Stir Cheat Sheet: Unexpected love and laughs in four flicks at the Vancouver Short Film Festival
Woman Meets Girl and Stay put new spins on romance, while Not For Us and Damn Supper send up horror genre
Woman Meets Girl
The Vancouver Short Film Festival runs June 2 to 4 at VIFF Centre, and June 2 to 11 online across Canada
FROM A SOMALIAN-CANADIAN not-quite-camping trip to a poignant drag love story, diverse and unexpected microcosms await at this year’s Vancouver Short Film Festival.
Celebrating “rising stars and revolutionary stories” from Vancouver and across Canada, this year’s rendition features 57 mini films in genres from horror to documentary and comedy, grouped into six programs. Many of the best come from voices and perspectives that are usually underrepresented onscreen.
Here are just a few worth checking out, at VIFF Centre or online:
WOMAN MEETS GIRL
June 2, 6 pm
A Bubblegum-vodka-fuelled game of Never Have I Ever fuels a connection between two opposites: the quietly awkward middle-aged Annabelle (Enuka Okuma, who also produces) and the uninhibited, young Tessie (Chelsea Russell). Written and directed by Murry Peeters, this sensitively handled character study, set in the suburban home where Annabelle has apparently taken Tessie in, works because of its nuanced acting. Russell commits to her role as a sex worker who’s comfortable in her own skin, stretching her bare feet and taking selfies in a phone she clutches with long purple nails; Okuma’s Annabelle is buttoned-up, inwardly and outwardly, without overdoing it, and watch her visibly melt at human touch. As they warm up to each other, they reveal more complexity—and to their own surprise, turn out to be what each other needs.
Not For us
NOT FOR US
June 3, 8:30 pm
Actor Praneet Akilla (of SkyMed) shows bold style and offbeat humour in this absurdly funny story of three decidedly un-outdoorsy Somali sisters who embark on their first camping trip. Abruptly cutting between the clumsy expedition to the woods and the dire warnings from their mother, Akilla plays with genre—even managing to weave a creepy Somalian folk tale into this comedic sister act (handled by a game Ilhan Abdullahi, Hodan Hassan, and Idile Bouh). Trust us when we say the Blair Witch has nothing on the clawed, flesh-eating demon Dhegdheer.
Stay
STAY
June 4, 5 pm
Stay opens with a glitzy performance by touring drag artist Ivy Diamonds (yes, that’s Kendall Gender a.k.a. Kenneth Wyse from season 2 of Canada's Drag Race). But the film is more interested in the person behind the persona—as becomes clear when Ivy, also known as Kaleb, becomes locked outside with Ryan (Riley Davis) on the rainy roof deck of the cabaret. At first, Ivy puts up her usual shield of sharp sarcasm; but she warms as she’s drawn to the recently-dumped Ryan’s openness and gentle sincerity. Despite their apparent differences, both are struggling with where they are in life. Will the makeup and wig come off? (“Just drop the act. Let me see you,” is one of Davis’s most affecting lines.) Maybe, but what’s more compelling in King Louie Palomo’s short film is whether it makes sense for Ivy/Kaleb to stay longer than this last night in town, even if these two very different characters connect as complicated human beings—and as artists—for a few hours. Shot with striking nighttime ambiance and intimacy. Extra bonus: cameos by local drag stars Shay Dior and Deedee Lacraze.
Damned Supper
DAMNED SUPPER
June 3, 8:30 pm
It’s Halloween, and a group of young women don historic costumes and hold a "dumb supper": a pagan ritual in which you host a dinner in silence to honour the dead—or in this case, summon future boyfriends. Candles are lit, clocks tick ominously, and special effects are cued—but when someone forgets to turn their cellphone on DND, the ceremony starts to go farcically sideways. Silly stuff, complete with fun intertitles, but exactly the kind of genre spoof you’re looking for on a VSFF After Dark program. Ariel Hansen writes, directs, and stars as one of the eye-rolling witch wannabes.
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