VIFF Celebrates International Women's Day with a Month of Programming

In honour of International Women's Day on March 8, VIFF celebrates powerful female creators throughout the month.

As the 16th annual Vancouver International Women in Film Festival kicks off on March 4, VIFF will present a diverse female-led program that includes a Vancity Impact Talk - She/Her/Hers: "Woman"-hood in 2021 - on March 9 and a Creator Talk with The Wilds' Creator Sarah Streicher and Showrunner Amy Harris on March 31. Plus, VIFF+ members get free access to a special curated collection of films by extraordinary female filmmakers streaming on VIFF Connect.

As a long-standing community partner of the Vancouver Women in Film Festival (VIWFF), VIFF will host VIWFF on the VIFF Connect streaming platform.

The 16th annual Vancouver International Women in Film Festival takes place March 4-14, 2021 and will screen 32 films from 16 countries. The lineup includes 14 Canadian films-10 of which are from BC filmmakers-and 8 Vancouver digital premieres. Produced by Women in Film and Television Vancouver and themed "Resilience. Challenge. Change.", this year's virtual VIWFF will showcase the complex and diverse ways in which girls and women challenge, overcome, and inspire themselves, each other, their communities, and our world today.

VIFF's next event in the ongoing Vancity Impact Talk series is She/Her/Hers: "Woman"-hood in 2021 - presented by Vancity and hosted on VIFF's Facebook Live on March 9 at 6:30pm (PST). Inspired by the documentary, Woman, which incorporates the voices and experiences of hundreds of women from 50 countries, this month's Vancity Impact Talk investigates what it means to be a woman today. In many ways, this is a time of unparalleled opportunity. However, it's also a period of persistent struggle and upheaval, when even the very definition of "woman" is cause for controversy. The speakers include filmmaker Baljit Sangra (Because We Are Girls), playwright/actress Carmen Aguirre, and CEO of Women's Enterprise Centre (WEC) Jill Earthy. The facilitator is Mita Naidu (Public Affairs Office, Government of Canada). Woman - the movie - is available to rent on VIFF Connect until March 25.

To close out the month's programming, VIFF will host a livestream discussion with The Wilds' Creator Sarah Streicher and Showrunner Amy Harris on March 31. Part survival drama, part coming-of-age-story, The Wilds, now streaming on Amazon Prime follows a group of teenage girls from radically different backgrounds after an airplane crash leaves them stranded on a deserted island. A cross-genre project, the show is intended for a female audience and the production team behind The Wilds is predominately female - 9 female leads, 6 female directors, 4 female executive producers, 4 female writers, and a female stunt coordinator. The show is an addictive blend of drama, mystery and fear but with some very serious subject matter.

Throughout the month of March, the collection titles on the VIFF Connect streaming platform are all by female filmmakers. Inspired by International Women's Day's theme of "choose to challenge", the series offers stories of activism, irreverence and resilience that run the genre gamut from intimate dramas to animated odysseys. These collection titles can be accessed with VIFF+ memberships that start at only $12 a month.

March Collection Titles coming to VIFF Connect:
Summer 1993 (dir. Carla Simón, Spain)
The Breadwinner (dir. Nora Twomey, Canada/Ireland/Luxembourg)
The Bookshop (dir. Isabel Coixet, Germany/Spain/UK)
The Divine Order (dir. Petra Volpe, Switzerland)
Things to Come (dir. Mia Hansen-Løve, France/Germany)
The Wonders (dir. Alice Rohrwacher, Italy/Switzerland/Germany)
Zero Motivation (dir. Talya Lavie, Israel)

Visit viff.org for more information about these upcoming events and films.

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