered at VIFF 2022, and she created three of Historica Canada’s latest Heritage Minutes. Her short film Send The Rain (2022) premiered on CBC and won the Golden Egg at the Reykjavik International Film Festival, the Golden Sheaf at the Yorkton Film Festival, and the DGC Short Film Award, before being adapted into a feature in 2026.
Filmography: Unarchived (2022)
Kaayla Whachell
Kaayla Whachell is a cinematographer and associate member of the Canadian Society of Cinematographers, where she also serves as Co-Chair of the Diversity Committee. Of Okinawan, Red River Métis, and Czech descent, she brings her own perspective and lived experience to her work. Whachell’s first feature film as director of photography, Portraits from a Fire (directed by Trevor Mack), earned her the 2022 Leo Award for Best Cinematography. Other credits include ESPN’s 30 for 30: I’m Just Here for the Riot (2023; directed by Kat Jaymeand Asia Youngman) and The Chef & the Daruma (2024; directed by Mads K Baekkevold).
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