VIFF announces 2022 films for Panorama, Northern Lights, and Short Forum

VANCOUVER, BC (SEPTEMBER 14, 2022) Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) is delighted to announce the complete film lineup for Panorama, Northern Lights, and VIFF Short Forum. Panorama presents an array of remarkable narrative films from every corner of the globe; Northern Lights showcases the next wave of Canadian and Indigenous storytellers; and VIFF Short Forum shares the perspectives and approaches that are elevating short-form storytelling in Canada. All films will be presented in-cinema, with a select number of feature films available across BC via VIFF Connect.

“There is nothing quite like cinema to open up a window on a wider world,” says PoChu AuYeung, Program Manager and Senior Programmer. “With our Panorama series, we go far beyond exposing audiences to new places. Through these filmmakers’ eyes, we will travel through time — to both the past (Aftersun) and possible future (Plan 75); we will inhabit lives startlingly different from our own; and we will step inside the very minds of visionary creators, many of whom are first time filmmakers.”

Panorama offers a sweeping selection of contemporary world cinema. The expansive 39-film series includes 12 North American premieres and 13 Canadian premieres, with highlights including: The Forger, the incredible true story of a young man in 1942 Berlin who forges passports for Jewish people to escape Nazi Germany; Like a Fish on the Moon, the first feature film by Dornaz Hajiha that tells an empathetic tale of a family who cracks under the stress of their young son developing mutism; Cannes’ Caméra d’or Special Mention winner Plan 75, which imagines a near-future Japan in which seniors are encouraged to voluntarily euthanize themselves; the omnibus Septet: The Story of Hong Kong, which features tributes to the city by Sammo Hung, Ann Hui, and more; Joyland, a rich tapestry of complex characters that explores the cultural pressures and expectations of gender and tradition; and There There, an ingeniously conceived series of wry conversation pieces by indie auteur Andrew Bujalski.

“One of the responsibilities VIFF takes incredible pride in is inviting Canadian-produced films to sit in dialogue with their international contemporaries,” says Curtis Woloschuk, Director of Programming. “This year’s Northern Lights lineup is as diverse as Canada’s own diaspora — and represents an array of films whose settings stretch from farmlands to metropolitan centres.”

Northern Lights features two world premieres, one North American premiere, and one Canadian premiere. Six of the titles are also BC-produced feature films, including: Anthony Shim’s Riceboy Sleeps, a clear-eyed account of the demands of a single immigrant mother in Vancouver and her son who returns to South Korea in his 20s; Until Branches Bend, a psychological drama about a whistleblower working on an Okanagan peach farm; and Anyox, a portrait of damage wrought by the callousness of colonial ambition as seen through the lens of a once-thriving company town in northwestern BC.

“This year’s Short Forum is arranged according to flows of energy, mood, and spirit that one might expect to experience through watching a feature length film,” says Casey Wei, Short Forum Programmer. “Each short film is imagined as a scene that jumps, fades, or collides into the next, creating a tonal continuity over the course of six powerful programs. Recurring themes of intergenerational passage, representations of the unknowable, and interdisciplinary poetics ripple through a selection of 50 inimitable works categorized under the expansive framework of ‘Canadian’ filmmaking.”

VIFF Short Forum features 19 world premieres, four Canadian premieres, and three North American premieres. Of the 50 Canadian shorts, 16 are by BC filmmakers. World premiere highlights include: Dhulpa by local filmmaker Kunsang Kyirong, which weaves together narrative and documentary elements to tell stories of a Tibetan immigrant community; Rylan Friday’s Terror/Forming, a horror film that follows a young man and his boyfriend as they make a disturbing discovery in his late kokum’s cabin; I Empower as a Mother, a portrait of Massy Arts Society founder Patricia Massy and her life, work, and business, Massy Books; and Kenny Welsh’s The Faraway Place, about a young woman and her father who flee from a violent cult on a mission to eradicate their kind.

Films streamed on VIFF Connect will include a selection of recorded Q&A’s from filmmakers and creators, supported by Creative BC and with Community Broadcast Partner TELUS STORYHIVE.

PANORAMA: Narratives from every corner of the globe

Aftersun dir. Charlotte Wells (UK/USA)
The Beasts dir. Rodrigo Sorogoyen (Spain/France) | North American Premiere
The Blue Caftan dir. Maryam Touzani (Morocco/France/Belgium/Denmark)
Carajita dirs. Silvina Schnicer, Ulises Porra Guardiola (Dominican Republic/Argentina) | Canadian Premiere | Streaming on VIFF Connect
Dos estaciones dir. Juan Pablo González (Mexico/France/USA) | Canadian Premiere
Falcon Lake dir. Charlotte Le Bon (Canada/France)
Field of Blood dir. João Mário Grilo (Portugal) | North American Premiere
Fogaréu dir. Flávia Neves (Brazil/France) | Canadian Premiere
The Forger dir. Maggie Peren (Germany/Luxembourg) | North American Premiere | Streaming on VIFF Connect
Joyland dir. Saim Sadiq (Pakistan) | Streaming on VIFF Connect
Karaoke dir. Moshe Rosenthal (Israel)
Leonora addio dir. Paolo Taviani (Italy/France) | Canadian Premiere
Like a Fish on the Moon dir. Dornaz Hajiha (Iran) | North American Premiere
Maigret dir. Patrice Leconte (France/Belgium)
A Matter of Trust dir. Annette K. Olesen (Denmark) | Canadian Premiere
Mediterranean Fever dir. Maha Haj (Palestine/Germany/France/Cyprus/Qatar) | North American Premiere
The Mountain dir. Thomas Salvador (France) | North American Premiere
Nanny dir. Nikyatu Jusu (USA)
Nayola dir. José Miguel Ribeiro (Portugal/Belgium/France/Netherlands) | North American Premiere
No Prior Appointment dir. Behrooz Shoaibi (Iran) | North American Premiere
The Novelist’s Film dir. Hong Sangsoo (South Korea) | Canadian Premiere
Once Upon a Time in Calcutta dir. Aditya Vikram Sengupta (India/France/Norway) | Canadian Premiere | Streaming on VIFF Connect
Piaffe dir. Ann Oren (Germany)
A Piece of Sky dir. Michael Koch (Switzerland) | North American Premiere
Plan 75 dir. Chie Hayakawa (Japan/France/Philippines/Qatar)
Queens of the Qing Dynasty dir. Ashley McKenzie (Canada)
Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush dir. Andreas Dresen (Germany/France) | Canadian Premiere
Riverside Mukolitta dir. Naoko Ogigami (Japan) | North American Premiere
Scarlet dir. Pietro Marcello (France/Italy/Germany) | Canadian Premiere
Septet: The Story of Hong Kong dirs. Sammo Hung, Ann Hui, Patrick Tam, Yuen Wo Ping, Johnnie To, Ringo Lam, Tsui Hark (Hong Kong/China)
Stonewalling dirs. Huang Ji, Otsuka Ryuji (Japan)
There There dir. Andrew Bujalski (USA) | Canadian Premiere
Thunder dir. Carmen Jaquier (Switzerland)
Utama dir. Alejandro Loayza Grisi (Bolivia/Uruguay/France)
We Are Family dir. Benny Lau (Hong Kong) | Canadian Premiere
What We Do Next dir. Stephen Belber (USA) | Canadian Premiere | Streaming on VIFF Connect
A Woman Escapes dirs. Sofia Bohdanowicz, Burak Çevik, Blake Williams (Canada/Turkey) | North American Premiere
The Word dir. Beata Parkanová (Czech Republic/Slovakia/Poland) | North American Premiere | Streaming on VIFF Connect
Zátopek dir. David Ondříček (Czech Republic/Slovakia) | Canadian Premiere

NORTHERN LIGHTS: The next wave of Canadian and Indigenous storytellers
Presented by Telefilm Canada

Anyox dirs. Jessica Johnson, Ryan Ermacora (Canada) | North American Premiere | BC Feature
back home dir. Nisha Platzer (Canada/Cuba) | World Premiere | BC Feature
Concrete Valley dir. Antoine Bourges (Canada) | Streaming on VIFF Connect
Golden Delicious dir. Jason Karman (Canada) | World Premiere | BC Feature
The Maiden dir. Graham Foy (Canada)
North of Normal dir. Carly Stone (Canada)
Riceboy Sleeps dir. Anthony Shim (Canada) | BC Feature
Rosie dir. Gail Maurice (Canada)
Soft dir. Joseph Amenta (Canada) | Streaming on VIFF Connect
Something You Said Last Night dir. Luis De Filippis (Canada/Switzerland)
This House dir. Miryam Charles (Canada)
Until Branches Bend dir. Sophie Jarvis (Canada/Switzerland) | BC Feature
When Time Got Louder dir. Connie Cocchia (Canada) | Canadian Premiere | BC Feature
You Can Live Forever dirs. Sarah Watts, Mark Slutsky (Canada)

VIFF SHORT FORUM: Short-form storytellers from Canada
Supported by Warner Bros. Discovery Access Canada
Community Broadcast Partner TELUS STORYHIVE

Adore dir. Beth Warrian (Canada) | World Premiere
Agony dir. Arnaud Beaudoux (Canada) | World Premiere
Baba dirs. Meran Ismailsoy, Anya Chirkova (Canada) | World Premiere
The Ballad of Gus dir. Brian Barnhart (Canada) | World Premiere
Blond Night dir. Gabrielle Demers (Canada) | World Premiere
Brasier dir. Emilie Mannering (Canada)
Chasing Birds dir. Una Lorenzen (Canada/Iceland) | World Premiere
Coin Slot dir. Scott Jones (Canada)
Dhulpa dir. Kunsang Kyirong (Canada) | World Premiere | BC Film
The Faraway Place dir. Kenny Welsh (Canada) | World Premiere | BC Film
First Months of Freedom dir. Kriss Li (Canada) | Canadian Premiere
The Flying Sailor dirs. Amanda Forbis, Wendy Tilby (Canada)
Framing the Self dir. Andrea Cristini (Canada/Italy) | BC Film
From Chile to Canada: Media Herstories dirs. Sarah Shamash, Sonia Medel (Canada) | World Premiere | BC Film
Grown in Darkness dir. Devin Shears (Canada)
Heartbeat of a Nation dir. Eric Janvier (Canada)
Hills and Mountains dir. Salar Pashtoonyar (Canada)
Horse Brothers dirs. Milos Mitrovic, Fabian Velasco (Canada) | Canadian Premiere
I Empower as a Mother dirs. Inder Nirwan, Dani Barker (Canada) | World Premiere | BC Film
i see me watching dir. Sidney Gordon (Canada) | BC Film
I Thought the World of You dir. Kurt Walker (Canada) | BC Film
I, Sun dir. Julien Falardeau (Canada) | World Premiere
La Plage aux êtres dir. Kendra McLaughlin (Canada/France) | North American Premiere
Late Summer dir. Ryan Steel (Canada) | North American Premiere
Mariposa dirs. John Greyson, Bongani Ndodana-Breen (Canada)
Meeting With Robert Dole dir. François Harvey (Canada)
Minus Twenty dir. Jack Parker (Canada) | World Premiere
Mother’s Skin dir. Leah Johnston (Canada) | World Premiere
Municipal Relaxation Module dir. Matthew Rankin (Canada)
My Thoughts Exactly dir. Mike Archibald (Canada) | World Premiere | BC Film
N’xaxaitkw dir. Asia Youngman (Canada) | BC Film
Nanitic dir. Carol Nguyen (Canada)
Paco dir. Kent Donguines (Canada) | Canadian Premiere | BC Film
The Passing dir. Jackson Harvey (Canada) | World Premiere
Patty Vs. Patty dir. Chris Strikes (Canada)
Pro Pool dir. Alec Pronovost (Canada)
Red House dir. Barry Doupé (Canada) | World Premiere | BC Film
Reste dir. Ginger Le Pêcheur (Canada)
Rocket Fuel dir. Jessie Posthumus (Canada) | Canadian Premiere
Rose dir. Roxann Whitebean (Canada)
Rumination dir. Ashleigh Vaillancourt (Canada) | World Premiere | BC Film
The Runner dir. Amar Chebib (Canada) | BC Film
Scaring Women at Night dir. Karimah Zakia Issa (Canada)
Sexy Highland Stream dir. Nathan Adler (Canada) | BC Film
Sikiitu dir. Gabriel Allard Gagnon (Canada)
Square Peg dir. Christian Bunea (Canada) | World Premiere
Terror/Forming dir. Rylan Friday (Canada) | World Premiere | BC Film
Tibi dir. Jarret Twoyoungmen (Canada)
Tidal dirs. Niamh Wilson, Chloe Van Landschoot (Canada)
Tongue dir. Kaho Yoshida (Canada) | North American Premiere | BC Film

Tickets and Information

Single Tickets: $15 / $13 Seniors / $10 Students
Special Presentations: $17
VIFF Connect Tickets: $10
Platinum Pass: $1,000
Festival Pass: $350 / $300 Seniors / $120 Students
Festival 6 Pack: $84 / $72 Seniors / $54 Students
Festival 10 Pack: $135 / $110 Seniors / $80 Students
VIFF Talks and Industry Panel Tickets: $18–$25
VIFF Live Tickets: $18
Signals: Free

More ticket details at viff.org/ticket-info.

To explore VIFF’s complete 2022 programming, visit viff.org.

VIFF’s health and safety protocols — in strict compliance with provincial health orders — can be viewed HERE.

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