VIFF will also screen Crabs! by Pierce Berilzheimer, which brings together Dylan Riley Snyder, Allie Jennings, and Jessica Morris, among others, in an astonishingly scary horror film featuring the invasion of a sleepy coastal town by murderous crab monsters during prom night.
Another film to watch will be Brett Smith’s Freedom Path is about an escape and the rescue of a Union soldier (Gerran Howell) helped by a brave Black man (RJ Cyler) who takes him to his community of free slaves running a portion of the Underground Railroad, and tries to hide from a ruthless slave catcher (Ewen Bremner). A profoundly moving and emotional film warmly praised by other festival audiences, with many describing it as a “must-watch” or even perceiving awards potential.
An exciting film at VIFF is the winner of the Founders Award for Best U.S. Narrative Feature at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, Good Girl Jane by Sarah Elizabeth Mintz features the award-winning actress Rain Spencer (Best Performance, Tribeca) as a lonely young girl who falls in love with a drug dealer in her desperate quest for intimacy, entangling her in his fellow LA teens’ meth ring.
I Love My Dad
Inspired by writer, director, and star James Morosini’s true life experiences, I Love My Dad follows Chuck (Patton Oswalt), who desperately wants to reconnect with his estranged, depressive son, Franklin (Morosini). Blocked on social media, Chuck impersonates a waitress (Claudia Sulewski) online and starts checking in with Franklin, who falls in love with this imaginary girl and yearns to meet her in person. The SXSW 2022 Grand Jury and Audience Award winner will also be on the VIFF screen.
In Katherine Dudas’ Juniper, Mack (Madison Lawlor) attempts to connect spiritually with her recently deceased sister by escaping to her family’s rustic cabin. But Mack’s type-A childhood bestie, Alex (Decker Sadowski), crashes her private grief retreat with her own offbeat friend, Dylan (Olivia Blue). Alex attempts to bond with an increasingly resentful Mack, and tensions mount as Dylan’s true feelings for Alex begin to show. Another Santa Barbara debut, Juniper is “a solid entry into the mumblecore genre…thoroughly a female-centered [and created] film” (Film Threat). Juniper is a must-see at VIFF.
Set against the isolation of the first COVID lockdown, Traveling Light tells the story of Caddy (Tony Todd), an Uber driver searching for his son who has been missing on the streets. Instead, he crosses paths with Harry (Danny Huston), a cult leader holding a bizarre ceremony on Mulholland Drive where Todd (Stephen Dorff) and Mary (Olivia d’Abo) are serving as acolytes. Directed by Bernard Rose (Candyman, Immortal Beloved) and executive produced by Oscarâ nominee and Seattle native S. Leigh Savidge (Straight Outta Compton), this unique film is an equally funny and frightening satire of bourgeoisie life and the irreverent madness of the pandemic, and a close-to-home film director for VIFF.
After learning that their best friend Wes Schlagenhauf is Dying, filmmakers Parker Seaman and Devin Das decide to document their journey to see Wes one last time, all in the name of Hollywood success. A mockumentary film about filmmaking during the pandemic will have VIFF audiences cackling.
Buffalo Soldiers
VIFF documentaries include the beautifully directed doc (Dru Holley) Buffalo Soldiers: Fighting on Two Fronts, which explores the often-contradictory role played by Black soldiers throughout American history, with particular emphasis on the settling of the American West and colonialism abroad. Fresh off the heels of its world premiere at the Seattle International Film Festival, Josiah Teal writes, “one cannot help but acknowledge its sheer historical value.” (Film Threat).
And one more documentary at VIFF is when a wild tiger kills men who enter his territory in Warren Pereira’s Tiger 24: The Making of a Man-Eater, he is declared a man-eater and locked up in a zoo. This galvanizes massive social uproar, and activists take their cause to the streets, online, and to the Indian Supreme Court. Living between nature and true crime documentary, the film “… is a compelling and dramatic story for animal lovers and fans of crime procedurals” (Film Threat).
