by Zoran Dragelj, Screenmancer Canada
VANCOUVER — New Jersey community theatre gets the opening spotlight; the world gets the next eleven days. The 45th Vancouver International Film Festival opened October 1 with Jesse Eisenberg’s The Debut, launching a cinematic itinerary through October 11, 2026.
At a packed Vancouver Playhouse, Eisenberg’s film brought Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti into the outsized ambitions of amateur theatre. Moore plays Mona, a reserved woman whose role in a local musical puts her under the influence of Giamatti’s demanding Jerry. Beyond opening night, VIFF’s announced lineup encompasses 162 features, 91 shorts and two episodic series from 76 nations.
This year’s slate includes Cristian Mungiu’s Fjord, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s All of a Sudden, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Look Back and Lee Chang-dong’s Possible Love. Vancouver filmmaker Mina Shum contributes Whatcha Want, while Métis/Dene filmmaker Marie Clements brings How We Stand and three episodes of Reclaim My Skin. More than 50 nonfiction features and a six-film focus on new German cinema expand the program. Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine, starring John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell and Steve Buscemi, closes the festival.
Offscreen, VIFF offers live performances, filmmaker talks and industry sessions. Its newly established Institute for the Moving Image supports year-round artist development; new festival initiatives include a Co-Production Forum, Works-in-Progress and VIFF Slate.
VIFF began with a movie lover’s practical solution to a programming problem. Founder Leonard Schein, a psychologist and educator introduced to international cinema during his Stanford years, began operating Vancouver’s Ridge Theatre in 1978. In 1982, he founded VIFF and became its first executive director. The festival grew out of the Ridge and his conviction that Vancouver deserved an international film gathering alongside Toronto and Montreal.
Returning to VIFF for Screenmancer, my first screenings included The Debut, Fjord, The Only Living Pickpocket in New York and Once Upon a Time in Harlem. More reviews, interviews and dispatches from Vancouver will follow.
Festival program and info can be found here: viff.org.
Zoran Dragelj of Screenmancer Canada, is a Vancouver-based director, producer and visual artist whose work spans independent features, documentaries, experimental shorts and music videos. He directed and produced the dramatic comedy Friends Like These (2019) and served as associate producer on Dark Harvest (2017). His recent directing credits include Clayoquot Sound (2026), Betto Mi Amigo, echoes of Clayoquot Sound and The Metal House by Arthur Erickson (all 2025). A longtime International Press Academy member and its New Media Director since 2001, Dragelj has also produced and directed more than half a dozen of the academy’s Satellite Awards shows.
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