My most anticipated films at VIFF 2025

August 28, 20252009 words

Stella Perry

Film festival season in Canada is creeping in, and I'm so very fortunate that my backyard fest happens to be the Vancouver International Film Festival.

I’ve made many wonderful memories attending VIFF, and now that I’m a more seasoned film festival attendee, I’m looking forward to VIFF even more. And with films from established Canadian auteurs to buzzy big-name attractions to international festival darlings, this might be my favourite lineup of the VIFFs I’ve attended thus far.

With an impressive program of almost 200 titles, I’ve decided to share just a few (quite a few) of my picks with you.

Matt Johnson is my favourite filmmaker of all time. He is perhaps now best known for 2023's tech biopic BlackBerry, which broke him out of Toronto’s indie scene, but Canadian and cult film enthusiasts will know him for his mockumentary-style work such as The Dirties, Operation Avalanche, and his longtime passion project Nirvanna The Band The Show.

Starting as a webseries in the late 2000s and evolving into a legitimate TV series in 2017, Nirvanna The Band The Shows’ current state is one of limbo due to a multitude of complex rights issues. So, with the convoluted history this IP harbours, his latest project being a return to my favourite TV show in the form of a grand time-travelling adventure is no short of a dream come true.

NTBTS (for short) is known for pushing the boundaries of filmmaking, blurring the lines between fiction and reality by interacting with the public, similar to fellow Canadian madman Nathan Fielder. The film has been described as "Borat meets Back to the Future", and a proud piece of Canadiana. A huge hit at SXSW and headed to open TIFFs Midnight Madness program, this won’t be one to miss!

I’ve been highly, HIGHLY, anticipating this movie for the past 2 years now, and I'm counting down the days till I can finally bear witness to Matt and Jay's antics on the big screen.

PS. If you are unaware of the prior hijinks of Matt and Jay in their quest to get a coveted show at the Rivoli, I implore you to check out the 2017 TV series. But if you don’t, this movie guarantees a ridiculous and wonderful experience regardless.

Director Chandler Levack has been a long-time fixture of the Canadian entertainment industry, starting her career in journalism and then breaking into film with her debut feature I Like Movies, which screened at VIFF 2022 and remains one of my favourite Canadian films of all time.

Her sophomore feature takes us to 2011 in a story inspired by her own experiences as a music critic living in Montreal at the time, and is in many ways a spiritual sequel to I Like Movies. The film is jam-packed with talent, starring the likes of Barbie Ferreira (as a stand-in for Levack), Devon Bostick, Stanley Simons, and Vancouver's own Isaiah Lehtinen, who played the starring role in I Like Movies.

Not to mention, the film is produced by Zapruder Films, the company belonging to Matt Johnson and Matt Miller, who awarded Levack a grant for her screenplay all the way back in 2016.

Based on everything I've read on the film, Mile End Kicks is shaping up to be a triumphant follow-up to I Like Movies, and a fun and authentic glimpse into the height of “Indie Sleaze” as it's now remembered, American Apparel Disco shorts and all. Outside my love of film, I'm also quite the music enthusiast, so the elements of Levack's writing and direction married to the element of music in this thing is a major excitement factor.

Canadian filmmaker Grace Glowicki writes, directs and stars in this campy low-budget horror flick along with her real-life husband and filmmaking partner Ben Petrie. The couple both starred in last years The Heirloom- directed by Petrie, which showed at VIFF 2024 and was in my top five films of the year.

Premiering at Sundance earlier this year and soon to be playing TIFFs midnight madness program, I’m thrilled that the next stop for Dead Lover is VIFF 2025.

Described as a satire of the modern era and compared to other films like Nightcrawler and Step Brothers (what a combo!), Our Hero, Balthazar is the debut feature from Oscar Boyson, best known for producing/co-producing the Safdies Good Time and Uncut Gems.

The film tackles the topics of America's gun culture at large, infamy and social media with a pitch-black 90s buddy comedy approach.

I think the casting in this movie is really inspired and cool overall, with Jaeden Martell as a rich private school edgelord (Knives Out flashbacks anyone?) and Asa Butterfield, who is given the opportunity to break out of his past reputation as “timid English boy” in order to portray an internet troll and aspiring school shooter. Seems like it could be in the vein of something like Matt Johnson’s The Dirties, but possibly a bit more mean spirited from the get-go.

As an SCTV fan and a massive comedy fan in general, I was delighted to hear of this comprehensive film documenting the life of one of Canada's proudest exports and one of the funniest and warmest souls in showbiz.

I’m really looking forward to anecdotes from fellow Toronto second city alums like Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara and Marty Short, and less-so looking forward to bawling in my seat for a good chunk of the runtime, which is a guarantee.

Think this one's going to be a huge crowd pleaser at the fest, not to mention the doc already has some buzz being the opening night gala presentation for TIFF this year!

Annapurna Sriram directs and stars in this spiritual, aesthetically ridiculous journey of a cursed sex worker.

The film made waves at its SXSW premiere as well as Fantasia last month, and seems to be universally adored by everyone who’s seen it.

Upon reading articles and seeing phrases like “femme punk freak-out” and “neocamp”, I can't help but be reminded of Sean Price Williams' American odyssey The Sweet East, and the comparisons to John Waters and Greg Araki have me ecstatic.

Radu Jude , director of the 2023 absurdist epic Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World, tackles polarizing issues plaguing the film industry, such as AI through the lens of one of film's greatest horror figures.

This movie's been the victim of many walkouts at festivals, and reviews have been pretty mixed, with some describing its use of AI and sex as lacking nuance. I'm pretty weary of generative AI use in film, but its polarizing reputation, I must say, is very alluring.

Clocking in at 170 minutes, I am no less on the fence for what’s guaranteed will be a wild but possibly tedious ride. However, imagining the energy of the crowd at something like this is very persuasive.

I've been incredibly intrigued by this one since seeing that striking poster with the wedding dress, and that intrigue only skyrocketed when I got around to the trailer.

I’ve attended the two latest Palm D’or winners at VIFF (Anatomy of a Fall and Anora), and both have been some of my favourite movie-going experiences, and I’m extremely confident that It Was Just an Accident (alternately titled A Simple Accident) won’t be any less electrifying among that packed Vancouver Playhouse crowd.

Local filmmaker Brian Daniel Johnson brings his micro-budget Vancouver drama to the biggest screen in town.

Fully self-funded and a real labour of love from our talented filmmaking community here in Vancouver, I truly can’t wait to celebrate my city and this film.

Nastasya Popov directs this over-the-top comedy in the world of contemporary reality television, with a cast that will have your average 20 year old internet girl salivating (Julia Fox, Benito Skinner, Owen Thiele and Gabriette just to name a few).

Seems like it’s very of-the-era, which could go either way with an on the nose/out of touch finger point at gen Z (I’m reminded of Bodies, Bodies, Bodies), or a very fun and realistic time capsule of the mid 2020s, so I guess we will see.

Here it is! Linklater’s infamous Godard biopic in the style of Godards Breathless.

I’m somewhat on the fence of whether I'll find vignettes of famous figures interacting within the French New Wave format endearing or insufferable.

Gimmicky perhaps, divisive among festival attendees, but I'm nonetheless très intrigué.

How lucky are we to get double Glowicki and Petrie at the fest!

Starring with Jason Issacs in this grand drama, it seems like Grace Glowicki and Ben Petrie are stepping out of their microbudget psychological thriller reputation with this one, and I'm eager to see their dynamic unfold in this larger story and production from Dusty Mancinelli and Madeleine Sims-Fewer.

Premiering at Locarno and now headed to VIFF, Vancouver-born actor/filmmaker Bryce Hodgson directs this intense drama with an absolutely insane premise of two teens escaping a treatment centre while high on acid. What's even more crazy is it’s based in truth!

Admittedly, I’m not huge on Alexander Skarsgård, but Harry Melling has been a joy in all I've seen him in, and I'm thrilled to see him in a co-starring role.

When I was first made aware of this film after Cannes, I decided I wanted to try going in as cold as possible, but from what I have ended up reading implies we are in for a very wild ride!

Kelly Reichardt has my attention with this hazy small-time heist movie. And set in 1970? What a dream!

Adored the music in the trailer and the balmy muted filter, created an atmosphere I am looking forward to stewing in.

I’ve been awaiting Alana Haim’s next project ever since she knocked my socks off in Licorice Pizza, and it looks like between this and One Battle After Another I’m being spoiled.

I’m also not the first to point out that O'Connor's look- clad in smart sweaters and collared shirts with a head of gorgeous curls is evocative of a young Elliott Gould. Could this be his Long Goodbye?

Adapted from her memoir chronicling her time as a sex worker, Andrea Werhun stars in this hyper-stylized doc helmed by Nicole Bazuin (who also directed a short film adaptation of Werhuns book).

It’s set to premiere at TIFF next week, so I’m eager to hear peoples thoughts.

Oh! Also has Sean Baker EP-ing by the way…

In the vein of Mean Girls and Jennifer's Body, sprinkled with 2000s teen nostalgia, and told from the perspective of being an immigrant in our country, this debut feature from Ava Maria Safai looks to be an incredibly unique and fun entry into the Canadian film canon.

Noah Baumbach's latest feature about a self-reflecting movie star has been on my radar for quite some time.

My favourite Sandler performance ever is in The Meyerowitz Stories (one of the most underrated movies of the last decade), so I’ve been very much awaiting him and Baumbach's newest collaboration. Not to mention, George Clooney reciting Baumbach dialogue for the first time since Fantastic Mr. Fox.

We are fortunate to be getting Jay Kelly at VIFF, considering it skipping Toronto- Canada's largest fest for whatever reason (which definitely caused a stir!!), so passing up this one would be a wasted opportunity.

Thelma & Louise retold in the context of the systemic issues that face indigenous women in Canada is a fantastic premise.

I still regret not seeing Eva Thomas’ previous feature Aberdeen at TIFF last year, so here's to redeeming myself this time around.

Rian Johnson’s latest chapter of the adventures of Benoit Blanc, this time taking the eccentric detective to New England for a gothic style mystery.

In particular, I'm interested in seeing Thomas Haden Church. So underrated as an actor and so happy he’s featured here.

Can’t wait for the raucous experience of the packed Vancouver Playhouse!

That’s it, as I now have to go curate my schedule- one of my favourite, albeit chaotic, activities. Let me know your VIFF picks and I will see you there!