Anchored by her relationship to the sea as a freediver, Mia recalls her past.
France/Netherlands/Portugal
2025
No Dialogue
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits & Director
Producer
Jérôme Barthélemy, Daniel Sauvage, Olivier Catherin
Screenwriter
Sandra Desmazières
Editor
Guerric Catala
Original Music
Manuel Merlot, Cedryck Santens
Sandra Desmazières
Born in 1978, Sandra Desmazières studied at Duperré and ENSAD in Paris, where she discovered animation. Her graduation film, Sans queue ni tête, won the Cartoon d’Or in 2003, and in 2021, she directed Flowing Home, which was shortlisted for a César and an Academy Award in 2022. Her latest film, Water Girl (2025), was co-produced by Caïmans Productions and Animais and Valk Productions, with the participation of Arte. Desmazières is currently working on a new short film project, J28, and a feature film, Tempête Rouge. In addition to her films, she works as an illustrator and colourist for comics.
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.