Memoria At Viff

Proudly supported by The Polygon Gallery

The Polygon Gallery proudly supports Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Memoria at the 40th annual Vancouver International Film Festival. In-person screenings have returned at this year's VIFF, which runs October 1 – 11.

Screening Dates
The Hollywood Theatre
Friday, October 1 at 6:15 PM
3123 West Broadway
19+ Venue

Vancity Theatre @ VIFF Centre
Saturday, October 2 at 3:00pm
1181 Seymour Street

Vancouver Playhouse
Thursday, October 7, 2021 at 9:15 PM
600 Hamilton Street

Book tickets at Viff.org

About Memoria
Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Runtime: 135 minutes
Language: English, Spanish

Shooting outside of Thailand — in faraway Colombia — for the first time in his career, Apichatpong Weerasethakul makes his English- and Spanish-language debut with Memoria, co-winner of the Jury Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. His latest masterpiece is mysterious and unique, even by the director’s standards, with an international cast of renowned actors including Tilda Swinton, Jeanne Balibar, and popular Colombian TV star Elkin Diaz.

Spanning an atemporal, apolitical space of the narrative, Memoria centres on Jessica (Swinton), a Scottish orchid farmer visiting her sister in Bogotá. One livid morning at daybreak, Jessica is torn from sleep by a loud bang resembling the reverberating sound of a large stone ball falling on metal. This haunting sound dispels her sleep for days, calling her identity into question and guiding her from recording studios to secluded villages. The noise, which only Jessica seems to hear, carries a foreboding beauty that is part of the surrounding landscape — be it the busy streets of Bogotá or the verdant mountains around the excavation site where Jessica travels to meet up with a new friend, Agnes (Balibar), an archaeologist researching human remains that bear the signs of ritual deaths. Here, Jessica also shares memories with Hernan (Diaz), a fish scaler who speaks of the past, the future, and the memories of the dead.

Character-driven, unlike Weerasethakul’s previous films, Memoria challenges and enriches the director’s way of making movies. Weerasethakul weaves his signature serene narrative style into a carefully designed land- and soundscape that captures the elusive genius of the locus with precise, perfect simplicity.

International Curators Forum Public Conversation

The Polygon Gallery is honoured to present a conversation with four visionary curators as part of its inaugural International Curators Forum (ICF). Invited…

Anna Binta Diallo: Predictions Opening Celebration

Join us on Thursday, July 10 for the Anna Binta Diallo: Predictions Opening Celebration
Reception starts at 7:30pm
Remarks at 8:00pm
Followed by a Deckchair…

Deckchair Cinema: Universal Language

Not sci-fi, but we’re making an exception for the most acclaimed Canadian film in recent memory. Universal Language takes place in a mysterious and…

Deckchair Cinema: Gravity

White-knuckle entertainment of the highest order! Directed by Alfonso Cuarón, and starring Oscar winners Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, this…

Deckchair Cinema: Spaceballs

The evil leaders of Planet Spaceball, having foolishly squandered their precious atmosphere, devise a secret plan to take every breath of air away from…

Conversation + Publication Launch: Alejandro A. Barbosa...

Join us on Thursday, July 31 for a discussion of Alejandro A. Barbosa’s monumental new installation I Got Us the Moon, featuring the artist in…

Deckchair Cinema: The Fifth Element

New York cab driver Korben Dallas didn’t mean to be a hero, but he just picked up the kind of fare that only comes along every five thousand years: A…

Kids First

Join us for art-making, fun, and sun on first Saturday and Sunday of the month. In the summer (June – September) Kids First is taking place outside, and…

Meet Me At The Gallery: Seniors Program

Meet Me at The Gallery is a daytime art program dedicated to enriching the lives of seniors and friends in our community with monthly get-togethers inspired…

Deckchair Cinema: Flash Gordon

Super producer Dino De Laurentiis brought Alex Raymond’s beloved cartoon strip and the long running movie serial to the big screen for a delirious…

Deckchair Cinema: Star Trek 2 The Wrath Of Khan

The most celebrated and essential adventure from the Star Trek universe. On a routine training mission, Admiral James T. Kirk seems resigned that this may…

Deckchair Cinema: Starman

The most underrated entry in John Carpenter’s oeuvre. After his spacecraft is shot down over Wisconsin, an alien (Jeff Bridges) arrives at the remote…

Deckchair Cinema: David Lynch's Dune

Following a notorious failed attempt by Alejandro Jodorowsky in the 1970s, Frank Herbert’s bestselling sci-fi epic Dune finally made it to the big…