Cart ()
2025 SCHEDULE

Tapeworm Diaries

On the night of her film premiere, a Chinese-Canadian actress invites her mother as her plus-one. In the ten minutes before leaving, tensions quietly surface. Told in one continuous shot and framed by a tapeworm’s surreal perspective, Tapeworm Diaries explores miscommunication, memory, and unspoken love shaped by silence and shame.

Kayla Cao

Kayla Cao is a Chinese-Canadian filmmaker based in Los Angeles and Vancouver. She earned her BFA in Film and Television Production and a Master’s in Visual Anthropology from USC. She is developing her first feature while consulting on international media projects and completing short films in post. Her latest short, Tapeworm Diaries, won the Best Director Award from the Directors Guild of Canada and the Innovation in Storytelling Award at MAMM. She sees storytelling as a healing medium and instrument of compassion.
Screening Time (Click on the time/ticket box below to purchase)

Presented as Part Of PROGRAM #2 – BE YOURSELF (NOV. 7)

I Write, You Draw

A talented young illustrator, who after being heartbroken by his girlfriend and creative partner, must confron...
16 min | Liam Cooper | BC Premiere | English
Learn More

Ice Cream, Ice Queen

Lost in the lonely life of New York City, a middle-aged Chinese woman wrestles with the complexities of her un...
17 min | Jeremy Chi | Canadian Premiere | English, Mandarin Chinese, Korean
Learn More

Choose The Correct Answer A,B,C or …

Minji has a nightmare about taking the English listening test....
6 min | Seungyeon You (Youth Young You) | Vancouver Premiere | English / Korean
Learn More

Lost in 2044

In the late stages of cancer, elderly Arken can only share quiet moments over chess with his childhood friend,...
13 min | alimjan·abdusalam | Canadian Premiere | Uyghur
Learn More

Loneliness Can Be Murder

After a global catastrophe in which lonely, socially inept people around the world literally explode into colo...
22 min | Vincent Xiaofei Zeng | Canadian Premiere | Chinese, English
Learn More

Billo Rani

When Hafsa, a sparkly and impulsive 12-year-old girl, is made aware of her unibrow at Islamic Sunday School in...
11 min | Angbeen Saleem | Vancouver Premiere | English
Learn More

After What Happened at the Library

In the wake of a terrifying encounter, an overwhelmed drag queen struggles under the weight of public attentio...
15 min | Syra McCarthy | Western Canada Premiere | English
Learn More
Co-Presented by
Credits
  • Director(S)
  • Kayla Cao
  • Year
  • Length
  • Screenwriter
  • 2025
  • 10 Mins
  • Kayla Cao
  • Producer
Mia Hsu, Sebastian Cerani
  • Editor
  • Cinematographer
  • Krystal Chan
  • Principal Cast
Jenny Zhou, Suani Rincon

Festival passes

This year, VAFF FESTIVAL, screening programs in person and virtual will be organized into various series in order to better highlight the diverse content in our festival. These Series include Spotlight Series, Documentary Features Series, Narrative Features Series, Westcoast Shorts Series, Canadian Shorts Series, International Short Series, Animation Series, VAFF Industry Insight Series and Special Events.

BUY NOW

how can we help you?

Business enquires

Message us at festival@vaff.org

SEND US A MESSAGE

E-mail us at festival@vaff.org

Check VAFF29 Schedule

vaff28 venues

Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas

88 W Pender St 3rd floor, Vancouver, BC V6B 6N9

Get directions

Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas

88 W Pender St 3rd floor, Vancouver, BC V6B 6N9

googlemaps link