Canadian Premiere
Lah, a narcoleptic seven-year old, discovers an otherworldly bond to her late mother’s past within dreams of the Burmese jungle.
Samara Moolaweh Bolan, Jeh Htoo, Shai Gay, Dah Ku Paw
Canada
2025
S’gaw Karen
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits & Director
Producer
Dwight Jantzi, Bryan Dickie, Daria Zapriagaeva
Screenwriter
Robert Mentov, Karl Kai
Cinematography
Robert Mentov
Editor
Karl Kai
Original Music
Dylann Miller
Art Director
Caitlyn Taguibao
Karl Kai
Karl Kai is a Hong Kong-born Canadian writer, director, and editor. His films, which have been showcased at Festival du Nouveau Cinéma and DOXA, blend naturalism with a surreal, lyrical quality. Working with both actors and non-actors, he crafts immersive, emotionally resonant narratives driven by authenticity and deeply felt performances.
Robert Mentov
Robert Mentov is a Canadian filmmaker with over a decade of experience in independent cinema. He has studied under Apichatpong Weerasethakul and participated in international film labs with B2B Doc, Tabor, and Sacdoc. Currently, he is involved in the production of several feature films, including the Burmese documentary White Tiger Column.
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.