Vancouver International Film Festival 2023
September 28 - October 8, 2023
https://viff.org
VIFF 2023: LGBTQ & LGBTQ-INTEREST FILMS
FEATURES: FILM SYNOPSES:
CLOSE TO YOU
Dir. Dominic Savage (Canada/UK) | Showcase (100min)
Hurtling out of Toronto on a train bound for a family reunion, Sam (Elliot Page) prepares to face his family for the first time since transitioning. Upon arrival Sam is caught up in the unspoken tensions, and clumsy remarks, of his mostly well meaning but tactless family. As the visit wears on Sam faces the fact that he may have to sever ties once more. In his first feature film role since 2017, Elliot Page delivers a deeply felt and nuanced performance that cements his place as a generational talent. ONLINE
MONSTER
Dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda (Japan) | Special Presentations (126min)
VIFF mainstay Hirokazu Kore-eda returns with a powerful critique of homophobia. As usual with the director, the case is built carefully, with a stress on human particulars over generalities. In its story of schoolboy Minato (Soya Kurokawa) and his teacher Mr. Mori (Eita Nagayama), Monster explores the same events through different perspectives—it’s a moral mystery tale, as complex as it is gratifying. In his final work for cinema, the late Sakamoto Ryuichi provides a gently radiant score. ONLINE
QUEER SHORT FILMS:
CUT
Dir. Samuel Lucas Allen (Australia) | International Shorts (19min)
A teenage boy caught in a web of lies is pulled in different directions as he tries to juggle anti-Semitism, his queerness and an orthodox Jewish father. ONLINE
DEATH MASK
Dir. John Greyson (ON, Canada) | VIFF Short Forum (10min)
This experimental opera reenacts the lesser known history of Chinese medical student Li Shiu Tong, and his lover Magnus Hirschfeld, a much older German sexologist and gay rights pioneer during Nazi Germany. ONLINE
MAST-DEL
Dir. Maryam Tafakory (Iran/United Kingdom) | Modes (18min)
An intimate mid-night moment between two Iranian women, Mast-del witnesses the violent state threat posed to forbidden bodies and desires. Fragments of overexposed narrative clips from post-revolution Iranian cinema accompany a sparse audio landscape to contextualize abstractions of what must be inferred between silent narration. Premiering in Cannes, at Quinzaine des Cineastes, Maryam Tafakory's poignant, affecting work was nominated for both the Queer Palm and Golden Eye Award for Best Documentary. ONLINE
OUTSIDE CENTER
Dir. Eli Jean Tahchi (QC, Canada/Germany) | VIFF Short Forum (21min)
Finding community via his gay rugby league, Jamaican-born Desmond navigates life, love, and identity as an immigrant living in Munich, Germany. ONLINE
BEYOND THE SEA
Dir. Hippolyte Leibovici (Belgium/France) | International Shorts (25 min)
When an older drag queen is about to go on stage at her cabaret for the last time her estranged son unexpectedly shows up threatening to derail the evening. ONLINE
AN ORDINARY DAY (가장 보통의 하루)
Dir. Ju-yeon GIM (South Korea) | International Shorts (20 min)
On a day when a comet is about to strike the Earth two young women who do not know each other well, one blind and one paraplegic, decide to spend their last hours together. ONLINE
ALMOST FALL (Presque l'Automne)
Dir. Margot Pouppeville (France) | International Shorts (23 min)
Love for the same woman tore a sister and brother apart, now in old age they reconnect but is reconciliation possible? ONLINE
HEADDRESS
Dir. Taietsarón:sere 'Tai' Leclaire (USA) | International Shorts (10 min)
When a Queer Native person sees a Non-Native person wearing a ceremonial headdress, they retreat into their mind to find the perfect response. ONLINE
YOUSSOU & MALEK
Dir. Simon Frenay (France) | International Shorts (28 min)
Two late teen boys are in love with each other and the utopian world they live in, but tomorrow heartbreak looms as one is leaving for university. ONLINE