KDocsFF tickets go on sale January 5, with 25 social-justice documentaries on offer

Festival runs February 22 to 26 at VIFF Centre for its biggest festival yet

A full speaker roster returns to KDocsFF; documentary screenings this year include *Wochiigii Lo:* *End of the Peace* (above right) and *Unarchived*.

KDOCSFF RETURNS TO its first in-person events for the first time since 2020, with its biggest festival to date. The festival is Metro Vancouver’s premier social justice film festival.

KDocsFF will screen 25 films from February 22 to 26 at the Vancouver International Film Centre (Vancity Theatre) in Vancouver. The five-day span makes it the longest-ever in-person KDocsFF, and it’s the first in-theatre rendition of the event since 2020.

Tickets start at $5 per film and are on sale starting January 5. Find the full schedule here, and get a sneak peek the highlight reel below.

The theme of the 2023 KDocsFF is “People. Places. Power.” Thirteen of the films are Canadian.

Some notable figures are scheduled to attend this year’s festival: Carol Todd, the mother of teen Amanda Todd who lost her life due to bullying; Phyllis Jack-Webstad, the creator of Orange Shirt Day; and Dewayne Lee Johnson, who is the subject of one of the films and a successful plaintiff against Monsanto.

Farhana Yamin, international lawyer and the subject of Rebellion, is a keynote speaker at the festival. Alex Winter, the director the YouTube Effect, will also attend. The former actor turned award-winning documentarian is best known for starring in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure.

Thoughtfully matched double bills include Unarchived and Writing with Fire; The YouTube Effect and Backlash: Misogyny in the Digital Age; The Scattering of Man and Wochiigii Lo: End of the Peace; The Doctrine of Recovery and Returning Home; and The Monopoly of Violence and The Cost of Freedom: Refugee Journalists in Canada. (The double bills feature two films for $8, which includes two keynotes and a joint panel and Q&A.)

Watch for a Latin America theme day on February 23, and an Environment theme day on February 24, both hosted in the Vancity Studio Theatre.

And if you missed them at past fest screenings, Alice Street and Jean Swanson: We Need a New Map are both features that will return this year after much success last year.

Articles

The Cinematheque spotlights the films of Naruse Mikio with Short Is the Life of a Flower, to February 21

Retrospective closes with the Japanese director’s melancholic final picture, Scattered Clouds

Les Furies rolls out the fun in story of small-town derby team, January 28

Visions Ouest screens raucous tale of women ousted from their Quebec rink and ready for revenge, at Alliance Française

You're the Top! brings the songs of Cole Porter to the Anvil Theatre, February 14

Event hosted by Michael van den Bos features Hollywood film projections and live music by the Laura Crema Sextet

Wrong Husband transports audiences to an ancient Far North, to January 18 at The Cinematheque

Zacharias Kunuk’s latest epic tells a meditative, mystical story of two young lovers separated by fate

The Choral fills story of First World War England with music, opening January 9

Ralph Fiennes plays a choir director in 1916, tasked with performing Edward Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius

Stir Cheat Sheet: 3 movies to catch at the New Spanish Cinema festival, January 9 to 14

A historical adventure about Cervantes and documentaries about a flamenco guitarist and a matador are among the must-sees at the expanded event at the VIFF Centre

Rowdy film captures Quebec’s hugely popular Les Cowboys Fringants in concert, January 8

Screening at Alliance Française and co-presented by Visions Ouest, the documentary of the folk-rockers’ rip-roaring 2023 show was shot less than a year before lead singer’s death

Film review: Resurrection's dream scenarios pay dazzling tribute to a century of motion pictures

At the Cinematheque, Bi Gan creates five chapters, told in vastly different visual styles—from silent-film Expressionism to shadowy noir to neon-lit contemporary

La Venue de l’avenir (Colours of Time) takes a lighthearted trip back to 1895 Paris, at VIFF Centre to January 5

Four relatives converge on an old house, discovering the story of an ancestor who journeyed to the City of Light during the Impressionist era

The Nutcracker at Wethersfield follows New York City Ballet to a wintry estate, to December 28 at VIFF Centre

The Leading Ladies bring to life Duke Ellington’s swingy twist on Tchaikovsky score at December 14 screening

At The Cinematheque, David Lynch retrospective In Dreams delves into Hollywood’s dark side

Legendary director’s groundbreaking movies and TV work create a visual language that reflects on some of film history’s most sinister figures—and mushroom clouds

Film reviews: Mile End Kicks to Influencers, quick takes from Whistler Film Festival

Chandler Levack’s love letter to Montreal and her early 20s offers a new kind of female heroine; Kurtis David Harder unveils a super-energetic sequel; and Wədzįh Nəne’ (Caribou Country) takes viewers to B.C.’s snow-dusted northern reaches

Keeper producer Chris Ferguson comes to Whistler Film Festival with renewed fervour for analogue cinema experience

Vancouver visionary behind innovative thrillers like Longlegs and The Monkey is also helping to revive the Park Theatre as a hub for a new generation of cinemagoers

Film reviews: European Union Film Festival 2025 travels through folk superstition, trauma, and comedy

Criss-crossing the map from the Lithuanian countryside to a painful Maltese dinner party, this year’s program provokes both chills and laughs

The Cinematheque hosts 28th annual European Union Film Festival, November 13 to 26

Titles include Denmark’s The Land of Short Sentences, Ukraine solidarity screening Porcelain War, and more

Stir Cheat Sheet: 5 cliffhangers to catch at the 2025 Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival

From Everest Dark’s story of a sherpa’s heroic journey to an all-female project to tackle Spain’s La Rubia, docs dive into adventure

Whistler Film Festival unveils full, Canada-strong program for 25th anniversary

Out of 106 features, more than 60 percent are Canadian; plus, Jay Kelly, a new Knives Out, and more

Julietta Singh speaks about history, home, and matriarchs at Beyond Siloed Stories, November 5 at the Chan Centre

Event screens The Nest, the writer’s form-pushing NFB documentary re-animating her childhood home’s past, co-directed with Chase Joynt

Whistler Film Festival to open with documentaries Forward and You Had to Be There, December 3

Featuring more than 70 percent Canadian films, 25th annual fest will close December 7 with The Choral

Rio Theatre and team of private film industry financiers step in to take over Vancouver’s Park Theatre

Filmmakers including Chris Ferguson back plan to save Cambie Street’s Art Deco cinema that Cineplex had shut down Sunday

Big Top’s dark musical tones a natural fit for the unsettling silent-movie vision of The Unknown

One of the weirdest Hollywood films ever made helped bring local bandleader Scott McLeod back to shadowy instrumental soundscapes

Florent Vollant, Innu reflects on the extraordinary life of a Quebec music icon, October 24

Visions Ouest and Alliance Française present moving documentary on singer-songwriter behind Kashtin

Stir Cheat Sheet: 5 things to know about The Phantom of the Opera, screened with a live score to mark 100 years

Lon Chaney’s scary makeup, a vintage pipe organ, and a score by Andrew Downing bring eerie atmosphere to the Orpheum show

The Cinematheque hosts Ukrainian Poetic Cinema: Rebuilding National Identity series, October 23 to 29

Films on offer include Yurii Illienko’s The Eve of Ivan Kupalo and Borys Ivchenko’s The Lost Letter

Stir Q&A: Tree canopy ecologist Nalini Nadkarni gives ground-bound humans a look at lush life forms above our heads

Her National Geographic Live event From Roots to Canopy lands in the Lower Mainland care of Vancouver Civic Theatres

Big Top plays a live score to silent horror classic The Unknown at the Shadbolt Centre, November 1

Director Tod Browning’s 1927 film starring Lon Chaney is characterized by sadomasochistic obsession, deception, murder, and disfigurement

Small File Media Festival brings experimental shorts to the big screen

The Cinematheque program proves that digital filmmaking has a future beyond artificial intelligence

National Film Board doubles down on defining what it means to be Canadian for an “elbows up” era

Attending VIFF, NFB chair Suzanne Guèvremont has a new strategic plan that strives to reach out to the next generation

Vancouver Civic Theatres launches 2025-26 National Geographic Live season, October 15

Tree canopy ecologist Nalini Nadkarni leads audiences up into the clouds to see the fascinating world of Costa Rican branches with From Roots to Canopy

VIFF 2025 reviews: Influencer-culture takedowns, sword-and-sorcery reboots, family tragedies, and more

Quick takes on Dracula, Idiotka, Akashi, and Ma—Cry of Silence, plus documentaries about one family’s scattered heritage and the true cost of global capitalism