Skip to main content
Woman At War film image; person aiming a bow and arrow at a drone in a barren landscape

Woman at War

This event has passed

Movie theatres usually discourage talking but our latest series is designed to encourage it — before and after (not during) the show. Aimed at film lovers 55+ (but open to all), Talking Pictures offers audience-friendly festival films, refreshments, and an open invitation to chat about our shared experience of the movie. Tickets are just $10. Bring a buddy and get two tickets for $16!

From the opening scene — in which 50-ish Halla (Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir), choirmaster and stalwart of the community, uses a bow and arrow to destroy an electrical tower — you know you are in for a treat with this quirky, visually splendid work. Halla’s passionately enacted secret eco-warrior campaign against an energy corporation encroaching on Iceland’s impeccable landscape is decidedly at odds with her day-to-day life, doubly so now that she has received notice that the adoption she applied for some years back has been approved and a Ukrainian orphan is on the way. Can she reconcile motherhood and fighting the good fight, no matter the possible consequences of her crimes?

Director Benedikt Erlingsson (Of Horses and Men) brings his skewed sense of humour and remarkable eye for the visually offbeat to bear on Halla’s dilemma. In an inspired touch, he even recruits a gaggle of musicians and singers to periodically serve as a Greek chorus for Halla’s journey, to charming effect…

Delightful… Is there anything rarer than an intelligent feel-good film that knows how to tackle urgent global issues with humour as well as a satisfying sense of justice?

Jay Weissberg, Variety

An artful fable that examines what it really means to save the world, Woman at War is the rarest of things: A crowd-pleaser about climate change.

David Ehrlich, IndieWire

Joyously audacious.

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal

Director

Benedikt Erlingsson

Cast

Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir, Jóhann Sigurðarson, Davíõ Þór Jónsson, Magnús Trygvason Eliasen, Ómar Guõjónsson

Credits
Country of Origin

Iceland

Year

2018

Language

In Icelandic, Spanish and English with English subtitles

19+
101 min

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits

Producer

Marianne Slot, Benedikt Erlingsson, Carine Leblanc

Co-Producer

Serge Lavrenyuk, Bergsteinn Björgúlfsson, Birgitta Björnsdóttir

Screenwriter

Benedikt Erlingsson, Ólafur Egill Egilsson

Cinematography

Bergsteinn Björgúlfsson

Editor

Davíð Alexsander Corno

Original Music

Davíð Þór Jónsson

Also Playing

Capernaum

Dir. Nadine Labaki
120 min

Nadine Labaki's Oscar-nominated heart-tugger tells the story of a 12 year old boy who has grown up in the slums of Beirut, and who decides to sue his parents for bringing him into such a world. "An absolute heartbreaker." Peter Howell, Toronto Star

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Two of Us

Dir. Filippo Meneghetti
95 min

This French love story is as tense and edgy as a thriller. Nina (Barbara Sukowa) has the apartment adjacent to Madeleine's, which is convenient: the women have been secret lovers for decades. Then a stroke renders Madeleine paralyzed, and Nina is bereft.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Souleymane's Story

Dir. Boris Lojkine
92 min

Exhausted by the grueling grind of the Parisian gig economy and hopping between homeless shelters, Guinean immigrant Souleymane races against time to prepare for his asylum interview. An angry, tender film which is as gripping as any thriller.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

The Last Class

Dir. Elliot Kirschner
72 min

Economist and former US Secretary of Labor Robert Reich embarks on what will be his last year teaching at Berkeley. What can he impart to the latest generation to inspire and empower them for the grievous challenges ahead?

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre