
Watch all the award-winning shorts from VQFF 2023, including:
Winner of the 2023 Gerry Brunet Memorial Award for Best British Columbia Short
TABANCA
Winner of the 2023 People’s Choice Award for Canadian Short
Scaring Women At Night
Winner of the 2023 People’s Choice Award for International Short
Foreign Uncle
Runner-up for the 2023 People’s Choice Award for Canadian Short
Thriving: A Dissociated Reverie
Runner-ups for the 2023 People’s Choice Award for International Short
AC Unit
DIVR
The People’s Choice Awards are determined by audience ballots, and every film screened at the Festival is eligible for one of the four following awards. Winners are determined by the highest proportion of votes, ensuring all films have the opportunity to be recognized regardless of the size of the theatre they are screened in. To vote, complete your ballot on tablets provided by our staff and volunteers as you leave the theatre or submit a rating for each film you watch on our digital watch platform until August 19.
TABANCA
Lauren Marsden / Canada / 2022 / 12 min / English with captions
Set in a gloomy Vancouver winter, genderqueer Marlinn misses Carnival season back home in Trinidad—until they discover the power of masquerade within.
Scaring Women at Night
Karimah Zakia Issa / Canada / 2022 / 11 min / English with captions
Two scared strangers try to escape one another while walking home. Their worlds collide at an intersection, forcing them to question who they’re afraid of and why.
Foreign Uncle
Sining Xiang / China, United States / 2021 / 20 min / Chinese and English with English subtitles
Featuring re-enactments from his own family, director Sining Xiang relives the experience of introducing his white American boyfriend to his Chinese family, who are oblivious to their gay relationship.
Content warning: Homophobia.
AC Unit
Grace Godvin / United States / 2023 / 13 min / English with captions
Hilton and Drew are two best friends living in Brooklyn during the height of a heatwave. One day, when installing an AC unit, disaster turns their world on its head, and the future becomes incredibly unclear.
Thriving: A Dissociated Reverie
Nicole Bazuin / Canada / 2022 / 9 min / English with captions
A bold, imaginative, and supersaturated peek into the world of Kitoko, a Black nonbinary disabled artist and former sex worker diagnosed with a dissociative identity disorder.
DIVR
Zoey Martinson / United States / 2022 / 16 min / English with captions
When three college friends create a casual-sex app by and for queer women of colour, it succeeds their wildest expectations. However, secrets emerge that could destroy both business and friendships.