FILMS SCREENING AT VSFF 2019
January 25-26, 2019
Vancity Theatre, Vancouver BC
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Tickets on Sale December 14th
A SNAKE MARKED
DIRECTOR JUAN RIEDINGER / RUNTIME 14 MIN
Friday, January 25, 2019 @ 8 pm
After many years, a convict who spends his days sketching charcoal art in his prison cell, receives a surprise visit from his estranged father. This encounter forces him to contemplate his own existence and place in the world. As he begins to remember the past, his memories cause him to lose grasp, blurring the lines of his present reality.
BEDTIME STORY
DIRECTOR KEVIN ALEJANDRO / RUNTIME 15 MIN
Saturday, January 26, 2019 @ 1 pm
A cash-strapped literary agent hatches a plan to turn a lousy writer into a bestselling author.
BORDERED
DIRECTOR ANAÏSA VISSER / RUNTIME 15 MIN
Friday, January 25, 2019 @ 8 pm
An American border patrol officer is forced to choose between duty and compassion when he apprehends two refugees fleeing the US into Canada.
BUCKETHEADS
DIRECTOR MARCO BOSSOW, ANDY BROWN / RUNTIME 14 MIN
Saturday, January 26, 2019 @ 7 pm
A squad of storm troopers are transporting a POW with valuable information from Yavin 4, but getting off the planet will test their mettle.
BUNNY MAN
DIRECTOR ATHENA HAN / RUNTIME 8 MIN
Saturday, January 26, 2019 @ 4 pm
A group of Taiwanese friends enjoy their meal while discussing different types of "FOBs". Just as the conversation starts to escalate, a Bunny Mascot walks into the restaurant and disturbs the night.
CAMPING TRIP
DIRECTOR AMY MCLEISH / RUNTIME 16 MIN
Friday, January 25, 2019 @ 10 pm
Mandy and Gary's romantic weekend is already somewhat strained when strange things begin to happen around their RV. Consumed by his phone, Gary's attentions are far from his girlfriend, let alone the idea that there may be a third party in their relationship that they definitely did not expect...
CAUGHT IN THE SPOKES
DIRECTOR MATTHEW FITZGIBBON / RUNTIME 14 MIN
Saturday, January 26, 2019 @ 1 pm
Ben becomes obsessed with finding the thief who stole his bike. He puts his job, relationships, and sanity at risk to get it back.
COMPULSION
DIRECTOR BRIAN SEPANZYK / RUNTIME 16 MIN
Friday, January 25, 2019 @ 10 pm
As we follow an unknown man in his day-to-day life, we soon start to see the dark underside of what
his compulsion is, and what it drives him to to do. To give in, the blood must flow.
EDGE OF APOLLO
DIRECTOR MARCUS HANN, JENNA ANDRES / RUNTIME 11 MIN
Saturday, January 26, 2019 @ 7 pm
Set against the backdrop of the 1969 Apollo 11 launch, this story follows Alex as he navigates through the confusion of life; struggling to understand his dreams and his mother's illness as he also tries to make sense of the world around him.
ESMERELDA'S CASTLE
DIRECTOR RACHEL CAIRNS, SARAH HEMPINSTALL / RUNTIME 8 MIN
Saturday, January 26, 2019 @ 1 pm
Set in the 1970s, Lydia’s days are mostly the same. She spends her afternoons at the office workin’ for the man. But this afternoon's smoke break takes a turn for the mysterious when Lydia stumbles into the alternative world of Esmeralda’s Castle, a dingy dive for Queens that Drag and Dream.
GILTRUDE'S DWELLING
DIRECTOR JEREMY LUTTER / RUNTIME 15 MIN
Friday, January 25, 2019 @ 8 pm
Orphaned at the age of eleven, Giltrude, an interdimensional shut-in, has waited fifteen years for her parents to come home. When a life or death dilemma comes knocking, Giltrude must look beyond her front door and learn to face the outside universe.
GIRL IN THE GALACTIC SUN
DIRECTOR HEATHER PERLUZZO / RUNTIME 11 MIN
Saturday, January 26, 2019 @ 4 pm
A genderless alien who longs for a different life decides to transform into a woman in order to reproduce and save the species. G944 arrives at the Galactic Sun Facility unaware of the risks, and its desperation to understand what it is to be a woman leads it down a dangerous path with unnerving consequences.
GONG JU
DIRECTOR JEROME YOO / RUNTIME 10 MIN
Saturday, January 26, 2018 @ 4 pm
After a violent incident goes viral, Korean high school bully Gong Ju is sent abroad to attend school in Canada, in the hope that she will change her violent ways. Instead, she becomes a victim of bullying herself, but is determined to sit back on her rightful throne.
LIFELINES
DIRECTOR CATHARINE PARKE / RUNTIME 9 MIN
Friday, January 25, 2018 @ 8 pm
Lifelines follows the journey of Arielle, a Grade 9 student who is overwhelmed by the trials and tribulations of high school. She finds refuge in a dangerous habit, until her best friend discovers her secret. At its heart, Lifelines is a story about two friends struggling to cope with a crisis that could destroy their relationship. exploring the unique power struggles and intimacy of teen girl friendships.
LIONHOOD
DIRECTOR JASON KARMAN / RUNTIME 2 MIN
Friday, January 25, 2019 @ 8 pm
A portrait of two teenaged hockey players which explores the intensity of adolescence - a time
of unrestrained physicality and surging hormones, resulting in unchecked impulses and unseen
emotions.
MẸ
DIRECTOR DEREK KWAN / RUNTIME 10 MIN
Saturday, January 26, 2019 @ 1 pm
What started as a mom and pop Pho shop in East Vancouver has evolved into an eatery pushing the boundaries of Vietnamese fare. Mẹ, mother language in the northern Vietnamese dialect, follows two generations of moms as they create a new dish for the family restaurant. Re-imagining their parent’s pho shop, the next generation carries on the family legacy through Vietnamese cuisine.
MI MADRE, MY FATHER
DIRECTOR MICHELLE MORGAN / RUNTIME 16 MIN
Saturday, January 26, 2019 @ 7 pm
Based on a true story, Mi Madre, My Father presents a day in the life of six-year-old Valentina Nelson (Lina Renna). Reared by an abusive Mother (Michelle Morgan) and a negligent Father (Stephen Amell), Valentina must fend for herself. She does what she can to craft the illusion of normalcy, but the couple across the hall, Robert (Robert Molony) and Benjamin (Shayn Walker), perceive that she has reached a crisis point.
MEMENTO MORI
DIRECTOR RYAN IRVING, ANNA BARKER / RUNTIME 7 MIN
Friday, January 25, 2019 @ 8 pm
In the middle of a grassy field, Louella, a young woman coming to terms with her cancer diagnosis, is faced not only with cancer itself, but also with an onslaught of opinions from those sitting opposite her. As the people in her life flash before her, Louella experiences a surreal journey from diagnosis to remission. Although cancer proves to be an intimidating entity, Louella decides to take back control on how she perceives her fear.
MOMMY MAY
DIRECTOR DREW POLLINS / RUNTIME 9 MIN
Saturday, January 26, 2019 @ 4pm
A young man learns how to adopt the role of caregiver to help his mother battle cancer.
O.I.
DIRECTOR N'CEE VAN HEERDEN / RUNTIME 19 MIN
Friday, January 25, 2019 @ 8 pm
Chris revisits the Tiki bar where he made his first ever deal. He wants to celebrate the biggest deal he's ever made by drinking down memory lane. It is early morning and there is only one other customer, Barry, and the Barman. Barry is drinking to forget and is in no mood to celebrate anything. Only Chris' offer of free drinks for a week if he can't solve Barry's problems makes Barry change his mind. Barry has a unique problem. He came up with a truly original idea, and he is the only one immune to it. Chris doe not believe a word of it, and is determined to prove Barry a liar and win the bet.
OCCAM
DIRECTOR ELLIOTT SULZ / RUNTIME 14 MIN
Saturday, January 26, 2019 @ 1 pm
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A struggling composer named Occam is confined to a strange white room with no knowledge of the outside. As she begins piecing together fragments of her memory, she must execute a daring escape that will reveal the truth about her existence and take her to the limits of her consciousness.
PASS THE SALT
DIRECTOR PANTA MOSLEH, HALEY GRAY / RUNTIME 10 MIN
Saturday, January 26, 2019 @ 7 pm
When two women of different faiths fall in love, they must find a way for their traditional families to break bread.
REFUGE IN THE ROCKIES
DIRECTOR KAIO KATHRINER / RUNTIME 12 MIN
Saturday, January 26, 2019 @ 4 pm
Anderson Losada is a Colombian refugee resettled in Canada, where an obscure law prevented him from citizenship and cost him his Paralympic dreams in downhill skiing. Following his Colombian past and his journey to citizenship in rural Canada, this short documentary explores the citizenship barriers he and other refugee minors face. When Anderson’s struggles caught the attention of a Canadian Senator, his story impacted an amendment that recently changed Canada’s Citizenship Act, to aid refugee minors.
SEEKER WING
DIRECTOR IRIS MOORE / RUNTIME 9 MIN
Saturday, January 26, 2019 @ 1 pm
One person makes the long and difficult journey towards finding their own beauty. In an attempt to mimic the beauty of others around them, they repeatedly fail when trying to be something they are not. Only when they muster the courage to look inward, do they find what they were looking for all along.
SENSE MEMORY
DIRECTOR JULIE BRUNS / RUNTIME 5 MIN
Friday, January 25, 2019 @ 10 pm
A woman struggles to calm herself in the midst of a panic attack as she processes memories of the moments that have sent her life into a spiral.
SHE'S NOT FUNNY: BREAKING THE MYTH
DIRECTOR TYLER FUNK / RUNTIME 6 MIN
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Saturday, January 26, 2019 @ 7 pm
She's Not Funny is a docu-style series about the triumphs and challenges faced by female stand-up comedians in an industry heavily dominated by men. We follow the nation's top female stand-up comedians as they perform their craft, witnessing their journeys along a one of a kind career path.
SHIRAZ
DIRECTOR NATHANAEL DRAPER / RUNTIME 13 MIN
Friday, January 25, 2019 @ 8 pm
A young Canadian traveling in Iran converses with an older Persian man. While neither speaks the other's language, over the course of an afternoon they find ways to connect. In a current political climate rife with division, Shiraz combines fiction and non-fiction to explore that which unites us.
SHUTTLECOCK
DIRECTOR MELANIE JONES / RUNTIME 18 MIN
Saturday, January 26, 2019 @ 1 pm
Winnie Callaghan puts the bad in badminton. She should have had it all: the medals, the fame, the glory - but an unfortunate accident took all that away. When her former rival announces a charity game at her local club, Winnie will stop at nothing to prove she is a winner. Meanwhile, a young filmmaker hired by her brother captures more than
he bargained for as he documents the seedy underbelly of this seemingly innocent sport.
SILENCE
DIRECTOR JACK SWIKER / RUNTIME 8 MIN
Saturday, January 26, 2019 @ 4 pm
After an accident leaves her without her hearing, a young woman is challenged to accept her disability with the help of her ASL instructor and the support of the hearing impaired community.
THE BUS STOP
DIRECTOR KAMA L. SOOD / RUNTIME 15 MIN
Saturday, January 26, 2019 @ 4 pm
Michelle is a mother and former full-time worker tasked with taking care of her elderly mother, Indira. Indira is suffering from early stages of dementia, which has been progressively getting worse. Now faced with having to put her in a home, Michelle struggles to evaluate her priorities. Revolving around a mixed raced East Indian and Caucasian family, it is a story of family and how we deal with a problem that has no easy solution.
THE DAY DON DIED
DIRECTOR STEVE J. ADAMS, SEAN HORLOR / RUNTIME 14 MIN
Saturday, January 26, 2019 @ 7 pm
Set in a condo community for aging entertainers, The Day Don Died is a short film about gossip, misinformation, and the untimely death of a jazz singer. This feel-good docufiction film blends documentary interviews, musical performances, and true crime vignettes to explore the bizarre events surrounding Don’s death.
THE GARAGE
DIRECTOR DEREK LANGER / RUNTIME 10 MIN
Saturday, January 26, 2019 @ 7 pm
Jack and Elisa sort through boxes in their garage, dredging up more than they bargained for as they examine what to keep and what to throw away.
THE LOGGING ROAD
DIRECTOR DANIEL STARK / RUNTIME 11 MIN
Friday, January 25, 2019 @ 10 pm
Over forty women have been murdered or gone missing on Highway 16, The Highway of Tears. When a young highway officer finds a suspicious vehicle idling down an offshoot logging road, he must overcome his own anxiety and assess the potentially dreadful situation.
THE STEW
DIRECTOR CHRIS WOOD / RUNTIME 9 MIN
Saturday, January 26, 2019 @ 7 pm
A husband and wife stubbornly soldier on through an unhappy marriage, despite the poison their relationship has become. The Stew is an offbeat comedy simmering with passive-aggression and absurdity in a stylized 1970s world, reminding us of a very important lesson: what you put out into the world will always find its way back to you.
THE WHISTLER
DIRECTOR JENNIFER NICOLE STANG / RUNTIME 11 MIN
Friday, January 25, 2019 @ 10 pm
Lindsey is put in charge of babysitting her younger sister Becky one night. She reads her a story called "The Whistler", about a man who leads children to a magical place in the woods where they never have to grow up. Lindsey tells Becky that the real story is more gruesome, but Becky does not buy it and heads off to bed. Lindsey falls asleep, and when she wakes up, she discovers that Becky is gone...
THE WOOD WHISPERER
DIRECTOR AMY HUYNH / RUNTIME 3 MIN
Saturday, January 26, 2019 @ 4 pm
It was never Yusuke Kawakami’s dream to follow in his father’s footsteps and work as a guitar maker. His father worked as a master craftsman for a guitar company in Japan, and when Yusuke was five, that guitar factory became his playground. But as long as he could remember, Yusuke had one dream, to make something of his own, something you cannot find anywhere else. Today, Yusuke makes his own custom guitars, from start to finish.
THE WRESTLER
DIRECTOR MICHAEL CHEN / RUNTIME 12 MIN
Saturday, January 26, 2019 @ 4 pm
Terry plays a masked villain in the wrestling world, however, he wants to be recognized as a good guy, hearing the crowd chant his name. When he asks if he can take off the mask, change his persona and play a good wrestler, the promoter declines. It is then up to Terry to prove to himself that he is more than what the promoter and audience see him as.
TOKYO LOVERS
DIRECTOR MAYUMI YOSHIDA, NACH DUDSDEEMAYTHA / RUNTIME 19 MIN
Saturday, January 26, 2019 @ 1 pm
Hopeless romantic Paul travels across the world for his perfect Christmas vacation in Tokyo with his dream girl Sachiko. However, tragedy strikes and Sachiko disappears. Paul then decides to make the best out of his trip with Sachiko's cynical roommate Aki.
WILLOW
DIRECTOR DAVID COWLES, JEREMY GALANTE / RUNTIME 6 MIN
Saturday, January 26, 2019 @ 7 pm
A young girl finds herself in a surprising situation.
The Vancouver Short Film Festival is run by a staff and board of volunteers who are not compensated, or receive any financial gain, for their time and services to the festival. They are themselves filmmakers and film lovers who donate their time to showcase and celebrate local talent.
Festival awards and prizes are determined by an independent jury of 3 industry professionals who do not work for the festival. Films are selected by our festival programmers based solely on the quality of the film and demands of the festival.