Vancouver Short Film Festival (VSFF) has just announced the Festival Lineup for its 13th Edition, Rising Stars, Revolutionary Stories. The festival will showcase 57 short films from across Canada—including 45 films created by BC filmmakers.

“After reviewing a record-high number of festival entries, our film programs represent a series of unapologetically bold, compassionate, delightful, and provoking short films,” said Emily Weldon and Nicolas Ayerbe Barona, VSFF’s Fesitval Co-Directors, in a press release.

This year’s VSFF is going to look pretty different from 2022. Instead of being held in January, the festival will be in-person from June 2 to 4 at VIFF Centre. This is also the first time it will be held in person since January 2020.

For those who have gotten used to the comfort of watching from home, virtual screenings of the films will be available from June 2 to 11.

There will be an opening reception on the first day of the festival. Any VSFF ticket holders—for either in-person or virtual screenings—are invited to attend.

Throughout the weekend, there will be six programs, each lasting just over two hours. At 8:30pm on Saturday, June 3, there will also be an After Dark block at VIFF Centre’s Vancity Theatre featuring13 short films. Special mention goes to comedy Weeds are Flowers, Too, which follows newlywed Evelyn in how far she’ll go to have the best garden on the block.

Other screenings throughout the weekend include Swallow Flying to the South, a documentary about 5-year-old Swallow who was abandoned in central Beijing at a public boarding school; and Stay, a drama starring Vancouver drag queen Kendall Gender from Canada’s Drag Race.

The film festival closes with a party at ANNEX, the building beside the Orpheum, on June 4. As with the opening party, any ticket holders are welcome to attend.

VSFF runs from June 2 to 4 at VIFF Centre. Tickets are available here. Virtual screenings can be accessed here.

For anyone around Vancouver who’s interested in short films and can’t wait til June, this week there is also the DOXA Documentary Film Festival. To learn more about DOXA, check out the Straight’s guide here.