National Film Board of Canada (NFB) leadership in documentary and animation will be on vivid display at the 2025 Vancouver International Film Festival (October 2-12), with the world premiere of a powerful new film about Afghan women fighting for freedom and equality, along with the BC premieres of three dazzling animated shorts.
Making its world premiere in Vancouver is Brishkay Ahmed's feature-length documentary In the Room, which will be presented in the festival's Showcase section, offering "exceptional films by revered directors, major award winners, and work that's very much of the moment." This timely and powerful film will also be featured in VIFF's Ignite: High School Program, which gives secondary students the opportunity to experience great cinema that ignites imaginations and captures historic events as they're unfolding.
VIFF's Shorts forum will present the BC debuts of three NFB animated shorts: Alex Boya's Bread Will Walk, Matea Radic's Paradaïz and Winnipeg animation legend Cordell Barker's new film, Good Luck to You All.
More about the films
In the Room by Brishkay Ahmed (75 min) | World premiere
- In the face of exile, five Afghan women's commitment to freedom and equality empowers them to take the world stage and reclaim their homeland.Through a series of honest conversations, these extraordinary rebels reveal the deeply personal history of Afghanistan in all its complexity, beauty and struggle. Known for her feature documentaries, Brishkay Ahmed's previous credits include In the Rumbling Belly of Motherland, winner of the Outstanding Feature Film Award at the 2021 Reelworld Film Festival, and her 2012 film, Story of Burqa.
Bread Will Walk by Alex Boya (11 min 17 s)
- A devoted sister races to save her brother, a bread-turned zombie. A mob of hungry living Can love defy appetite? This darkly delicious short by Montreal-based animatorAlex Boya, voiced by Jay Baruchel, was selected to screen in the Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.
Good Luck to You All by Cordell Barker (8 min 15 s)
- A child's innocent playtakes an odd turn in an animated short about our all-too-fast approaching future with-or against-AI. The 2D hand-drawn Good Luck to You All is the latest work by two-time Oscar nominee-and certified 100-percent human-Cordell Barker (The Cat Came Back, Strange Invaders).
Paradaïz by Matea Radic (NFB, 9 min 28 s)
- Welcome to a place where the houses have holes, tomatoes are ticking time bombs and snails wander the streets in search of a safe space. In her short-film debut, Winnipeg-based artist Matea Radic uses absurdist animation, family photos, a wry sense of humour and her own slippery memories to return to the war-torn city of Sarajevo she fled as a child in the '90s.
