Alas, the 38th annual Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) may be calling it a wrap on Friday (October 11), but the cinematic bacchanalia does have an afterlife.

From Saturday to next Thursday (October 12 to 17), the VIFF Repeats series at the Vancity Theatre (1181 Seymour Street) brings back 17 audience hits for festivalgoers who might have missed them.

Among the Indigenous and Canadian content in the mix is Alanis Obomsawin’s 53rd film. Jordan River Anderson, the Messenger was named the best Canadian documentary at VIFF for its incisive look at the struggle to ensure all First Nations children have equitable access to all government-funded services—focusing on the tragic story of the boy who inspired activists to hold the government to its word.

Meanwhile, the German-Canadian documentary The Whale and the Raven examines the impact that increased tanker traffic will have on the Great Bear Rainforest here in B.C.

Fine arts documentaries include Beyond the Visible: Hilma af Klint, about a formerly unknown female Swedish painter now credited with being the world’s first abstract artist; Escher: Journey Into Infinity, a portrait of famed Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher; and Yuli, a look at Cuban-born dancer Carlos Acosta, who became the first black person to join England’s Royal Ballet.

There’s also The Men’s Room, a documentary about a Norwegian male choral group whose cancer-stricken director is preparing them to open for Black Sabbath. 

For Asian cinema viewers, there’s Bhutan’s Himalayan drama Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom; Japan’s Melancholic and the manga-based Children of the Sea; Hong Kong’s Still Human, about a Filipina domestic helper; and China’s family epic Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains.

Rounding things out are titles from France, Germany, New Zealand, and the USA.

Full details and ticket information are available here.