QUEBEC
BRITISH COLUMBIA
ONTARIO
Fire Song
The Devout
A Dog’s Life
Eadweard
CONNOR GASTON, CANADA, 2015, 102 MIN.
Chienne de vie
KYLE RIDEOUT, CANADA, 2015, 104 MIN.
Fri, Oct 2 Sun, Oct 4
9:00 PM IN08 12:45 PM IN08
North American Premiere. After his terminally ill daughter (Olivia Martin) claims to have had a past life as an astronaut, a Christian teacher (Charlie Carrick) experiences a profound crisis of faith. Obsessively seeking answers, he risks his marriage and his remaining days with his child to determine whether she’s lived before... and might live again. Reflective and provocative, Connor Gaston’s debut is one of the year’s most unique Canadian features. CAST Charlie Carrick, Ali Liebert, Gabrielle Rose, David Nykl, Ryan McDonell, Olivia Martin EXEC Daniel Hogg PROD Amanda Verhagen, Connor Gaston
HÉLÈNE CHOQUETTE, CANADA, 2015, 67 MIN.
Tue, Oct 6 Wed, Oct 7
6:45 PM IN08 1:45 PM IN10
World Premiere. Hélène Choquette’s documentary examines the symbiotic relationships that form between homeless people and their faithful canine companions. On the sometimes mean streets of Montréal and Toronto, the dogs and their owners offer one another company, protection and unconditional love. This remarkably candid film provides genuine insight into the homeless experience from an unusual angle, inspiring newfound compassion and understanding. PROD Anne-Marie Gélinas
Fractured Land
GUY MADDIN, EVAN JOHNSON, CANADA, 2015, 132 MIN.
DAMIEN GILLIS, FIONA RAYHER, CANADA, 2015, 80 MIN.
9:15 PM 3:30 PM
SFU SFU
A fever dream within a dream, the latest transmission from celluloid fetishist Guy Maddin (assisted by young co-director Evan Johnson) is part campy, whacked out tribute to vintage Hollywood melodrama, part anguished crypto-confessional and all brilliant: a passionate, virtuoso pastiche that is also perversely original and sui generis. The perfect date movie for mad cinephiles! “[An] inventive, audacious, and outright hilarious tour de force whatzit.”—Cinema Scope CAST Mathieu Amalric, Udo Kier, Charlotte Rampling, Geraldine Chaplin, Roy Dupuis, Clara Furey PROD Phoebe Greenberg, Penny Mancuso, Phyllis Laing, David Christensen Select Filmography (Guy Maddin) Tales from the Gimli Hospital; My Winnipeg; The Saddest Music in the World
Sun, Sep 27 Wed, Sep 30
Canadian Premiere. With a mesmerizing Michael Eklund starring as photographer Eadweard Muybridge, Kyle Rideout crafts a complex and compelling portrait of the man who’d be immortalized as both the godfather of cinema and the last American to receive a justifiable homicide verdict (for killing his wife’s lover). As fascinations distort into obsessions, Rideout skilfully employs techniques indebted to the infamous pioneer to convey Muybridge’s psychological unravelling.
ONTARIO/QUEBEC
The Forbidden Room Sun, Sep 27 Wed, Sep 30
ADAM GARNET JONES, CANADA, 2015, 85 MIN.
1:30 PM IN09 8:45 PM PLAY
CAST Michael Eklund, Sara Canning, Christopher Heyerdahl, Torrance Coombs, Jodi Balfour PROD Josh Epstein, Kyle Rideout, Michael Eklund
BRITISH COLUMBIA
MANITOBA
Fri, Oct 2 Mon, Oct 5
6:00 PM RIO 4:10 PM IN09
What would it be like to live alongside one of the shapers of human events, in their youth, before they’ve transformed history? In Fiona Rayher and Damien Gillis’ documentary, we follow Caleb Behn, a young Dene lawyer locked in a battle with the oil and gas industry. He may become one of this generation’s great leaders—if he can discover how to reconcile the fractures within himself, his community and the world around him through the blending of the modern tools of law with ancient wisdom. FEATURING Caleb Behn PROD Damien Gillis, Fiona Rayher
9:00 PM IN08 1:15 PM IN08
In Adam Garnet Jones’ first feature, a teenage girl commits suicide in a remote Anishinaabe community and it’s up to her brother Shane (Andrew Martin) to take care of their family. Shane was supposed to move to the city for university in the fall and was desperately trying to convince his secret boyfriend (Harley Legarde-Beacham) to come with him. When forced to choose between devotion to his family or his desire to dictate his own future, what will he do? CAST Andrew Martin, Jennifer Podemski, Harley Legarde-Beacham, Mary Galloway, Brendt Thomas Diabo, Ma-Nee Chacaby
BRITISH COLUMBIA
Frank and the Wondercat
Hadwin’s Judgement SASHA SNOW, CANADA/UK, 2015, 88 MIN.
TONY MASSIL, PABLO ALVAREZ-MESA, CANADA, 2015, 67 MIN.
Mon, Sep 28 Thu, Oct 1
Thu, Oct 1 Sat, Oct 3
6:30 PM RIO 4:00 PM CINE
World Premiere. Directors Tony Massil and Pablo Alvarez-Mesa’s creative documentary follows Frank Furko, an 80-year-old eccentric living in a Pittsburgh suburb. The film focuses on Frank’s celebrity, which derives from a deeply felt friendship with Pudgie Wudgie, his 20-pound performing house cat. Supported by Frank’s 20 years of VHS video archives—mesmerizing footage that is strange, often hilarious and oddly beautiful—this is an intimate and thoughtful portrait of an older man struggling to come to terms with his very unusual past. FEATURING Frank Furko, Pudgie Wudgie PROD Tony Massil, Pablo Alvarez-Mesa
Thu, Oct 1 Mon, Oct 5
9:00 PM PLAY 1:30 PM PLAY
In his compelling drama/documentary hybrid, Sasha Snow explores the complexities of Grant Hadwin, a logging engineer who chainsawed down a 300-year-old sacred tree on Haida Gwaii as a protest against rampant logging in the area. Inspired by John Vaillant’s Governor General’s Award-winning book, The Golden Spruce, Snow focusses on the more mysterious elements of Hadwin’s story and fate, crafting “[a] gorgeously photographed, compulsively watchable, sympathetic doc...”—Globe & Mail
Canadian Images
BRITISH COLUMBIA
FEATURING Doug Chapman, Kayla Wilson EXEC David Christensen, Tracey Friesen, Ron Mann, Andrew Ruhemann PROD Elizabeth Yake, David Allen, David Christensen Select Filmography Arctic Crime & Punishment; Conflict Tiger
Coarse language; animal slaughter
Buy tickets and read full film descriptions at viff.org
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