The annual Vancouver International Film Festival showcases exceptional cinema in one of the world’s most beautiful cities. Our spectacular roster includes some of the best cinema from around the globe, talks, conferences, live performances and other unique events that celebrate film and film culture. Community Coordinator, Jacob Woike, has put together this most excellent list for What’s On Queer BC readers. Enjoy!

PETER VON KANT (France)

dir. François Ozon

Url: https://viff.org/whats-on/peter-von-kant/

Short note: VIFF regular FrançAois Ozon and lead actor Denis Ménochet must have had a ball crafting this wickedly campy, thoroughly cinematic, gender-reversed take on Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant. Successful director Peter sees his world fall apart when his young lover dumps him. Cue the rage. Featuring bravura turns from Stéfan Crépon, Hanna Schygulla and Isabelle Adjani, Screen Daily calls this film “authentically Fassbinderian and altogether Ozonesque.”

JOYLAND (Pakistan)

dir. Saim Sadiq

URL: https://viff.org/whats-on/joyland/

Short Note: Unemployed and emasculated in the shadow of his father and older brother, Haider accepts a job at a theatre as a backup dancer for Biba, a trans woman trying to succeed as an erotic dancer, hiding the truth from his family as he begins an affair with her. Joyland weaves a rich tapestry of complex characters, finding moments of intimacy and grace as it explores a patriarchal family bursting at the seams with sexual repression and buckling under cultural pressures and expectations of gender and tradition.

SOFT (Canada)

dir. Joseph Amenta

URL: https://viff.org/whats-on/soft/

Short Note: Roaming wild in Toronto’s streets, three queer adolescents hone their survival skills and scheme to run amok in a gay club. And while some petty theft finally grants them admission, it likewise leaves them confronting dark consequences. Joseph Amenta’s debut feature is a love letter to childhood friendships and a testament to the queer community’s perseverance. Serving up a cocktail of irreverence and melancholy, Amenta lends intoxicating atmosphere and intimate understanding to this quest for belonging.

YOU CAN LIVE FOREVER (Canada)

dir. Sarah Watts, Mark Slutsky

URL: https://viff.org/whats-on/you-can-live-forever/

Short Note: Sarah Watts and Mark Slutsky make their feature directing debut with this richly layered retro drama about first love, sexual awakenings, and navigating religious conditioning. Set in a Jehovah’s Witness congregation in the 90s, the film follows queer teenager Jamie as she resists the tight community hold while falling in love with one of its members. Anwen O’Driscoll hits it out of the park in a charismatic turn that embodies the full spectrum of teen angst and first heartbreak.

FRAMING AGNES (Canada/USA)

dir. Chase Joynt

URL: https://viff.org/whats-on/framing-agnes/

Short Note: Exhuming transcripts from a 1950s study on transgender individuals, Chase Joynt (No Ordinary Man) and his collaborators employ re-enactments, reinvention, and personal reflections to examine the trans stories that are told and how—and by whom—they are authored. Joynt restages interrogations of several individuals who transitioned, while creating space for his performers to share their experiences. The resulting film is in constant dialogue with itself, serving as both a vital record and bold deconstruction.

PACIFICTION || Tourment sur les îles (France/Spain/Germany/Portugal) dir. Albert Serra

URL: https://viff.org/whats-on/pacifiction/

Short Note: Albert Serra casts his eye on the tropics with this beguiling, satirical film. Benoît Magimel plays De Roller, the High Commissioner of French Polynesia, who has a problem on his hands: the French Marines have arrived on the islands, and their presence coincides with rumours that nuclear testing is soon to commence. As De Roller's investigation is stymied, he's lost in a miasma of suspicion and resentment. Shooting in widescreen, Serra conveys the lushness of the tropics; Pacifiction is a moody delight.

CLOSE (Belgium/France/Netherlands) dir. Lukas Dhont

URL: https://viff.org/whats-on/close/

Short Note: On the cusp of adolescence, Léo and Rémi spend their carefree summer building an intimate friendship, but as their days of bicycle rides through dappled flower farms and cuddling sleepovers fade into the school year, their bond is scrutinized by their classmates. Rémi is unfazed, but Léo pulls away from Rémi out of self-conscious fear, and the rift between them widens into an irreparable, tragic rupture in this stunningly lyrical tour de force that explores the fragile nature of friendship and masculinity.

ROSIE (Canada)

dir. Gail Maurice

URL: https://viff.org/whats-on/rosie/

Short Note: Set in the fringes of 1980s Montréal, Rosie is a love letter to misfits and an ode to found families. When Rosie (Keris Hope Hill), an English-speaking Indigenous orphan, is deposited at the doorstep of her Francophone Aunty Fred (Mélanie Bray), they must learn to find beauty and magic amidst their trying circumstances. Drawing from her lived experience as a queer Cree/Métis woman, Gail Maurice infuses her debut with a buoyant charm that makes its passionate appeal for acceptance all the more persuasive.

SOMETHING YOU SAID LAST NIGHT (Canada/Switzerland) dir. Luis De Filippis

URL: https://viff.org/whats-on/something-you-said-last-night/

Short Note: Determined to escape Los Angeles, Levi (Justin Benson) instead falls in with John (Aaron Moorhead), a kindred conspiracy theorist. After witnessing an inexplicable event in Levi’s apartment, the neighbours become intent on monetizing the paranormal activity by shooting a Netflix-style docuseries. Giddily riffing on numerology, symbology, energy fields, and mass simulations, directors Benson and Moorhead possess an infectious enthusiasm for mining mystery and endless possibility from the seemingly mundane.

GOLDEN DELICIOUS (Canada)

dir. Jason Karman
URL: https://viff.org/whats-on/golden-delicious/

Short Note: Golden Delicious is a fresh and engaging coming-of-age story about an Asian-Canadian teenager who is torn between his girlfriend’s dreams of their future and his father’s ambition, all the while struggling with finding himself and following his own desires. In his first feature, director Jason Karman vividly brings to life the joys and complications of a young man who suddenly discovers feelings for the boy next door.

QUEENS OF THE QING DYNASTY (Canada)

dir. Ashley McKenzie

URL: https://viff.org/whats-on/queens-of-the-qing-dynasty/

Short Note: Recovering from a suicide attempt, a neurodiverse Cape Breton teen is drawn into the orbit of a genderqueer hospital volunteer who hails from Shanghai. Despite their disparate backgrounds, the pair operate on identical idiosyncratic frequencies. A heady mix of unvarnished-yet-eloquent dialogue, transportive electronic compositions, and visual flourishes, Ashley McKenzie's second feature upholds her social realist principles while exploring a more expansive, sensorially rich brand of cinema.

THE BLUE CAFTAN (Morocco/France/Belgium/Denmark) dir. Maryam Tousani

URL: https://viff.org/whats-on/the-blue-caftan/

Short Note: Richly erotic and deeply moving, Maryam Touzani’s queer-themed film takes us to urban Morocco and into the lives of three beautiful souls. Halim (Saleh Bakri) is a master tailor; Mina (Lubna Azabal) is his loyal wife; Youssef (Ayoub Missioui) is the man who slowly comes between them. Touzani creates human portraits that are as powerful in their physicality as they are relatable in their psychology. This is a loving, sensuous, gently radiant film—a triumph of sympathetic imagination.

FOGARÉU (Brazil/France) dir. Flávia Neves

URL: https://viff.org/whats-on/fogareu/

Short Note: Director Flávia Neves follows a curious woman, Fernanda, upon her return to her hometown to scatter the ashes of her adoptive mother. This is a city full of mysteries and tradition, from the divine to the cruel. Through a series of kind strangers, Fernanda instead learns of the disturbing source of her family’s wealth, her biological mother’s identity, and the limits of her own strength. With an air of magical realism, Fogaréu forces us to question how much we really want to know about our own histories.

DOS ESTACIONES (Mexico/France/USA) dir. Juan Pablo González

URL: https://viff.org/whats-on/dos-estaciones/

Short Note: Juan Pablo González’s first narrative feature tackles the desolate effects of globalization on culture, tradition, and a generations-led tequila industry. Knowledgeable, magnanimous, and full of pride in both her craft and societal status, María Garcia (played by Teresa Sánchez) slowly reveals her loneliness, longing, and leashed passion while single-mindedly focused on saving her family’s legacy. Winner of a Special Jury Award for acting at Sundance and the True Vision Award at the True/False Film Festival.

WHEN TIME GOT LOUDER (Mexico/France/USA) dir. Connie Cocchia

URL: https://viff.org/whats-on/when-time-got-louder/

Short Note: Leaving home for university, Abbie (Willow Shields) thrives and experiences self-actualization. However, she’s tormented by the knowledge that her brother Kayden (Jonathan Simao), who has autism and is non-verbal, is reeling in her absence. Drawing from her own experiences growing up with a sibling with ASD, Connie Cocchia offers a clear-eyed depiction of autism’s impacts on an individual and their family. A deeply moving story about good people trying to do their best—and just how hard that can be.