Vancouver International Women in Film Festival Archives

Opening Feature: Donkeyhead

Directed by Agam Darshi
Canadian Feature / Canada / 2021

VIWFF is excited to present a one night only screening of Agam Darshi's film Donkeyhead prior to its theatrical release. 

Donkeyhead follows as Mona, a failed writer, carves out a life of isolation while caring for her ailing traditional Sikh father, but when he has a debilitating stroke her three successful siblings show up on her doorstep determined to take control of the situation. 

Mickey on the Road

Directed by Mian-Mian LU
International Feature / Taiwan / 2020

Two young Taiwanese women travel to Guangzhou in pursuit of elusive dreams.

Do You Remember Me?

Directed by Désirée Pomper and Helena Müller
International Feature / Switzerland / 2021

Sara was seven when she was circumcised in Harar, Ethiopia. “In this moment I lost my childhood”, she says. Sara, who meanwhile lives in Switzerland, decides to seek and confront her circumciser to process her trauma. She travels to Ethiopia and succeeds to find the woman who had cut her. Sara succeeds to forgive her and find inner peace.

NFB Presents: Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy

Directed by Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers
Canadian Documentary Feature / Canada / 2021
Presented in association with National Film Board of Canada

Follow filmmaker Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers as she creates an intimate portrait of her community and the impacts of the substance use and overdose epidemic. Witness the change brought by community members with substance-use disorder, first responders and medical professionals as they strive for harm reduction in the Kainai First Nation. 

Granni-E-Minem

Directed by YurRi Heo and NamJoo Meng
International Feature / Republic of Korea (South Korea) / 2019

Four rural grandmothers learn rap from a young man in his 20s who returned to his hometown. Grannies who have sacrificed for their families all their lives, made their stories into lyrics for the first time and shouted at the top of their voices.

Closing Feature: Run Woman Run

Directed by Zoe Leigh Hopkins
Canadian Feature / Canada / 2021

Run Woman Run follows single mother Beck who has been running from reality. Her “breakfast of champions”is a five cream, five sugar coffee and donuts. Something has to give and it does when Beck finds herself in a diabetic coma and visited by a ghostly ancestor, the legendary Indigenous marathon runner Tom Longboat, who becomes her wise cracking new life coach. Told with a lighthearted touch, Run Woman Run is a feel-good anti-rom-com about a woman who has to tackle the ghosts of her past before she can run toward a new future.

Program One

The Hairdresser/La coiffeuse

Directed by Lorraine Price
Canadian Short Other / French / Canada / 2021 / 13:50

Kathleen is a hairdresser. Always has been. Always will be. Even at 83, she's still doing hair. But not in the way you would expect. Her work is special. For the last 31 years she has done the hair of the terminally ill in paliative care. In this short, poetic documentary, Kathleen reflects on her experience while we bear witness to her unusual work.

Wildflower

Directed by Heather Perluzzo
Canadian Short Narrative / English / Canada / 2021 / 17:33

After a woman escapes from an abusive, male dominated world she creates an AI replica of herself for companionship.

A Little Too Much

Directed by Martina Scarpelli
International Short Narrative / English / Denmark / 2020 / 3:40

In an imaginary space a woman let go of herself and overcome fearing her own greatness. She discovers her body, she embraces her emotions, and learns to own all the parts that make her HER.

Imposible decirte adiós

Directed by Yolanda Centeno
International Short Narrative / Spanish / Spain / 2021 / 15:40

When Paula’s painful breakup with Raúl causes her to stop seeing his son Dani, Paula will have no choice but to challenge a hypocritical legal system that ignores the custody rights of a loving, non-biological parent.

Charming

Directed by Justine Prince
Canadian Short Narrative / French / Canada / 2021 / 21:16

Living alone with her pet vacuum cleaner in a depressing elderly center, Lisette hopes to find love online, but ends up becoming friends with Jules, a young janitor

Housemaid #2

Directed by Roxanne Stam
International Short Narrative / Dutch / The Netherlands / 2021 / 12:06

When 52-year-old Nora plays her supporting role for the umpteenth performance and again undergoes the toxic behaviour of the theatre company and the bullying of the lead male actor, she decides to take matters into her own hands. Tagline: Show some teeth!

Program Two

Parvis

Directed by Laurence Gagné-Frégeau
Canadian Short Narrative / French / Canada / 2021 / 11:55

A look within Laurie’s journey, throughout a night out with friends, to embrace her identity. 

The Isobel Imprint

Directed by Ali Grant
Canadian Short Documentary / English / Canada / 2021 / 6:59

A dozen years after the devastating suicide of her oldest sister Isobel, filmmaker Ali Grant travels back through old letters, photos, and home movies to arrive at a pivotal moment in their intertwined destinies – Toronto in the summer of 1978. With humour, insight, and love, she explores her own coming of age, 3000 miles from home, and the lasting imprint of a sister’s invitation into a world of possibility.

I Am Leo

Directed by Tanja Tanjo Hurrle
International Short Narrative / German / Germany / 2021 / 17:48

From one day to the next, everyone says that Leo is a woman. But for Leo, that doesn't feel right at all.

Mazel Brouk

Directed by Hanael Allam
International Short Narrative / French / France / 20211 / 24:21

Five young women, born in France but with different ethnic and cultural backgrounds ranging from Islam to Judaism, are gathering in the South of France for a bachelorette party over a week-end.

Elles

Directed by Mélanie Saint-Germain
Canadian Short Animated / Canada /2021 / 8:30

ELLES is mental charges, concerns, judgments but also some guilty pleasures, love and craziness. ELLES, it’s the beauty, it is all women. All, without exception.

On The Fence

Directed by Paula Ner Dormiendo
Canadian Short Documentary / English / Canada / 2020 / 6:21

“On The Fence” follows several intertwined conversations with a group of multicultural individuals and their struggle with identity.

Program Three

Srikandi

Directed by Andrea Nirmala Widjajanto
Canadian Short Narrative / Indonesian / Canada / 2021 / 8:32

17 year old Anjani is still grieving the death of her father, while simultaneously trying to save his shadow puppet studio from being sold by her mother.

Red String of Fate

Directed by Lovina Yavari and Lance Fernandes
Canadian Short Other / English / Canada / 2021 / 10:00

In the year 2090, a robotics engineer tries to bring her fallen lover back to life.

A Birthday Party

Directed by Victoria Thomas
International Short Narrative / English / The United Kingdom / 2021 / 12:02

The close relationship between two sisters is broken down irrevocably, when one insists on keeping up with the tradition of the circumcision of her young daughter.

Assets

Directed by Charlotte George
International Short Narrative / English / Australia / 2021 / 7:00

When a burnt-out mum takes the plunge to return to work, she must prove to a mysterious interview panel she’s up to the job.

When She Was Good

Directed by Margarita Milne
International Short Narrative / English / The United Kingdom / 2021 / 20:00

When a young girl discovers that Santa is not real, she questions the lies told by adults and the terrible secret that she has been forced to keep.

Perfect Daughter

Directed by Jasleen Kaur
Canadian Short Narrative / English / Canada / 2021 / 13:42

When a highly respectable family moves into the neighbourhood, a young woman grows suspicious of her new neighbours' seemingly flawless daughter.

Like The Ones I Used To Know

Directed by Annie St-Pierre
Canadian Short Narrative / French / Canada / 2021 / 18:00

December 24, 1983, 10:50 p.m.; Julie and her cousins ate too much sugar, Santa Claus is late and Denis, alone in his car, is anxious at the idea of setting foot in his ex-in-law's house to pick up his children. The film is an early coming-of-age that is as squeaky as it is poetic.

Program Four

Living All of Life

Directed by Marlén Ríos-Farjat
International Short Narrative / Spanish / México / 2021 / 27:00

After a lifetime together, Susana has been abandoned by her husband. She is in denial and holds on to the past. One day, she needs the help of her neighbor, Gloria, a free-spirited woman who Susana can’t stand. But the friendship that emerges between them arises in Susana the desire to live in the present.

Militant Mother

Directed by Carmen Pollard
Canadian Short Documentary / English / Canada / 2021 / 7:34

To get to class on time, children from Vancouver's largest social housing project were forced to jump shunting train cars that stood in their path. After months of advocating for a safe crossing, twenty-five mothers made their voices heard by blockading CN rail.

Wild Seed

Directed by Sunyin Zhang
International Short Narrative / United States and China / 2020 / 14:13

During the period of One-Child Policy, Peng, an illegally pregnant mother escapes from her home to avoid getting arrested by the family planning committee and being forced to have an abortion. After escaping, Peng begins her solitary journey to hide from the government’s ruthless members and survives along the vast wilderness in Guizhou Province.

Clinch

Directed by Cintia Taylor
International Short Narrative / English / The Netherlands / 2020 / 25:00

A professional violin player takes up fighting to overcome sexual violence but learns that perhaps she is focusing on the wrong battle.

The Ancestral Tree

Directed by P.A. Duquette
Canadian Short Animated / Michif / Canada / 2020 / 3:07

The tragic loss of familial history, culture, and traditional community ties. Through symbolism, this is a story of harrowing fractures through time, all the while honouring the legacy of an Métis Elder.

Esther & Sai

Directed by Roșie Choo Pidcock and Anaïsa Visser
Canadian Short Narrative / English / Canada / 2021 / 12:30

The night before their first day of nursing school in 1976, two female immigrants to Vancouver endure racism and homesickness.

 

Incite Inclusion Panel

 

VIWFF hosted a conversation with major government film and television funding agencies and organizations as we challenge ourselves—and the systems that support our film and television industry in Canada—to become more inclusive and representative.

Moderated by Ana de Lara, former WIFTV Co-President and Filmmaker.

Panelists included:

Barb Williams, Executive Vice-President, CBC
Cathy Wong, Vice President, DEI and Official Languages, Telefilm Canada
Claude Joli-Coeur, Commissioner and President, National Film Board of Canada
Doreen Manuel, MFA, Director, Bosa Centre for Film & Animation
Joan Jenkinson, Executive Director, Black Screen Office
Lisa Valencia-Svensson, Managing Director, REMC - Racial Equity Media Collective
Robert Wong, Vice President, Creative BC
Valerie Creighton, C.M., S.O.M., President and CEO, Canada Media Fund 

Special Presentation: Querencia

VIWFF in association with Women in the Director's Chair was pleased to host for the first time a limited web-series at our 2022 film festival.

Directed by Mary Galloway, Querencia follows the story of two opposite Indigenous women, Daka and Abe, as they navigate their dreams and newfound relationship with each other.

Following the screening of Querencia, was a live virtual panel with the series creators to answer questions about the series' production.

 

 

Screenplay Competition Panel

A conversation with the ten finalists of this year’s VIWFF Screenplay Competition.

Moderated by Joan MacBeth with special guest Felicity Wren from International Screenwriters’ Association (ISA).

Panelists included:

Alyssa Biller
Ashley Brown
Jordan Phillips
Mugs Cahill
Nicole Donadio
Sandra Fox-Sohner
Maria Sigrist
Tita Magdeline Kyrtsakas
Dee Raffo
Mary Robbins
Emily Schoen
Bridget Visser

Awards Ceremony

VIWFF was excited to present a range of awards to our filmmakers, including but not limited to the following: 

• Best Direction in a Feature Film
• Best Editing in a Feature Film
• Best Performance in a Short Film 
• Best Feature Film
• Impact Award

VIWFF proudly presents a range of awards that champion established and emerging cis women and Two-Spirit, trans and nonbinary filmmakers from around the world. Here are the winners of 2022:

Feature Film Awards

Best Feature

Run Woman Run (Zoe Leigh Hopkins)

Presented by IATSE 891

Best Direction

Agam Darshi (Donkeyhead)

Presented by DGC

Best Performance

Dakota Ray Hebert (Run Woman Run)

Presented by UBCP/ACTRA

Best Cinematography

Helena Müller, Murat Temel (Do You Remember Me?)

Presented by Sim

Best Screenplay

Zoe Leigh Hopkins (Run Woman Run)

Presented by Chandler Fogden Aldous Entertainment Law

Best Editing

Chen-Ching Lei (Mickey on the Road)

Presented by Canadian Cinema Editors

Impact Award

Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy (Elle-Maija Tailfeathers)

Presented by Capilano

Best Musical Score

Chandra Melting Tallow (Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy)

Presented by Vancouver Post Alliance

Short Film Awards

Best Short

I Am Leo (Tajo Hurrle)

Presented by Finale/Picture Shop

Best Direction

Hanael Allam (Mazel Brouk)

Presented by Matrix Production Services

Best Performance

Amélie Onzon (Clinch)

Presented by Lucas Talent

Best Cinematography

Ai Chung (Wild Seed)

Presented by ICG 669

Best Editing

Ellemieke Middelhoff (Clinch)

Presented by Ron Heaps

Honourable Mention: Hayley Sawatzky (Wildflower)

Best Documentary

Do You Remember Me? (Desiree Pomper)

Presented by Pacific Backlot

Honourable Mention: Granni-E-minem

Impact Award

I am Leo (Tajo Hurrle)

Presented by Pacific Screenwriting Program

Honourable Mention: On the Fence (Paula Ner Dormiendo)

Screenplay Competition

Best Screenplay

Sandra Fox-Sohner & Maria Sigrist (The Professor )

Presented by LintBucket