The 45th Vancouver International Film Festival opens Oct. 1 and includes 162 features across world premieres, shorts and live events.
The Story
The 45th edition of the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) opens Oct. 1 with “The Debut,” an offbeat community-theatre comedy starring Jesse Eisenberg, Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti.
VIFF’s closing night film is “Wild Horse Nine,” a black comedy set in the run-up to the 1973 Chilean coup that follows CIA operatives played by John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell.
The festival has unveiled a slate of 162 features, including 12 world premieres, six international debuts, 15 North American bows and 49 Canada first screenings, alongside 91 short films and two episodic series, representing titles from 76 countries.
Notable feature selections include Cristian Mungiu’s “Fjord,” Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “All of a Sudden,” Kore-eda Hirokazu’s “Look Back” and Lee Chang-dong’s “Possible Love.” Tony Gilroy’s “Behemoth!” and Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson’s “Wicker,” as well as Markus Schleinzer’s “Rose,” are listed as Canadian premieres.
Other titles highlighted include Pedro Almodóvar’s “Bitter Christmas,” Peter Farrelly’s underdog story “I Play Rocky,” and Jordan Firstman’s “Club Kid,” about an underground party promoter who discovers he has a kid, a role Firstman also plays.
VIFF Director of Programming Curtis Woloschuk said the selections reflect the anxiety of the moment, describing a mix of works that explore how care shows up within families, communities and cities, including narratives and documentaries.
Woloschuk pointed to a cluster of films dealing with housing and economic uncertainty and gentrification, including Clio Barnard’s “I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning,” John Wilson’s “The History of Concrete,” Noah Segan’s “The Only Living Pickpocket in New York,” and the Austrian entry “The Loneliest Man in Town.”
The lineup also includes documentaries described as an “unofficial triptych of Canadian icons”: “Run Terry Run,” on Terry Fox’s legacy; Adrian Buitenhuis’s “Man in Motion: The Rick Hansen Story”; and Matthew Rankin’s “Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney.”
For nonfiction programming, the festival points to more than 50 nonfiction features, including world premieres from B.C. filmmakers Joella Cabalu (“First Comes Love: Nakabingwit”) and David Ehrenreich (“Relax, Open Your Eyes”).
VIFF’s Institute for the Moving Image will run VIFF Industry and Amp Music in Media Summit programs Oct. 3–8 under the theme “Uncertainty as a Creative Force.”
VIFF Live, the festival’s live performance strand, is described as building shows around the intersection of the moving image and live music at the Chan Centre, including the North American premiere of Jóhann Jóhannsson’s “Cinematic Suites” performed with a full orchestra.
Other VIFF Live items include a reimagining of David Lynch’s “Eraserhead” by experimental rock act Xiu Xiu, and “An Evening with Mark Mothersbaugh,” featuring selections from Mothersbaugh’s film scores with a 16-piece ensemble.
Indigenous storytelling is also featured across the program, anchored by Northern Lights, VIFF’s showcase for emerging Canadian and Indigenous filmmakers, with titles by Nyla Innuksuk (“In the Heart of the South”), Alexandara Lzarowich (“Turtle Island Rap”), and Cody Lightning (“Smudge the Blades”), among others.
VIFF says the program also includes Métis/Dene director Marie Clements, with “How We Stand” and the world premiere of her Knowledge Network series “Reclaim My Skin.”
The festival also notes “Takkuk,” a film co-created with Indigenous artists across Greenland and Sápmi, preceded by live performances from Inuit throat-singing duo Silla and Greenlandic rapper Tarrak.
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