Vancouver International Film Festival

British Columbia’s biggest annual celebration of cinema is just around the corner. From September 24 - October 7th, film lovers province-wide will enjoy over 100 feature films and events showcasing exciting, groundbreaking and provocative cinema and creators from around the globe.

You'll be able to watch this year's stellar line-up from the comfort of your home via VIFF Connect, VIFF’s new online streaming platform. For the first time, audiences across BC can watch VIFF curated cinema and viewers around the world can tune into our Talks and Conferences.

Visit viff.org to see the complete list of films and events.

For 2020, 102.7 THE PEAK is excited to present two Canadian films at the Vancouver International Film Festival.

FALLING
Canadian film
Viggo Mortensen’s directorial debut
Virtual and Theatre screenings September 25 – October 4

Director: Viggo Mortensen
Cast: Lance Henriksen, Viggo Mortensen, Terry Chen, Sverrir Gudnason, Hannah Gross, Gabby Velis, Laura Linney

About the film:
In welcoming Willis (a masterful Lance Henriksen), his cantankerous Midwest farmer dad, into his California home, John (Viggo Mortensen) likewise opens the door to painful memories of decades-old trauma that set these men on their respective trajectories. Living with his partner (Terry Chen) and their young daughter (Gabby Velis), John yearns to reconcile with Willis before encroaching dementia takes its toll. But even when abetted by his sister (Laura Linney in one of 2020’s finest supporting turns), and despite John’s almost saintly patience and grace, it appears that the rot of resentment may simply run too deep.

In interviews, Mortensen has spoken candidly about the deeply personal, if not outrightly autobiographical, nature of his directorial debut. What makes Falling such a remarkable accomplishment though is his ability to craft richly detailed characters and intricate interpersonal dynamics that are specific to this intimate drama and yet delineate the fault lines that threaten the foundations of many families. Buoyed by instances of humour and grounded in candour, it affectingly depicts how simple acceptance is the greatest act of familial love.

THE CURSE OF WILLOW SONG
Canadian film based in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside
World Premier
Virtual and Theatre screenings September 24 – October 3

Director: Karen Lam
Cast: Valerie Tian, Elfina Luk, Ingrid Nilson, Adam Lolacher, Amanda Burke, Johannah Newmarch

About the film:
Having served her time for arson, Willow Song (Valerie Tian) is now fending for herself on the unforgiving streets of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. There, she’s asked to contend with the squalid condition of her SRO, a sketchy bestie (Ingrid Nilson), her ongoing struggle to stay clean, constant harassment in her workplace and festering resentment towards Asian-Canadians. With the fates seemingly conspiring against her, she’s thrown a lifeline by a figure from her past (Elfina Luk). As Willow holes up in an abandoned warehouse, her latent psychokinetic abilities manifest and an uncanny transformation commences.

In a somewhat perverse paraphrasing of one of Leonard Cohen’s most famous lyrics, writer-director Karen Lam intimates here that it’s through glaring socioeconomic divides that the darkness seeps in. Drawing inspiration from manga, ghost stories, interviews with female inmates and personal experiences, Lam delivers an exceedingly eerie supernatural thriller steeped in searing social commentary. What’s perhaps most chilling about Curse is its compelling suggestion that we’ve left Willow with no alternative but to become a monster.