Other Luminary Award recipients are Markus Schleinzer and Leah Nelson as VIFF unveils a wide-ranging program of talks, panels and masterclasses
Carrie Coon will be the first recipient of the Vancouver International Film Festival’s new Luminary Award in the acting category, honoring excellence and dedication to the art of moving image. The “White Lotus,” “The Gilded Age,” and “The Leftovers” star is set to take part in a wide-ranging conversation following the Oct. 4 presentation.
Coon also stars in “The Liberation,” which screens earlier that day at VIFF, playing a mother trying to escape the weight of her harrowing past, only to find solace in an all-women’s cult.
Beyond Coon’s appearance, VIFF’s Oct. 1-11 program will feature talks, panels and masterclasses bringing filmmakers, craftspeople, producers, programmers and other industry professionals to Vancouver. The festival will also present Luminary Awards to Markus Schleinzer (“Rose”) for directing excellence and Leah Nelson (“Tangles”) for screenwriting.
The festival’s VIFF Talks series kicks off Oct. 3 with editor Matthew Hannam, whose recent credits include Halina Reijn’s “Babygirl” and Noah Baumbach’s “White Noise.” Hannam, who will be discussing his collaborative approach, began his career as an assistant editor in Winnipeg, working with Canadian auteurs like Guy Maddin.
Producer Haley Johnson will discuss the making of “Obsession,” the independently produced film made on a shoestring budget that went on to gross over $500 million worldwide. The Oct. 4 conversation will focus on the film’s production and subsequent trajectory, including a studio bidding war following its Toronto premiere.
On Oct. 5, production designers Brandon Tonner-Connolly and Matt Hyland will discuss working together to build the surreal, immersive world of Jane Schoenbrun’s “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma.”
The VIFF Talks series concludes Oct. 7 with Mark Mothersbaugh, DEVO co-founder and composer behind Wes Anderson’s “Rushmore,” “The Royal Tenenbaums” and “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou,” amongst others. He’ll be in conversation with composer and former Fox studio exec Robert Kraft.
This year’s masterclass programming has a distinctly international flavor.
Guests include Latvian producer, writer and director Matīss Kaža, who co-wrote and produced Gints Zilbalodis’ “Flow,” which won the Academy Award for animated feature last year. Chilean producer Giancarlo Nasi, whose credits include “The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo,” winner of the Grand Prix at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard n 2025, will lead a session on international co-productions.
Berlin-based film editor Evelyn Rack — behind the Cannes Jury Prize winner and Germany’s Oscars submission, “Sound of Falling” — will lead “Editing as Discovery: Narrative, Instinct, and the Unpredictable.” And Barcelona-born, Berlin-based audience designer Isona Admetlla will explore audience strategy and creative distribution.
The panel lineup, meanwhile, brings together figures from across the festival and distribution ecosystem.
“Curating Cinema in a Shifting Landscape” will feature Pamela Biénzobas, a programmer at the Locarno Film Festival, alongside VIFF documentary programmer Ruun Nuur and critic/programmer Saffron Maeve, for a discussion of how film curation is evolving.
“From Festival to Marketplace: Meet the Decision Makers” will bring together Michael Robson of Elevation Pictures, Max Collister of Mubi Canada and Richelle Charkot of Game Theory Films to discuss the path from festival exposure to distribution and audiences.
The Vancouver-to-international trajectory will be the focus of “From Vancouver to the World: The Making of Tangles,” featuring director Leah Nelson alongside several members of the creative team behind the animated feature. Based on Vancouver artist Sarah Leavitt’s graphic memoir, “Tangles” was selected for Cannes the best first feature Caméra d’Or at Cannes and boasts a voice cast that includes Abbi Jacobson, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston, and Seth Rogen.
Other panels will examine Indigenous filmmaking and narrative sovereignty, deal-making, documentary filmmaking beyond certainty, and the craft of comedy.
The festival will also showcase its Composer Filmmaker Accelerator, an initiative connecting emerging composers with filmmakers through mentorship and hands-on collaboration. It is curated by three-time Emmy-nominated composer Miriam Cutler, whose credits include “RBG,” “Love Gilda,” and “Lost in La Mancha.” The 2026 CFA showcase takes place Oct. 8.
Among the filmmakers and industry figures also expected at VIFF are Canadian icon Rick Hansen, actor and “School for Defectors” producer Daniel Dae Kim, and Canadian directors Matthew Rankin (“Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney”), Marie Clements (“How We Stand,” “Reclaim My Skin”) and Zach Lipovsky (“Freaks Part II”).