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

Queer people with intellectual and developmental disabilities flourish through self-advocacy in A Place Where I Belong

Documentary at the Vancouver Queer Film Festival highlights peer-led groups working to overcome a long history of stigma and isolation by creating connection to the broader queer community

Film reviews: Vancouver Latin American Film Festival ranges from subtle meditation to absurd comedy

With sharp visions of life in Mexico, Venezuela, and early-’70s Quebec, the event continues to reveal a deeply interconnected world where history is ever-present

L’Attachement delves movingly into life, loss, and found family, at Alliance Française on September 3

Strong performances in the story of a French bookstore owner who forms bonds with a father and child make Visions Ouest’s final summer installment a must-see

Stir Q&A: With Cicadas, filmmaker Luna Marán reflects collective vision that shapes Oaxaca life

Through its mix of Indigenous artists, musicians, and technicians, the Vancouver Latin American Film Festival feature puts the common good at the centre

Vancouver International Film Festival unveils whole program, with Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague opening

Ido Fluk’s ode to Keith Jarrett concert Köln 75 closes the fest, while VIFF Live brings in Mad Professor, claire rousay, and more

Deckchair Cinema caps sci-fi summer with David Lynch's Dune and a Devours concert, August 28

The Polygon Gallery’s annual outdoor film series takes place on Cates Deck

Film review: Vingt Dieux (Holy Cow) mixes coming-of-age story with the fine art of French cheesemaking

Visions Ouest screens earthy charmer set in Jura agricultural region

Art collides with state bureaucracy in Chronicles of the Absurd, at Vancouver Latin American Film Festival

In documenting years of official disapproval and meddling, independent Cuban filmmakers Miguel Coyula and Lynn Cruz set out to trouble viewers of all political stripes

The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open screens at the Shadbolt Centre, September 12

Award-winning feature film tells the story of two Indigenous women who meet during a chance encounter

Menteuse builds a chaotically funny multiverse out of little white lies, August 20 at Alliance Française

People-pleasing goes haywire as Visions Ouest presents the sequel to the hit Quebec comedy Menteur

Vancouver Latin American Film Festival launches three brand-new series, September 4 to 14

Opening with The Best Mother in the World, the fest features diverse titles as part of Vanguardias, Migraciones, and Mexico Today

Vancouver Queer Film Festival unveils September program of 100 films, under new artistic director Mary Galloway

Local documentary A Place Where I Belong makes world premiere, while Starwalker musical movie makes its Vancouver debut

Turning 100, Oscar Peterson’s brilliance fills live music and film at VIFF Centre, August 16

As part of VIFF Live series, a performance by all-star jazz ensemble Triology sets up screening of two films powered by music of a Canadian legend

Cuisine meets musical in Partir un jour, at Alliance Française on August 14

Visions Ouest presents the Cannes opener about a star chef who reconnects with her earthy, truck-stop roots

Sudan, Remember Us gives a ground-level view of youth uprising, at VIFF Centre to August 22

Street cameras capture the hope and art of young protesters in Khartoum in a revolution the world forgot

Surreal bodies and antlered monsters as NFB films hit SIGGRAPH 2025’s cutting-edge Computer Animation Festival

NFB’s “Corpus and the Wandering” and “Inkwo for When the Starving Return” take a spotlight at international conference hosted in Vancouver

More screenings and venues, as Vancouver International Film Festival offers first peek at programming

Radu Jude’s Dracula, Mary Bronstein’s If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, and Hong Sang-soo’s What Does That Nature Say to You are among offerings unveiled as Artist & Industry Passes set to go on sale

Film review: Make Me Famous travels back to 1980s East Village to rediscover artist Edward Brezinski

Documentary screening at VIFF Centre uncovers a driven artist, and immerses viewer in an art scene that included Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring

Shrek kicks off outdoor Sunset Cinema series hosted by Vancouver Civic Theatres, August 6

Other free screenings in store this month include The Wild Robot, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Mean Girls

Brazil’s The Best Mother in the World set to open Vancouver Latin American Film Festival

Running September 4 to 14, celebration also includes Canada Looks South and Mexico Today series, New Directors Competition, and much more

The Cinematheque’s annual Film Noir series explores the genre’s shadowy margins

The big-city sins of Sweet Smell of Success mingle with the small-town nightmares of Moonrise in this year’s darkly adventurous lineup

Lumière, l’aventure continue celebrates the birth of cinema in Paris, July 29 at Alliance Française Vancouver

Documentary restores more than a hundred shorts by the legendary Lumière Brothers, in Visions Ouest presentation

Des jours meilleurs takes women in rehab on the drive of their lives, at Alliance Française on July 23

Copresented with Visions Ouest, new comedy mixes unvarnished look at alcoholism with desert adventure

Season 2 of Killjoy Comedy subverts the status quo with laughs, starting July 25

Created by Vancouver’s Shana Myara, docuseries available for streaming on OUTtv.com highlights racialized and queer comedians

To a Land Unknown takes a timely look at what happens when people have nothing left to lose, at VIFF Centre from July 18 to 24

Filmmaker Mahdi Fleifel’s compelling portrait of two Palestinian refugees trying to escape hardscrabble limbo in an unrecognizable Athens

Film review: In Ghosts of the Sea, filmmaker takes a riveting look back at family tragedies on the waves

In Virginia Tangvald’s haunting new NFB documentary, she unravels the mysteries of a father and brother who lost their lives to the oceans that called them

Film review: Apocalypse in the Tropics’ dissection of Brazilian politics is a chilling warning for the rest of democratic world

At VIFF Centre, Petra Costa’s compelling new documentary ties the rise of right-wing politician Jair Bolsonaro into the boom in Christian fundamentalism

The Cinematheque presents Tsui Hark: Everything Is Unreal, July 10 to August 3

Titles in store span Green Snake on opening night and a special co-presentation of Once Upon a Time in China II with the Chinese Canadian Museum

At The Cinematheque, MENA Film Festival presents a timely look at Iran through women's eyes, July 5

Five short films take on deeper meaning against a backdrop of armed conflict and women’s rights struggles

Deckchair Cinema kicks off “Summer of Sci-Fi” with an electrifying farewell from Ziggy Stardust, July 3

With highlights such as “Space Oddity” and “Moonage Daydream”, the 1970s documentary about one of David Bowie’s greatest shows lights up The Polygon Gallery’s series of starlight screenings