From the indoctrination of youth to increasing surveillance, populist ethno-nationalist and fascist ideologies continue to take root, yet dissent remains at the fore.
Oct 2: Q&A
This short film program includes the following films:
Anatomy of a Lost Sound
Zuko Garagić, Bosnia/Herzegovina/Czech Republic/USA (20 min)
A cast of non-actors depict a Czech paramilitary youth camp while an incendiary recording metastasizes antisemitic rhetoric across Europe.
The Uniformed
Timon Ott, Germany (17 min)
After committing to 17 years of service, an 18-year-old discovers that things are not as uniform in the military as he thought.
Monument
Jeremy Drummond, USA (18 min)
Treated and multilayered Super 8 images are juxtaposed, illuminating tensions that bridge protest and reclamation with the perils of nationalism.
Sixty-Seven Milliseconds
Fleuryfontaine, France (15 min)
Blending chronophotography and CGI, French surveillance footage raises questions about policing and institutional violence.
Blind, Into the Eye
Atefeh Kheirabadi & Mehrad Sepahnia, Iran/Germany (20 min)
Ammunition fired deliberately at Iranian protesters points to a particularly insidious form of state repression.
happiness
Fırat Yücel, Netherlands/Turkey (18 min)
As the unfolding genocide in Gaza is streamed around the world, resistence persists for a group of activists and immigrants in Amsterdam sabotaged by insomnia.
Community Partner
Various
Various
2025
Various
Child abuse, racism, police violence
Book Tickets
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.