VIFF: Smoking Causes Coughing

In the wake of a viscera-spilling battle with a menacing foam-rubber turtle, the superheroic, hard-smoking members of Tobacco Force are ordered to undergo a week of team-building at a remote bunker. In lieu of trading punches with arch-nemeses, they exchange outrageous campfire stories about others’ misfortunes, each of which demonstrates that Quentin Dupieux’s absurdism has … Read more

VIFF: Falcon Lake

Following her bow at 2022 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, Charlotte Le Bon makes a VIFF debut with this thrilling and lush coming-of-age tale of first crushes, heartbreaks, and loss. The film follows 13-year-old Bastien, who gets paired up with a reluctant Chloé (16) when their families come together for a summer holiday in a cabin by … Read more

Emily the Criminal

Emily (Aubrey Plaza) is saddled with student debt and locked out of the job market due to a minor criminal record. Desperate for income, she takes a shady gig as a “dummy shopper,” buying goods with stolen credit cards supplied by a handsome and charismatic middleman named Youcef. Faced with a series of dead-end job … Read more

Shakes the Clown

Writer-director-actor Bobcat Goldthwait does triple duty in the cult-classic black comedy SHAKES THE CLOWN. Set against the backdrop of the all-clown town of Palukaville, this colorful tale featuring a recognizable A-list cast (including Julie Brown, Florence Henderson, Adam Sandler, Kathy Griffin, and a cameo from Robin Williams) provides a colorful backdrop for a story about … Read more

Jennifer’s Body (15th Anniversary Screening!)

In director Karyn Kusama’s (GIRLFIGHT, AEON FLUX) 2009 cult horror-comedy JENNIFER’S BODY, Megan Fox stars as newly-possessed hottie high-school cheerleader turned succubus Jennifer, who specializes in killing her male classmates. While this she-demon satisfies her appetite for human flesh with the school’s male population, her nerdy friend, the aptly named Needy (Amanda Seyfried), learns what’s … Read more

Anvil! The Story of Anvil… Again (2022 Restoration)

Ready to rock? Originally released in ’08, the now cult doc followed the Canadian heavy metal icons ANVIL who would inspire the likes of Anthrax and Metallica, and then drop off the map to begin what would become decades of toiling in obscurity. Director and former roadie Sacha Gervasi followed guitarist Steve “Lips” Kudlow and … Read more

Deep Throat at 50

“It makes me feel tingly all over and then nothing… There should be bells ringing, dams busting, bombs going off!” Join us at the Rio Theatre on Wednesday, September 14 for a special 50th Anniversary screening and talk-back event in celebration of one of the most iconic adult films ever put to celluloid, Gerard Damiano’s … Read more

Saloum

Set in 2003, genre-defying Senegalese supernatural horror thriller SALOUM is centred on the story of three legendary mercenaries who are forced to hid out in a mystical region of Senegal known as Saloum.  Shot down after fleeing a coup and extracting a drug lord from Guinea-Bissau, the trio known as the Bangui Hyenas — Chaka, … Read more

Better Living Through Chemistry (Magic Mushroom Day!)

Connect with psychedelic therapy pioneer Ann Shulgin and the psychedelic community by attending a special Magic Mushroom Day screening of BETTER LIVING THROUGH CHEMISTRY, the new documentary from filmmaker Connie Littlefield. This film tells the story of Ann Shulgin and Sasha Shulgin, a married couple who were pioneers of the psychedelic revolution. More than a … Read more