Shuswap actor Darrell Dennis makes his feature debut as writer-director in this Vancouver Island-made caper comedy about the theft of Indigenous artifacts. Steve (Dennis) is a traditional archeologist intent on liberating sacred objects from Western Canadian museum. Enlisting the help of a ragtag bunch of Rez rebels, he gets mixed up with the Russian mafia along the way. Made for a couple of toonies, The Great Salish Heist is a scrappy indie Ocean’s 11 with bags of charm and some authentic things to say about cultural colonialism.

Screening at the VIFF Centre viff.org/whats-on

Pals from the Maritimes, Pete (Doug McGrath) and Joey (Paul Bradley) pack their stuff into an old Chevy and head for the bright lights of the 6ix. But their dreams soon crash into cold reality. They chase women, drink beer. Joey gets a waitress pregnant and they get married, but life doesn’t get any easier… Donald Shebib’s debut feature is a landmark in English-Canadian filmmaking, a naturalistic working class drama that captures its time and place, but which still holds relevance for audiences some 50 years later. Sadly, Don Shebib passed away in November.

Screening at the VIFF Centre viff.org/whats-on

Vancouver filmmaker Mina Shum’s debut feature is very much of a piece with her Meditation Park. A very young and very personable Sandra Oh (in a Genie-winning debut) is Jade, an aspiring actress who makes light of her far-more traditional Hong Kong-emigre parents, but who finds the dual expectations of her harder to reconcile than she might like to admit.

Screening at the VIFF Centre viff.org/whats-on

Sam Beam is a singer-songwriter who has been creating music as Iron & Wine for over a decade. Shot at the Haw River Ballroom in Saxapahaw, North Carolina, the soundtrack features 19 songs recorded live. Initially intended as a live concert release, the film evolved into a visual portrait capturing Beam during a creative outburst that earned him four Grammy nominations in four years.

Screening at the VIFF Centre viff.org/whats-on

In the run up to Vancouver Opera’s production of Bizet’s perennial favourite Carmen, a chance to hear the music in a radically different setting, in the ground-breaking film version of the Oscar Hammerstein’s all-Black Broadway musical. An electrifying Carmen, Dorothy Dandridge became the first African-American to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, and her chemistry with Harry Belafonte in his second film role almost burns a hole in the screen.

Screening at the VIFF Centre viff.org/whats-on

Anabel has a heart problem: it’s just too big for this world. Falling for George, she has her work cut out for her to convince him, and his mum, that she’s his heart’s desire. Julia Lederer’s witty screenplay creates a comfortably numb parallel world just a notch further down the path to digital nirvana than our own. Filmed in Vancouver, Kim Albright’s acclaimed debut strikes a lo-(sci-)fi surrealist vibe reminiscent of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It’s whimsical, unpredictable, and it hits close to home.

Screening at the VIFF Centre viff.org/whats-on

During the chaotic preparations leading up to the birthday party of her terminally ill father, a seven-year-old girl finds herself caught in an adult world which she struggles to comprehend. But as night approaches, she gets a dim but growing sense that her world is about to change irrevocably. Layered with emotional and political resonance, this sophomore feature by rising Mexican director Lila Avilés (The Chambermaid) is truly one-of-a-kind: a Buñuelian class study keyed to the interior life of a child.

Screening at the VIFF Centre viff.org/whats-on