5 Films Not to Be Missed at the Vancouver International Film Festival

Still from Nouvelle Vague directed by Richard Linklater.

The Vancouver International Film Festival returns with its 44th edition, running from October 2 to October 12. This year has over 435 screenings and features VIFF Talks with top industry creatives, VIFF Live performances, and the immersive Signals Creative Tech Expo. Notably, the festival will also present prominent 2025 Cannes films. With such a dynamic and far-reaching program, here are five films that stand out from this year’s VIFF slate.

No Other Choice directed by Park Chan-wook (South Korea)

Park Chan-wook, who last appeared at VIFF in 2022 with Decision to Leave, returns with No Other Choice, an adaptation of Donald E. Westlake’s 1997 novel The Ax (also adapted by Costa-Gavras in 2005). The film received an eight-minute standing ovation at its Venice premiere and is among this year’s most anticipated titles. The story follows Man-soo (Lee Byung-hun), a paper mill employee abruptly laid off after two decades. As his debts rise and he’s unable to provide for his family, Man-soo hatches a plan to take out his rivals. A thriller with a satirical mean streak, No Other Choice will surely fit in with Park’s penchant for revenge tales, namely his legendary The Vengeance Trilogy.

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Nouvelle Vague directed by Richard Linklater (France)

Richard Linklater’s love of the French New Wave is no secret, with his beloved The Before Trilogy owing a debt to one of the movement’s key figures, Éric Rohmer. Opening this year’s VIFF is Nouvelle Vague, an adoring tribute to another French auteur: Jean-Luc Godard. The black-and-white film, shot in a 4:3 aspect ratio, chronicles the making of Godard’s now-iconic 1960 debut, Breathless. A cinephile’s bingo card of the New Wave’s who’s-who stars Guillaume Marbeck as Godard, Zoey Deutch as Jean Seberg, and Aubry Dullin as Jean-Paul Belmondo. Other notable figures brought to the screen include François Truffaut, Claude Chabrol, Agnès Varda, Jacques Rivette, and Rohmer. Nouvelle Vague is clearly a labour of love for the Texas-born director, and his infectious energy makes it a fitting curtain-raiser for a festival that celebrates the magic of filmmaking itself.

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Sirât directed by Óliver Laxe (Spain/France)

A sensory experience that demands to be seen on the big screen, Óliver Laxe’s fourth feature film, Sirât, is a gripping road movie said to echo Mad Max, Zabriskie Point, and Sorcerer. Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival (where it won the Jury Prize, shared with Sound of Falling), the film has been praised for its bold sound design and intense electronic score by Kangding Ray, who also took home the Cannes Soundtrack award. Sirât drops audiences in the middle of a rave community in the Moroccan desert, where Luis (Sergi López), his son Esteban (Bruno Núñez Arjona), and their dog Pipa are frantically searching for Luis’s missing daughter. As the family ventures deeper into the hedonistic landscape, Luis is forced to confront his past as looming threats close in. The film’s title refers to a bridge in Islamic belief that spans the chasm between this world and the afterlife, one that only the virtuous can cross. Will Luis make it to the other side?

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Left-Handed Girl directed by Shih-Ching Tsou (Taiwan/France/USA/U.K.)

Taiwan’s entry for the 98th Academy Awards comes via Left-Handed Girl, the solo directorial debut of Shih Ching Tsou. For over two decades, Tsou has been a key collaborator on many of Oscar-winning filmmaker Sean Baker’s projects, taking on roles ranging from co-director (Take Out) to producer, co-writer, and costume designer. Here, the pair reunite as co-writers and co-producers, with Baker also serving as editor. The film follows Shu-Fen (Janel Tsai), a single mother recently returned to Taipei with her two daughters: teenage I-Ann (Shi-Yuan Ma) and five-year-old I-Jing (Nina Ye). As Shu-Fen opens a noodle shop in a night market and works tirelessly to provide for her family, she fails to notice that her youngest daughter has developed a shoplifting habit. Shot on an iPhone (much like Baker’s Tangerine), Left-Handed Girl is a visually vibrant portrait of a scrappy family and the tender bonds that hold them together.

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Sound of Falling directed by Mascha Schilinski (Germany)

Spanning a century, Sound of Falling centres on a German farmhouse beside the Elbe, and four girls who call it home: Alma (Hanna Heckt), Erika (Lea Drinda), Angelika (Lena Urzendowsky), and Lenka (Laini Geiseler)—each from a different time period. Director Mascha Schilinski and co-writer Louise Peter found the story’s seed at the very farm featured in the film, while staying in Germany’s Altmark region. After discovering a haunting photograph of three women in the farmyard, their fascination with the idea of time periods bleeding together took flight. Both expansive and intimate, this Cannes Jury Prize winner unfolds in a nonlinear fashion, tracing the transgenerational imprint of violence and survival as it reverberates across time.

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