Part of the festival’s Special Presentations, which runs from September 28 to October 8, the newly announced “most anticipated” films include;
- Anatomy of a falldirected by Justine Triet (France) — a Palme d’Or award-winning “courtroom drama.”
- La Chimeradirected by Alice Rohrwacher (Italy/France/Switzerland) — “a fascinatingly wild, mysterious, rough and tumble story of a scruffy English grave raider who lives with a rowdy group of Italian bohemians.”
- Last summerdirected by Catherine Breillat (France) — a film about a lawyer who finds herself in “a taboo relationship with her 17-year-old stepson.”
- Beastdirected by Hirokazu Kore-eda (Japan) — a “powerful critique of bullying and family dysfunction” centered around a single event.
- Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believedirected by Robert McCallum (Canada) — “a heartfelt documentary” celebrating the life and work of Canadian children’s television personality Ernie Coombs.
- The Old Oak, directed by Ken Loach (UK) — an emotional drama highlighting the efforts of a small village bartender to deal with the “xenophobic backlash” stemming from an “influx of Syrian refugees.”
- Seven Veilsdirected by Atom Egoyan (Canada) — a “psychodrama” starring Amanda Seyfried as a young theater director who re-examines her personal trauma while working on a reenactment of Oscar Wilde’s Salome.
- Swan songdirected by Chelsea McMullan (Canada) — a deep dive into the National Ballet of Canada’s 2022 production of Swan Lake.
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“We are thrilled to include tributes to two Canadian icons — Mr. Dressup and Karen Kain — along with the latest from a legendary homegrown director — Atom Egoyan — in this year’s Special Presentations program,” said Curtis Woloschuk, director of programming at VIFF. in a press release. “And while these three films depend on the power of performance, other marquee attractions at this year’s festival offer narratives that dramatically shift perspective, plunge us into moral quandaries and remind us of the power of simple acts of kindness.”
In addition to the expected Special Presentations films, festival organizers also revealed two highlights of the VIFF Live program, curated by PuSh International Performing Arts Festival co-founder Norman Armour. Director Sam Green’s 32 Soundsbilled as “a profound documentary and vivid sensory experience that changes our perception of the world,” will take place on October 5 at the Vancouver Playhouse, while Mechanical Folklore by Software2050 and NAXS FUTURE will take place on October 1st at 7pm. and at 9 p.m. at the Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Center Performance Center. Machine Folklore is described as “an immersive audiovisual performance display” that combines artificial intelligence with “virtual consciousness to paint a portrait of humanity and the infinite possibilities of the future,” according to the release.
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“VIFF Live events are occasions to see the lovingly teased and played boundaries of what we commonly call cinema,” said Armor. “The works and artists in focus embrace a dizzying array of aesthetic and thematic concerns. For many of the creators, the epithet “filmmaker” or “image maker” is the furthest thing from their sense of creative identity. Here, unlimited play is the goal. And they play, they do.”
TRAILER: Anatomy of a Fall
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TRAILER: La Chimera
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TRAILER: Last summer
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TRAILER: Monster
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TRAILER: The Old Oak
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