By Lorne D. Greene
(Image: Still from Brooklyn, courtesy of Mongrel Media. Photo by Kerry Brown)
Every year, the Vancouver International Film Festival attracts attention from around the globe as it offers film lovers an exciting way to be exposed to other countries, cultures and ways of life. This year promises to be no exception.
VIFF’s 34th annual event runs from September 24 to October 9 and boasts 355 films from 70 countries.
This year’s festival kicks off with the period immigrant drama Brooklyn, which received glowing reviews at Sundance earlier this year, and closes with the Hank Williams biopic I Saw the Light. If a trip to Cannes wasn’t in your budget last spring, good news – twenty films from this year’s festival will be presented, including twelve award winners.
The interactive online schedule at viff.org has expanded information on each film, including trailer links, but if you’d rather flip than click your way through the listings, pick up a free copy of the Complete Festival Guide. It includes a pull-out schedule, which is helpful when planning what to see on a specific date at a specific time – or for seeing if you can squeeze in two movies at different venues on the same night.
Browsing by series is a fun and easy way to pick your films. ‘Special Presentations’ and ‘Galas’ offer some of the more highly-anticipated, broad-appeal films, ‘Dragons and Tigers’ features East Asian films, ‘Nonfiction Features’ offers a broad range of documentaries and the ‘Canadian Images’ and ‘BC Spotlight’ series allow for some Canadian and provincial pride. For tastes that run more toward the midnight movie variety, ‘Altered States’ offers late-night screenings of horror and sci-fi films. At the back of the guide all films are further separated into dozens of additional themes and genres, as well as by country and region to help you make your selections.
(Image: Tom Hiddleston as Hank Williams in I Saw the Light. Photo by Alan Markfield, courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics)
Held in conjunction with the festival is the VIFF Industry Conference, featuring the latest in all aspects of the filmmaking business, from creation to financing to shooting to marketing and distribution. It also offers an excellent opportunity for networking. The conference runs September 29 to October 3, and separate registration is required. Full information can be found at viff.org/industry.
Six of the seven venues are in the downtown core, with the seventh just a quick SkyTrain ride away at Commercial and Broadway. If you enjoy an alcoholic drink with your film, both the Vancity and Rio theatres are licensed.
Tickets, ticket packs and passes are available online now at viff.org . In-person sales start September 12 at Vancity Theatre. Happy VIFFing!
