Published 5:30 am Monday, July 20, 2026
Films begin in September. (Stock photo)
Early-bird tickets are now on sale for the fall season of the Nanaimo International Film Screen Society.
Eight films have been announced for the season, running from September to December, five for the main features, and three additional ones for matinees.
The five main films shown will be Thelma (2024), Eleanor the Great (2025), It Was Just An Accident (2025), Koln 75 (2025) and The Mother and the Bear (2024). The three matinee films that will be shown are Mr. Nobody Against Putin (2025), Peak Everything (2025), and The Choral (2025).
For the early-bird sale, tickets will be $11.50 for a single ticket, with $95 for the season. The sale will be running only until the end of July. Additionally, those who purchase early will get one entry to get a season ticket for free, one entry for a draw for a $100 gift certificate for the Black Rabbit Restaurant, and one free film voucher.
Glen Grunau, president of the society, said they wanted to show a variety of films to cater to the variety of the film preferences that they have in their audience.
“There are some people who prefer a lighter film with some humour, there are those that appreciate the hard-hitting films that feature current world events,” Grunau added.
One of the films the society is showing, Mr. Nobody Against Putin (2025),was picked, Grunau said, due to both never having a screening in Nanaimo, as well as the loss of attention for the war in Ukraine.
“We would like to remind people that this is still an ongoing war, that is now longer in duration than the First World War, and also, in an era of significant misinformation, not only across the ocean but also in our own continent, we think it’s important for people to see how misinformation can contribute and support unjust warfare,” Grunau said.
The film focuses on a Russian schoolteacher who documents his school becoming a war recruitment centre during the war in Ukraine, and was directed by David Borenstein and Pavel Talankin.
“He was thinking of resigning from his teaching post, but then it occurred to him that it might be better idea to take video footage of his classroom activities, which he did, and then he contacted a filmmaker outside of the country, to see if there was interest in making this into a film, so he found that filmmaker and left the country and they put all of it together into this award-winning film,” Grunau added.
All the films will be screened at the Shaw Auditorium in the Nanaimo Conference Centre on Sundays, with feature films being scheduled to be screened at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m., with matinees starting at 4 p.m.
More information can be found online at www.nifss.ca.
