Vancouver Film Festival

Vancouver International Film Festival

The Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) is a movie festival that takes place from late September until early October at the Vancity Theatre.

The festival runs from October 2nd to 12th in 2025.

The VIFF Centre, meanwhile, is the theatre venue where the Vancouver International Film Festival is based and where many of its films take place. It’s also called Vancity Theatre. Located at 1181 Seymour Street, the VIFF Centre hosts other films and events throughout the year as well.

For example, in celebration of Earth Day in 2025, there are two screenings of the award-winning film Our Blue World: A Water Odyssey. Written and directed in Ireland, the production is about combining science, technology and cultural practices to optimize water conversation. The first screening takes place at 3:00 pm on April 20th. The second screening begins at 6:30 pm on April 22nd and is followed by a discussion with Wade Davis, Paul O’Callaghan and Dr. Shannon Waters. For tickets and more details, see the viff.org website.

This article contains the following information about the Vancouver Film Festival:

Vancouver Film Festival

The Vancouver International Film Festival is one of the largest film festivals in North America. It features as many as 300 screenings, and up to 100,000 people or more attend it each year.

The festival showcases internationally-acclaimed and award-winning films as well as lesser known movies. It also boasts the largest selection of Asian-produced films of any festival outside of Asia, and one of the largest collections of Canadian-made productions anywhere.

Many of the films at the Vancouver International Film Festival are in English, but a significant number are also in a foreign language with English subtitles. There are typically films from as many as 70 or more countries, and all in their original languages.

Vancouver International Film Festival

Film Festival in Vancouver

2025 marks the 44th anniversary of the Vancouver International Film Festival. Featured genres include action movies, comedies, dramas, documentaries, science fiction, horror and more.

In total, there are around 200 or so films to enjoy during the festival’s run.

For full details about the Vancouver International Film Festival, visit viff.org.

Festival Films

The Vancouver International Film Festival features numerous films from all across the globe. Last year’s festival included 81 shorts and 140 feature films. There were 128 premieres to enjoy, including 29 world premieres and 45 Canadian premieres.

To help attendees find movies they might be interested in, films are organized by date, content types, genres, theatre venues and countries of origin.

For the full list of films that showed last year, visit the Vancouver International Film Festival website. The list of films for the 2025 festival is to be confirmed.

Film Festival Ticket Prices

Admission prices at the Vancouver International Film Festival vary depending on your age and the type of event. For an idea on what pricing could be like in 2025, see last year’s prices below. For regular screenings, prices ranged from $14 to $19.

(Note: Prices and other details were subject to change.)

2024 Regular Screenings

Adults: $19
Students/Youth: $14
Seniors (ages 65+): $17
People requiring wheelchair accessible seating: $14

Ticket Packs and Festival Passes in 2024

For movie lovers planning to attend multiple film screenings, ticket packs and festival passes are a good way to save money. Below were the regular rates for some of the multi-ticket packages last year.

6 Ticket Pack: $108 ($94 for VIFF+ members)
10 Ticket Pack: $170 ($150 for VIFF+ members)
Platinum Pass: $1,200 ($1,080 for VIFF+ members)

Note: All ticket packs and passes are subject to availability, so admission to all shows isn’t guaranteed in all cases.

For tickets and more information about the festival, visit viff.org.

Ticket Purchase Options

Tickets can usually be purchased in three different ways: (1) online, (2) in-person before the festival starts at the Vancity Theatre at 1181 Seymour Street, or (3) during regular box office hours at any of the various participating theatres between the first and last day of the festival.

Nosferatu at VIFF — (Photo by Stephen Morgan)

Film Festival Venues

Participating theatres from last year and their locations are below.

Fifth Avenue Cinemas – at 2110 Burrard Street (near 4th Avenue).
International Village Mall – at 88 West Pender Street (near Chinatown).
Rio Theatre – located at 1660 East Broadway (by Commercial Drive). Note: This is a licensed venue and audience members must be age 19+ and have valid ID.
SFU Woodwards – located at 149 West Hastings Street (near Abbott Street).
The Cinémathèque – located at 1131 Howe Street (near Helmcken Street).
Vancouver Playhouse – located at 600 Hamilton Street (near Dunsmuir Street).
VIFF Vancity and Studio Theatres – located at 1181 Seymour Street (near Davie Street).

About the Film Festival

The festival is hosted by the Greater Vancouver International Film Festival Society which is a non-profit organization that also looks after the year-round programming of the Vancity Theatre at the Vancouver International Film Centre.

More Information

Below is a list of other information that’s good to know.

VIFF Festival Memberships are valid year-round at the Vancity Theatre.
As the majority of VIFF films are not rated, in most cases attendees need to be at least 18 years old (and 19+ for films at The Rio Theatre because it’s a licensed establishment, meaning that alcoholic beverages are available there during the show).
All VIFF films are in their original languages with English subtitles.

Promo Video

For a short preview of the 2024 program, check out the video below. It was the official promotional video for the Vancouver International Film Festival.