Vancouver festival launches marketplace with eight unfinished films
Vancouver International Film Festival has unveiled eight unfinished films and eight planned international co-productions for its first industry Business Hub.
The announcement, reported by Variety, sets up a new marketplace strand ahead of the 45th festival, scheduled for 1–11 October. Eight films. Eight partnerships.
Works in Progress means exactly what it sounds like. These are feature-length films in editing or post-production, not yet finished, shown privately to distributors, festival programmers and financiers who can help complete them and carry them to cinemas. VIFF will present four Canadian and four international titles in this first edition, according to programme notes published by VIFF.
The international selection spans continents and genres. It includes “Monkeyplay,” a psychological drama from India’s Don Palathara, “Three Houses,” a Venezuelan documentary from Jeissy Tromplz, and “Los Vivos y los Patos,” a magical-realist tale from Mexico’s Jose Luis Isoard Arrubarrena.
Canadian titles include “Hair or No Hair” from filmmaker Janessa St. Pierre, a feature expansion of her short about alopecia, and “The Auschwitz Volunteer” from Jason Lapere, about a Polish soldier who entered Auschwitz to organise resistance from inside.
Alongside them sit eight co-productions. A co-production is a film built by producing partners from two or more countries, sharing costs, crews and rights. VIFF said its Co-Production Forum is designed to foster that kind of collaboration at the development stage, before cameras roll.
One of the listed projects is “Galeo of the Seawalkers” (“Galeo Anak Segara”) by Andara Fembriarto, involving partners from Canada, Indonesia and Singapore. The wider Business Hub is built around three parts: the Co-Production Forum, Works in Progress and VIFF Slate, as described by VIFF.
Both strands sit inside the Institute for the Moving Image, which VIFF launched in 2026 as a year-round base for artist development, mentorship and industry contacts. The institute is directed by Ana Belen Asfura, with Rame Ibrahim as program lead, under executive director Kyle Fostner.
The October festival itself will be large. The 45th edition is listed by VIFF at more than 160 films and 85 shorts, alongside VIFF Live performances, VIFF Talks and special events.
What makes this stand out for regular cinema-goers is timing. Films often secure sales, festival slots and release dates a year or two before they reach the public. A slate like this offers an early look at titles that could appear on future programmes.
