Salseo is a queer Latinx-led collective born in February 2024 due to the absence of queer-centered spaces in Vancouver to learn and practice Afro-Latinx social dancing. Inspired by the salsa and cumbia communities in Mexico, and the open-to-all spirit of cumbia street dancing, Salseo was created. They aim to build connection and joy through Afro-Latinx […]
Dir Juan Carvajal Colombia, USA 2025 ''A brave, sensitive, and necessary attempt to reclaim the living memory of salsa......A sincere and devoted love letter to a music that pulses through the veins of millions''. André Didyme-Dôme ROLLING STONE A vibrant journey through a genre born of Afro-Cuban rhythms—mambo, guaracha, guaguancó—fused with the drive of New […]
Wed, Sep 16 7:30pm - 8:30pm Language carries memory, humour, family, migration and countless ways of understanding the world. At VLAFF, we believe that having access to the languages of our communities and ancestors allows us to remain connected to culture, and to one another. Join us for ¡Así Cantan!, a free Multilingual Open Mic […]
Dir. Misha Vallejo Ecuador 2025 Misha, a documentary photographer, uses his grandfather's camera to recreate a family album, bridging the gap to a man he never met. Exploring absent father figures, he reclaims spaces once denied to his family. Through his lens, secrets and violence surface, yet memory's fluidity offers a chance for redemption. World […]
Dir. Gabriel Mascaro Brazil 2025 ''A magical escape from exile to freedom'' Hollywood Reporter Tereza, 77, has lived her whole life in a small industrialised town in the Amazon, until one day she receives an official government order to relocate to a senior housing colony. The colony is an isolated area where the elderly are […]
The eclectic selection of films in this program highlights a number of exciting local filmmakers unafraid to portray modern life in inventive and innovative ways. Siblings reconnect in dreamy old playgrounds, digital surveillance and philosophical inquiry collide, a sleepless night at home becomes an explorative site of border and water politics. Across approaches and textures, […]
Dir, Fabien Pisani Cuba, Mexico 2025 A deeply personal portrait of Cuban music icon Pablo Milanés, captured in self-imposed exile during his final years. Milanés, co-founder of the Nueva Trova movement with Silvio Rodríguez, was a major voice in Cuba's revolutionary cultural movement. This film, directed by his adopted son Fabien Pisani, combines interviews with […]
Dir, Nadine Gomez Quebec, Mexico 2025 Filmmaker in attendance! A patchwork of millions of lives, urban spaces are not only streets and concrete. They are where our dreams and deepest worries unfold. Chronicle of a City drifts and strolls through time and chance encounters, moving between fantasy and reality, echoing the intimate and ghostly voices […]
What does it mean to honour our decisions, and what must we leave behind to move forward? In this program, we encounter characters who confront the darkness of their desires and contradictions, situations that push them to their limits and challenge their lives as they know them. Through animation, horror, video essay, and docufiction, the […]
ADDED SCREENING on Sunday, September 20 at 8:45pm at The Cinematheque! Get tickets here! Dir. Simón Mesa Soto Colombia 2025 Since its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival 2025, A POET has traveled the world receiving awards, but above all, applause and laughter. A gem of Colombian cinema, prepare for an unforgettable journey to a […]
Join us for Indigenous Storytelling Night and the premiere of The Nook (El Rinconcito), a special new gathering space at the Vancouver Latin American Film Festival. The Nook invites festival audiences to deepen their engagement with Indigenous artists, creative work and calls to action beyond the land acknowledgement. Through a combination of physical and digital […]
Dir, Maite Alberdi Chile 2025 This is the debut narrative feature from acclaimed documentary filmmaker Maite Alberdi (Chile), Oscar nominated for THE MOLE AGENT and THE ETERNAL MEMORY. Chile, 1955. When the popular writer María Carolina Geel kills her lover, the case captivates Mercedes, the shy secretary of the judge in charge of the case. […]