09/25/2026
VFS Alum Justin Ducharme Brings Seventeen to TIFF 🎥
For VFS Foundation Visual Art & Design graduate Justin Ducharme, the journey from Vancouver Film School to the Toronto International Film Festival has culminated in Seventeen, his debut feature film.
A writer and filmmaker from the Métis community of St. Ambroise on Treaty 1 Territory, Ducharme wrote and directed the film, which follows three urban Indigenous people whose lives intersect over the course of a single day in Vancouver through chance, relation, and shared experiences of familial and colonial displacement.
The film premiered at TIFF this month, marking a major milestone in Ducharme’s filmmaking career. His previous work includes the short films Positions and The Dancer, which have screened at festivals including ImagineNATIVE, BFI Flare, Asinabka, and Seattle Q***r Film Festival.
In an interview with YourCityWithin, Ducharme described Seventeen as a story rooted in friendship, chosen family, and contemporary representation for q***r and trans Indigenous people. “The heart of the film was always about friendship,” he said.
Alongside his filmmaking, Ducharme is a writer and co-editor of Hustling Verse: An Anthology of S*x Workers Poetry, with writing published in Canadian Art, Room Magazine, Prism International, and The Positive Side. He is also an alum of the Sundance Institute’s Native Film Lab, TIFF Filmmaker Lab, and TIFF Every Story Accelerator.
From his first films in Vancouver to his debut feature at TIFF, Ducharme continues to bring deeply personal stories and perspectives to the screen.
📸 BTS photography: Celina Koops
