From the depths of Vancouver’s cinematic sub-terrain, beneath the looming shadow of its most prestigious film festival, a new underground institution emerged. OFF-VIFF was created for the films and filmmakers that were overlooked or rejected by the usual gatekeepers.

Vancouver’s Official Underground to VIFF is now in its third and biggest year yet. This past week, the Short Program screenings and features Toronto Apartment and Sugar Rot packed Cineworks with an overcapacity crowd of people who have a taste for the strange. And that was just day one, the primer, if you will. The main event goes down Monday October 12, when OFF-VIFF takes over the iconic Rio Theatre for four feature premieres, back-to-back, with filmmaker Q&As in between.

I know what you’re thinking: 4 movies in a row is crazy work, but the OFF-VIFF atmosphere is more akin to an energetic watch party than a stuffy festival showcase. These are films built to get a room worked up: cheering, gasping, cringing, talking, arguing, etc, etc. I can’t think of a better way to spend a Thanksgiving Monday. 

Here are the impeccable feature presentations at OFF-VIFF 2026:

Enemies: A Tale of Friendship | World Premiere | Dirs. Kaan Eraslan & T.J. Tulloch

Oct 12 | 1:15pm | Buy Tickets

For over a decade, “The Thunder From Jalandhar” and “The All American” Azeem “the Dream” have been beating the hell out of each other on the Pacific Northwest’s independent wrestling circuit. But when their home promotion, All Star Wrestling, goes up for sale, the longtime rivals have to figure out what comes next. In this Vancouver-made documentary, the real drama is what happens outside the ring, where the beef is kayfabe but the friendships are the real deal. A scrappy portrait of independent wrestling, its aging warhorses and the question of who gets to stick around when the show must go on.

Manhunt | Special Presentation | Dir. Wayne Wapeemukwa

Oct 12 | 3:30pm | Buy Tickets

Inspired by the 2019 Northern BC murders, Manhunt drags true crime into the digital-age male psyche, where internet-fuelled fantasies of masculinity and violence start to bleed into real life. Against the isolating sprawl of Canada’s northern frontier, two boys chase the promise of reinvention, only to find that no amount of distance can outpace who they’re becoming.

Drinking and Driving | West Coast Premiere | Dirs. Avalon Fast & Jillian Frank

Oct 12 | 6:30pm | Buy Tickets

Set in the summer of 2016, Drinking and Driving follows a group of early twentysomethings in rural BC, caught in the inertia of a life spent killing time. At the centre are two best friends whose insular world of co-dependence and fleeting connection starts to fade when a dream throws their memories into question. The film revisits a pre-algorithm era of getting fucked up off Twisted Teas in somebody’s bedroom because there’s nothing else to do.

Castration Movie Chapter iii. Junior Ghosts—Premorphic Drift; a fragmentary passage | West Coast Premiere | Dir. Louise Weard

Oct 12 | 9:15pm | Buy Tickets

The third chapter in Louise Weard’s sprawling Castration Movie anthology, Junior Ghosts—Premorphic Drift follows Izzy as she does everything in her power to stop her partner from transitioning. Through the couple’s dynamic and Izzy’s resistance, Weard interrogates the limits of empathy when another person’s identity threatens your own sense of reality.

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Vancouver, this may be your only chance to see these movies on the big-screen (though I hope it’s not). Don’t miss your chance and come celebrate some of Canada’s most exciting and transgressive filmmakers.

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