Canadian entertainment news — the fall festival circuit keeps rolling west. The Vancouver International Film Festival has detailed the lineup for its 45th edition, running October 1 to 11, and the bookends are heavyweight: Jesse Eisenberg’s The Debut opens the festival, and Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine closes it. In total, VIFF will present 162 features, 91 shorts and two episodic series representing 76 nations — with a strong Canadian spine running through it.
By Maplestime Entertainment Desk | Winnipeg, Manitoba | September 24, 2026
Sources: Exclaim! | VIFF (official) | Last updated: September 24, 2026
Key Takeaways
- The 45th VIFF runs October 1-11 with 162 features, 91 shorts and two episodic series from 76 nations.
- Opening night: Jesse Eisenberg’s The Debut, a community-theatre comedy starring Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti.
- Closing night: Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine, a black comedy about CIA agents with John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell.
- Three hyper-Canadian documentaries anchor the lineup: Run Terry Run (Sean Menard), Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney (Matthew Rankin) and Man in Motion: The Rick Hansen Story (Adrian Buitenhuis).
- VIFF Amp connects film and music with Meg Remy, Peter Peter and Matthew Rogers; VIFF Live presents a concert from DEVO’s Mark Mothersbaugh on his film-composing work.
Two very different bookends
Eisenberg’s The Debut — a comedy about community theatre with Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti — is a warm, actor-driven choice to open. McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine, a black comedy about CIA agents set around the 1973 Chilean coup with Malkovich and Rockwell, is about as far from warm as it gets. That contrast is the point: VIFF programs like a festival that trusts its audience.
The Canadian core
Three documentaries give the edition its Canadian heartbeat: Sean Menard’s Run Terry Run — which also plays Edmonton’s festival, opening today — Matthew Rankin’s Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney, and Adrian Buitenhuis’s Man in Motion: The Rick Hansen Story. Terry Fox, Brian Mulroney, Rick Hansen: three lives that bent the country’s history, three films in one lineup.
Around the screenings, VIFF Amp bridges film and music with Meg Remy (U.S. Girls), Peter Peter (Heated Rivalry‘s composer) and Matthew Rogers, while VIFF Live stages a concert from DEVO’s Mark Mothersbaugh spotlighting his work as a film composer.
With Edmonton opening today and Vancouver’s lineup now set for October, Canada’s fall film season is officially stacked. The only question is how many screenings you can fit in eleven days.
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