This week at Vancity Theatre, we are featuring a doc-heavy lineup with some guest speakers you won’t want to miss, all leading up to this Sunday’s Anime Day. Check out this week’s trailers below, and visit viff.org for showtimes and tickets.
June 26
For the Inuit, there is Inuit Nunangat – the four northerly territories – and then there is the fifth region, where most of the settlers live. Southern Canada is now home to approx 30 percent of their own. This doc follows artist Niap and Torontomiutaujugut co-founder Joshua Stribbell, two Inuit raised in the fifth region under the shadow of the Sixties Scoop, and still working to reconcile their identity, heritage, upbringing and experience. This screening, co-presented with the Marion Scott Gallery, will be preceded by the short film Urban Inuk (6 min) and followed by a discussion with guests Glenn Gear, Maureen Gruben, Emily Henderson, and Joshua Stribbel.
This screening, co-presented with the Marion Scott Gallery, will be preceded by the short film Urban Inuk (6 min) and followed by a discussion with guests Glenn Gear, Maureen Gruben, Emily Henderson, and Joshua Stribbel.

June 27
Artifishal is a film about people, rivers, and the fight for the future of wild fish and the environment that supports them. It explores wild salmon’s slide toward extinction, threats posed by fish hatcheries and fish farms, and our continued loss of faith in nature. This free screening will be followed by a conversation with the leading advocate for wild salmon, scientist Alexandra Morton.
June 28 – July 4
Man’s best friend gets a turn in the spotlight in this loving tribute to the deep bonds forged between service dogs and their human charges. Renowned documentary filmmaker Heddy Honigmann looks at six such relationships, including ex soldiers suffering from PTSD, the partially sighted, and a young man on the spectrum. The rapport between them is a joy to behold. Buddy is an ode to the fighting spirit we find in fragile bodies, and the intelligence, devotion and care of the canines who care for them.
June 28 – July 4
This gorgeous, breathtaking movie from your next favourite filmmaker, Bi Gan (Kaili Blues), dives deep into the hallucinatory hinterlands where cinema and consciousness intermingle, to create something uniquely memorable, keenly felt and intangibly alive. An oneiric detective story about a man looking for a woman in a green dress, the movie ultimately abandons rationalism and plunges into the most unforgettable single take in film history.