If space and time are pure perception, let’s build them differently.
Oct 5 & 6: Filmmaker Q&A
This short film program includes the following films:
Invisible Harvests
Stephanie Dudley, Canada (7 min)
Animation itself becomes a ritual process of fermentation that activates a recipe.
Lippenstift
Elsa Diringer, France (19 min)
Benedicte’s patience is tested on the eve of her stepfather’s funeral.
Going Home
Kamal Aljafari, Germany/Palestine/France (21 min)
Filming the TV in his parents’ home, Aljafari zooms in on what approaches the quotidian amidst Gaza’s ruins.
Content Considerations: Genocide in Palestine
Materia
Alisi Telengut, Canada (7 min)
Through macro- and microscopic imaging, Telengut reveals the hidden kinship between the human body and the mineral world.
Acid City
Jack Wedge, Will Freudenheim, USA (13 min)
In the middle of a toxic sea, a city and its inhabitants have adapted to a scorched and submerged earth.
Saint & the Sea
Abdullah Khan, Canada/Kuwait/Pakistan (16 min)
As a storm approaches their coastal village, a fisherman’s family prepares for the departure of their 14-year-old daughter.
Content Considerations: Mature themes, blood, reference to animal death
“Vaterland” or a Bule Named Yanto
Berthold Wahjudi, Germany/Indonesia (25 min)
When the Germany-raised Yanto travels to Yogyakarta to visit his younger sister, feelings of alienation and envy arise.
Content Considerations: Racism
Community Partner
Various
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2025 & 2026
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Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Missing VIFF? Check Out What's Playing at the VIFF Centre
American Doctor
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.
The History of Concrete
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.
La Bola Negra
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.
A. Rimbaud
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."
The 39 Steps
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.