The 2017 Vancouver International Film Festival, the 36th event in the history of the Vancouver International Film Festival, was held from September 28 to October 13, 2017."Vancouver International Film Festival: What to watch". The Globe and Mail, September 29, 2017.
The festival's opening gala film was Mina Shum's Meditation Park, and its closing gala was Todd Haynes's Wonderstruck;Dana Gee, "See what all the buzz is about; VIFF Preview". The Province, September 21, 2017. during the festival, a special gala was also dedicated to Guy Maddin's film The Green Fog, with its score performed live in the theatre by the Kronos Quartet.Stuart Derdeyn, "A Creative Collaboration; Kronos Quartet and Guy Maddin combine their talents to create Green Fog". Vancouver Sun, October 5, 2017.
Awards Award winners were announced on October 13.Ian Bailey, "Wagamese adaptation wins audience award at VIFF: Based on the late author's popular novel, Indian Horse takes home the honour based on viewer feedback during the festival". The Globe and Mail, October 14, 2017.
Award Film Filmmaker People's Choice Indian Horse Stephen Campanelli Most Popular Canadian Documentary Shut Up and Say Something Melanie Wood Most Popular International Feature Loving Vincent Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman Most Popular International Documentary Faces Places Agnès Varda, JR Best Canadian Film Black Cop Cory Bowles Best Canadian Documentary Unarmed Verses Charles Officer Best Canadian Short Film Shadow Nettes Phillip Barker Emerging Canadian Director Never Steady, Never Still Kathleen Hepburn Best BC Film Luk'Luk'I Wayne Wapeemukwa Best BC Short Film Rupture Yassmina Karajah Sea to Sky Award Never Steady, Never Still Kathleen Hepburn BC Emerging Filmmaker Never Steady, Never Still Kathleen Hepburn Most Promising Director of a Canadian Short Film The Crying Conch Vincent Toi VIFF Impact Award Blue Karina Holden
Films Special Presentations Borg vs McEnroe — Janus Metz Pedersen Breathe — Andy Serkis Call Me by Your Name — Luca Guadagnino A Fantastic Woman (Una mujer fantástica) — Sebastián Lelio The Florida Project — Sean Baker Happy End — Michael Haneke The Killing of a Sacred Deer — Yorgos Lanthimos Loving Vincent — Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman Mountain — Jennifer Peedom The Square — Ruben Östlund Top of the Lake: China Girl — Jane Campion, Ariel Kleiman
Contemporary World Cinema 7 Minutes — Michele Placido At the End of the Tunnel — Rodrigo Grande Azar — Mohammad Hamzei Beauty and the Dogs — Kaouther Ben Hania Bolshoi — Valery Todorovsky Casting — Nicolas Wackerbarth Cocote — Nelson Carlo de Los Santos Arias Columbus — Kogonada The Desert Bride — Cecilia Atán, Valeria Pivato Directions — Stephan Komandarev Disappearance — Boudewijn Koole The Divine Order — Petra Volpe The Dragon Defense — Natalia Santa Farewell (Abscheid von den Eltern) — Astrid Johanna Ofner Félicité — Alain Gomis Gabriel and the Mountain — Fellipe Gamarano Barbosa Garden Store: Family Friend — Jan Hřebejk God's Own Country — Francis Lee Golden Exits — Alex Ross Perry Good Manners (As Boas Maneiras) — Marco Dutra, Juliana Rojas Holy Air — Shady Srour Hotel Salvation (Mukti Bhawan) — Shubhashish Bhutiani Ice Mother (Bába z ledu) — Bohdan Sláma In the Fade — Fatih Akin The Insult — Ziad Doueiri The King's Choice (Kongens nei) — Erik Poppe Last Days in Havana (Últimos días en La Habana) — Fernando Pérez The Line — Peter Bebjak Lipstick Under My Burkha — Alankrita Shrivastava Loveless (Нелюбовь) — Andrey Zvyagintsev Lucky — John Carroll Lynch The Nest of the Turtledove (Гніздо горлиці) — Taras Tkachenko Newton — Amit V. Masurkar The Nile Hilton Incident — Tarik Saleh No Bed of Roses — Mostofa Sarwar Farooki No Date, No Signature (بدون تاریخ، بدون امضا) — Vahid Jalilvand On the Seventh Day (En el séptimo día) — Jim McKay The Other Side of Hope (Toivon tuolla puolen) — Aki Kaurismäki The Party — Sally Potter Los Perros — Marcela Said The Queen of Spain (La reina de España) — Fernando Trueba Reseba: The Dark Wind — Hussein Hassan Sami Blood (Sameblod) — Amanda Kernell Scary Mother (Sashishi Deda) — Ana Urushadze Sexy Durga — Sanal Kumar Sasidharan Son of Sofia (O gios tis Sofias) — Elina Psykou Sour Apples (Ekşi Elmalar) — Yılmaz Erdoğan Summer 1993 (Estiu 1993) — Carla Simón Swallows and Amazons — Philippa Lowthorpe Sweet Virginia — Jamie M. Dagg Tales of Mexico (La Habitación) — Natalia Beristáin, Carlos Bolado, Carlos Carrera, Ernesto Contreras, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Alfonso Pineda Ulloa, Alejandro Valle, Iván Ávila Dueñas Tehran Taboo (تهران تابو) — Ali Soozandeh Tenderness (La Tenerezza) — Gianni Amelio (Die Reise mit Vater) — Anca Miruna Lăzărescu Thelma — Joachim Trier Thirst Street — Nathan Silver Tom of Finland — Dome Karukoski Vazante — Daniela Thomas Western — Valeska Grisebach Winter Brothers (Vinterbrødre) — Hlynur Pálmason The Wound (Inxeba) — John Trengove The Young Karl Marx — Raoul Peck
Spotlight on France Ava — Léa Mysius BPM (Beats per Minute) — Robin Campillo Dalida — Lisa Azuelos Django — Étienne Comar Faces Places — Agnès Varda, JR Ismael's Ghosts (Les Fantômes d'Ismaël) — Arnaud Desplechin Milla — Valérie Massadian A Season in France (Une Saison en France) — Mahamat Saleh Haroun The Valley of the Wolves (La Vallée des loups) — Jean-Michel Bertrand The Workshop (L'Atelier) — Laurent Cantet
Documentaries 24 Frames (۲۴ فریم) — Abbas Kiarostami AlphaGo — Greg Kohs Armed with Faith — Asad Faruqi, Geeta Gandbhir Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story — Alexandra Dean Caniba — Véréna Paravel, Lucien Castaing-Taylor Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun? — Travis Wilkerson Dina — Daniel Sickles, Antonio Santini Dirtbag: The Legend of Fred Beckey — Dave O'Leske The Farthest — Emer Reynolds Good Luck — Ben Russell Machines — Rahul Jain Maineland — Miao Wang A Marriage Story (Strnadovi) — Helena Třeštíková Searching for a New Science — David Malone Untitled — Michael Glawogger, Monika Willi West of the Jordan River — Amos Gitai
True North Black Cop — Cory Bowles Eye on Juliet — Kim Nguyen Fail to Appear — Antoine Bourges Fake Tattoos (Les faux tatouages) — Pascal Plante Forest Movie — Matthew Taylor Blais In the Waves — Jacquelyn Mills Infiltration (Le problème d’infiltration) — Robert Morin Like a Pebble in the Boot (Comme un caillou dans la botte) — Hélène Choquette Maison du Bonheur — Sofia Bohdanowicz Mass for Shut-Ins — Winston DeGiobbi Our People Will Be Healed — Alanis Obomsawin Prototype — Blake Williams Rebels on Pointe — Bobbi Jo Hart A Skin So Soft (Ta peau si lisse) — Denis Côté Still Night, Still Light (Mes nuits feront écho) — Sophie Goyette Suck It Up — Jordan Canning Unarmed Verses — Charles Officer Worst Case, We Get Married (Et on pire, on se mariera) — Léa Pool You're Soaking in It — Scott Harper
Gateway 2 Cool 2 Be 4gotten — Petersen Vargas Anarchist from Colony — Lee Joon-ik Angkor Awakens — Robert H. Lieberman Bad Genius — Nattawut Poonpiriya A Beautiful Star — Daihachi Yoshida Becoming Who I Was — Moon Chang-yong, Jeon Jin Burma Storybook — Petr Lom Claire's Camera — Hong Sang-soo Close-Knit — Naoko Ogigami The Departure — Lana Wilson Dragonfly Eyes — Xu Bing The First Lap — Kim Dae-hwan A Fish Out of Water — Lai Kuo-An The Foolish Bird — Huang Ji, Ryuji Otsuka The Great Buddha+ — Huang Ji, Ryuji Otsuka Gukoroku: Traces of Sin — Kei Ishikawa Have a Nice Day — Liu Jian The Hidden Sword — Xu Haofeng Honeygiver Among the Dogs — Dechen Roder I've Got the Blues — Angie Chen In Time to Come — Tan Pin Pin King of Peking — Sam Voutas The Last Roar of a Mother Bear — Doug Chan Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts — Mouly Surya Motherland — Ramona S. Diaz Okja — Bong Joon-ho Paradox — Wilson Yip Sweating the Small Stuff — Ryutaro Ninomiya
Sea to Sky Adventures in Public School — Kyle Rideout cə̓snaʔəm, the city before the city — Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers Dead Shack — Peter Ricq Entanglement — Jason James Gregoire — Cody Bown Hollow in the Land — Scooter Corkle Indian Horse — Stephen Campanelli Luk'Luk'I — Wayne Wapeemukwa Meet Beau Dick: Maker of Monsters — LaTiesha Fazakas, Natalia Tudge Never Steady, Never Still — Kathleen Hepburn On Putin's Blacklist — Boris Ivanov Once There Was a Winter — Ana Valine Shut Up and Say Something — Melanie Wood
Impact ACORN and the Firestorm — Reuben Atlas, Sam Pollard Blue — Karina Holden Evolution of Organic — Mark Kitchell Frank Serpico — Antonino D'Ambrosio Hondros — Greg Campbell Human Flow — Ai Weiwei Keep Talking — Karen Lynn Weinberg The Trial: The State of Russia vs Oleg Sentsov — Askold Kurov The Venerable W — Barbet Schroeder A Yangtze Landscape — Chang Jiang
M/A/D Beuys: Art as a Weapon — Andres Veiel Big Time — Kaspar Astrup Schröder Bosch: The Garden of Dreams (El Bosco, el jardin de los sueños) — José Luis López Linares Bunch of Kunst — Christine Franz Chaplin in Bali: Journey to the East — Raphaël Millet Chavela — Catherine Gund, Daresha Kyi Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives — Chris Perkel David Hockney at the Royal Academy of Arts — Phil Grabsky Leaning Into the Wind: Andy Goldsworthy — Thomas Riedelsheimer Louise Lecavalier in Motion — Raymond St-Jean Planeta Petrila — Andrei Dascalescu Schumann's Bar Talks — Marieke Schroeder Shadowman — Oren Jacoby Song of Granite — Pat Collins Streetscapes (Dialogue) — Heinz Emigholz Where You're Meant to Be — Paul Fegan
Altered States Animals (Tiere) — Greg Zglinski Bad Day for the Cut — Chris Baugh Bitch — Marianna Palka The Crescent — Seth A. Smith The Endless — Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead Friendly Beast (O Animal Cordial) — Gabriela Amaral Almeida Housewife — Can Evrenol Lowlife — Ryan Prows Tiger Girl — Jakob Lass Tragedy Girls — Tyler MacIntyre
Canadian Short Films Alice Ayalik — Reel Youth Anne Doll — Levi Marshall Bickford Park — Linsey Stewart, Dane Clark Bird — Molly Parker Birdlime — Evan Derushie Bunbun Blast — Drake Tuura Cherry Cola — Joseph Amenta Crème de menthe — Jean-Marc E. Roy, Philippe David Gagné The Crying Conch — Vincent Toi Do We Leave This Here — Julia Hutchings Etymology — Faith Paré Fence — Alexis Fortier Gauthier Flood — Amanda Strong From Here To — Darynn Bednarczyk Full Moon Party — Gabriel Adelman The Glow Is Gone — Ryan Ermacora Go Play Outside (Va jouer dehors) — Adib Alkhalidey The Good Fight — Mintie Pardoe Grandmother (ʔEtsu) — Trevor Mack His Name Is Willy — Liz Cairns Idizwadidiz — Isiah Medina It Just Might Be True — Evan McDermot, Samantha Campbell The Knits — Lisa Birke Let Your Heart Be Light — Deragh Campbell, Sophy Romvari Life Goes On: John Dub — Moe Yang Lights Beneath My Feet — Laz Lira's Forest — Connor Jessup Lost Paradise Lost — Yan Giroux Lower Plenty Garden Views — Adrian St. Louis Manivald — Chintis Lundgren The Martyr — Devan Scott, Will Ross Memory of the Peace — Jennifer Chiu, Jean Parsons Milk — Heather Young The Mountain of SGaana — Christopher Auchter La Pesca — Pablo Alvarez-Mesa, Fernando López Escrivá Refugee Rescue — Richard Yang Rupture — Yassmina Karajah Scaffold — Kazik Radwanski Scratchy — Marv Newland Sea Monster — Daniel Rocque, Kassandra Tomczyk Shadow Nettes — Phillip Barker Slap Happy — Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Dusty Mancinelli The Tesla World Light — Matthew Rankin There Lived the Colliers — Nelson MacDonald Thug — Daniel Boos Voices of Kidnapping — Ryan McKenna When Food Goes Bad — Ben Sprenger Where Do Cats Go After 9 Lives? — Marion Duhaime A Woman on the Telephone: Carol — Erica Généreux Smith
International Short Films 100 Second Red Light — Navid Zare Afterglow — Akira Kamiki American Psychosis — Amanda Zackem The Animal — Atasay Koç Backstory — Joschka Laukeninks Ballooinator — Joshua Siegel Bullroarer — Francesco Saviano C.O.D. — Onur Dogan Canton Novelty — Fang Lu Chasing Stars — Markus Eichenberger Damn Bro! — Travis Frick Divide — Rabbia Arshad, Alysha Siddigi, Jamil Ur Rehman Don't Be Afraid of the Light — Jason A. Rostovsky The Fashion Show — Lucy Lumsden Flag — Matan Ben Moreh Forever Now — Kristian Haskjold Game — Jeannie Donohoe