Movies
A Useful Ghost: VIFF 2025
And now for something completely different: an absurdist comedy about ghosts inhabiting home appliances that is simultaneously a rousing, radical work of historical excavation. Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke’s film is a wacky, whimsical look at Thai politics, from the distant past to its recent history. The film opens with the purchase of
Our Hero, Balthazar: VIFF 2025
Balthazar (Jaeden Martell) attends a private school in New York, where he spends his nights performatively condemning gun violence in front of a ring light, mostly in the hopes of impressing his crush. But when Balthazar receives a series of alarming messages from an online troll who may be planning
Idiotka: VIFF 2025
Canadian Premiere Margarita (Anna Baryshnikov) is an aspiring clothing designer who lands a spot on a new fashion competition show. A third-generation immigrant living in the Russian part of West Hollywood, she helps her ailing grandmother and ex-con father pay bills by selling counterfeit clothes online, but when the producers
Foreigner: VIFF 2025
Set in 2004, Yasamin (Rose Deghan) is an Iranian teenager who has recently immigrated to Canada with her family. Desperate to fit in, she practices her English by studying sitcoms and succeeds in befriending three popular girls at school — mean girls with permanent smiles and soulless eyes. When her
Mile End Kicks: VIFF 2025
Summer, 2011. Twenty-two-year-old music critic Grace (Euphoria’s Barbie Ferreira) moves from Toronto to Montreal’s vibrant Mile End neighbourhood with the goal of writing a book about Alanis Morissette’s iconic album Jagged Little Pill. But when a loft party introduces her to the underground indie rock band Bone Patrol, Grace falls
Fucktoys: VIFF 2025
AP just found out that — according to multiple psychics — she’s cursed. Even worse, if she wants to lift it she’s gonna have to sacrifice a baby lamb and come up with a grand in cash. Trashtown, USA, offers plenty of chances to do some pretty messed up stuff
Rental Family: VIFF 2025
Need a respectable-looking mourner to fill out your funeral? Searching for a fake dad to impress the registration committee at your posh private school? Why not call Rental Family, a surrogate agency leasing stand-in actors for social settings. In this US-Japanese co-production from director HIKARI (who has several episodes of
Deathstalker: VIFF 2025
The Kingdom of Abraxeon has fallen under siege by the Dreadites, a scourge of bloodthirsty demonic warriors said to herald the return of the sinister, ancient sorcerer Nekromemnon. The titular Deathstalker (martial artist and legendary stuntman Daniel Bernhardt) is a lone wolf who survives by scavenging the corpses strewn about
Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie: VIFF 2025
Almost 20 years into their fruitless quest to book their band a gig at a hallowed Toronto venue, Matt (writer-director Matt Johnson) and Jay (writer-composer Jay McCarrol) decide it’s time to pull out all the stops. But after a publicity stunt parachuting from the CN Tower goes spectacularly awry, a
Night Stage: VIFF 2025
Canadian Premiere Matias (Gabriel Faryas) is a queer Black actor performing in a prestigious theatre group in Porto Alegre, where he meets Rafael (Cirillo Luna) — white, wealthy, and a promising mayoral candidate. The two discover a mutual fetish for having sex in public, setting off a dangerous game of