Our Sponsored Films VIFF2026 Yellow Letters – Gelbe Briefe The Diary of a Chambermaid – Le journal d’une femme de chambre Golden Bear, Berlinale 2026 Canadian Premiere Director and Writer: İlker Çatak Full Cast and Crew: Country of Origin: Germany, France ,Turkey Language: In Turkish with English subtitles Filming locations: Berlin, Germany AWARDS
Title: Numakage Public Pool Foreign Title: Same Year: 2025 Country: Japan Language: Japanese Subtitles English Director: Shingo Ôta Trailer: This wonderful, but sad, documentary directed by Shinga Ota is not the first Japanese film I have seen of district redevelopments in Japan. However, it is unique in how this magnificent pool and site nicknamed “the ocean” in Tokyo’s Numakage neighborhood, affected the local community that it served. We encounter the surprising
Vancouver Foreign Film Society is excited to be a Community Sponsor with DOXA2026 As a Community Partner we are sponsoring 2 documentary films at this year’s festival. We will also provide a review of each of our sponsored films Numakage Public Pool North American Premiere Saturday May 2nd VIFF Centre 5:00PM Year: 2025 Running Time: 80 mins Country : Japan Language: Japanese with
Title: Snake Year: 2024 Country: South Africa Language: Afrikaans with English subtitles Director: Meg Rickards Review & Awards: Cast: Trailer: This thriller is based on a novel” Snake” by Tracey Farren. It is a good story with a remarkable performance by the lead role of nine-year-old Lamiyah Barnard as Stella. It has emotional depth, and the full power of storytelling to make its way to some International Film Festivals films
Title: Night Train Year: 2024 Country: South Africa Language: Zulu with English Subtitles Director: Kevin Harris Cast: Rudi Keyser(editor) Trailer: A documentary that brings to light the dark side of the “iron road” – the railway line built by President Paul Kruger from Johannesburg to Lorenzo Marques in 1894 – and the “night trains” that ferried some 5 million Mozambican migrant workers between 1901 & the 1960s to work the
Title: I Did Not Ask for This Year: 2023 Country: South africa Language: Zulu with English Subtitles Director: Lunga Matholeni Cast and Crew: Tsakani Motshweni (Actor & Narrator Unathi Mahlati, Doreen Gaura, Prince Nare (Producers) Trailer: This film about Tsakani Motshweni is extremely hard to watch as he describes his difficult childhood and juvenile crime of shoplifting and gang violence, resulting in imprisonment more than once in juvenile prison. Younger
Title: Mbira Talks Year: 2025 Country: Zimbabwe, Canada Language: English and Shona with English Subtitles Director: Adrienne Amato Full Cast and Crew: Moyo Rainos Mutamba, Adrienne Amato (producer) | Ryan Noth (producer, Editor), Tess Girard (Cinematographor) Trailer More about the Film Mbira Talks follows the story of Moyo Rainos Mutamba’s migration from rural Zimbabwe to Toronto, Canada. Suspended between two worlds, he reconnects with his Indigeneity through playing Mbira, a sacred Zimbabwean musical instrument
Title: Illusion of Distance Year: 2024 Country: South Africa Language: Afrikaans with English Subtitles , English Director: Sapho Wulana Awards: None Cast: None Trailer: None The Illusion of Distance delves into the enduring effects of apartheid. Boeta Allie, an 80-year-old man who was classified as coloured by the Apartheid government was separated from his childhood friend Isaac Mbenyane who was classified as black. The two were inseparable as children while
Title: Legacy: Apartheid’s Shadow Year: 2024 Country: South Africa Language: English Director: Tara Erica Moore Awards: Full Cast and Crew: Trailer: Director’s Interview with Variety: Apartheid may have fallen, but its shadow still lingers. A definitive documentary on one of history’s most brutal regimes, revealing how its dark legacy continues to shape the nation today. Thirty years after the fall of apartheid, South Africa remains the most unequal country
Title: The Voice of Others (La voix des autres) Year: 2023 Country: France Language: Arabic, French with English Subtitles Director: Fatima Kaci Awards: Cast: Trailer: Rim is a Tunisian interpreter working in France on asylum procedures. Every day, she translates the stories of exiled men and women, whose voices raise questions about her own history. She has a daughter, but cannot locate her husband What I found so interesting in
Title: Wild Coast Warriors Year: 2024 Country: South Africa Language: Xhosa, Zula, with English and English subtitles Directors: Nick Chevallier, Leigh Wood, Guido Zanghi Awards: Trailer: Review1: Reviews 2 Synopsis For centuries, indigenous people have lived sustainably on South Africa’s Wild Coast. In this documentary about a court case against Shell, these communities succeeded in halting oil and gas exploration, winning ongoing protection for their ocean ,surrounding areas and their
Title: The Wait Year: 2023 Country: South Africa Language: Xhosa, Afrikaans with English subtitles Director: Imran Hamdulay Awards: Cast: Siya Mayola, Cedwyn Joel, Ayden Croy Crew: Imran Hamdulay, Khosie Dali (Producers) David Leite, Karla Peetz, Brad Bickerton, Mandla Dube (Executive Producers) Jared Paisley (Cinematographer:) Trailer: I have had my car broken into, more than once, while returning to Johannesburg. It is a normal occurrence and always a long wait
Title: Old Righteous Blues Year: 2024 Country: South Africa Language: Afrikaans with English Subtitles Director: Muneera Sallies Awards: Full Cast and Crew: Trailer: Old Righteous Blues is a wonderful drama about a bitter rivalry in the Cape Malay community that happened some 20 years ago and threatens to affect future generations if not resolved. Hantjie Jansen, an ambitious young musician hopes to become the major drum leader in the Old
Title: The Friendship Bench Year: 2024 Country: Zimbabwe Language: English, Shona with English Subtitles Director: Reabetswe Moeti-Vogt Awards: AWARDS SAGE Encounters Refinery Best Edited Film Award | Encounters Film Festival (World Premiere) Best Documentary for South Africa | SOTAMBE Zambia International Film Festival (ZAMIFF) Full Cast and Crew: Trailer: It is hard to believe that Zimbabwe only has about 10 psychiatrists. Luckily there was one by the name of Dr. Dixon Chibanda who
Title: Snake Year: 2024 Country: South Africa Language: Afrikaans with English subtitles Director: Meg Rickards Review & Awards: Cast: Trailer: This thriller is based on a novel” Snake” by Tracey Farren. It is a good story with a remarkable performance by the lead role of nine-year-old Lamiyah Barnard as Stella. It has emotional depth, and the full power of storytelling to make its way to some International Film Festivals films
Title: Diary of an Elephant Orphan Year: 2024 Country: South Africa Language: English and afrikaans with English subtitles Director: Hermien Roelvert Awards: Trailer: Diary of an Elephant Orphan takes us through the struggles and turmoil’ of orphaned baby elephants and the people who have made it their life’s mission to save them. Khanyisa is the newest addition to the elephant sanctuary. It was filmed close to the Greater Kruger National
Title: Don’t Be late For My Funeral Year: 2023 Country: South Africa Language: English Director: Diana Keam Awards: Full Cast and Crew: Trailer: Most South Africans had maids labelled nannies in their households during the Apartheid era. Sometimes more than 1 depending on how many young children there were. Many of our mothers worked in our early years and our maids would be responsible for taking care of us, through
Title: Capturing Water Year: 2024 Country: South Africa Language: Afrikaans and English with English Sub Titles Directors: Rehad Desai, Anita Khanna Review by Modern Times (:Bianca-Olivia Nita ) Cast: Trailer: This 80-minute documentary film, influenced by the 2018 drought in South Africa’s Western Cape Region is an eye opener to the state of the water crisis in Cape Town, reputed to be the best managed city in South Africa. In
Title: Falls Around Her Year: 2018 Country: Canada Language: English Director and Writer: Darlene Naponse Awards Tantoo Cardinal: Cast: Trailer: This film begins with a world famous First Nations Anishinaabe singer named Mary Birchbark getting ready to go on stage. Mary is played by a well-known musician and actress, Tantoo Cardinal also known for her roles in” Killers of the Flower Moon” and “Dances with Wolves”. She is a member
Movie Title: The Showerhead Year: 2024 Country: South Africa, Language: In English Director and Screenplay: Craig Tanner Producers: Craig Tanner, Anant Singh Awards: Not publicised at the time Cast: Jonathan Shapiro, Mondli Makhanya, Zwelinzima Vavi, Ronnie Kasrils, Ferial Haffejee,bMarcello Maffeis (Cinematographer) Trailer: What an entertaining night we had at the opening screening of SAFF2025 at SFU Goldcorp Centre in Vancouver. The film superbly directed and scripted by Craig Tanner introduces
Title: How To Build A Library Foreign Title: Year: 2025 Country: Kenya Language: In English and Swahili with English subtitles Awards: Directors: Christopher King, Maia Lekow Cast: Having grown up in South Africa I can understand how difficult it is for most African countries that were part of the commonwealth and became independent, to completely breakaway from the shackles of colonization. This wonderful documentary takes us through a journey made
Title: Saikai Paradise Foreign Title: 西海楽園 Year: 2025 Country: Japan Language: In Japanese with English subtitles Awards: Director and Credits: Keiko Tsuruoka Cast: Kazunari Yanagitani, Misaki Kinoshita, Hiroki Uehara, Hiroyuki Nagami, Shota Tashima, Mayumi Yanagitani Having enjoyed Tsugaru Lacquer Girl at VIFF in 2023, I was looking forward to reviewing Keiko Tsuruoka’s new film at this year’s festival. I admired her strong focus on attention to detail and focus on the
Movie Title: Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight Year: 2024 Country: South Africa, Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) Language: In English and Shona with English Subtitles Director and Screenplay : Embeth Davidtz Script: based on Alexandra Fullers book Awards: 1 win & 3 nominations Trailer: I was still in South Africa in 1965 during the white minority government’s Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) in 1965 that led to a lengthy conflict known
This film takes us through a journey of one of the greatest ultra-marathon races of all time, and one of the oldest. The 100th anniversary was celebrated in 2021. it has grown to an average of 15,000 participants each year. The film is based on the 2022 Marathon with 13,000 runners. The race alternates each year from Pietermaritzburg – Durban and vice versa. Since Durban is at the coast and
Movie Title Shorts PACKAGE 2 Shorts Package 2 Bernie Director: Dian Weys Year: 2022 Runtime: 7 minutes Language: Afrikaans, English Country: South Africa A 10 km race has been organized that will go through an area where the homeless spend their time resting or sleeping and a race official is appointed to ensure the area is free for the runners to come through. Bergie, a law enforcement officer is to assist
George Bizos 1927-2020
Having left South Africa in 1975, I knew of George Bizos. I knew that he was Nelson Mandela’s Lawyer and involved in working with Bram Fischer in the Rivonia Trials in 1963, but I was not aware of his closeness with the Mandela family, looking after the family needs, and the children, while Nelson was in prison.
In 1950 he completed his law degree at
If you have never been to Cape Town, South Africa, you are in for a treat. The Umbrella Men is filmed in an area previously called District 6, a mixed residential area close to the city centre. The area was once known for its lively community, many cultures, and music. It changed because of segregation and became dilapidated, but today it is once again a thriving community revitalized with multi
As our sponsored film, I was pleasantly surprised with the script, the quality of the acting and the background to the story of Death of a Whistleblower. Having watched the trailer, I was interested in finding an interview with TIFF and Director Ian Gabriel, and some of the cast. I think Ian has created a remarkable film, exposing where South Africa is today in terms of post-Apartheid and the outcome
MUSIC IS MY LIFE is an epic film created over several years covering the life of singer and founder of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Dr Josef Shabalala. It encompasses his life, from his early years in rural South Africa as a farmhand at the age 6 with almost no schooling to the height of his global success and his passing in 2020 at the age of 79. The film speaks to
Having received a recommendation on “Julie Keeps Quiet” for one of our society’s sponsored films, I did some research to find out how realistic a film like this could be. I was intrigued and cautious about the subject matter. I am an avid tennis player and have played tournaments both in my birth country (South Africa) and across Canada. There have been several cases in both the amateur and professional
As a Community Partner with 2 sponsored films at VIFF, I was very pleased to choose “Marco, The Invented Truth” as one of these screened at VIFF 2024. I had based my choice on directors Aitor Arregi and Jon Garaño’s previous film “The Endless Trench” which played on Netflix during Covid and which I was fortunate see at that time.
Not only was I pleased that the film had
Vancouver Foreign Film Society Co Presents Call me Dancer A film by Pip Gilmour, Leslie Shampaine WATCH TRAILER Manish Chauhan, a talented, self-taught acrobatic street dancer from Mumbai, hungers for a career as a professional dancer– but with a scarcity of paying opportunities, the odds are stacked against him. While his parents expect him to study for an MBA in pursuit of an office job, Manish seeks out lessons, in
Still Time to watch these recommended Virtual Films before midnight On Sunday 12th If you have not already done so!
FAR FROM THE TREE Reviewed by Lisa Naiberg Far From the Tree Country – Czech Republic This study of a middle-aged woman’s struggle to survive in bleak circumstances also portrays her fractured relationship with her rebellious teen daughter. The title appears ironic, as the daughter – who finds her ambition thwarted – may have more traits in common with her mother than she realizes. The two discover a bond through
UNDERCURRENT Reviewed by Lisa Naiberg Undercurrent Rikiya Imaizumi has fashioned a leisurely paced, beautifully filmed and finely acted drama that offers a profound meditation on our perception of ourselves and others, and on identity, memory, suppressed guilt and grief. The opening screen displays two definitions of the title word, overtly setting the stage for a psychological chronicle. Yet Undercurrent’s haunting poetic imagery, narrative surprises, and masterful camerawork − allowing viewers