The Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) has wrapped its 45th edition, and critics and audiences agree that it was a huge hit! From multiple sold-out showtimes to added titles to the launch of the Luminary Award, VIFF has demonstrated that Vancouver’s flagship film festival is ready for its close-up.
Highlights of the year included the Luminary Award itself, with Emmy-nominated actress Carrie Coon (The Gilded Age, The Leftovers, and The Liberation) named its inaugural recipient and the first subject of an hour-long “In Conversation With” career retrospective. The festival also presented the Canadian premiere of School for Defectors, accompanied by a lengthy Q&A featuring executive producer Daniel Dae Kim (Lost and Hawaii Five-O).
School for Defectors
VIFF was a homecoming for documentaries about Terry Fox (Run, Terry, Run) and the ever-inspiring Rick Hansen, who presented his eponymous documentary Man in Motion four decades after his historic world tour. The opening-night gala for Jesse Eisenberg’s The Debut drew an audience full of luminaries, including award-winning director Mina Shum (whose Whatcha Want had four sold-out VIFF screenings), the TELUS Hive team, and Deputy Mayor Sarah Kirby-Yung.
Whatcha Want | Director Mina Shum
Above all, VIFF brought the best cinema in the world to Vancouver audiences. We were unable to see everything, but here are five favourites.
All of a Sudden
Our pick for the very best of VIFF 2026, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Paris-set Japanese drama starring Cannes Best Actress co-winners Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto is a profound meditation on the dignity of aging and mortality that is also somehow life-affirming and hopeful. It runs a staggering 196 minutes but feels barely 96 minutes long. I will be thinking of this masterpiece for a very long time.
The Beloved
Hot off its world premiere at Cannes, Oscar winner Javier Bardem’s latest drama follows a famed film director working with his long-estranged daughter. It was one of Spain’s shortlisted contenders for this year’s Best International Feature Film Oscar.
I Play Rocky
Peter Farrelly’s latest recreates the filming of 1976’s Rocky and the struggles Sylvester Stallone faced in bringing his passion project to the screen with a tight budget and a great deal of gumption. If audience reaction were the sole deciding factor, this would absolutely win the audience award, because everyone loves an underdog.
Minotaur
Andrey Zvyagintsev’s latest retells Unfaithful within the context of present-day Russia. It asks us to consider not only marital betrayal and existential crises, but also how the decisions we make may reverberate through modern society. We might sympathize with the privileged, but let us never forget their monstrous nature when provoked (hence the title).
School for Defectors
Director Jeremy Workman filmed a year in the life of Jangdaehyun (“JDH”) School in Busan, a boarding school whose student body is composed entirely of the children of North Korean defectors, who grow, learn, survive, and thrive together. At press time, the film is seeking an international distributor.
Still Playing After the Festival
If you did not get to attend VIFF or see every title, fear not. VIFF has announced that a number of its most sought-after titles will play at the Vancity Theatre after the festival. You can catch Lee Chang-dong’s long-awaited Possible Love from October 23 to 29, ahead of its Netflix debut. Perhaps most excitingly, this year’s TIFF Audience Award winner La Bola Negra will begin an exclusive engagement at the Vancity Theatre from October 30 onward, in a glorious 35mm print. While these films will arrive on streaming platforms later this fall, there is nothing like catching them in a full theatre.
See you all at VIFF 2027!
Author Profile
- Ritchie Po is a privacy consultant, cybersecurity lawyer, and AI ethics advisor passionate about the intersections of technology, creativity, and culture. Ritchie is also a cineaste who draws inspiration from his love of music and figure skating—often fuelled by the avant-garde genius of Björk.
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