What’s on Apr 8 - May 5, 2018 at the Vancouver LIFE, ANIMATED International
Film Centre Aquarius
1181 Seymour Street 604.683.FILM Discover more at viff.org
Hochelaga, Land of Souls
Canadian Film Week
Check your passport at the door. Ten great movies by Canadians, for Canadians. Canadian Film Week 3 Ticket Pack Available $27 Hochelaga, Land of Souls Hochelaga, Terre des Âmes FRANÇOIS GIRARD, CANADA, 2017, 100 MIN. TRUE NORTH FRI APR 20 - 6:20PM* • SAT APR 21 - 2:00PM* MON APR 23 - 6:20PM* • TUE APR 24 - 12:00PM WED APR 25 - 8:30PM When a sinkhole opens up at McGill University, the fracture affords a unique opportunity to unearth the roots of Montre- al’s history, and the history before that... In this flamboyant archaeological fresco from the director of 32 Short Films about Glenn Gould and The Red Violin, François Girard explores the defining characteristics that constitute our country and its peoples, their conflicts, qualities and aspira- tions. This is Canadian cinema at its epic, eccentric best. “A rich cinematic banquet.” Variety In French, English with English subtitles.
*Select screenings will be preceded by the short film, Skin for Skin (Dirs: Carol Beecher, Kevin D.A. Kurytnik, 15 min)
Hochelaga, Land of Souls
The Age of Adulting My Enemy, Dim the Fluorescents aka There’s Nothing Romantic About Vancouver DANIEL WARTH, CANADA, 2017, 128 MIN. TRUE NORTH MARK A LEWIS, CANADA, 2018, 101 MIN. SEA TO SKY My Brother ANN SHIN, CANADA, 2017, 87 MIN. TRUE NORTH SAT APR 21 - 6:20PM • TUE APR 24 - 3:50PM FRI APR 20 - 8:30PM An actor’s life is a psychic mud-wrestling match between SAT APR 21 - 4:15PM • WED APR 25 - 6:30PM Tilting between satire, art film, and (just guessing here) hope and despair. For Audrey and Lillian (Claire Armstrong Former foes become friends in this extraordinary self-portrait, this debut feature implies we’re all stuck in an and Naomi Skwarna) despair has the upper-hand. They’re documentary. Zahed was a child solider in the Iran-Iraq war unhealthy relationship with our beautiful, crappy home town. making ends meet by staging managerial sketches for of the 1980s. Thirty years later, he encounters one-time Iraqi Yet, despite that subtitle and the copious bad behaviour on corporate seminars. When one client offers not only a soldier Najah on the other side of the world, in Vancouver, display, there is something romantic about Lewis’s quixotic significantly higher budget than usual but a prospective BC. At this remove the war is a common bond, a shared search for meaning amongst disconnected, distracted and audience of 300, the friends dream this could be their big trauma, rather than a source of conflict, and the two men disengaged twentysomethings scrambling to make an East break. And it will be. But perhaps not the kind of “break” become friends. But more than that: due to an extraordinary Van movie that matters to them. they were hoping for... coincidence, they emerge as blood brothers for life. World premiere. Filmmakers in attendance. “Astonishing.” Globe & Mail In English, Arabic with English subtitles. Preceded by the short film, It's Him (Dir. Sophy Romvari)
Great Great Great Pneuma Ken Foster ADAM GARNET JONES, CANADA, 2017, 80 MIN. TRUE NORTH WILL CARNE, CANADA, 2016, 81 MIN. SEA TO SKY JOSH LANER, CANADA, 2016, 95 MIN. SEA TO SKY SAT APR 21 - 8:45PM • TUE APR 24 - 2:00PM SAT APR 21 - 10:25PM MON APR 23 - 8:30PM Newcomer (and screenwriter) Sarah Kolasky delivers a This Vancouver-made debut feature from writer-director We have learned to be wary of the cliched correlation bravely honest and forceful performance as Lauren, who Will Carne is an intense two-hander centered on a series of between drug-use and creativity. But Laner’s non- more or less proposes to her long-time boyfriend but sessions between a convicted prisoner (who claims to have judgmental portrait of the Vancouver street artist makes the almost immediately embarks on a reckless affair with her amnesia) and the court-appointed psychologist (Allyson case that Foster embraces the drug life to strip himself of boss. Lauren isn’t a particularly likeable character, but she’s Grant) whose job it is to help him face his crimes (which bourgeois comforts; that the necessity of feeding his habit certainly someone we can recognize, and the film captures we learn about over time). Made before David Fincher’s compels him to produce art in prodigious qualities, and the dangerous thrill of illicit desire. Mindhunter series and filmed in just four days, Pneuma free of the decadent affectations of the art market. This “Great Great Great lives up to that title.” Norm Wilner, Now makes light of its low budget origins to tease out knotty is a sympathetic, intimate film about a highly intelligent, magazine ethical and legalistic gray zones. talented and unorthodox artist living in squalor. Filmmaker intro. Earth Day
Part of Canadian Film Week
Venus Cardinals Modified + EISHA MARJARA, CANADA, 2017, 95 MIN. TRUE NORTH GRAYSON MOORE, AIDAN SHIPLEY, CANADA, 2017, 84 MIN. TRUE NORTH Vancity Impact Talk TUE APR 24 - 6:30PM AUBE GIROUX, CANADA, 2017, 86 MIN. . TRUE NORTH TUE APR 24 - 8:40PM When fourteen-year-old Ralph tracks down his biological SUN APR 22 - 4:00PM father, he gets more than he bargained for. Not only is Sid Sheila McCarthy (I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing) returns This first-person doc questions why genetically modified (Debargo Sanyal) of Indian heritage, he is also a she. In in her best movie role in years as Valerie, a middle aged organisms (GMOs) are not labeled on food products in other words, his dad is also his mom. Ralph’s reaction? mom looking to pick up the pieces three years after she was Canada and the US, despite being labeled in 64 countries “Cool!” Writer-director Eisha Marjara’s humanist movie incarcerated for killing a man in a drunk driving accident. around the world. Interweaving the personal and the explores myriad questions of identity and twenty first To her daughters’ dismay she seems largely unrepentant. political, the film is anchored in the filmmaker’s relationship century relationships with generous helpings of warm Complicating matters, the son of the man she killed has to her mother, a passionate gardener and food activist. It humour, sensitivity and compassion. questions, if only Valerie can be coaxed into answering them... makes a strong case for a more transparent and sustainable food system. “A singular work of devastating emotional psychology and Winner: Best Film, Cinequest; Audience Award, Kingston infectiously biting wit.” The Film Stage Followed by Vancity Impact Talk Film Festival with panel discussion.
In French, English with English subtitles.
National Canadian Film Day - April 18 Her Stories
Thirty Two Short Films Double Happiness Mina Shum introduces About Glenn Gould MINA SHUM, CANADA, 1994, 90 MIN. SEA TO SKY Ann Hui’s A Simple Life FRANÇOIS GIRARD, CANADA, 1993, 93 MIN. M/A/D WED APR 18 - 6:30PM ANN HUI, HONG KONG, 20111, 118 MIN. GATEWAY WED APR 18 - 8:40PM Vancouver filmmaker Mina Shum's debut feature is very SUN APR 22 - 7:15PM much of a piece with her recent charmer, Meditation Launching our new series of inspiring cinema directed A bona fide classic, Francois Girard’s dazzling deconstruction Park. A very young Sandra Oh (in a Genie-winning debut) by women, and selected by women filmmakers, Mina of the biopic gives us the mercurial pianist Glenn Gould as is Jade, an aspiring actress who makes light of her far- Shum (Meditation Park; Double Happiness) has chosen Picasso might have rendered him (if Picasso painted on more traditional Hong Kong-emigre parents, but who to present this lovely portrait of an elderly maid (Deannie celluloid, I guess), a cubist portrait combining dramatic finds the dual expectations of her harder to reconcile Ip) retiring after 60 years of service. As the title suggests, vignettes, radio broadcasts, excursions into abstraction and than she might like to admit. animation, archival footage, and much else besides. this is a quiet, quotidien film, yet it speaks volumes about universal themes: aging, work, and personal relationships. Mina Shum will introduce the screening and there will be a mixer afterwards. In Cantonese, Mandarin, English with English subtitles.
Vancouver International Film Festival’s Year-Round Showcase April 8 - May 5, 2018
SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Reel 2 Real Festival Reel 2 Real Festival Apr 8 - 14 RENTAL Apr 8 - 14 r2rfestival.org r2rfestival.org Workshop 6:30 Shut Up and Reel 2 Real Festival Reel 2 Real Festival 7:30 Isle of Dogs Reel 2 Real Festival Reel 2 Real Festival Apr 8 - 14 Say Something Apr 8 - 14 Storyboard Workshop at Apr 8 - 14 Apr 8 - 14 r2rfestival.org RENTAL 8:10 Love, Cecil r2rfestival.org The Annex r2rfestival.org r2rfestival.org 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
Mexican Fantasy & 2:00 Hochelaga, Land RENTAL Horror Cinema of Souls The Morbido National Canadian 6:30 4:15 My Enemy, My RENTAL Film Day Crypt’s Guide to Brother Canadian Film Week 6:30 Double Happiness Mexican Fantasy & 3:00 Itzhak 6:20 Dim the RENTAL Horror Cinema 6:20 Hochelaga, Land 4:45 Walk With Me 4:30 Walk With Me Fluorescents 8:40 Thirty Two Short 8:40 Tigers Are Not of Souls 6:35 Tehran Taboo 6:30 Itzhak Cinema Salon Films About Glenn Afraid (Free with 8:30 The Age of 8:45 Great Great Great 8:20 Walk With Me 8:20 Walk With Me 7:30 Blue Velvet Gould Mexican Horror lecture) Adulting 10:25 Pneuma 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 The French Touch 12:00 Louise en hiver RENTAL 12:00 Hochelaga, Land Creator Talk Earth Day of Souls 3:00 Moira Walley- 4:00 Modified + Vancity 2:00 Great Great Great Beckett Impact Talk RENTAL 3:50 Dim the 6:00 Walk With Me 5:20 Walk With Me Her Stories 6:30 My Enemy, My Fluorescents 7:15 Mina Shum 6:20 Hochelaga, Land Brother 7:50 Grace Jones: 7:15 The Endless of Souls 6:30 Venus Bloodlight and Bami introduces Ann Hui’s A 8:30 Hochelaga, Land 9:30 Grace Jones: Simple Life 8:30 Ken Foster 8:40 Cardinals of Souls RENTAL 10:00 The Endless Bloodlight and Bami 29 30 MAY 1 2 3 4 5
RENTAL 6:20 The Endless 1:00 The Endless 6:30 TOO DARN HOT! Grace Jones: DOXA Documentary DOXA Documentary Music Monday 6:20 Fim Festival Fim Festival 9:00 Grace Jones: 8:30 Grace Jones: 5:00 Itzhak Bloodlight and Bami May 3 - 13 May 3 - 13 Bloodlight and Bami Bloodlight and Bami 6:45 Doctor Zhivago RENTAL 8:35 The Endless doxafestival.ca doxafestival.ca
Documentaries
Itzhak Walk With Me Grace Jones: ALISON CHERNICK, USA/ISRAEL, 2017, 82 MIN. M/A/D MAX PUGH, MARC JAMES FRANCIS, UK, 2017, 94 MIN. IMPACT Bloodlight and Bami SUN APR 15 - 3:00PM • MON APR 16 - 6:30PM SUN APR 15 - 4:45PM, 8:20PM SOPHIE FIENNES, UK, 2017, 116 MIN. M/A/D TUE MAY 1 - 5:00PM MON APR 16 - 4:30PM, 8:20PM Apparently you can be a virtuoso and also a mensch. In FRI APR 27 - 6:00PM • SAT APR 28 - 5:20PM FRI APR 27 - 7:50PM • SAT APR 28 - 9:30PM SUN APR 29 - 9:00PM • MON APR 30 - 8:30PM* this warm, affectionate portrait, violinist Itzhak Perlman Martin Luther King nominated Thich Nhat Hanh for the THU MAY 3 - 6:20PM emerges as more than a phenomenal musician, he’s also a Nobel Peace Prize in 1967. The Zen Buddhist teacher and garrulous raconteur, a dedicated Yankees fan, and a cham- activist was forced to leave Vietnam during the war, and set A larger-than-life entertainer, an androgynous glam-pop pion for youth. Alison Chernik’s doc is also a love story, with up a retreat, Plum Village, in France. This beautifully filmed diva, an unpredictable media presence – Grace Jones is all Itzhak’s wife Toby stealing several scenes. The music (Bach, vérité documentary, three years in the making, gives us a these things and more. Sophie Fiennes' documentary goes Mendelsohn, Brahms) is simply thrilling. taste of what it would be like to spend time there; breathing beyond the traditional music biography, offering a portrait more slowly, listening to the silence; finding peace. as stylish and unconventional as its subject. Hits “Slave to the Rhythm,” “Pull Up to the Bumper,” “Love is the Drug,” “Sublime and uplifting.” LA Times In English, Hebrew with English subtitles. all feature. “A true testament to the power of style.” Caitlin In English, French, Vietnamese with English subtitles. Agnew, The Globe and Mail *Music Monday $11 Ticket
Workshop Returning from VIFF 2017
Isle of Dogs Tehran Taboo The Endless Storyboard Workshop ALI SOOZANDEH, AUSTRIA/GERMANY, 2017, 90 MIN. PANORAMA JUSTIN BENSON, AARON SCOTT MOORHEAD, USA, 2017, 111 MIN. ALT 90 MIN. ALT SUN APR 15 - 6:35PM FRI APR 27 - 10:00PM • SAT APR 28 - 7:15PM In this gorgeously animated drama, the lives of several MON APR 30 - 6:20PM • THU MAY 3 - 8:35PM THU APR 12 - 7:30PM (STAND BY ONLY) FRI MAY 4 - 1:00PM strong-willed women and a young musician intersect. Their Visit viff.org for second workshop details to be announced stories reveal the hypocrisies of modern Iranian society, Brothers Aaron and Justin (played by filmmakers Aaron Storyboard artist Jay Clarke charts his collaboration with where sex, drugs, and corruption coexist with strict reli- Moorhead and Justin Benson, respectively) are lured Wes Anderson from development through later phases of gious law. In the bustling metropolis of Tehran, avoiding back to Camp Arcadia, the commune they fled ten years the production. Mapping his journey through a live draw- prohibitions has become an everyday sport and breaking earlier. What they discover there beggars belief... or, ing session on the big screen, Clarke reveals his sources taboos can be a means of personal emancipation. Never- more accurately, appears to affirm the far-out and frankly of inspiration, his philosophies of drawing and how he theless, women invariably end up on the bottom rung of the disturbing teachings of the cult. What follows is a Twilight imbues his animated creations with human emotions. This social order. Zone-like mind-bender that will renew your faith in fantasy movies. lively case study also taps into the potential and practical In Farsi with English subtitles. considerations of storyboarding as the perfect tool to com- “As thought-provoking as it is surreally funny and creepily municate a vision to the entire production team. brilliant.” Little White Lies Tickets $28 (+ applicable Presented by: Civic Theatres facility fee) Annex Theatre 823 Seymour Street
Mexican Fantasy & Horror Cinema Salon Creator Talk
The Morbido Crypt’s Blue Velvet Moira Walley-Beckett Guide to Mexican Fantasy DAVID LYNCH, USA, 1986, 120 MIN. PANORAMA 90 MIN. TRUE NORTH TUE APR 17 - 7:30PM SAT APR 28 - 3:00PM & Horror Cinema David Lynch’s ode to suburbia: clean cut young man VIFF is thrilled to launch its year-round Creator Talk Series Lecture by Abraham Castillo Flores becomes obsessed with weird night club singer who is with multiple award-winning screenwriter, Moira Walley- 2018, 90 MIN. ALT victim (or is she?) to a twisted man’s sexuality and psychosis Beckett. Moira is currently the Series Creator, Showrunner, THU APR 19 - 6:30PM while clean cut young woman wonders of clean cut man – is and Executive Producer of the CBC/Netflix drama ANNE he a detective or a pervert? (with an E). She also created the limited series Flesh and Join us for a scenic tour of Mexican genre cinema Bone and spent six years as a writer and Co-Executive Pro- guided by Mórbido Fest’s head programmer, Abra- Set against Norman Rockwell’s America (until the close- ducer on the critically acclaimed series Breaking Bad, for ham Castillo Flores. Delving beyond luchadores and ups!) Blue Velvet oozes a toxic fear with its film noir which she received an Emmy Award for her final episode psychotronica, Abraham unearths Mexican vampires, refugees and one hell of a brave performance from Isabella entitled “Ozymandias”. ghosts, practitioners of the dark arts; the monsters that Rossellini. fomented a distinctive but barely acknowledged corner Guest presenter: Aaron Chapman, author of The Last Tickets $15 of our shadow cinematic consciousness. Guillermo del Gang in Town. Toro’s The Shape of Water and the resurgence of Mexi- can genre has its roots here. Ticket include an exclusive free screening of Tigers Are Not Afraid. Special Presentation Co-presentated with Vancouver Opera Tickets $15
TOO DARN HOT! Doctor Zhivago Tigers Are Not Afraid Musical Mischief from DAVID LEAN, UK/US, 1965, 197 MIN. PANORAMA Vuelven TUE MAY 1 - 6:45PM
ISSA LÓPEZ, MEXICO, 2017, 83 MIN. ALT Classic Hollywood Vancouver Opera and VIFF invite you to savour one of presented by Michael van den Bos THU APR 19 - 8:40PM the most famous movies ever made about Russia, David 2018, 120 MIN. M/A/D Lean’s epic, all-star adaptation of Boris Pasternak’s love Free screening available exclusively with purchase story, set against the tumult of the Russian Revolution. of ticket to the Morbido Crypt’s Guide to Mexican SUN APR 29 - 6:30PM With Maurice Jarre’s haunting score, Omar Sharif as the Fantasy & Horror Cinema. This magical realist fairytale The heat is on when film scholar Michael van den Bos soulful doctor/poet, and Julie Christie as his soul-mate, sheds a unique light on the reality of Cartel-ravaged presents a provocative program of red-hot musical num- this is unapologetically a decadent’s take on the Revolu- ghost towns. bers from classic movies. Michael has whipped up a se- tion. Adjusted for inflation, it remains one of the ten big- ductive selection of sultry and sizzling clips spanning the “A work of immense beauty, pain, fear and joy...López gest box office movies ever made. puts herself firmly on the map of the current new wave naughty era of early 1930s pre-Code Hollywood through Restored DCP. of Mexican cinema.” Screen Anarchy. the ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s when moviemakers pushed risqué rhythms as far as they dare. TOO DARN HOT! is a reminder “The best Guillermo del Toro movie he never made.” IO9 that sensuality expressed with style and subtlety is sexier In Spanish with English subtitles. than 50 shades of anything else in films of today.
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Tickets and Membership
SINGLE DOUBLE Tickets can be purchased in advance on-line at viff.org (up to 60 Film Centre Basic Membership $2 BILL BILL minutes before showtime) and also in person at our box office. Call To see films at the Vancity Theatre, you must—with a few excep- 604.683.3456 for the latest info and listings. Double bill tickets avail- $ tions—be age 19 or older and be a member of our registered non- Adult 13 ALL able in-person only. SEATS profit society. Student & $ $ Ticket sales are final and refunds are only offered in exceptional cir- VIFF+ Membership Senior 11 20 cumstances at the discretion of our box office. If you have made an er- (For Vancity There is a VIFF+ Membership level that will help save you money, join VIFF+ $ Theatre ror with your booking, please email [email protected]. Exchanges cannot Members 10 members) be made for missed screenings. A fee of $1 per ticket exchange will a community of film lovers and support the VIFF society. apply to a maximum of $4 for exchanges done in person. For more membership details, please visit viff.org
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