Seventeen: VIFF 2026
Seventeen: VIFF 2026
The Vancouver International Film Festival returns for their 45th year this October 1-11 for another curated season celebrating the best in independent, Canadian, documentary, and international shorts and features.
Justin Ducharme’s film takes us into Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, where three Indigenous sex workers are having a rough day. Tamara (Nizhonniya Austin) belatedly realizes she has 10 hours to find her passport for a return to the US. She’s assisted in her efforts by good friend December (Aalayna), who is grieving her recently deceased father. Meanwhile, full-time student and part-time hustler Aiden (Taio Gélinas) loses most of his savings and has to rustle up cash as quickly as possible…
December, Tamara, and Aidan live in the shadow of colonialism, and their story is as political as it is intimate. Seventeen is a work about solidarity in the face of oppression, and it alternates between moments of anger and affirmations of care. What Ducharme shows is that survival is as much a matter of love as it is one of will. As an artist, he’s much like his three characters: as tough as life demands and as tender as it allows.
Friday, October 2
Doors: 8:15 pm | Film: 8:45 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.
Tickets HERE
VIFF thanks the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations for their continued stewardship of the unceded and occupied land on which our work takes place. As an organization founded and predominantly directed by settlers and immigrants, we understand our responsibility to seek out and build authentic relationships with Indigenous communities, and to allow this ongoing dialogue to influence our practices. As part of this process, we remain committed to collaborating with and supporting Indigenous artists, filmmakers, curators, and audiences.
