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Picture of Anne Breaky

Anne Breaky

View All Posts By Author: Anne Breaky
VIFF 2026 Reviews

Daughters of the Late Colonel Short VIFF-2026-3

Title: Daughters of the Late Colonel Foreign Title:  Year: 2026 Countries: United Kingdom and Germany Language: English Director: Elizabeth Hobbs Click here to see the cast and crew Click here to see the awards this film has received The opening scene is of a festive summer day on the neighbouring streets of the Colonel’s house. Looking out of an open window, a peek is all that is allowed for the

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Anne Breaky September 8, 2026
VIFF 2026 Reviews

The Animal Remains Short VIFF-2026-1

Title: The Animal Remains Foreign Title: Zival, ki ostane Year: 2025 Countries: Slovenia, Czech Republic Language: Slovenian Director: Ivana Vogrinc Hovorka Vidali Click here to see the cast and crew Natasa Matjasec’s (Mira) compelling performance ranges from nuanced to visceral in this reminder of the emotional cost on a personal level when trying to deal with a gatekeeping bureaucracy. Our central character, Mira is camping out in the forest with

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Anne Breaky September 6, 2026
VIFF2025 Reviews

Kontinental ’25 Feature VIFF2025-34

Title: Kontinental ’25 Foreign Title:  Year: 2025 Country: Romania Language: In Romanian, Hungarian and German with English subtitles Awards: Director and Writer: Radu Jude Cast: Radu Jude has stepped off a little from his track of outrageous satire to convey this meta story about cultural clash, overpopulation, displacement and the juggernaut of neo-liberalism. The micro perspective of the tale is displayed by a pivotal event experienced by a bailiff, Orsolya

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Anne Breaky October 20, 2025
VIFF2025 Reviews

Hysteria Feature Review VIFF2025-27

Title: Hysteria Foreign Title:  Year: 2025 Country: Germany Language: In German, Turkish, Kurdish, Arabic and English with English subtitles Awards: Director: Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay Cast: This is a carefully crafted, suspenseful film within a film, based on a  media clip.  Director and screenwriter, Mehmet Buyukatalay turns small errors of judgement into devastating outcomes. It is a withering commentary on the fear and misconceptions of the “Other”; on their cultural and

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Anne Breaky October 2, 2025
VIFF2025 Reviews

The Ice Tower Feature Review Viff2025-24

Title: The Ice Tower Foreign Title: La Tour de Glace Year: 2025 Country: France/Germany Language: In French with English subtitles Awards: Director: Lucile Hadzihalilovic Cast: This surreal and moody film by director Lucile Hadzihhalilovic, set in the mountainous Hautes-Alpes region of France in 1973, takes on some of the markers of an old fashioned fairy tale. The wandering protagonist is without a strong parental connection, has acquired some magical protection,

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Anne Breaky October 1, 2025
VIFF2025 Reviews

Orphan Feature Review VIFF2025-21

Title: Orphan Foreign Title: Arva Year: 2025 Country: Hungary/France/Germany/UK Language: In Hungarian with English subtitles Awards: Director: László Nemes(II) Full Cast & Crew: This period piece starts in 1949, when a shy and frightened 5-year-old child (Andor), is being reclaimed by a mother (Klara) who left him as an infant in a children’s home. The children’s home is being closed in keeping with the new communist government’s policy to send

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Anne Breaky September 30, 2025
VIFF2025 Reviews

Samba Infinito Shorts Review VIFF2025-9

Title: Sambo Infinito Foreign Title:  Year: 2024 Country: Brazil/France Language: In Portuguese with English subtitles Awards: Director: Leonardo Martinelli Cast: Rio’s carnival is a five night yearly festival; celebrating a time of magical fantasy played out by colourful and magnificent costumes, street dancing, samba parades and spontaneous street music. With a clever script, marvellous music and dancing the revellers and the audience enter a different world for the night. One

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Anne Breaky September 22, 2025
VIFF2025 Reviews

Death of the Fish Shorts Review VIFF2025-8

Title: Death of the Fish Foreign Title: La Mort du Poisson Year: 2025 Country: France Language: No Dialogue Awards: Director: Eva Lusbaronian Credits: A quote often attributed to Victor Hugo says “Music expresses that which can not be said and on which it is impossible to be silent”; the music and choreography in this film demonstrates how dance and movement work together to express emotions which otherwise are impossible to

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Anne Breaky September 21, 2025
VIFF2025 Reviews

Loynes Shorts Review VIFF2025-4

Title: Loynes Year: 2025 Country: Belgium Language: In English and French with English Subtitles Awards Cast Director: Dorian Jespers The opening scenes of this film take the audience for a wild ride through a continuous, tunneling and chaotic windstorm with no linear direction. The eternal nature of this otherworldly scene is emphasised by the soundscape (created by Thomas Becka, Leo Caresio, Raf Enckels and Zakhar Semirkhanov) and the cinematography of Arnaud

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Anne Breaky September 21, 2025
VIFF2025 Reviews

Thanks to Meet You! Shorts Review VIFF2025-3

Title: Thanks to Meet You! Year: 2025 Country: U.K. Language: English Awards  Director Cast: From producers Richard Hunter and Frederica Schivello comes this humorous sneak peek into the self-made outcome of five “yes” men. These shallow and hollow people have found themselves in the centre of a dance floor in an empty nightclub. Given the nature of the characters or lack of character of these people, the Director, Richard Hunter,

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Anne Breaky September 21, 2025
Archived Blogs VIFF Reviews

Shambhala Feature VIFF2024-30

This remarkable film by Min Bahadur Bham, director and co-author Abinash Bikram Shah, stunningly shot through the craft and skill of the most amazing cinematographer Aziz Zhambakiev, presents an iconic and transcendent story as old as The Ramayana’s tale of Rama and Sita. Entirely shot in the Himalaya Mountains, where the air is so thin only brush can grow. The attentive and thoughtful camerawork by Aziz Zhambakiev makes every scene

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Anne Breaky October 15, 2024
VIFF2024 Reviews

Grand Theft Hamlet Feature VIFF2024-28

“All the world’s a stage….” and apparently, all worlds have stages.

The documentary, Grand Theft Hamlet, from Sam Crane, Pinny Grylls and Mark Oosterveen drops into the fictional world of Los Santos, a city in Rockstar’s online game Grand Theft Auto. (GTA). This is a flexible open world gaming platform, which allows for innovativeness and customization of the gamer’s individual goals and missions.
The overarching theme of the game

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Anne Breaky October 12, 2024
VIFF2024 Reviews

Black Dog Feature Review VIFF2024-26

“Bao” has many meanings. One meaning is to protect and defend and another is return, revenge and reciprocity. Both underscore the motivations of the characters in this story.

This is the story of one man’s struggle to redeem his family’s honour and himself in order to restore balance in his life. Guan Hu (writer and director) sets the stage on which to play out this tale in a crumbling, decaying

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Anne Breaky October 9, 2024
VIFF2024 Reviews

Hakki Feature Review VIFF2024-11

The Eastern Mediterranean has been a source of many cautionary tales over the course of history, dating from before Aesop to the present day. The director of Hakki, Hikmet Kerem Ozcan, brings us another one.

Hakki is a man who has lived a seemingly well-balanced life in a small village off the Aegean Sea. He is now middle-aged with good friends and a happy and loving family. He supports his

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Anne Breaky October 3, 2024
VIFF2024 Reviews

Fishmonger Shorts Review VIFF2024-4

Writer/Director Neil Ferron along with co-author Alexandra Dennis-Renner bring “Fishmonger”, a dark comedic Irish tale to the screen.A masterly use of light, supported with skillful camera angles and composition by cinematographer Jack McDonald, creates an atmosphere of otherworldliness.
The audience follows along the wavering path of Christie ( The Christian) O’ Mallaghan as he stumbles between the horns of a dilemma. He is devoted to his overly close Mother,

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Anne Breaky September 30, 2024
VIFF2024 Reviews

Bright White Lights Shorts Review VIFF2024-5

Montaigne, in the 16th century, wrote that he would never fear death again. He was unconscious after he was thrown off his horse.

Filmakers, Henna Valky and Essu Lehtole, have interwoven animated visuals with first person narratives to illustrate, that whihch can not be described; near death experiences. Or, as Dr. Joseph Geraci states in the film “ encounters with death”.

The subjects represent a wide cross-section of ages, backgrounds

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Anne Breaky September 30, 2024