Vancouver International Film Festival 2024
September 26 – October 6, 2024
https://viff.org
VIFF 2024: LGBTQ & LGBTQ-INTEREST FILMS
FEATURES: FILM SYNOPSES:
Cherub
Dir, Devin Shears, (Canada),| Northern Lights
An ambient, deeply sympathetic character study about Harvey (BenjaminTurnbull) an overweight loner who stumbles upon a gay magazine called Cherub, “For big men and their admirers.” Desperate to feel seen, he submits a photo to the Cherub of the Month contest. Featuring a deeply human performance from Turnbull, richly textured cinematography, and a script completely free of dialogue. ONLINE
Coconut Head Generation
Dir, Alain Kassandra, (France/Nigeria), | Focus: Women, Life, Freedom
"Coconut head" is an insult applied to the supposedly lazy millennial generation in Nigeria. In this observational documentary, Alain Kassandra takes us to the University of Ibadan, Nigeria’s oldest university, where a student film club — Thursday Film Series — presents work by Black filmmakers like Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, John Akomfrah, and Med Hondo, that spark passionate critical conversations on corruption, gender roles, LGBTQ+ rights, colonialism and housing. ONLINE
Emilia Pérez
Dir, Jacques Audiard, (France) | Special Presentations
A Mexico City defence attorney (Zoe Saldana) is enlisted to tend to the affairs of a notorious drug lord (Karla Sofía Gascón) who is now completing gender affirmation surgery. Rechristened Emilia Pérez and determined to right her misdeeds, she relies on Rita to reintegrate her in the lives of her wife Jessi (Selena Gomez) and children. However, in Emilia’s past, there is more than one score to settle; there will be blood, ballads, and dance numbers. A maximalist musical from Jacques Audiard (A Prophet). ONLINE
Luther: Never Too Much
Dir, Dawn Porter, (USA) | Portraits
The dazzling but all too short career of singer-songwriter Luther Vandross gets revelatory reappraisal in Dawn Porter's moving biographical documentary. The trailblazing soul artist was a titanic musical force in the 1980s and 90s, arranging and producing songs for David Bowie, Dionne Warwick and Mariah Carey, to name just a few. Drawn from roughly four decades of interview and performance footage, Luther restores the rightful reputation of an artist who couldn't be appreciated on his own terms in his era. ONLINE
Misericordia, Miséricorde
Dir, Alain Guiraudie, (Spain/Portugal/France), | Panorama
Returning to beautiful Saint-Martial for the funeral of his former boss, Jérémie (Félix Kysyl) arouses widow Martine (Catherine Frot), her son Vincent (Jean-Baptiste Durand), and other local characters--each in a different way. Edgy, eccentric, and unapologetically queer, Alain Guiraudie’s film straddles the line between comedy and thriller. As it moves from the bedroom to the woods to the confession booth, Misericordia provides a fresh, darkly amusing take on human desire. ONLINE
Most People Die on Sundays
Dir, Iair Said, (Argentina/Italy/Spain), | Panorama
Still reeling from a fresh breakup, thirtysomething David, a chubby gay Jewish man living in a state of arrested development, returns to his native Buenos Aires for his uncle’s funeral. There he confronts not just his Jewish heritage, but also the impending death of his comatose father and his aging mother. Structured as a series of mortifying misadventures, this is a darkly comic exploration of the lengths people will go to escape their origins, and the moments of grace they find along the way. ONLINE
Rafiki
Dir, Wanuri Kahiu, (Kenya) | Focus: Women, Life, Freedom
Bursting with the colorful style & music of Nairobi’s vibrant youth culture, Rafiki is a tender love story between two young women in a country that still criminalizes homosexuality. Initially banned in Kenya for its positive portrait of queer romance, Wanuri Kahiu's intensely likable movie went on to a win a Supreme Court case that undercut that country's anti-LGBT legislation. Rafiki ("friend" in Swahili) earns comparisons to the early films of Spike Lee for its energy and audacity. ONLINE
Retracing Their Steps, Emboîter leurs pas
Dir, Manuel Orhy Piron, (Canada) | VIFF Short Forum
Boxes from the Montreal Archive Center reveal forgotten tales from the queer community. ONLINE
Sex
Dir, Dag Johan Haugerud, (Norway) | Panorama
Two chimney sweeps living in Oslo, both happily partnered in heterosexual marriages, find their views on sexuality and gender challenged by a series of unexpected events. Both men confront heretofore unexplored aspects of their identities—which, as it turns out, are more fluid than they had previously thought. Playfully structured as a series of sharply scripted two-hander conversations, Sex is a dryly humorous and unexpectedly poignant exploration of normative societal expectations. ONLINE
Solids by the Seashore
Dir, Patiparn Boontarig (Thailand) | Panorama
Patiparn Boontarig’s dreamy, poetic film is set in southern Thailand and tells the story of two culturally divergent women who slowly fall in love. The free-spirited artist Fon and the inhibited Muslim Shati come together through Fon’s gallery project: an exhibit documenting environmental misdeeds on the country’s beaches. Boontarig suffuses his film with brightness and mellow ambience while putting forth a sharp political critique--he’s as persuasive with his polemics as he is with his visual poetry. ONLINE
We Were No Desert, Nunca fuimos un desierto
Dir’s Agustina Comedi, Chiachio & Giannone, (Argentina) | Modes
Taking an installation by Argentine textilsts Chiachio & Giannone as a point of departure, director Agustina Comedi (Playback, MODES ‘19) stages a queered rendition of a strict national folk dance, the "Pericón." This new choreography opposes its traditional steps and resists the inherent ideology of conquest baked into the notion of ‘homeland’. ONLINE
You Can’t Get What You Want but You Can Get Me
Dir, Samira Elagoz, Z Walsh, (Netherlands/Finland) | VIFF Short Forum
A slideshow of personal photographs and correspondence document two long-haired trans men falling in love. Film premiered at International Film Festival Rotterdam, screened at Hot Docs, won Best Short at Leiden Short Film Festival, and was nominated for best queer short at Xposed, Berlin queer film festival. ONLINE
