For 21st year, VISFF partners with CineVic local films to Nanaimo

Lim’s film will be screened during the second program, Saturday evening. Like many of his films, Obscura was filmed on Vancouver Island. Photo courtesy of Vancouver Island Short Film Festival

Local and international short films will be on full display this weekend at the Malaspina Theatre at Vancouver Island University.

For 21 years, the Vancouver Island Short Film Festival (VISFF) has been celebrating short films and giving space for new upcoming talent to showcase their work.

Johnny Blakeborough is the president and co-founder of the VISFF. He told CHLY that this year they are partnering with the CineVic Short Circuit out of Victoria to present a special program of short films from Vancouver Island and Gulf Island filmmakers.

“So this is our first ever locals only programme. Often we have local films in our festival every year, but they are spread out amongst the programme with international [films], but this is just Vancouver and Gulf Island filmmakers nine films from all over the island and the Gulf Islands,” Blakeborough said. “We're really excited to see how that works.”

The Short Circuit showcase will be presented on Friday, April 17th at 1pm at the Malaspina Theatre.

Blakeborough said having the festival showcase films made locally and internationally gives the audience the best of both worlds.

“I like having a great festival that shows content from everywhere in the world. We have films from Iran, we have films from Moldova, France, all over Canada, but having some local connection as well is really important,” he said. “Also getting filmmakers to see their films with these other international films, is a really great experience.”

He said the festival also allows local and youth filmmakers to meet and build community with other filmmakers from around the world.

“One of the things that we're doing this year, that I'm really excited about, is we're creating an opportunity for young filmmakers and filmmakers that are more experienced to interact more,” he said. “We're having a breakfast before the show where the filmmakers in all different age groups can get together and talk about their films, and talk about what they've done and where they've gone and where they want to go. So that’s a really exciting idea around mentorship and building that community.”

The festival will run Friday and Saturday at the Malaspina Theatre, with the CineVic Short Circuit program showing Friday at 1 p.m. followed that evening with the first half of VISFF Short Film Program at 7 p.m..

Saturday will feature, in its third year, the VISFF Youth Showcase, at 1 p.m. followed by the Youth Goldie award ceremony. That evening the second half of the VISFF Short Film Program will be presented, followed by the Goldie award ceremony and after party. 

The films can be viewed in person at the theatre or streamed digitally online through their virtual festival for those who can’t make it in person. Filmmaker Q&As will follow each evening program, as well as the Short Circuit showing.

Arnold Lim is a film maker from Victoria whose film Obscura / 옵스큐라 is being shown this year, his third short film to be featured at the festival. At the 2025 edition of the festival he won The Best of BC award for his film My Name is Arnold.

Lim spoke to CHLY about his film ahead of the festival screening.

“Obscura is about a young hikikomori, and a hikikomori is a shut-in, and it's a fairly unknown phenomenon that happens primarily in Asian countries where young people lock themselves in their room, sometimes for several days, sometimes months and sometimes even years,” Lim said. “So it's about a young hikikomori who clashes with his family and creates a camera obscura to reconnect with his family in the outside world. We shot it all on Vancouver Island.”

Lim said he loves the medium as it allows him to be more concise with how he tells stories. He said his experience as a photo and video journalist, gifted him the knowledge to craft his stories.

“Having that opportunity helped craft my understanding of what a story is and helped me understand better how I wanted to tell stories,” he said. “At the end of the day, when it comes down to any story that is passed through me, a product of all the stories that have come to me over my lifetime and passed down to me from my parents and the ancestors that have offered me the opportunity to live this life.”

Lim’s film will be screened during the second program, Saturday evening. Like many of his films, Obscura was filmed on Vancouver Island.

“Being someone that is a filmmaker that has grown up and lived in and on Vancouver Island for many of my for most of my life, and where I got married and raised my children, we have an ecosystem of support here that is really special,” Lim said. “I think that across Vancouver Island and Nanaimo for sure as well, we have people who are artists that really hit above the weight class of what our population is. That's been a special place to cultivate the craft and work on the storytelling ability, and that's really special, because art isn't a want for me, art is a need.”

He said art in general, no matter the medium, is celebrated and respected in deep meaningful ways on Vancouver Island. From a film point of view, Lim said Vancouver Island is special because it’s not an overshot area.

“Sometimes I do work in Vancouver, and you often see Vancouver represented as a different place,” he said. “What I like to do is, whenever possible, however I can, to represent Vancouver Island as Vancouver Island.”

Lim said at the core of what makes filming on Vancouver Island special is its flexibility of exteriors, beautiful landscapes to regal architecture.

"It's a gift for filmmakers. I think it's untapped. I think it's a little bit unseen. I'm grateful for that opportunity. Part of me selfishly hopes that I get to continue to work here and not have so many people using the same locations. I think one of the special things about here is the beautiful landscapes that we have here,” Lim said. “But also talented filmmakers that we have here. We may not have some of the big names that some other areas have, but we have no less talent here. I think from a population standpoint, we absolutely hit above our weight class, and we have some of the best artists in the world.”

The Vancouver Island Short Film Festival starts tomorrow afternoon at the Malaspina Theatre at Vancouver Island University. Tickets can be purchased at visff.com or at the door.

Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.