The Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) returns September 28 – October 8, 2023 for its annual event celebrating the art of filmmaking with a thoughtfully curated selection of films, many of which are proudly crafted in B.C. Immerse yourself in a diverse array of stories, from captivating dramas to groundbreaking documentaries, all while basking in the creative energy of a region that has become a hotspot for cinematic excellence. VIFF invites you upon a cinematic journey that showcases both local talent and international perspectives, making VIFF a must-visit destination for film enthusiasts and connoisseurs alike.
2023: Defining Human
#WatchBC at VIFF via the following films:
FEATURES
Aitamaako’tamisskapi Natosi: Before The Sun
Director: Banchi Hanuse
A thrilling portrait of a young Siksika woman as she trains for one of the most dangerous horse races
in the world: on bareback. Logan Red Crow is an Indian Relay rider who vaults from horse to horse in
exhilarating races. She is a champion in the making.
Asog
Director: Sean Devlin
Jaya, a teacher and comedian, travels across the typhoon-ravaged Philippines in a bid to win a beauty
pageant. En route, they pick up an unlikely companion. Comic, sorrowful, and political, Asog
examines the climate crisis through a kaleidoscopic lens.
Les Filles du Roi
Director: Corey Payette
Corey Payette’s rousing microbudget musical (adapted from the Urban Ink stage production he
cowrote with Julie Mcisaac) chronicles the friendship between a seventeenth century French
woman and a Mohawk trader and his sister.
Float
Director: Sherren Lee
The summer before college, a city girl finds herself in Tofino, alienated by the local beach culturethat
is, until she falls for the charming local lifeguard, which throws her carefully planned future into
question.
I’m Just Here for the Riot
Director: Kathleen S. Jayme, Asia Youngman
Vancouver, June 15, 2011. Hours after the Canucks lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, rioters laid
waste to blocks of downtown. In this absorbing documentary, Kathleen S. Jayme (The Grizzlie Truth)
and Asia Youngman revisit that chaotic night.
Mareya Shot, Keetah Goal: Make the Shot
Director: Baljit Sangra, Nilesh Patel
This spirited sports doc follows four junior hockey players of South Asian descent through the 2021-
2022 season as they strive to make it to the NHL. Among them, Surrey’s own Arsh Bains, who signs
with the Vancouver Canucks.
Physician, Heal Thyself
Director: Asher Penn
One of the world’s foremost experts on addiction and trauma, Dr Gabor Mate shares not only his
theories, but also his own story: his difficult childhood in Hungary and his long years of therapeutic
practice in and around Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
Seagrass
Director: Meredith Hama-Brown
With their parents tending to their crumbling marriage, 11-year-old Stephanie is drawn to a pack of
unruly teens, while six-year-old Emmy answers an eerie cave’s siren call. A deftly orchestrated,
deeply moving portrait of a family about to implode.
Union Street
Director: Jamila Pomeroy
Interspersing interviews with archival footage, Union Street documents the history of Vancouver’s
Hogan’s Alley, the formerly Black neighbourhood which was destroyed by the construction of the
Georgia viaduct in the 1970s.
WaaPaKe
Director: Jules Koostachin
WaaPaKe is a story about resilience, love and transformation. Examined through an Indigenous lens, the stories of residential school Survivor-Warriors and their families offer an understanding of both intergenerational trauma and healing.
Wild Goat Surf
Director: Caitlyn Sponheimer
Scrounging and scheming her way through the summer, 12-year-old Goat talks a big game about becoming a world-class surfer … Despite having never actually surfed or even seen the ocean. A charming tale about trying to slip the shackles of circumstance.
SHORTS
Ancestral Threads
Director: Sean Stiller
Using fashion as medicine for Vancouver’s Indigenous community, founder Joleen Mitton takes us behind-the-scenes at Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week. Featuring interviews with Musqueam weaver and artist Debra Sparrow and Dene fashion designer D’arcy Moses.
Between You and Me
Director: Cameron Kletke
An animated journey through a young woman’s diary entries, notes, and drawings.
Black Box Investigations
Director: Paige Smith
Form and function are deconstructed through the artist’s interventions with the camera.
Cloud Striker
Director: A.W. Hopkins
Set in the 1930s, Chief Cloud Striker is on a quest to find his son Elijah, who has been forcibly taken from home and placed in Saint Ignatius Indian Residential School.
Defining Human
Director: Daniel Code
As Earth reaches its environmental breaking point, Mia, a talented black astronaut, must make a difficult decision: to stay with her ailing father, or leave for the unknown potentials of space exploration.
Hair or No Hair
Director: Janessa St. Pierre
Bel, a young black woman who has been hiding her Alopecia under wigs for years, is one day exposed publicly.
Her Name is Like a Sigh
Director: Solara Thanh-Bình Đặng
Ha, an overworked Vietnamese nail salon proprietor, reevaluates her life and marriage in an unexpected mid-life crisis prompted by a new customer.
In The Wake of the Cedar Tree
Director: Towustasin
Eclectically stylized, Haida poet & videographer Towustasin creates an experimental documentary short that incorporates animation, spoken word, intimate interviews and poetic narratives to explore trauma, hope, healing and connection to land.
Master of the House
Director: Dylan Maranda
A young sommelier struggles to balance friendship and ambition on the night an acclaimed restaurant critic dines at his work- Reclamation, a restaurant hyped on reinventing Indigenous cuisine.
Nigiqtuk (The South Wind)
Director: Lindsay McIntyre
An Inuit mother and daughter, Kumaa’naaq and Marguerite, must negotiate the pressures of assimilation after relocating to a new life in the South in the 1930s. Based on a true story.
Our Grandmother the Inlet
Directors: Jaime Leigh Gianopoulos, Kayah George
Kayah George, a young Tsleil-Waututh woman and her grandmother Ta7a, daughter of the late Chief Dan George, reflect on their relationship to water, culture, and land.
Silkworm
Director: Amir Honarmand
Amin, an Iranian boy living in poverty during the pandemic, is gifted a stolen iPhone by his older brother. Not before long, the owner gets in touch.
Sun, Moon and Four Peaks
Director: Kevin Jin Kwan Kim
Two brothers, Minseo and Junho, are reunited in Vancouver after many years apart following their parents divorce in Korea.
Swallow Flying to the South
Director: Mochi Lin
During the Cultural Revolution in 1976, 5-year-old Swallow is abandoned at a public boarding preschool in central Beijing. When the persimmons are ripe, Swallow masters how to cry, but doesn’t forget how to fly. Inspired by the film maker’s mother’s story.
Take Care
Director: Tony Massil
A recently divorced and deflated James moves in with his grandmother Patty, a fiercely independent octogenarian. Despite Patty’s declining physical abilities, she is reluctant to give up her autonomy.
Two Apples
Director: Bahram Javahery
When a young woman leaves her homeland in search of a different future, she brings with her a single memento from her past: a ripe apple studded with fragrant cloves. A true labour of love, a tender film delivered in a richly innovative animation style.
Unspeakable Heap
Director: Kara Ditte Hansen
An accumulation of histories is explored via the film maker’s uncle, a retired Grego-Roman Olympian wrestler who lives in a sinking house built atop a decommissioned landfill.
You Feel Soft
Director: Cameron Kletke
An exploration of love and touch by Cameron Kletke, employing different forms of graphite that bring the screen to textural life.
Yun
Director: Yuezhang Qin
A cloud accompanies a young woman through daily life.
Find the full VIFF Program here.
