The Vic Theatre - Victoria Film Festival

Victoria Film Festival 2023 Awards

It was incredible

The Eight Mountains

Over the next 20 years, the two fade in and out of each other’s lives until a tragedy reunites them as grown men. Pietro begins to realize that Bruno is deeply intertwined with not only his family, but also his aspirations. With nothing to do over the summer, Bruno suggests they rebuild a dilapidated Alpine shack that holds special significance to their past, and the two only become further entangled in each other’s lives. With Pietro born a city boy and Bruno having spent his life working in the mountains, the two contend with one another, all the while helping each other through the turbulences of life.

Viking

The Viking Society is recruiting volunteers to collaborate on the first manned mission to Mars. The goal is to form a B-team of alter egos who will live the adventure in parallel, behind closed doors on Earth, in the hope of remotely solving the interpersonal problems encountered by the five real astronauts who will soon land on the red planet. The film tells the story of how David, a physical education teacher, seizes this opportunity to rekindle his dream of becoming an astronaut and perhaps make a difference. Somewhere between unlikely science fiction and modern allegory, Viking is a dramatic comedy about the gap between our aspirations and reality.

I Like Movies

Lawrence Kweller (Isaiah Lehtinen) loves movies. His encyclopedic film knowledge and Saturday Night Live viewing rituals are both a path to escapism and a point of pride. He’s still in high school, but is unreasonably confident his fate is to emulate his indie-filmmaking heroes and attend NYU’s film school. Lawrence can imagine nothing worse than remaining stuck in his suburban life, going to a local university and being deemed a ‘Canadian’ director.

My Name is Arnold

A Korean-Canadian boy struggles adapting to his new life after moving with his single mother to a small, rural BC Community in the early 1990’s.

Sam Now

Super 8, superheroes, a 2,000-mile road trip, and two brothers on a quest for answers. This is the journey that unfolds when filmmaker Reed Harkness asks his half-brother Sam to solve the mystery of Sam’s mother’s disappearance. Filmed over the expanse of 25 years, Sam and Reed delve unflinchingly into the trauma of Sam’s mother having left him in his most formative years of life.

The Temple

The crew of a German U-boat on a mission in the North Atlantic witness strange phenomena on board. After an inexplicable explosion in the engine room, the submarine slowly sinks to the abyssal depths, while madness decimates the submariners in this animated adaptation H.P Lovecraft.

Bones Of Crows

Bones of Crows, from Writer/Director Marie Clements, is a monumental and harrowing work that crosses time and space through the eyes of Cree matriarch Aline Spears (played at different points in her life by Grace Dove, Carla-Rae and Summer Testawich.) The film is a story of triumph over the devastating ruptures caused by varied forms of Colonial violence towards a Cree family. We follow Aline from childhood surviving Residential School, to adulthood where she becomes a Cree Code talker during World War 1 and then she becomes a mother herself. She is often confronted with cruel and haunting memories of her past, while still working to heal and fight against the systems that remain in place in the present day. Bones of Crows does not shy away from the realities of the church/state agenda, but through the lead character and her family we are reminded of the strength and resilience Indigenous People have shown in the face of attempted systemic erasure enacted by the government and the church. - BHC

Driving Madeleine

Frustrated and stretched thin, Charles is a Paris cab driver who honks with impatience when he arrives at Madeleine’s home to pick her up. At 92, she’s moving out of her house and into a nursing home all the way across the city. This might be the last time she gets to make a trip like this so Charles reluctantly agrees to stop at some of her favourite spots along the way.

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We want to say; Everyone looks fantastic in all photos. Victoria Film Festival 2023 bought tons of fun; first social events to share with people, and why not, meet new friends or something more, second an ocean of good films, drama, action, documentaries, comedy... and endless sensation through each story projected on the big screen: good food, tasty drinks and memorable memories. Those memories are attached to one image, voice, or smell. Follow us on Flickr, and check all our photos. You can download or share our profile with your friends.

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