The 2026 Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) will feature five new works from the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), including two world premieres by Vancouver directors and three BC premieres by past festival favourites.
VIFF will host the world premieres of two NFB feature documentaries:
- Filipino-Canadian director Joella Cabalu's First Comes Love: Nakabingwit, a rom-com doc that lingers after the meet-cute, when conversations about race, class and difference enter the picture;
- Kurdish-Canadian filmmaker Soran Mardookhi's The Flight, which follows the lives of family members left behind as they relentlessly pursue truth, justice and accountability for their loved ones following the downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752.
Running October 1 to 11, VIFF will also present two more NFB feature documentaries, which made their world premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival:
- Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney by Montreal-based, Winnipeg-born Matthew Rankin;
- Still Night, Burning House (Metafilms/NFB/Portage Films) by Montreal-based, Vietnamese-Canadian filmmaker Carol Nguyen.
Joining the lineup following its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival is Piluk, an NFB animated short by Elisapie Isaac and Marc Séguin.
First Comes Love: Nakabingwit and Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney will also screen as part of VIFF's Ignite High School Program, which welcomes hundreds of secondary students to experience exceptional cinema at the festival. Quick facts
WORLD PREMIERES
First Comes Love: Nakabingwit by Joella Cabalu (65 min) | NORTHERN LIGHTS
