VIFF 2020 Wishlist (Virtual Cinema)
Vancouver International Film Festival 2020
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67 titles
- DirectorKaren LamStarsValerie TianElfina LukIngrid NilsonAn ex-convict's psychokinetic abilities lead to an uncanny transformation.Altered States | True North | BC Spotlight | ALT
Best Director, Best Cinematography, Leo 20 - DirectorTitus HeckelStarsMarlon KazadiAleks PaunovicAdrian HolmesAn abused and bullied boy discovers and befriends a criminal chained inside an abandoned warehouse, but after a violent betrayal the abused becomes the abuser, putting both their lives in peril.True North | BC Spotlight
- DirectorJessie AnthonyParya LotfiazarStarsJustin RainLauren HillViolet RainJon, a young First Nations man, is struggling to overcome addiction and avoid the multiple warrants out on him. But he has several strong women in his corner: his girlfriend, his sister, his mother, and his unborn daughter are all hoping that he can master his demons.True North | BC Spotlight
- DirectorJennifer AbbottStarsJessa Abbott BalintTahlea Abbott BalintSarah BaikieFilmmaker Jennifer Abbott explores the emotional and psychological dimensions of the climate crisis and the relationship between grief and hope in times of personal and planetary change.True North | BC Spotlight
- DirectorLoretta ToddStarsGrace DoveAdam BeachTina LamemanIn an effort to turn her life around, a young indigenous woman returns to her hometown and discovers how dysfunctional her family has become.Galas | True North | BC Spotlight
- DirectorPablo Diaz CrutzenStijn DeconinckRobin SmitAt the peak of the first COVID wave, young friends Pablo and Robin spent night and day in the Erasmus University Hospital documenting the stories behind the numbers. They won't leave until the virus is under control.Impact | VIFF Impact
- DirectorJennifer AbbottJoel BakanStarsAnjali AppaduraiChris BarrettHeidi BoghosianExposes how companies are desperately rebranding as socially responsible - and how that threatens democratic freedoms.True North | Special Presentations
- DirectorDeirdre FishelStarsAlice WhiteNekima Levy-PoundsErin GraboskyDocumentary follows the stories of the women police officers in Minneapolis who try to reform the department and restore trust in the community after a high-profile police shooting forces its first female chief to resign.VIFF Impact | Impact
- DirectorUrsula LiangStarsLesley SteeleOn a fall day in 2014, Peter Liang, a Chinese American police officer, shot and killed an innocent, unarmed black man named Akai Gurley. Unfolding in the dark stairwell of a Brooklyn housing project, the shooting inflamed the residents of New York City and thrust two marginalized communities together into the uneven criminal justice system. Gurley's death sparked cries of police brutality and a raging, anguished debate about racial bias in criminal prosecution of law enforcement officers.Insights | Impact
- DirectorCho Kyung-hunStarsMoon Nam-sookYe-ji comes across mysterious water that enables her to lose weight and reshape her appearance. She finds her life is more in danger the more she desires to be beautiful.Gateway
- DirectorDennis HopperStarsLinda ManzDennis HopperSharon FarrellA young girl whose father is an ex-convict and whose mother is a junkie finds it difficult to conform and tries to find comfort in a quirky combination of Elvis and the punk scene.Special Presentations | Contemporary World Cinema | Panorama
- DirectorBrandon CronenbergStarsAndrea RiseboroughChristopher AbbottJennifer Jason LeighAn agent works for a secretive organization that uses brain-implant technology to inhabit other people's bodies - ultimately driving them to commit assassinations for high-paying clients.Special Presentations | Altered States | ALT
- DirectorFrançois OzonStarsFélix LefebvreBenjamin VoisinPhilippine VelgeWhen 16-year-old Alexis capsizes off the coast of Normandy, 18-year-old David heroically saves him. Alexis has just met the friend of his dreams, who opens his eyes to a new horizon of friendship, art and sexual bliss.Special Presentations | Contemporary World Cinema | Panorama
- DirectorChristian PetzoldStarsPaula BeerFranz RogowskiMaryam ZareeUndine works as a historian lecturing on Berlin's urban development. But when the man she loves leaves her, the ancient myth catches up with her. Undine has to kill the man who betrays her and return to the water.Special Presentations | Contemporary World Cinema | Panorama
Silver Bear (Best Actress), Berlin 20 - DirectorFrancis LeeStarsKate WinsletSaoirse RonanGemma Jones1840s England, acclaimed but overlooked fossil hunter Mary Anning and a young woman sent to convalesce by the sea develop an intense relationship, altering both of their lives forever.Special Presentations | Panorama
- DirectorGarrett BradleyStarsSibil Fox RichardsonRobert G. RichardsonMahlik RichardsonFox Rich fights for the release of her husband, Rob, who is serving a 60-year sentence in prison.Insights | Impact
Best Director, US Documentary Competition, Sundance 20 - DirectorLawrence Michael LevineStarsAubrey PlazaChristopher AbbottSarah GadonA filmmaker at a creative impasse seeks solace from her tumultuous past at a rural retreat, only to find that the woods summon her inner demons in intense and surprising ways.Contemporary World Cinema | Panorama
- DirectorJohannes LehmuskallioMarkku LehmuskallioStarsNiklas GroundstroemYuri MikhailovichAnna MomdeIndigenous cultures in the Arctic Circle .Impact | Insights
- DirectorTracey DeerStarsKiawentiioRainbow DickersonViolah BeauvaisBased on true events, Tracey Deer's debut feature chronicles the 78-day standoff between two Mohawk communities and government forces in 1990 Quebec.True North
- DirectorKim O'BomsawinStarsJoséphine BaconAdam BouhouhouWhen elders leave us, a link to the past vanishes along with them. Innu writer Joséphine Bacon exemplifies a generation that is bearing witness to a time that will soon have passed away. With charm and diplomacy, she leads a charge against the loss of a language, a culture, and its traditions. On the trail of Papakassik, the master of the caribou, Call Me Human proposes a foray into a people's multi-millennial history in company with a woman of great spirit who has devoted her life to passing on her knowledge and that of her ancestors.True North
- DirectorBarbora ChalupováVít KlusákStarsSabina DlouháAnezka PithartováTereza TezkáTwo documentarians exploring the world of online sexual abuse of children succeed in turning an experiment into an act of social intervention.Impact | VIFF Impact
- DirectorDon HardyStarsSean PennCécile AccilienAnderson CooperAfter a devastating 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti in 2010 aid workers from around the world went to help, including actor and filmmaker Sean Penn.VIFF Impact | Impact
- DirectorPatrick SammonBennett SingerStarsHarry AdamsonGary AlinderIrving Bieber"Cured" takes viewers inside the campaign that led to a pivotal yet largely unknown moment in the struggle for LGBT equality: the American Psychiatric Association's 1973 decision to remove homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses. Combining eyewitness testimony with newly unearthed archival footage, the film reveals how a small group of impassioned activists achieved this unexpected victory.Impact | VIFF Impact
- DirectorAli RayStarsDíana BermudezDelving deeper than any film has done before, engaging with world-renowned Kahlo experts, exploring how great an artist she was, discover the real Frida Kahlo.Music/Art/Design | M/A/D
- StarsStéphane LerougeAlexandre DesplatJean-Paul RappeneauMusic/Art/Design | M/A/D
- DirectorMichelle LatimerStarsAlethea Arnaquq-BarilNyla InnuksukThomas KingThis searing adaptation of Thomas King's bestselling book explores the cultural colonization of Indigenous peoples in North America.Special Presentations | True North
- DirectorAdam BrownStarsJhonny GuerreroSofia MulanovichJose PlazaAfter finding a broken surfboard on his local beach, Jhonny Guerrero, a teenager from one of Peru's toughest barrios, sets his heart on becoming a pro-surfer. With his father in prison for armed robbery and a mother struggling to feed and clothe his younger brother, the sea is his escape. When Jhonny is spotted by Peru's most successful surf champion, Sofia Mulanovich, he is taken under her wing and given a chance to succeed. Yet the pressure to do so weighs hard. Without his dad around, the lure of his friends and the risks of life in the barrios threatens to jeopardize everything he's worked for. When he's injured outside a nightclub in a drive by shooting, Jhonny is forced to decide once and for all which path to take.Insights | Impact
Grand Chameleon Award, Best Documentary Award, Audience Award, Brooklyn 20 - DirectorErlend E. MoA comfortable family leaves Norway to join a Danish community committed to reducing the contribution of individuals to climate change.Insights | Impact
- DirectorZoé WittockStarsNoémie MerlantEmmanuelle BercotBastien BouillonJeanne, a shy young woman, works in an amusement park. Fascinated with carousels, she still lives at home with her mother. That's when Jeanne meets Jumbo, the park's new flagship attraction.Altered States | ALT
- DirectorCharles OfficerStarsSaul WilliamsThamela MpumlwanaDonisha Rita Claire PrendergastIn a crime-noir about the urban child-soldier, Akilla Brown captures a fifteen-year-old Jamaican boy in the aftermath of an armed robbery. Over one gruelling night, Akilla confronts a cycle of generational violence he thought he escaped.True North
- DirectorJóhann JóhannssonStarsTilda SwintonTwo billion years ahead of us, a future race of humans finds itself on the verge of extinction. Almost all that is left in the world are lone and surreal monuments, beaming their message into the wilderness.Contemporary World Cinema | Panorama
- DirectorDavid MambouchStarsMaguy MarinThe son of the experimental choreographer Maguy Marin covers her revolt against conventional beauty, her love of the grotesque and the awkward, her political principles and struggles, in this career documentary.Music/Art/Design | M/A/D
- DirectorMatthew TaylorStarsMarina AbramovicWilliam AnastasiBradley BaileyThe film explores the life, philosophy and impact of one of the most influential early 20th century modernists, Marcel Duchamp. The film breaks down Duchamp's ideas and applies them to both historical events and the modernist explosion that blanketed the early 20th century. Art of the Possible isn't simply a biopic; rather, the film shows how Duchamp's ideas changed the public consciousness, and our understanding of aesthetics, art, and culture. The film highlights the singular impact of Duchamp's philosophy on art, and, more importantly, examines how Duchamp's revolutionary ideas from the early 20th century have shaped the 21st century and modern day.Music/Art/Design | M/A/D
- DirectorMing-Kai LeungKate ReillyStarsCheok Mei LeongMia MungilZeno KooA variety of Hong Kong people wrestle with nostalgia when facing an uncertain future. Their stories give way to a documentary featuring a young barista turned political candidate.Gateway
- DirectorStephan WagnerStarsImogen KoggeJosef BierbichlerWolfgang PreglerAngela Merkel's decision in autumn 2015 to open the borders for refugees split the country: some praised the moral stance, others criticized the surrender of sovereignty. Yet what would appear to be well-planned activity is in reality a policy of muddling along, chance, and trial and error. The Driven Ones is a chronicle of the refugee crisis which shows that the political actors are being driven along, crushed between self-imposed constraints and events that have spun out of control.Contemporary World Cinema | Panorama
- DirectorMian-Mian LuStarsPao-Wen YehYa-Ling ChangYu Chieh HsuBest friends Mickey and Gin Gin are young women scraping by in southern Taiwan. A headstrong tomboy, Mickey looks after her depressed mother, and spends her free time at the local temple, trying to join its all-male martial arts troupe. By contrast, sanguine and impulsive Gin Gin makes money dancing in nightclubs. When Gin Gin hatches a plan to rendezvous with her crush, Jay, in the city of Guangzhou, China, Mickey decides to go along, determined to locate the father who abandoned her and her mother years before. Almost immediately the two find themselves in over their heads, immersed in lawlessness and betrayal. But China also has a magical quality of new desires and pleasures that arouse Mickey's sexual-discovery. Through misadventures--some comic, some brutal--Mickey and Gin Gin strengthen their friendship and transform from rascally naifs into more mature souls with a clearer sense of self.Gateway
- DirectorYoon Dan-biStarsChoi Jung-unHeung-ju YangHyeon-yeong ParkTwo kids are moving to their grandfather's house, but everything is going to change when the aunt moves there too.Gateway
Bright Future Award, Rotterdam 20; NETPAC Award, Busan 20 - DirectorCaroline VignalStarsLaure CalamyBenjamin LavernheOlivia CôteA schoolteacher crashes her married lover's family vacation and befriends a donkey named Patrick.Contemporary World Cinema | Panorama
- DirectorNuria GiménezIt combines fragments of Vivian Barrett´s diary with footage by Léon Barrett over the 40s through to the 60s of the 20th century.Contemporary World Cinema | Panorama
Found Footage Award, Rotterdam 20 - DirectorNorris WongStarsStephy TangPak Hon ChuHee Ching PawA story on a woman struggling on whether to enter into a marriage or not.Gateway
Best New Director, Hong Kong 20 - DirectorOeke HoogendijkStarsEijk De Mol van OtterlooJan SixRose-Marie De Mol van OtterlooThis is set in the world of the Old Masters and offers a mosaic of gripping stories in which unrestrained passion for Rembrandt's paintings leads to dramatic developments and unexpected plot turns.Music/Art/Design | M/A/D
- DirectorBruno TracqStarsFabienne RoelantsChristine WatremezFabienne Roelants and Christine Watremez, anesthetists at the St Luc clinic in Brussels, are among the most renowned specialists in surgical hypnosis. Their voices guide thoughts and can recompose reality. As practitioners, they nurture the doctor-patient relationships that are often damaged by modern medicine, and invite our imaginations to take center-stage in operating theaters.Insights | Impact
- DirectorBettina OberliStarsAgnieszka GrochowskaMarthe KellerAndré JungWanda, a Polish woman, takes care of 70-year-old Joseph in his family villa on the lake. She is always there for him and also helps his wife Elsa. The work is poorly paid, but Wanda needs the money for her family.Contemporary World Cinema | Panorama
- DirectorPascal PlanteStarsKaterine SavardAriane MainvilleHilary CaldwellNadia, an Olympic swimmer in her twenties, faces the challenges of her imminent retirement.True North
- DirectorAisling Chin-YeeChase JoyntStarsBilly Tipton Jr.Holden BernsteinKate BornsteinNo Ordinary Man is an in-depth look at the life of musician and trans culture icon Billy Tipton. Complicated, beautiful and historically unrivaled, this groundbreaking film shows what is possible when a community collaborates to honor the legacy of an unlikely hero.True North
- DirectorZoltán NagyStarsErik MajorGábor MátéLulu BognárA coming-of-age story set in the contemporary Hungarian countryside, where teenager soloist Dávid decides to stand up for Nóri, 13, a cellist in their youth orchestra who is having a suspiciously close relationship with their 60-year-old conductor. While looking for the truth, Dávid's life soon starts to spiral out of control as he faces tough decisions and the adult society's negligence.Contemporary World Cinema | Panorama
- DirectorAnabel Rodriguez RiosVillagers in the Venezuelan community of Lake Maracaibo fight against pollution, corruption and neglect to keep homes and way of life.Insights | Impact
- DirectorUlrike OttingerStarsJenny AgutterFanny ArdantSimone de BeauvoirUlrike Ottinger, then a young painter, lived in Paris in the 1960s. Now a film-maker, she looks back on that time, weaving memories of the Parisian life and the upheavals of the time into a cinematic poem with the city at its center.Music/Art/Design | M/A/D
Berlinale Camera Award, Berlin 20 - DirectorJean-François LesageStarsMarie MurphyThe night is falling and Montreal is under the snow. People line up at the lost and found office of the city's transit company. They all have lost something, which, upon reflection, becomes the symbol of a deeper loss.True North
Best Canadian Feature, Hot Docs 20 - DirectorXia MagnusStarsAina DumlaoJustin ArnoldMatthew AlbrechtAs dementia engulfs her employer, a fragile home health aide begins to question her own sanity.Altered States | ALT
- DirectorSergio BassoIn 1990, one sixth of the population of Bhutan was exiled because they demanded greater democratic rights from the ruler. The film follows the story of Sarita, a 13-year-old girl born in Khudunabari, a refugee camp in Nepal where over 100,000 Bhutanese exiles live. Now they will be "relocated": thousands of families will be forced to emigrate and their Lotshampa identity will disappear forever. Sarita and her friends will not tell us their odyssey: they will dance and sing it.Contemporary World Cinema | Panorama
- DirectorAnu KuivalainenStarsAhtiPaavoSirkkaDocumentary film about love, relationships and sexuality of elderly men and women. Five couples show how intimacy is still strong even though age and body has changed.Insights | Impact
- DirectorMarcus VetterStarsDodi Reza AlexDavid AttenboroughWerner BaumannDocumentary and Behind the Scenes on the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland.VIFF Impact | Impact
- DirectorJörg AdolphJan HaftStarsPeter WohllebenAchim BogdahnMarkus LanzWhen Peter Wohlleben published his book "The Hidden Life of Trees" in 2015, he quickly entered bestseller lists. The forester wrote vividly about his experience that trees are able to communicate with each other, a thesis explored here.VIFF Impact | Impact
- DirectorCatarina VasconcelosStarsManuel RosaJoão MóraAna VasconcelosThe passing away of their mothers makes Catarina and her own father meet in an emotional place that is different from the one most fathers and daughters know.Panorama | Contemporary World Cinema
FIPRESCI Encounters Prize, Berlin 20 - DirectorNatalya NazarovaStarsNadezhda GorelovaVladimir MishukovKirill VeselovAntonina, an artist from Saint Petersburg, follows her husband, a political prisoner, to the deep north province of Russia. As she starts teaching art in a local school, she finds herself opposed by a twelve-year-old boy, Misha, whose brother is a feared local gang leader.Contemporary World Cinema | Panorama
- DirectorJerry RothwellStarsDonna BudwayEmma BudwayJeremy DearBased on the book by Naoki Higashida, this immersive film explores the experiences of non-speaking autistic people around the world.VIFF Impact | Impact
Audience Award, World Documentary Competition, Sundance 20 - DirectorPushpendra SinghStarsNavjot RandhawaSadakkit BijranShahnawaz BhatLaila Aur Satt Geet is part allegory, part ethnographic study, and part feminist fairy tale, using the narrative device of local folk songs - seven, to be exact - to describe the protagonist - Laila's inner and outer worlds.Contemporary World Cinema | Panorama
- DirectorMohammad RasoulofStarsBaran RasoulofZhila ShahiMahtab ServatiThe four stories that are variations on the crucial themes of moral strength and the death penalty that ask to what extent individual freedom can be expressed under a despotic regime and its seemingly inescapable threats.Contemporary World Cinema | Panorama
Independent Prize, Berlin Competition 20 - DirectorArie EsiriChuko EsiriStarsJude AkuwudikeKemi Lala AkindojuKelechi UdegbeIn Lagos, Nigeria, tragedy and fate intervene as two people try to better the lives of their families.Contemporary World Cinema | Panorama
- DirectorRay YeungStarsTai-BoBen YuenPatra AuSUK SUK is a quiet portrayal of a gay relationship between two men in their twilight years. PAK, 70, a married taxi driver who refuses to retire meets HOI 65, a retired single father. Although both are secretly gay, they are proud of the families they have created through hard work and hardship over the years. HOI is a member of the Mature Tongzhi Society, a social group, which caters for gay men who are over 60. The group is planning to attend a public forum to request the government to create senior citizen homes dedicated exclusively for gay people. However, due to the fact that most men in the group are in the closet, there is no one who is willing to voice their opinions in the public forum. HOI supports the notion of a gay senior citizen home and considers speaking in the public forum. However when HOI begins to wonder whether his son WAN suspect he is gay, his attitude shifts. As PAK and HOI fall in love they contemplate a possible future together. SUK SUK studies the subtle day-to-day moments of the two men as they struggle between conventional morals and their personal desires.Gateway
Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Hong Kong Film Awards 20 - DirectorFrelle PetersenStarsJette SøndergaardPeter Hansen TygesenOle CaspersenKris, living with her uncle since her teenage years, is starting to second guess her current life, at her disabled uncles farm. As love crosses her path, a possible life changing question emerges.Contemporary World Cinema | Panorama
Grand Prix, Tokyo 20 - DirectorDusty MancinelliMadeleine Sims-FewerStarsMadeleine Sims-FewerAnna MaguireJesse LaVercombeA troubled woman on the edge of divorce returns home to her younger sister after years apart. But when her sister and brother-in-law betray her trust, she embarks on a vicious crusade of revenge.Altered States
- DirectorJean-Michel BertrandStarsJean-Michel BertrandIn this documentary, director Jean-Michael Bertrand once again follows the trail of wolves. This time, however, it is not about adult wolves, but about young animals that have left the pack and are going out into the world alone.Insights | Impact
- DirectorMassoud BakhshiStarsSadaf AsgariBehnaz JafariBabak KarimiIn Iran today: Maryam (22) accidentally kills her husband Nasser (65) and is sentenced to death. The only person who can save her is Mona, Nasser's daughter. All Mona has to do is appear on a popular live TV show and forgive Maryam.Contemporary World Cinema | Panorama
Grand Jury Prize, World Dramatic Competition, Sundance 20 - DirectorIván Mora ManzanoStarsAlejandra CormanAlejandro FajardoPablo LópezYellow sunglasses is a tragicomic look at Julia's universe and her quest to find her own intimate reinvention.Contemporary World Cinema | Panorama