Film won’t just be watched; it will be brought to life in playful and profound ways at the 2026 Victoria Film Festival. The festival hits Greater Victoria theatres Feb. 6 to 15 and lineup/ticket sales went live Jan. 9. With 91 feature films on the list this year plus shorts, VFF director Kathy Kay painted a picture of what’s to come, highlighting quirks that will make the festival’s 32nd edition pop. At the screening of Canadian film Dead Lover, a surreal and comedic horror piece, the festival will sell Smell-O-Vision cards – “kind of like scratch and sniff books/stickers from childhood” – for audience members to use at certain parts as they watch. “We want going to the ‘movies’ to be an experience,” Kay said. “To help create something memorable. As much as possible, we want to create a visceral experience for people.” This year, horror films are getting more attention as the genre surges in popularity, she notes. “In 2025, films like Sinners and Weapons proved that horror can be a box-office success while also earning critical praise and mainstream attention.” As part of the push, the Toaster Rocket Cinema will transform into the “Terrifying Toaster” and screen horror films on Feb. 7 and 10 at 10 p.m. Films will also run in other unusual places, such as the Destroyed Cinema running three pop-up locations: Market Square, Little Fernwood and United Commons. Bringing additional pizzazz to the festival are music performances, the return of an animatronic arcade art exhibit and special appearances for Q&As. Celebrated nature artist Robert Bateman is expected at two screenings of The Art of Adventure, which chronicles his 30,000-km adventure across Africa, India, Southeast Asia and Australia with ecologist Bristol Foster. Similarly, comedian Mary Walsh from This Hour Has 22 Minutes and Sheila McCarthy from Women Talking will speak at a Sidney screening of Dancing on the Elephant and an In Conversation event with CTV’s Richard Crouse. Local filmmakers, such as Deanna Milligan and Ramsey Fendall, are also expected to add some colourful conversation. As always, there is plenty on the program to choose from, and luckily, the VFF guide breaks it all down into helpful categories. For instance, Buzz+ highlights films that come with cred, which could give certain people a “smidge of FOMO”. Other categories include Coast films; F1RST, presenting contemporary Indigenous filmmaking; QuirkD, which encompasses quirky films – “think Stopkewich’s Kissed, Lynch’s Eraserhead”; and Sketch, which focuses on the lives of interesting people. This year, nine films are flagged in the Buzz+ category. Among them, the animated A Magnificent Life, which was nominated for Best Animated Film at the Lumiere Awards, comes from Academy Award-nominated director Sylvain Chomet (The Triplets of Belleville) and is noted to be an engaging film about film. Carolina Caroline is a “stylish tale of young lovers” that “breathes new life into the classic formula.” There’s also a Canadian film, Mile End Kicks, which won Best Screenplay and Best Editing at the Whistler Film Festival and follows an aspiring music journalist. If one still isn’t sure what to see, Kay recommends another popular option: “Going to one of the shorts programs is a great way to see works by a number of filmmakers in a limited amount of time.” One thing is for certain: each year, the VFF offers a unique experience and that special touch that makes it stand out among film festivals around the world. “It could be the pink prism that we see the world through,” Kay said. “Maybe it’s because we’re on an island. Or maybe we’re just quirked? This year we have robots, pop-up cinemas, rock band performances … whether it’s in film programming or the creation of other events, we want to create something engaging and just a bit different – like us.”
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