VIFF 2026 runs Oct. 1–11 with 160 films and award-winning picks for every taste

The Story

Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) 2026 is scheduled for Oct. 1 to 11, 2026, bringing an international lineup to the city as one of the largest film festivals in North America.

This year’s festival will showcase approximately 160 features from around the world, alongside additional programming that the festival describes as including talkbacks, live performances and other special events throughout the 11-day run.

Among the festival’s announced award-winning films is Nina Roza, a drama directed by Geneviève Dulude-De Celles that follows Mihail, a contemporary art expert in Montreal who returns to Bulgaria after nearly three decades. Dulude-De Celles won the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay at the 76th Berlinale, and Nina Roza is also described as representing Canada in the nomination process for Best International Feature Film at the 99th Academy Awards.

VIFF’s schedule includes Fruit Gathering, described as an exploration of desire in a conservative society. The film introduces audiences to two working-class women who fall in love in modern-day Myanmar, and it is noted as a Grand Prix – Crystal Globe-winning title at the 60th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

A documentary-style slate is also represented by Yo (Love is a Rebellious Bird), written by Anna Fitch and Banker White. The film is described as blending vérité interviews with puppet, animal and insect actors, alongside collage art and time-lapse nature photography. The festival listing says Yo (Love is a Rebellious Bird) won the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution at the 76th Berlinale.

For audiences interested in Indigenous perspectives and repatriation, VIFF highlights Aanikoobijigan [Ancestor/Great-Grandparent/Great-Grandchild]. The film is described as winner of the Audience Award: NEXT at Sundance 2026, and its themes are presented as memory, dignity and a duty of care, focusing on Indigenous repatriation specialists working to bring remains and funerary objects of Ancestors home from institutional collections.

The festival also includes La Bola Negra, the second feature from the writer-director duo Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi. The film is described as a modern, queer makeover of an unfinished Federico García Lorca play, and the listing says it weaves three timelines with three gay protagonists set in 1937, 1932 and 2017.

La Bola Negra is described as having been nominated for the Palme d’Or and as having won the Best Director Prize at Cannes, while VIFF positions it as one of several major titles for viewers looking for genre and auteur-driven work.

In addition to the broader festival lineup, VIFF features Vanguard, presented as the festival’s only competitive international feature section. The festival says Vanguard includes eight narrative and hybrid films by rising filmmakers from around the globe.

Vanguard is offered with a cash prize of $5,000, presented by the Lochmaddy Foundation, and the listing notes that these competitive films are scheduled to play mostly at VIFF Theatre and The Cinematheque.

The festival’s Vanguard curator, Sonja Baksa, is quoted in a statement about the section’s purpose for Canadian audiences. In that statement, Baksa describes Vanguard as a place where the Canadian audience can get an early look at work and artists building momentum internationally, and says the films reflect what cinephiles seek in arthouse and indie cinema through experimentation and formal craft.

VIFF ticketing is described as single tickets ranging from $17 to $22 for regular screenings, with ticket packs and festival passes also available, while the festival’s programming time and locations vary across venues in the city.

For readers planning ahead, the core logistical takeaway from the announcement is that VIFF runs for 11 days—Oct. 1 through Oct. 11, 2026—with major films playing in multiple venues and with at least two theatres identified as key sites for the Vanguard competition segment.