Shawn Conner offers five reasons to check out VIFF’s mini film fest Rupture:

1. American Animals

Curated by Curtis Woloschuk, a Vancouver International Film Festival programmer, Rupture is a new, four-day, minifilm festival. Presented by VIFF, it showcases “innovative, odd and otherworldly films that bend rules and blend genres,” according to VIFF. It kicks off with this “wildly entertaining true-crime thriller” (Variety). If you can, stick around for Rock Steady Row, a Grand Jury Prize Winner at the 2018 Slamdance Film Festival that blows up college film conventions.

2. David Lowery

The director of 2017’s acclaimed, subversive A Ghost Story takes part in a creator talk (May 26). Lowery also directed Ain’t Them Bodies Saints and Pete’s Dragon.

3. The Forest of Lost Souls

“A nasty and impressive little thriller that goes about its business with ruthless cinematic efficiency” (Variety, again). The Forest of Lost Souls features two strangers who meet in the woods between Spain and Portugal. Both have suicidal tendencies.

4. Hereditary

The Witch, The Babadook, and The Eyes of My Mother are among the best-reviewed horror movies of the last five years. According to consequenceofsound.com, this debut feature from American director Ari Aster, “is scarier, more inviting and ultimately more cathartic than any of the above.”

5. Self-destructive cinema

In this one-of-a-kind event, Vancouver creators premiere nine new short films. Following their screening, the films will be ceremonially destroyed (followed by a wake in the theatre’s atrium). Additional Vancouver content includes a screening of Fake Blood, a new, metahorror flick from local filmmakers Rob Grant and Mike Kovac.