The 43rd Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) returns September 26 – October 6, 2024 to venues around the City.
VIFF has teased five selections for the Festival’s Special Presentations and Showcase sections, and with tickets on sale now, the complete VIFF Live program, curated by Indigenous scholar and media maker Jarrett Martineau.
The festival’s Special Presentations and Showcase sections include the year’s most highly anticipated films and titles; featuring several standouts from the prestigious Berlinale and Cannes festivals: All We Imagine as Light (dir. Payal Kapadia, France/India/Netherlands/Luxembourg), Caught by the Tides (dir. Jia Zhangke, China), Dahomey (dir. Mati Diop, France/Senegal/Benin), Flow (dir. Gints Zilbalodis, Latvia/France/Belgium), and My Favourite Cake (dirs. Maryam Moghaddam, Behtash Sanaeeha, Iran/France/Sweden/Germany).
“As we put the finishing touches on the lineup behind the scenes, we’re excited to unveil five official selections,” says Curtis Woloschuk, Director of Programming. “While we’ll be announcing dozens of premieres later this month, we take this opportunity to announce a complement of films that have garnered acclaim with their premieres in Berlin and Cannes. Running the gamut from gripping social realist drama to evocative animation, each of these films offers an enthralling cinematic experience as they investigate colonialism, climate crisis, and other contemporary issues while championing love, friendship, and independence.”
VIFF Live is a series of performances that push the boundaries of traditional film festival programming by intersecting cinema culture with music and storytelling in unique live shows. This year’s program features a two-part performance by the legendary filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin and once-in-a-generation talent Jeremy Dutcher; JUNO Award-winner Elisapie in her most personal concert yet that incorporates film shot by Émilie Monnet; Japanese singer-songwriter Eiko Ishibashi reframing visual storytelling by performing live to a silent film by Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car); and avant-garde composer William Basinski manipulating analog technology in a longstanding creative partnership with filmmaker James Elaine.
“I’m excited to present artists that work at the outer edges of sound and image,” says VIFF Live Curator Jarrett Martineau. “Each artist experiments with form by exploring the deep relationships between memory, time, history, and presence in their storytelling. This year’s program also features an intergenerational spectrum of voices, from emerging names to renowned icons in the film industry. In their own way, all the artists respond to questions around collaboration, archives, and what we carry forward from the past.”
General festival passes, ticket packs, and VIFF Live tickets are on sale now. The full line of VIFF programming will be announced Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024. VIFF+ Members will have access to advance single ticket sales from Aug. 28 at 12pm. General sales to the public will begin on Aug. 29 at 12pm. Find more information visit viff.org/ticket-info/#festival.