Join us in conversation with the Oscar-nominated director Deepa Mehta as she delves into many aspects of her internationally celebrated career.
Deepa is a visionary storyteller who challenges conventions and breaks down barriers. Known for her Elements Trilogy, Fire (1996), Earth (1998), and Water (2005), she will also share insights on her newest film I Am Sirat, which premieres at VIFF this year. The documentary is a uniquely collaborative work made with the film’s co-director and star Sirat Taneja, who shares her experience as a transgender woman in India.
This talk will be moderated by award-winning actor, writer and director Agam Darshi.
Media Partner
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Guest
Deepa Metah
Director
Deepa Mehta is an Oscar-nominated filmmaker whose emotionally resonating work is known to be provoking and challenging. Her films have played major film festivals around the globe and been distributed in over 75 countries. Her films include The Elemental Trilogy: Fire, Earth and the Oscar-nominated Water, Bollywood/Hollywood, Heaven on Earth, Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, Beeba Boys, Anatomy of Violence, and recently Funny Boy, which won Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Score at the Canadian Screen Awards. Deepa has directed numerous TV episodes that include Netflix’s Leila, Apple TV’s Little America and Showtime’s Yellowjackets.
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Late Fame
Based on a novella by Arthur Schnitzler (Eyes Wide Shut) this is a sly, poignant comedy about vanity and art from director Kent Jones, starring Willem Dafoe as a mailman belatedly acclaimed for a book of poetry he wrote in his youth.
Memory of Princess Mumbi
In 2093, a filmmaker arrives in the African village of Umata, where he meets Princess Mumbi, a woman torn between love, legacy, and the future of storytelling. It's a fabulous genre-blending fable about memory, invention and cinematic resistance.
Lessons of Darkness
Werner Herzog's unforgettable documentary reveals the unfolding disaster of the Kuwaitian oil fields in flames in 1991 as a sweeping inferno of mesmerizing power.
Beau Travail
Inspired by Herman Melville's Billy Budd, Claire Denis' transfixing Beau Travail is set in East Africa. Sgt Galoup (Denis Lavant) reflects on his time in the French Foreign Legion, and the impact of the handsome Sentain (Gregoire Colin).
But I'm a Cheerleader
Megan (Natasha Lyonne) is the perfect All-American Girl, or so she thinks. That is until she’s shipped off to conversion therapy. This pitch black comedy is wrapped in a saccharine bow, featuring the icon herself, RuPaul, as a conversion counsellor.