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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for VLAFF
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20250906T181500
DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20250906T194500
DTSTAMP:20260623T174911Z
CREATED:20250624T181315Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260623T174911Z
UID:30003-1757182500-1757187900@vlaff.org
SUMMARY:MEMORIES OF A BURNING BODY
DESCRIPTION:*There is a second screening on Wednesday\, Sept 10th at Cineworks \nDir. Antonella Sudasassi | Costa Rica\, 2024\nSpanish with English subtitles | 90 min | Narrative \nThis is the second feature film by Antonella Sudasassi\, an up and coming Costa Rican filmmaker.  \nGrowing up in a repressive era when sexuality was a taboo subject\, 68-year-old Ana\, 69-year-old Patricia and 71-year-old Mayela developed their understanding of what it means to be a woman based on unspoken rules and implicit expectations. Now they dare to talk about it openly. The memories\, secrets and longings of the three are interwoven in a poetic way: while the women tell their stories off-screen\, they fill the body of another woman of their generation who incarnates their lives. \nWorld Premiere\, Berlin Film Festival\, 2024. \n \n\n 
URL:https://vlaff.org/event/memories-of-a-burning-body/
LOCATION:The Cinematheque\, 1131 Howe Street Vancouver\, Vancouver\, BC\, V6Z 2L7\, Canada
CATEGORIES:Vanguardias
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://vlaff.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/MEMORIES-OF-A-BURNING-BODY-2.webp
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20250906T161500
DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20250906T174500
DTSTAMP:20260623T174911Z
CREATED:20250612T044937Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260623T174911Z
UID:29722-1757175300-1757180700@vlaff.org
SUMMARY:A Song For My Land
DESCRIPTION:Dir. Mauricio Albornoz | Argentina\, 2024\nSpanish with English subtitles | 90 mins | Documentary | Rated PG \nIn a rural town in Argentina\, Ramiro Lezcano\, a charismatic music teacher\, discovers a disturbing reality affecting the region: airplanes and ground fertilizing machines spray near rural schools\, endangering the health of his students. Determined to take action\, Ramiro joins his students to write songs that denounce this silent tragedy and raise awareness. However\, his initiative faces fierce resistance: the local community\, dependent on the prevailing agricultural model\, rejects the project\, and the media ignores his cause. Faced with this censorship\, Ramiro decides to take his protest further and attempts to organize an “Environmental Woodstock” in the countryside\, where his music and fight can resonate powerfully and reach everyone. \n 
URL:https://vlaff.org/event/a-song-for-my-land/
LOCATION:BC
CATEGORIES:¡Así Suena! Music Films,Children
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://vlaff.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/A-SONG-FOR-MY-LAND-2-e1749703688323.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20250906T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20250906T160000
DTSTAMP:20260623T174912Z
CREATED:20250704T172627Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260623T174912Z
UID:30409-1757167200-1757174400@vlaff.org
SUMMARY:CICADAS
DESCRIPTION:Dir. Luna Marán | Mexico\, 2024\nSpanish with English subtitles | 97 mins | Narrative \nYuli is the topila (auxiliary police) of San Pablo Begu´\, a mountain community in the north of Oaxaca where the inhabitants on a rotating basis assume the responsibilities of self-government on a rotating and honorary basis (communality) along with their work and personal activities. Guarding the entrance to the town\, she stops a group of machinery that is trying to enter the community to begin construction of a highway. When she notifies the town\, no authority is aware of the project and the community goes on alert; they will have to decide whether or not to accept the highway project and its consequences. \nWorld Premiere\, Morelia Film Festival\, 2024. \nPreceded by: THE GUARDIANS OF THE LAKE (Director José Morales Ferulli and the Tz’utujil’ community of San Pedro la Laguna\, Guatemala\, Tz’utujil’ and Spanish with English subtitles\, 2023\, 20 min)\n \nReserve a FREE ticket HERE.\n 
URL:https://vlaff.org/event/cicadas/
LOCATION:The Cinematheque\, 1131 Howe Street Vancouver\, Vancouver\, BC\, V6Z 2L7\, Canada
CATEGORIES:Films from Turtle Island & Beyond,Mexico Today
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://vlaff.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/CICADAS-2.webp
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20250905T203000
DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20250905T230000
DTSTAMP:20260623T174912Z
CREATED:20250603T192933Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260623T174912Z
UID:3513-1757104200-1757113200@vlaff.org
SUMMARY:LA COCINA
DESCRIPTION:Director: Alonso Ruizpalacios\nMexico | 2024 | Spanish with English subtitles | 139 min | Fiction \nBased on the acclaimed stage play by Arnold Wesker\, La Cocina is a tragic and comic tribute to the invisible people who prepare our food. \nIt is the lunchtime rush at The Grill\, a New York tourist trap that serves thousands of customers on a regular Friday like today. Money has gone missing from the till and all the workers are being questioned. Most of them are illegal immigrants and they struggle to defend their job\, their only rightful place in the world\, as they prepare an endless array of dishes\, trying to keep up with the constant stream of orders coming in from the dining room. One of the cooks is Pedro\, a young Mexican who is seeking more from life than this job has to offer. He is a dreamer and a troublemaker\, and he is in love with Julia\, an American waitress who cannot commit to a relationship with an undocumented alien. Rashid\, The Grill’s owner\, has promised to help Pedro with his papers. But when Pedro is accused of stealing the money\, and then discovers that Julia has had an abortion\, he sees red and spirals towards an act that will halt the production line at the kitchen once and for all. \n-Since its World Premiere at the Berlin Film Festival\, LA COCINA has gained over 10 prizes in different festivals around the world.\n-Thirteen nominations to the 2025 Mexican Academy Film Awards -Premio ARIEL-. \nA chaotic symphony of nearly two dozen characters\, this black-and-white indie confection (garnished with sparing touches of color) mixes biting social critique with stylistic bravura. Peter Debruge\, Variety.  \n 
URL:https://vlaff.org/event/la-cocina/
LOCATION:BC
CATEGORIES:International Hits,Migraciones
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://vlaff.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/la-cocina-1-e1748979252152.jpeg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20250905T194500
DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20250905T220000
DTSTAMP:20260623T174912Z
CREATED:20250818T232024Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260623T174912Z
UID:31945-1757101500-1757109600@vlaff.org
SUMMARY:Blue Rivera
DESCRIPTION:Blue Rivera is an alternative rock band from Vancouver formed by three Mexican-Canadian brothers. With various musical backgrounds\, they blend their sound with influences of garage\, alt rock\, and Latin-inspired harmonies and vocals to create a unique fusion of hard indie rock.\nOn this special occasion\, we will be playing a mix of our own catalogue and undeniable classics\, from Mexico\, Cuba and Brazil\, genres of the likes being Bolero\, Son Cubano\, Samba / MPB classics.
URL:https://vlaff.org/event/blue-rivera/
LOCATION:BC
CATEGORIES:Asi Suena
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20250905T181500
DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20250905T194500
DTSTAMP:20260623T174912Z
CREATED:20250704T200327Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260623T174912Z
UID:30452-1757096100-1757101500@vlaff.org
SUMMARY:LOST CHAPTERS
DESCRIPTION:Director: Lorena Alvarado\nVenezuela | 2024 | Spanish with English subtitles | 67 min | Docu-fiction \nWhen Ena discovers a mysterious postcard inside a book\, she embarks on a search across Caracas to uncover a forgotten writer. Her search gradually interweaves with her grandmother’s memory loss and her father’s quixotic dreams.After years living abroad\, Ena returns to Venezuela with a fragmented sense of self. At home\, she finds her grandmother losing her grasp of reality. Meanwhile\, her father spends his days looking for rare books in an attempt to safeguard the country’s literary past. \nBest Latin American Feature\, Monterrey International Film Festival\, 2024. \nCharacters and auteur alike are in the process of a kind of spiritual attempt at reclamation\, the confrontation of a distance they seek to close through retrospection and excavation. It is a foregone time and space they yearn to inhabit\, immemorial and suffused with personal and national meaning alike -Robert Wickers\, The Knockturnal. \nA master class in composition and sound design that leaves no detail to chance\, Lorena Alvarado’s feature debut recalls the intellectual obsessiveness of Roberto Bolaño while achieving a remarkable sense of equanimity and emotional warmth from her real-life sister\, father\, and grandmother\, whose on-screen naturalism never once lapses into mannerism -MoMA. \nPreceded by Fiat Lux 5000 (dir. Daniel Eduvijes Carrera\, 13 min) \n\n 
URL:https://vlaff.org/event/lost-chapters/
LOCATION:The Cinematheque\, 1131 Howe Street Vancouver\, Vancouver\, BC\, V6Z 2L7\, Canada
CATEGORIES:New Directors Competition
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://vlaff.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Lost-Chapters-1-wide.webp
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20250905T161500
DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20250905T174500
DTSTAMP:20260623T174912Z
CREATED:20250624T001347Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260623T174912Z
UID:29972-1757088900-1757094300@vlaff.org
SUMMARY:I SAW THREE BLACK LIGHTS
DESCRIPTION:Dir. Santiago Lozano | Colombia\, 2024\nSpanish with English subtitles | 87 min | Narrative \nSeventy-year-old José de los Santos lives in a village on Colombia’s Pacific coast. He learned the art of ritual burial as a child. Like his ancestors who were brought to Colombia as African slaves\, he accompanies the dying and the dead on their way to eternal rest. One day\, the ghost of his son Pium Pium\, who was brutally murdered years ago\, appears to José and tells him of his own impending death. Pium Pium warns his father that he must not die near his home; above all\, he must be sure to cross over to the other side in peace. José embarks on his final journey\, entering the jungle to find a place to die. But the area is controlled by armed groups. He must dodge their bullets and violence to save his soul from purgatory. \nWorld Premiere\, Berlin Film Festival\, 2024\nSeven Nominations to the Macondo Prize -Colombian Film Academy Awards-. \n“The film excels most potently in its visual style\, with cinematographer Juan Velásquez bringing an emotive warmth to each scene“. Olivia Popp\, Cine Europa. \n 
URL:https://vlaff.org/event/i-saw-three-black-lights/
LOCATION:BC
CATEGORIES:Vanguardias
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://vlaff.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/I-saw-three-1.webp
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20250904T213000
DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20250904T213000
DTSTAMP:20260623T174913Z
CREATED:20250815T190150Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260623T174913Z
UID:31810-1757021400-1757021400@vlaff.org
SUMMARY:VLAFF Opening Night Party
DESCRIPTION:Batucada Abrace + Sara Magal Band\, and DJ The Black Jesus at The Pearl\nWe’re kicking off the 2025 Vancouver Latin American Film Festival with a party you won’t forget!\nThe night starts with an explosive collaboration between the Sara Magal Band and Batucada Abrace—a fusion of soulful Brazilian vocals and irresistible percussion that will have you moving from the very first beat. \nThen\, straight from San José del Cabo\, DJ The Black Jesus returns to light up the dance floor with deep cuts\, global beats\, and an unstoppable groove\, keeping the energy high until the early hours. \nJoin us for an unforgettable night of music\, dancing\, and community as we celebrate the start of this year’s festival in true VLAFF style. \n🎬 Don’t miss the Opening Night film THE BEST MOTHER IN THE WORLD by Anna Muylaert at 7:00 PM at SFU Woodward’s Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema. Details here. \nFilm & Party Tickets\, Buy HERE. \nParty Only Tickets\, Buy HERE.
URL:https://vlaff.org/event/opening-night-party/
LOCATION:The Pearl\, 881 Granville St\, Vancouver\, BC\, V6Z 1L1\, Canada
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20250904T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20250904T204500
DTSTAMP:20260722T181419Z
CREATED:20250623T235859Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260722T181419Z
UID:29967-1757012400-1757018700@vlaff.org
SUMMARY:THE BEST MOTHER IN THE WORLD
DESCRIPTION:Director: Anna Muylaert\nBrazil | 2025 | Portuguese with English subtitles | 105 min |\n**There is a 2nd screening of this film on Sept 7th \nThe Festival is pleased to announce\, as its Opening Night Film\, the North American premiere of the latest film by the incredible Brazilian director\, Anna Muylaert\, (to whom VLAFF dedicated a retrospective in 2016). \nTo escape her abusive husband\, garbage collector Gal packs her two young children\, Rihanna and Benin\, onto the top of her cart and heads across São Paulo to her cousin’s house. As she struggles to avoid the dangers of the streets along the way\, she convinces the children that they are on a big and exciting adventure. When they arrive at her cousin’s house\, they are warmly welcomed and fed. However\, what initially seems like a safe haven soon turns out to be a trap. Gal realizes that not only her own safety is at risk\, but also the future of her children. \nWorld Premiere\, Berlin Film Festival\, 2o25 \n 
URL:https://vlaff.org/event/the-best-mother-in-the-world/
LOCATION:BC
CATEGORIES:Opening
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://vlaff.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/The-best-mother-in-the-world-STILL.webp
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