Panorama
Chile
Spain
Spider
ANDRÉS WOOD, CHILE/ARGENTINA/BRAZIL, 2019, 103 MIN.
WED, OCT 2 FRI, OCT 4
9:00 PM 1:30 PM
PLAY IN09
Andrés Wood, director of VIFF hit Machuca, returns to the defining event in Chile’s political history—Pinochet’s 1973 coup d’état—but this time in a dark thriller mode that uses two different timelines to suggest that, though Pinochet is long gone, his shadow lingers. In 1973, Inés, her husband Justo, and her lover Gerardo, all members of a violent right-wing group, pull off a political crime that changes the course of history. Now, 45 years later, they are still living with its effects... Cast Mercedes Morán, María Valverde, Marcelo Alonso, Felipe Armas, Gabriel Urzúa, Pedro Fontaine Prod Alejandra García, Paula Cosenza, Juan Pablo Gugliotta, Nathalia Videla Peña, Denisse Gomez Selected Filmography Revenge; Loco Fever; Machuca; Violeta Went to Heaven
Iran
Staff Only MON, OCT 7 WED, OCT 9 THU, OCT 10
6:30 PM 4:00 PM 11:00 AM
ALI JABERANSARI, IRAN/UK/NETHERLANDS, 2018, 102 MIN.
6:30 PM 3:45 PM
IN10 IN09
IN09 SFU IN09
Both a sensitive, perfectly acted comingof-age tale and a razor-sharp critique of the exploitative “all-inclusive” tourism industry, Neus Ballús’ drama follows 17-year-old Marta (newcomer Elena Andrada, a natural) as she reluctantly embarks on a holiday in Senegal with her travel-agent father (Sergi López) and grumpy brother. New worlds open up for Marta when she goes beyond the “staff only” doorway, and Ballús uses her directorial skill to skewer neo-colonialist attitudes in the process. Cast Elena Andrada, Sergi López, Diomaye A. Ngom, Ian Samsó, Madeleine C. Ndong, Margi Andújar Prod Edmon Roch, Pau Subirós, Cristóbal García, Javier Ugarte, Lina Badenes Filmography The Plague
MIROSLAV TERZIC, SERBIA/SLOVENIA/CROATIA/ BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA, 2019, 97 MIN.
NADAV LAPID, FRANCE/ISRAEL/GERMANY, 2019, 123 MIN.
THU, OCT 3 MON, OCT 7
Synonymes
1:00 PM 9:30 PM
SFU IN10
North American Premiere. Drawing comparisons with the work of Roman Polanski for its psychological thriller elements, Miroslav Terzic’s character study focuses on Ana (Snežana Bogdanovic), a Belgrade seamstress, who senses that the stillborn birth of her son 18 years before was not what it seemed—she never saw the body and has never learned where he was buried. Seeking the truth leads her to jeopardize her family and her own sanity… “Bogdanovic’s deeply nuanced performance... brings home the human cost of her ordeal.”—Variety
3:30 PM 8:45 PM
Cast Forough Ghajabegli, Mehdi Saki, Amir Hessam Bakhtiar, Behnaz Jafari Prod Babak Jalali, Marleen Slot, Mohammad Ahmadi, Maryam Najafi
Cast Juan Pablo Olyslager, Diane Bathen, Mauricio Armas Zebadúa, María Telón, Sabrina de La Hoz, Rui Frati Prod Edgard Tenembaum, Pilar Peredo, Jayro Bustamante, Gérard Lacroix
3:00 PM 9:15 PM
PLAY IN09
Arriving in Paris looking to reinvent himself, Yoav (Tom Mercier) has his possessions stolen, leaving him a buck-naked blank slate. As the Israeli ex-soldier struggles to acclimatize, constant trips to the Israeli embassy keep him tethered to his forsaken homeland. Furthermore, it’s increasingly evident that his new friendships come with strings attached. Wedding seriocomic misadventure with involving drama, Nadav Lapid’s (Policeman) latest balances the personal and political to engrossing effect. Golden Bear, FIPRESCI Prize, Berlin 19 Cast Tom Mercier, Quentin Dolmaire, Louise Chevillotte Prod Saïd Ben Saïd, Michel Merkt
Filmography Redemption Street
Selected Filmography Emile’s Girlfriend; Policeman; The Kindergarten Teacher
New Zealand
Vai
BARNABÁS TÓTH, HUNGARY, 2019, 84 MIN.
VCT IN09
THU, OCT 3 TUE, OCT 8
Cast Snežana Bogdanovic, Marko Bacovic, Jovana Stojiljkovic, Vesna Trivalic, Dragana Varagic, Prod Uliks Fehmiu, Milena Trobozic Garfield
Akik Maradtak
Outed as gay, Pablo (Juan Pablo Olyslager), a successful 40-year-old father of two, sees his world crumble as his wife, family, and employer—all in thrall to Christian doctrine— abandon him. Jayro Bustamante’s sophomore drama is an angry, moody, and gorgeously visual character study, which traces Pablo’s passage through a society still so steeped in religious bigotry that being gay is considered a crime against humanity. “Bustamante’s command of visual and sonic texture… bewitches.”—Variety
Filmography Ixcanul
Synonyms
Those Who Remained
JAYRO BUSTAMANTE, GUATEMALA/FRANCE/ LUXEMBOURG, 2019, 107 MIN.
Three lovesick people—a woman self-conscious about her weight, a personal trainer tempted by a role in a film starring Louis Garrel (supposedly), and a dejected, morosevoiced funeral singer—struggle to repair their bruised self-images and find romance as this tragicomic triptych plays out across the weddings, funerals, beauty parlours, and gyms of Tehran. With precisely staged and framed vignettes of urban heartache, Ali Jaberansari’s film resounds with generosity and empathy for its characters.
Filmography Falling Leaves
Stitches
Hungary
Temblores SUN, OCT 6 THU, OCT 10
France
Savovi
NEUS BALLÚS, SPAIN/FRANCE, 2019, 81 MIN.
Guatemala
Tehran: City of Love SAT, SEP 28 MON, SEP 30
Serbia
Contemporary World Cinema
FRI, SEP 27 SAT, OCT 5 THU, OCT 10
1:15 PM 7:00 PM 11:15 AM
SFU SFU VCT
Canadian Premiere. Director Barnabás Tóth gives us an intimate drama, a tribute to postwar survival, and a most unusual love story. Budapest, 1948: Aladár (Károly Hajduk) is a widowed Jewish doctor, living a quiet life and trying not to think about the past. One day, a woman brings in her teenaged niece for examination: Klára (Abigél Szőke) is a misanthrope who scorns authority, but she’s nonetheless smitten with this much older man... Serious and often sad, but also attuned to the joys of life, this is a lovely film. Cast Károly Hajduk, Abigél Szoke, Mari Nagy, Katalin Simkó, Barnabás Horkay Prod Mónika Mécs Filmography Camembert Rose
NICOLE WHIPPY, ‘OFA-KI-LEVUKA GUTTENBEIL-LIKILIKI, MATASILA FRESHWATER, AMBERLEY JO AUMUA, MIRIA GEORGE, MARINA ALOFAGIA MCCARTNEY, DIANNA FUEMANA, BECS ARAHANGA, NEW ZEALAND, 2019, 90 MIN.
SAT, SEP 28 SAT, OCT 5
11:00 AM 9:45 PM
IN09 PLAY
Eight short films by women from seven different cultures in the South Pacific make up this groundbreaking package. Each director was given a set of rules: a 10-minute film following the fictional Vai’s life; one unbroken shot, if possible; one specific decade within which to situate the action. The amazing thing is that each film is both urgent and poetic, making for very satisfying viewing. “Vai has a lovely consistency of style and content that heightens the accessibility of its unique value...”—Variety Cast Mereani Tuimatanisiga, ‘Ar-Ramadi Longopoa, Betsy Luitolo, Agnes Pele, Evotia-Rose Araiti, Fiona Collins, Maliaga Erick, Hinetu Dell Prod Kerry Warkia, Kiel McNaughton
Buy tickets and read full film descriptions at viff.org
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