Allow us to make a bold statement: Fall is for Film Festivals. A glorious season of emotionality begins when the summer blockbusters make way for prestige projects that premiere at Venice and Telluride and festivals in New York, Athens, Busan, San Sebastian, and London.
Our Ambassador Ritchie Po has returned from his annual pilgrimage to TIFF and is ready to tackle VIFF. While not adorned with glittering celebrities and paparazzi, Vancouver’s long-running film festival is no wallflower, as the 43rd edition will play nearly 200 films from around the world.
This year’s festival includes the reigning winners of both the Cannes and Berlin film festivals and will also showcase home-grown and international talents. Here are ten VIFF films that Ritchie is recommending for those looking to experience the best the West Coast festival has curated.
All We Imagine as Light
From India, Payal Kapadia’s narrative feature-length debut concerns two nurses in Mumbai who are also roommates. While one is middle-aged and focuses on her job after her husband leaves, the other is younger and looks forward to life’s possibilities. When circumstances change, the two travel to a seaside town and explore their dreams and hopes for the future. A contemplative character study, Light was awarded the Grand Prix at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Anora
Sean Baker’s latest film is focused on a New Jersey-based sex worker who embarks upon a whirlwind romance and marriage with a client, who turns out to be the scion of a prominent Russian oligarch and whose family madly tries to annul it. Baker’s film has earned him the best reviews of his career, equal parts comedy and drama, and newcomer Mikey Madison is about to have her breakthrough with this film. Anora is the winner of the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Bonjour Tristesse
The newest adaptation of Françoise Sagan’s classic 1954 French novel stars Chloë Sevigny and Claes Bang in Canadian director Durga Chew-Bose’s feature directorial debut. The film had its world premiere on opening night of the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival and is currently looking for a distributor, so VIFF may be your only chance to see this film.
Caught by the Tides
Chinese director Jia Zhangke started this project in the early 2000s, filming two actors as young adults and reuniting with them after two decades to continue filming the story. The project concluded last year as the two now middle-aged performers play their roles as the characters as they age. Star Zhao Tao received a Special Tribute Award at TIFF for her performance in this film.
Conclave
German director Edward Berger, whose remake of All Quiet on the Western Front received four Academy Awards, returns with a thriller about the election of a new pope. Starring Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, and Isabella Rossellini, this nail-biter turns on conspiracies and alliances as cardinals take sides to try to influence and manipulate the outcome. Conclave premiered at Telluride to outstanding reviews and had its international premiere at TIFF.
Dahomey
French-Senegalese director Mati Diop made waves when she became the first black female director to premiere at Cannes with her feature debut Atlantics. The film won the Grand Prix there in 2019, placing second only to Bong Joon-Ho’s masterwork Parasite. Her latest is a documentary that asks questions about the art world and how restitution can be made to countries whose art was stolen by colonizers, in this case from the former Dahomey (now Benin). Dahomey won the Golden Bear at this year’s Berlin Film Festival.
Emilia Pérez
As his latest film proves, French director Jacques Audiard never shies away from edgy and challenging material. This is a Spanish-language musical about a former Mexican druglord (Karla Sofia Gascón) who wants a fresh start in life by undergoing gender reassignment surgery. She enlists the help of a prosecutor (Zoe Saldaña) to help her transition into her new life while also trying to retain ties with her ex-wife (Selena Gomez). Emilia Pérez won the Jury Prize at Cannes and the Best Actress award, which was shared by the film’s four leads. Gascón made history this year as the first-ever trans actor to receive an acting prize at Cannes.
Nightbitch
Based on the best-selling novel by Rachel Yoder, Amy Adams stars as a frustrated housewife who, when triggered, sometimes turns into a dog. This is the latest film by acclaimed director Marielle Heller, whose films Can You Ever Forgive Me? and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood were both Academy Award nominees. For her performance, Adams earned the TIFF Tribute Performer Award, a traditional bellwether for awards consideration, as recipients of this prize have won or been nominated for Oscars in each of the last five years.
The Piano Lesson
The third in a series of films based on the works of the legendary playwright August Wilson, Malcolm Washington’s feature directorial debut is an adaptation of the stage play that earned Wilson the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1990. The film boasts a sensational cast, including Samuel L. Jackson, Danielle Deadwyler, and Corey Hawkins. This is a true family affair as it also stars the director’s brother, BlacKKKlansman’s John David Washington. Their father, the one and only Oscar winner Denzel Washington, produced it.
Saturday Night
Oscar-nominated director’s Jason Reitman’s latest ensemble piece chronicles a seminal moment in pop culture: the 1975 pilot of Saturday Night Live. This film captures that evening in real-time, as most of the film’s running time is a minute-by-minute account of how that first episode was made. Having already premiered at Telluride, the reception Saturday Night received at its international premiere at TIFF in early September indicates this is a major crowd-pleaser. The film’s actual commercial release after VIFF is scheduled for October 11, 2024, the 49th anniversary of the SNL pilot.
The 43rd edition of the Vancouver International Film Festival runs from September 26 to October 6, 2024.
Details and ticket information HERE!
Author Profile
- Helen Siwak is the founder of EcoLuxLuv Marketing & Communications Inc and publisher of Folio.YVR Luxury Lifestyle Magazine, PORTFOLIOY.YVR Business & Entrepreneurs Magazine, and digital women's lifestyle magazine EcoLuxLifestyle.co. She is a prolific content creator, consultant, and marketing and media strategist within the ecoluxury lifestyle niche. Post-pandemic, she has worked with many small to mid-sized plant-based/vegan brands to build their digital foundations and strategize content creation and business development. Helen is the west coast correspondent to Canada’s top-read industry magazine Retail-Insider, holds a vast freelance portfolio, and consults with many of the world’s luxury heritage brands. Always seeking new opportunities and challenges, you can email her at helen@ecoluxluv.com.
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