Vancouver, BC – August 30, 2024 – Vancouver International Film Festival “VIFF” presents its 43rd edition next month. The 2024 festival will feature more than 350 screenings, dozens of filmmaker Q&Aʼs, Talks with top creatives, live performances, artist and industry development programs, parties, and many more celebrations of film culture.
Showcasing 150 features (including more than 70 premieres) and 81 shorts, VIFF 2024 is a festival of unrepeatable experiences. Symphonic special events and VIFF Live will provide Vancouver audiences with unique performances that have never been seen before and are unlikely to ever be seen again.
VIFF will officially open with Ariʼs Theme by local filmmakers Jeff Lee Petry and Nathan Drillot, a beautifully made documentary about British Columbia composer Ari Kinarthy, who lives with spinal muscular atrophy. Born with the soul of an artist and a passion for composing music, Ari embarks on an ambitious goal: to create music that will capture his life and leave a legacy through which others will remember him. In a singular live performance and cinematic experience, eight members of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra will live score select passages within the film. The evening will be supported by TELUS originals.
The festival will close with Jacques Audiardʼs Emilia Pérez, a dizzying musical that took this springʼs Cannes Film Festival by storm. This spectacle sees a Mexico City defence attorney Zoe Saldana) enlisted to tend to the affairs of a notorious drug lord Karla Sofía Gascón) who is now completing gender affirmation surgery. Rechristened Emilia Pérez and determined to right her misdeeds, she relies on Rita to reintegrate her in the lives of her wife Jessi Selena Gomez) and children. The film scored both the Jury Prize and Best Actress Award in Cannes, the latter being shared by the ensemble cast.
Audiences can also look forward to VIFF Live, which pushes the boundaries of traditional film festival
programming by intersecting cinema culture with music in unique live shows. VIFF Talks bring together industry leaders who share insights into some of todayʼs most popular and acclaimed films and series. VIFFʼs Industry program celebrates the creative disruptors shifting culture and cinema, while VIFF Amp examines the essential role of music in film, laying the groundwork to foster new talent and nurturing connections between composers and directors. Signals, co-presented by VIFF and DigiBC, explores how new creative technologies are generating uncharted opportunities for storytelling.
“VIFF is an overflowing, multidimensional, full-tilt celebration of film and film culture,ˮ says Kyle Fostner, Executive Director. “Weʼre very excited to share this yearʼs expansive and sensorially rich program with Vancouver. From an extraordinary film lineup to our unique series of live performances, nurturing artist and industry development programs to the cutting-edge storytelling happening in creative technology, VIFF is a platform for diverse voices and artistic visionaries. Whether you’re looking to discover emerging talent, to become part of the cultural conversation, or are just here to feel the warm glow of cinema, VIFF truly has something for everyone.ˮ
VIFF Board Chair Am Johal adds: “VIFF is brought together each year by the passion, dedication, and incredible efforts of the staff and volunteers. Weʼre excited to welcome everyone back into cinemas this fall.ˮ Director of Programming Curtis Woloschuk says: “This is one of our deepest and most vibrant lineups in years. Every time I review the selections and schedule, Iʼm reminded of how many difficult choices our audiences will have to make over the course of our 11 days. Fortunately for them, there are rewards awaiting on every screen. I cannot wait for them to experience these films.ˮ
Tickets are on sale now to VIFF. Members at viff.org, and on sale to the public from Aug. 29 at 12pm (noon). Single tickets are $19 for regular screenings and Special Pre VIFF Presentations. Ticket packs are available in six and 10 packs. VIFF Members enjoy discounts on all VIFF tickets and the free U25 membership offers further discounts to youth between 19 and 25 years of age
VIFF LIVE Unparalleled experiences that go beyond the screen –
VIFF Live, curated by Jarrett Martineau, is a series of performances and experiences that push the boundaries of traditional film festival programming, intersecting cinema culture with music, comedy, podcasting, and performance in unique, cinema-infused live shows.
Elisapie – Uvattini | Saturday, Sept. 28, 8pm
Venue: Chan Centre for Performing Arts
JUNO Award-winner Elisapie returns to the Chan Centre for an immersive multimedia show. Uvattini,
which means “homeˮ in Inuktitut, combines music, narration, video and performance to reveal the
intimacies of her Salluit community, located in the very north of Nunavik. Mixing poetry with projections
of landscapes and slices of life, she conveys the Inuit experience. This concert will give audiences
Elisapieʼs most personal offering yet — that of her own story. Mixing modernity with tradition, Elisapie is
a trailblazing artist. Her 2018 album The Ballad of the Runaway Girl was shortlisted for the Polaris Music
Prize, earned her numerous Félix Awards, and resulted in a coveted NPR Tiny Desk concert. On her
most recent Juno-winning album Inuktitut, she covers 10 classic rock and pop songs in her native
tongue, inviting listeners to “embrace the beauty of diversity and celebrate the rich tapestry of the
voices that make up our worldˮ APTN News).
GIFT A Film by Ryusuke Hamaguchi X Live Score by Eiko Ishibashi | Tuesday, Oct. 1, 7pm
Venue: Rio Theatre
Multi-instrumentalist and composer Eiko Ishibashi, who scored director Ryûsuke Hamaguchiʼs
Oscar-winning film Drive My Car VIFF 2021 presents the Canadian Premiere of GIFT — a new silent
film directed by Hamaguchi, and accompanied by a dynamic, live soundtrack performed by Ishibashi.
Developed in collaboration with Hamaguchiʼs latest feature film, Evil Does Not Exist VIFF 2023, GIFT
has been hailed as its “concentrated, wordless flipsideˮ Lincoln Centre). Using visual source material
drawn from Evil Does Not Exist, Ishibashiʼs live performance adds a dynamic layer to the cinematic
experience of GIFT, by offering a vital recomposition of the relationship of sound to narrative, and
composer to filmmaker.
William Basinski: Arcadia Archives | Wednesday, Oct. 2, 8pm
Venue: Rio Theatre
Acclaimed ambient and experimental composer William Basinski presents the Canadian premiere of
Arcadia Archives — an immersive, transcendent live performance that combines music drawn from
Basinskiʼs extensive archival work with 40 year-old tape loops, and accompanied by a new “nocturnal
video workˮ created by Basinskiʼs longtime partner collaborator, artist-filmmaker James Elaine.
Jeremy Dutcher & Alanis Obomsawin | Friday, Oct. 4, 8pm
Venue: Chan Centre for Performing Arts
Two of the most compelling voices in Indigenous music and cinema meet for an intimate, unique, and
unforgettable evening of intergenerational story and song featuring award-winning Wolastoq tenor and
composer Jeremy Dutcher and renowned Abenaki filmmaker and musician Alanis Obomsawin.
Wolastoqiyik song carrier Jeremy Dutcher performs with his trio, blending songs from his community of
Tobique First Nation in New Brunswick with neoclassical, jazz, and pop influences. Obomsawin, hailed
as “one of the most acclaimed Indigenous directors in the world,ˮ offers a rare live performance of Bush
Lady, her acclaimed and only full-length album, originally released in 1988. Accompanied by an
ensemble led by Montrealʼs Radwan Moumneh, this will be only Obomsawinʼs third performance of this
music since Constellation Records remastered and re-released the album in 2018.
Co-presented with the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, as part of the Chan EXP Series, in
partnership with the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Special Event
An Evening with A.R. Rahman: Stories and Music from His Career | Saturday, Oct. 5, 8pm
Venue: Orpheum
For one night only, legendary two-time Oscar-winning composer and songwriter A.R. Rahman will join the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the Vancouver International Film Festival for a special concert. In a custom made for Vancouver presentation, the international superstar will provide a keynote and performance with music spanning his legendary career composing for some of Hollywood and Bollywoodʼs biggest hits. Reaching international acclaim in 2008 with his score for Slumdog Millionaire, Rahmanʼs works are notable for their seamless cultural integration of Eastern classical music with electronic music sounds, world music genres, and traditional orchestral arrangements. He will perform segments of his scores live with the VSO, with clips from the fan-favourite films projected on the Orpheumʼs big screen. This event, presented by the VSO and VIFF, is part of an exciting new collaboration between the two organizations that celebrate the connection between music and film. Co-presented with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. Supported by Destination Vancouver and BMI.
German, Swiss or Austrian Shows
- Bird dir. Andrea Arnold – UK/USA/France/Germany)
- The End dir. Joshua Oppenheimer (Denmark/Germany/Ireland/Italy/UK/Sweden)
- My Favourite Cake dirs. Maryam Moghaddam, Behtash Sanaeeha (Iran/France/Sweden/Germany)
- Rumours dirs. Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson (Canada/Germany)
- The Seed of the Sacred Fig dir. Mohammad Rasoulof (Iran/France/Germany)
- Dying dir. Matthias Glasner (Germany) | North American Premiere
- Armand dir. Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel (Norway/Netherlands/Germany/Sweden) | Canadian Premiere
- Ghost Trail dir. Jonathan Millet (France/Germany/Belgium) | North American Premiere
- Reinas dir. Klaudia Reynicke (Peru/Switzerland/Spain)
- Samia dir. Yasemin Şamdereli (Italy/Germany/Belgium
- Sleeping With a Tiger dir. Anja Salomonowitz (Austria) | Canadian Premiere
- The Sparrow in the Chimney dir. Ramon Zürcher (Switzerland) | North American Premiere
- To a Land Unknown dir. Mahdi Fleifel (UK/Germany/France/Greece/Netherland
- When We Lost to the Germans dir. Guido van Driel (Netherlands) | North American Premiere
- Hanami dir. Denise Fernandes (Switzerland/Portugal/Cape Verde) | International Premiere
- Me, Maryam, the Children and 26 Others dir. Farshad Hashemi (Iran/Germany) | North American Premiere
- Bonjour Tristesse dir. Durga Chew-Bose (Canada/Germany)
- Hyenas dir. Djibril Diop Mambéty (Switzerland/France/Senegal)
- Félicité dir. Alain Gomis (France/Senegal/Belgium/Germany/Lebanon)
- Pepe dir. Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias (Dominican Republic/Namibia/Germany/France)
- Googoosh – Made of Fire dir. Niloufar Taghizadeh (Germany) | North American Premiere
- Pol Pot Dancing dir. Enrique Sánchez Lansch (Germany/Norway) | North American Premiere
About VIFF | viff.org
Beyond film exhibitions, VIFF strives to engage and empower communities, encourage dialogue and
champion local artists. With decades of experience and an unwavering commitment to creating
exceptional programs, VIFF has transformed into a highly esteemed annual festival and a premier
arthouse cinema.
Founded in 1982, the Greater Vancouver International Film Festival Society is a not-for-profit cultural
society and federally registered charitable organization that operates the internationally acclaimed
Vancouver International Film Festival VIFF and the year-round programming at the VIFF Centre. All
year, VIFF produces screenings, talks, conferences and events that act as a catalyst for the community
to discover the creativity and craft of storytelling on screen.
VIFF is presented on the traditional and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ/Selilwitulh Tsleil‑Waututh) Natio
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