VIFF will screen seven narrative and five documentary features (all Pacific Northwest premieres unless otherwise noted). The narrative features include:
Director Vincent Grashaw’s Bang Bang, starring Tim Blake Nelson (Watchmen, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, O Brother, Where Art Thou?) as Bernard “Bang Bang” Rozyski, an eccentric retired pugilist obsessed with rectifying the sins of his past, is fresh off its World Premiere at Tribeca 2024, where it was hailed as “the most satisfying movie at [the festival]” and “a career highlight from Tim Blake Nelson” (Awards Radar).
Director Guan Hu’s Black Dog (North American Premiere), Un Certain Regard Award and Palm Dog Grand Jury Prize Winner at Cannes 2024, takes place on the edge of the Gobi Desert in Northwest China, as Lang (Eddie Peng) returns to his hometown after being released from jail. While working for the local dog patrol team, led by Uncle Yao (Jia Zhang-Ke), that is clearing the town of stray dogs before the Beijing Olympics. He strikes an unlikely connection with a black dog (Xiaoxin), and the two lonely outcasts find purpose in each other.
Director Brendan Gabriel Murphy’s Fluxx, Grand Jury Prize Award Winner for Best Feature Film at Malibu Film Festival 2024, follows famed actress Vada Pierce (Shelley Hennig) after she inexplicably awakens in her bathtub with no memory of the prior events. She discovers that her home has been ransacked and her husband (Shiloh Fernandez) is missing, but whenever she tries to leave the house, she finds herself back in the bathtub. Desperate for answers, she must race against time to discover the truth of her circumstances. The film also stars Henry Ian Cusick, Charlotte McKinney, and Tyrese Gibson.
Director Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw the TV Glow, Audience Award Winner for Best American Feature Film at Champs-Élysées Film Festival 2024 and Seattle Film Critics Society Feature Film Award Winner at Seattle International Film Festival 2024, is a once-in-a-generation horror praised as “the best film of 2024, if not the decade” (Movie Marker). Teenage Owen (Justice Smith) is trying to make it through life in the suburbs when classmate Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine) introduces him to a mysterious late-night TV show—a vision of a supernatural world beneath their own. In the pale glow of the television, Owen’s view of reality begins to crack.
Director Nicholas Colia’s Griffin in Summer swept the Tribeca Film Festival in June with top awards for Best U.S. Narrative Feature (Founder’s Award), Best Screenplay, and Best New Narrative Director. Fourteen-year-old Griffin Nafly (Everett Blunck) embarks on an unforgettable summer. While the other kids let loose over summer vacation, he seriously considers putting on a dramatic new play. But when Griffin’s tween collaborator (Abby Ryder Forston) gets distracted by the more trivial pursuits of camp and boys, his attention drifts, and he becomes increasingly smitten with kindred spirit Brad (Owen Teague), the zoned-out handyman and failed performance artist hired by his mother (Melanie Lynskey).
