WHAT IS OFF-VIFF?

Why we started our own underground & alternative festival in Vancouver, returning for a 2nd edition this October 13th, 2025.

Last year, we teamed up with the Vancouver native, King Baby co-director Arran Shearing to create the first annual OFF-VIFF. Described as ‘a platform for the underground’, the festival aimed to give the power of programming back to the filmmakers and - to put our money where our mouth was, for a lack of better words.

We decided for a first year festival it was best to start small and decided we’d orientate a long evening around King Baby from Kit Redstone and Arran Shearing (also known as Kit & Arran) alongside some shorts, music and filmmaker hangouts. King Baby had become quickly acclaimed and accepted by festivals such as International Film Festival Rotterdam, New Horizons, Edinburgh, SXSW Sydney and more, but had seemingly run into a wall when it came to festivals in North America. I reached out to The Rio Theatre’s programmer with whom I’d worked with before to pitch the team’s concept and the theater expressed interest. With traditional festival options coming together, we spoke to Arran about carving out a new path for King Baby, based on some of my own past distribution learnings plus STUPID’s own DIY learnings with pop-up Cannes Dogs event screenings we’d thrown in London, NYC and LA.

“We’ve all been working in film and theatre for our entire adult lives and we’ve learned that you have to fight to get your work seen.” Arran said last year, “Film Festivals are a big part of that, but even then you’re fighting for a good time slot, fighting for press, fighting to stand out. Launching our festival at our favourite cinema in Vancouver (The Rio of course) feels like refuge from all that. We can focus on bringing the work to the people with a bit of love and a bit of humour.”

I’d been following Kit & Arran’s work and love their funny bombastic approach to serious subjects, evident in King Baby. I knew I wanted to collaborate with them since seeing the film in Rotterdam and creating something distinct and in OFF-VIFF felt like the perfect excuse and also a unique path forward for the film. With the film being so well received overseas, we wanted to help create a special moment in a city held near and dear to the filmmaking team’s heart.”

Arran issued a statement saying:

“With OFF-VIFF we want to remind local filmmakers not to give too much power to your local festivals or any festivals. We’re from here! If we want to show our work here we don’t need anyone but the community! OFF-VIFF is about showing your work in your hometown on your own terms. It’s about being a bit more silly and a bit more fun. And most importantly a bit more daring.”

After thinking it into existence, OFF-VIFF was born in 2024 with our inaugural screening at The Rio Theatre last October. The premiere of King Baby was a hit and we quickly discussed the possibility of bringing OFF-VIFF back…

Now, we’re pleased to announce OFF-VIFF is set return for our second edition this coming October 13, 2025.

This year is four times as big, a full-day event featuring the North American Premiere of JAMES from hometown filmmaking team at Damcove Films, the royal return of KING BABY, the Vancouver Premiere of STRANGE JOURNEY: THE STORY OF ROCKY HORROR, and late-night with THE PEE PEE POO POO MAN. Plus short films including BIKE SHORT and FRENCH LESSONS. We tried to stick to our original mission of showing BC-made features, Canadian upcoming talent, independent and DIY filmmaking. Ultimately we want to just have fun and inspire fun!

If you’re in Vancouver, we hope you’ll join us or else follow along as we continue on our OFF-VIFF journey. We’ll be in Vancity next week for the event and hope to connect with more filmmakers on the ground as we watch movies, hangout, eat some stellar Rio Theatre grilled-cheese sandwiches, listen to some music and more!