Vancouver International Film Festival 2026

The 2026 edition of the Vancouver International Film Festival felt bigger than previous years. Over its eleven-day run, the venue list changed and expanded; the festival screened over 250 films; Vancouverites and VIFF-goers I spoke with seemed more aware of more of the programming—especially the VIFF Live programming; and I accidentally attended a lot of screenings where cast and crew were present. To me, that all indicates that VIFF as an organization is healthy. (Not that one of the largest film festivals in North America would be close to its deathbed.) This year, I didn’t stay through the end of the festival (October 11th), but I had a productive seven days: I saw 17 full-length films and 15 short films.1 Through a hotel promotion, I attended as a VIFF passholder, which let me into pretty much all of the non-industry events and screenings without tickets.2 I won’t write up every screening I went to (like I did for Victoria Film Festival 2026), but I want to highlight the best and…