When a defence attorney (Zoe Saldana) is enlisted to tend to the affairs of a notorious drug lord (Karla Sofía Gascón) completing gender affirmation surgery, there will be blood, ballads, and dance numbers. A maximalist musical from Jacques Audiard.
When the sitting Pope shuffles off this mortal coil, Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) is handed the responsibility of marshalling the Catholic Church’s most influential figures and orchestrating the arcane process of electing a successor. Sequestered in the Vatican, several cardinals—including John Lithgow’s Cardinal Tremblay—turn cutthroat in their bid to lay claim to the papal throne. As conspiracies come to light and factions are formed, the unassuming Cardinal Benitez (Carlos Diehz) harbours a secret that may have seismic consequences.
“Mother’s not quite herself today…” That Norman Bates line from Psycho gets a new spin in this bracingly strange movie based on Rachel Yoder’s acclaimed 2021 novel. Mother (Amy Adams) used to be an artist in the big city. Now she’s just another mom in the suburbs. Her husband (Scoot McNairy) still travels widely for work, leaving Mother to feed, clothe, and amuse their toddler 24/7. Of course, she’s dog-tired. But that can’t explain the fuzziness around her neck and her tailbone……
August Wilson's rich, riveting, resonant play about exorcizing the ghosts of slavery comes to the screen in a polished, fulsome production with stellar performances from John David Washington, Danielle Deadwyler, and Samuel L Jackson.
70-year-old widow Mahin has been living alone in Tehran for some time—until one day, she breaks her daily routine with the intention of meeting a man. In this sweet meditation on love, loss and loneliness, the decision leads to an unforgettable encounter.
The true story of what happened behind the scenes leading up to the first broadcast of Saturday Night Live. Full of humor, chaos, and the magic of a revolution that almost wasn’t, we count down the minutes in real time until we hear those famous words...
Winner of the Cannes 2024 Grand Prix award.
With her husband missing in action, Karoline (Vic Carmen Sonne), a young seamstress, struggles to survive in post-WWI Copenhagen. An affair with the owner of the clothing factory she works at brings temporary relief from her poverty, but leads to still worse complications. Left with few other options, she turns to a charismatic candy shop owner, Dagmar (Trine Dyrholm), who offers special services to women in need. But as it turns out, the woman’s placid façade hides deeper layers of…
In celebration of The Tragically Hip’s 40th anniversary, the quintessential Canadian band receives a deserved tribute in a docuseries helmed by Mike Downie, brother of the band’s late frontman Gord Downie. VIFF is honoured to have Mike and The Tragically Hip – Rob Baker, Johnny Fay, Paul Langlois, and Gord Sinclair – join us for this special evening as we share the first two episodes of this definitive series, a love story between a band and the country they call…
The annual Vancouver International Film Festival showcases exceptional cinema in one of the world’s most beautiful cities.
Our spectacular 2024…
The marquee attractions at the Vancouver International Film Festival run the gamut from social realist dramas to dizzying spectacles. As…
In the VIFF 2024 Modes series, the veracity of history is made visible, audible, and tangible. Embodying the principle of…
In the VIFF 2024 Vanguard Series we are introduced to rising international talents who are bringing their singular visions to…
It is time to celebrate cinema in a big way, on the big screen...together. We are excited to share an…
Shuswap actor Darrell Dennis makes his feature debut as writer-director in this Vancouver Island-made caper comedy about the theft of Indigenous artifacts. Steve (Dennis) is a traditional archeologist intent on liberating sacred objects from Western Canadian museum. Enlisting the help of a ragtag bunch of Rez rebels, he gets mixed up with the Russian mafia along the way. Made for a couple of toonies, The Great Salish Heist is a scrappy indie Ocean’s 11 with bags of charm and some authentic things to say about cultural colonialism.
Screening at the VIFF Centre viff.org/whats-on
As a tribute to Norman Jewison, who passed away in January, aged 97, we’ve unearthed a profile of the versatile director of In the Heat of the Night; Fiddler on the Roof; Moonstruck; and The Hurricane. Jewison was one of the most successful directors of his era, and though his film career was entirely centered in Hollywood he was always a proud Canadian, as this 1996 CBC profile for the Life & Times series shows. Directed by Bruce McDonald and shot…
Pals from the Maritimes, Pete (Doug McGrath) and Joey (Paul Bradley) pack their stuff into an old Chevy and head for the bright lights of the 6ix. But their dreams soon crash into cold reality. They chase women, drink beer. Joey gets a waitress pregnant and they get married, but life doesn’t get any easier… Donald Shebib’s debut feature is a landmark in English-Canadian filmmaking, a naturalistic working class drama that captures its time and place, but which still holds relevance for audiences some 50 years later. Sadly, Don Shebib passed away in November.
Screening at the VIFF Centre viff.org/whats-on
Vancouver filmmaker Mina Shum’s debut feature is very much of a piece with her Meditation Park. A very young and very personable Sandra Oh (in a Genie-winning debut) is Jade, an aspiring actress who makes light of her far-more traditional Hong Kong-emigre parents, but who finds the dual expectations of her harder to reconcile than she might like to admit.
Screening at the VIFF Centre viff.org/whats-on
Sam Beam is a singer-songwriter who has been creating music as Iron & Wine for over a decade. Shot at the Haw River Ballroom in Saxapahaw, North Carolina, the soundtrack features 19 songs recorded live. Initially intended as a live concert release, the film evolved into a visual portrait capturing Beam during a creative outburst that earned him four Grammy nominations in four years.
Screening at the VIFF Centre viff.org/whats-on
In the run up to Vancouver Opera’s production of Bizet’s perennial favourite Carmen, a chance to hear the music in a radically different setting, in the ground-breaking film version of the Oscar Hammerstein’s all-Black Broadway musical. An electrifying Carmen, Dorothy Dandridge became the first African-American to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, and her chemistry with Harry Belafonte in his second film role almost burns a hole in the screen.
Screening at the VIFF Centre viff.org/whats-on
Anabel has a heart problem: it’s just too big for this world. Falling for George, she has her work cut out for her to convince him, and his mum, that she’s his heart’s desire. Julia Lederer’s witty screenplay creates a comfortably numb parallel world just a notch further down the path to digital nirvana than our own. Filmed in Vancouver, Kim Albright’s acclaimed debut strikes a lo-(sci-)fi surrealist vibe reminiscent of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It’s whimsical, unpredictable, and it hits close to home.
Screening at the VIFF Centre viff.org/whats-on
During the chaotic preparations leading up to the birthday party of her terminally ill father, a seven-year-old girl finds herself caught in an adult world which she struggles to comprehend. But as night approaches, she gets a dim but growing sense that her world is about to change irrevocably. Layered with emotional and political resonance, this sophomore feature by rising Mexican director Lila Avilés (The Chambermaid) is truly one-of-a-kind: a Buñuelian class study keyed to the interior life of a child.
Screening at the VIFF Centre viff.org/whats-on
The annual Vancouver International Film Festival showcases exceptional cinema in one of the world’s most beautiful cities.
Our spectacular 2024 roster will includes 150 feature films and 81 shorts, presented in nine Vancouver venues.
This is some of the best cinema from Canada and around the globe, plus talks, conferences, live performances, and other unique events that celebrate film and film culture.