VIFF 2026 | 10 Most Anticipated Films (You Should See)

"VIFF is quickly becoming the archetype of the modern film festival."

Image | Zak Design Studio

VIFF 2026—(August 26, 2026) Fall film festival season is on the horizon. Rejoice, as our city's eleven-day arthouse filmmaking showcase, the 45th edition of the Vancouver International Film Festival, is just around the corner, next month. Plan accordingly for VIFF's yearly output of mixed-media entertainment programming, anchored by hundreds of Canadian and global films from around the world, screened across the city in celebration of contemporary cinema.

REEL | Top 10 Films of 2026 So Far

"I put the not in astronaut!"

Amazon MGM Studios / Lord Miller Productions

Click on each film title to read its corresponding review:

1) Project Hail Mary ¹ (dirs. Phil Lord & Christopher Miller)

2) The Drama ² (dir. Kristoffer Borgli)

3) Mile End Kicks ³ * (dir. Chandler Levack)

4) Obsession (dir. Curry Barker)

5) Blue Heron * (dir. Sophy Romvari)

REEL | Top 10 Films of 2025

"No fear. Just like Tom f*cking Cruise!"

Warner Bros. Pictures / Ghoulardi Film Company

Click on each film title to read its corresponding review:

1) One Battle After Another ¹ (dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)

2) Sentimental Value ² * (Affeksjonsverdi, dir. Joachim Trier)

3) Sinners ³ (dir. Ryan Coogler)

4) Marty Supreme (dir. Josh Safdie)

5) Train Dreams * (dir. Clint Bentley)

VIFF 2025 | 10 Most Anticipated Films (You Should See)

"This is a festival built on passion, and it shows."

Image | Zak Design Studio

VIFF 2025—(August 27, 2025) Fall movie season is just around the corner. This means the city's eleven-day arthouse cinematic showcase, the 44th annual Vancouver International Film Festival, is almost upon us when it returns in a new timeslot at the beginning of next month. Make a plan for VIFF's yearly buffet of multimedia entertainment programming, featuring hundreds of local, national, and international films from across the globe, screened in celebration of contemporary filmmaking.

REEL | Top 10 Films of 2025 So Far

"Your body remembers me."

Warner Bros. Pictures / Proximity Media

Click on each film title to read its corresponding review:

1) Sinners ¹ (dir. Ryan Coogler)

2) Pavements ² (dir. Alex Ross Perry)

3) Friendship ³ (dir. Andrew DeYoung)

4) The Phoenician Scheme (dir. Wes Anderson)

5) Materialists (dir. Celine Song)

REEL | Top 10 Films of the 21st Century So Far

"We won't be like them."

Janus Films / Jet Tone Films

Click on each film title to read its corresponding review:

1) In the Mood for Love ¹ (dir. Wong Kar-wai, 2000)

2) Mulholland Drive ² (dir. David Lynch, 2001)

3) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (dir. Michel Gondry, 2004)

4) Ghost World ³ (dir. Terry Zwigoff, 2001)

5) The Social Network (dir. David Fincher, 2010)

REEL | Top 10 Films of 2024

Amazon MGM Studios / Warner Bros. Pictures

Click on each film title to read its corresponding review:

1) Challengers (dir. Luca Guadagnino)

2) Anora * (dir. Sean Baker)

3) The Brutalist (dir. Brady Corbet)

4) Evil Does Not Exist * (dir. Ryûsuke Hamaguchi)

5) Civil War (dir. Alex Garland)

VIFF 2024 | 10 Most Anticipated Films (You Should See)

"VIFF is an overflowing, multidimensional, full-tilt celebration of film and film culture."

Image | Zak Design Studio

VIFF 2024—(August 28, 2024) Embrace the movies for the city's eleven-day arthouse cinematic celebration when the 43rd annual Vancouver International Film Festival starts at the end of the month. Plan ahead for VIFF's smörgåsbord of multimedia entertainment offerings as hundreds of films from across the continent and world are screened in recognition of contemporary cinema.

REEL | Top 10 Films of 2024 So Far

Amazon MGM Studios / Warner Bros. Pictures

Click on each film title to read its corresponding review:

1) Challengers (dir. Luca Guadagnino)

2) Evil Does Not Exist (dir. Ryûsuke Hamaguchi)

3) Civil War (dir. Alex Garland)

4) Dune: Part Two (dir. Denis Villeneuve)

5) Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (dir. George Miller)

REEL | Top 10 Films of 2023

Each film reviewed where linked below:

1) Past Lives (dir. Celine Song)

2) Oppenheimer (dir. Christopher Nolan)

3) Poor Things (dir. Yorgos Lanthimos)

4) Return to Seoul (dir. Davy Chou)

5) Asteroid City (dir. Wes Anderson)

6) The Holdovers (dir. Alexander Payne)

7) Killers of the Flower Moon (dir. Martin Scorsese)

8) Passages (dir. Ira Sachs)

9) May December (dir. Todd Haynes)

10) The Zone of Interest (dir. Jonathan Glazer) *

VIFF 2023 | 10 Most Anticipated Films (You Should See)

"Vancouver is a city for filmmakers and cinephiles."

Image | Zak Design Studio

VIFF 2023—(September 6, 2023) Get ready for the city's eleven-day arthouse cinematic showcase when the 42nd annual Vancouver International Film Festival kicks off at the end of the month. Choose between all of VIFF's smörgåsbord of multimedia offerings as hundreds of films from across the continent and the world are screened in celebration of contemporary cinema.

REEL | Top 10 Films of 2023 So Far

Each film reviewed where linked below:

1) Past Lives (dir. Celine Song)

2) Return to Seoul (dir. Davy Chou)

3) Asteroid City (dir. Wes Anderson)

4) Showing Up (dir. Kelly Reichardt)

5) Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. (dir. Kelly Fremon Craig)

6) BlackBerry (dir. Matt Johnson)

7) How to Blow Up A Pipeline (dir. Daniel Goldhaber)

8) You Hurt My Feelings (dir. Nicole Holofcener)

9) A Thousand and One (dir. A.V. Rockwell)

10) Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (dirs. Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers & Justin K. Thompson)

REEL | Top 10 Films of 2022

Each film reviewed where linked below:

1) Aftersun (dir. Charlotte Wells) *

2) Tár (dir. Todd Field)

3) Decision to Leave (dir. Park Chan-wook) *

4) After Yang (dir. Kogonada)

5) Nope (dir. Jordan Peele)

6) The Fabelmans (dir. Steven Spielberg)

7) The Banshees of Inisherin (dir. Martin McDonagh) *

8) Emily the Criminal (dir. John Patton Ford)

9) The Menu (dir. Mark Mylod)

10) Top Gun: Maverick (dir. Joseph Kosinski)

VIFF 2022 | 10 Most Anticipated Films (You Should See)

"VIFF is back with an incredible program dedicated to the power and potential of cinema."

Image | Zak Design Studio

VIFF 2022—(September 7, 2023) Our city's eleven-day arthouse cinema showcase in the 41st annual Vancouver International Film Festival is back at the end of the month with a return to full-scale in-person cinematic programming. Once again, VIFF is celebrating all forms of multimedia storytelling by showing hundreds of local, Canadian, and international films dedicated to furthering contemporary world cinema.

REEL | Top 10 Films of 2022 So Far

Each film reviewed where linked below:

1) After Yang (dir. Kogonada)

2) Top Gun: Maverick (dir. Joseph Kosinski)

3) Fire of Love (dir. Sara Dosa)

4) Happening (dir. Audrey Diwan)

5) Everything Everywhere All at Once (dirs. Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert)

6) X (dir. Ti West)

7) RRR (dir. S.S. Rajamouli)

8) The Batman (dir. Matt Reeves)

9) Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood (dir. Richard Linklater)

10) Fire Island (dir. Andrew Ahn)

REEL | Top 10 Films of 2021

Each film reviewed where linked below:

1) Licorice Pizza (dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)

2) Petite Maman (dir. Céline Sciamma) *

3) The Power of the Dog (dir. Jane Campion) *

4) West Side Story (dir. Steven Spielberg)

5) The French Dispatch (dir. Wes Anderson)

6) The Worst Person in the World (dir. Joachim Trier) *

7) Drive My Car (dir. Ryûsuke Hamaguchi) *

8) Passing (dir. Rebecca Hall) *

9) Red Rocket (dir. Sean Baker) *

10) C'mon C'mon (dir. Mike Mills)

REEL | Top 10 Films of 2021 So Far

Each film reviewed where linked below:

1) Judas and the Black Messiah (dir. Shaka King)

2) Shiva Baby (dir. Emma Seligman)

3) The Killing of Two Lovers (dir. Robert Machoian)

4) Test Pattern (dir. Shatara Michelle Ford)

5) Zola (dir. Janicza Bravo)

6) The Father (dir. Florian Zeller)

7) Luca (dir. Enrico Casarosa)

8) Stowaway (dir. Joe Penna)

9) In the Heights (dir. Jon M. Chu)

10) A Quiet Place Part II (dir. John Krasinski)

REEL | 93rd Annual Oscars x 2020/21 Ballot

Picture: Nomadland
Director: Chloé Zhao, Nomadland
Actor: Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (Winner: Anthony Hopkins, The Father)
Actress: Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman (Winner: Frances McDormand, Nomadland)
Supporting Actor: Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah
Supporting Actress: Youn Yuh-jung, Minari
Original Screenplay: Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman
Adapted Screenplay: Chloé Zhao, Nomadland (Winner: Christopher Hampton & Florian Zeller, The Father)
Animated Feature: Soul

REEL | Top 10 Films of 2020

Each film reviewed where linked below:

1) First Cow (dir. Kelly Reichardt)

2) The Nest (dir. Sean Durkin)

3) Lovers Rock (dir. Steve McQueen)

4) Minari (dir. Lee Isaac Chung)

5) I'm Thinking of Ending Things (dir. Charlie Kaufman)

6) The Climb (dir. Michael Angelo Covino)

7) Palm Springs (dir. Max Barbakow)

8) Swallow (dir. Carlo Mirabella-Davis)

9) Da 5 Bloods (dir. Spike Lee)

10) The Vast of Night (dir. Andrew Patterson)

REEL | Top 10 Films of 2020 So Far

Each film reviewed where linked below:

1) Swallow (dir. Carlo Mirabella-Davis)

2) Da 5 Bloods (dir. Spike Lee)

3) The Vast of Night (dir. Andrew Patterson)

4) Bad Education (dir. Cory Finley)

5) Tigertail (dir. Alan Yang)

6) Shirley (dir. Josephine Decker)

7) Never Rarely Sometimes Always (dir. Eliza Hittman)

8) The Invisible Man (dir. Leigh Whannell)

9) The Way Back (dir. Gavin O'Connor)

10) The King of Staten Island (dir. Judd Apatow)