VIFF opening and closing films announced: 2016 marks 35 years since the very first Vancouver International Film Festival, and the juggernaut film fest is celebrating its milestone birthday with a new logo, a re-imagining of its programming structure (the newly instituted VIFF streams), the introduction of the VIFF Hub (which, among other things, will showcase interactive screen-based experiences and transform VIFF’s Vancity Theatre into a go-to, late-night festival hangout – a thoroughly welcome addition!), and a dizzying line-up packed with more than 300 films from all over the globe, including 10 feature films made right here at home. The festival will open on Sept. 29 with the Canadian co-production Maudie, about real-life Nova Scotian artist Maud Lewis, and close on Oct. 14 with the Terrence Malick IMAX documentary, The Voyage of Time: The IMAX Experience, a cinematic adventure nearly 40 years in the making. Tickets for all of the screenings – as well as the workshops and other programming – are now available for purchase at VIFF.org. Reel People will have in-depth interviews and previews before and during VIFF. Watch this space and follow @sabrinarmf.
Star converge for VIFF: A-listers and behind-the-scenes superstars will be on hand for VIFF’s 35th birthday edition. On Sept. 29, director Aisling Walsh will introduce the highly anticipated Maudie. Spiritual author and public speaker Eckhart Tolle will attend the world premiere of Milton's Secret, which is based on Tolle's book of the same name – as will the stars of the film: Mia Kirshner, David Sutcliffe, and Vancouver’s own William Ainscough (fun fact: young Ainscough’s parents are also featured in this year’s VIFF; his mother, actress Nicole Oliver, appears in Marrying the Family, and his father, composer Chris Ainscough, wrote music for Ganjy). On Oct. 1, writer-director Nate Parker is expected to attend the screening of his critically acclaimed film, The Birth of a Nation. Meanwhile, Canadian actress Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black) is expected to present the drama The Other Half. Chris Carter, creator of The X-Files, will be honoured with the Industry Builder Award for his sustainable production methods at the Sustainable Production Forum on Oct. 7. And Canadian musician and actor John Mann will attend the BC Spotlight Awards Gala screening of Spirit Unforgettable on Oct. 8.
Vancouver Chinese Film Festival: The Vancouver Chinese Film Festival returns for its fourth edition this weekend. Highlights include Breathing by Fan Haolun (which also screened at the venerable Venice Film Festival), as well as the Looking China showcase, which features five documentary shorts about Chinese minority cultures filmed in Northeast China in July 2016 by five emerging Vancouver filmmakers. VCFF runs Sept. 9 and 11 at Vancity Theatre in Vancouver and the Michael J. Fox Theatre in Burnaby. Reel People will moderate Looking China's post-screening panel discussion. Details at https://www.facebook.com/events/915591728568195.
Coded wins big at Rome Web Awards: The Vancouver web series Coded won big at the recent Rome Web Awards. Coded – about a new teacher (played by Jarod Joseph of The 100) tasked with teaching five students who have been coded by the school system for their severe emotional and cognitive disorders – received awards for Best Drama, Best Directing in a Drama (Gary Harvey and Nigel Edwards), Best Supporting Actor in a Drama (Matteo Cerullo), Best Supporting Actress in a Drama (Angela Moore), Best Drama Cast, Best Drama Poster, and Best Episode. Coded is the brainchild of educator Steven Neufeld, and was produced by Joely Collins.
First peek at Whistler Film Festival’s 2016 line-up: “Canada’s coolest film festival” made its first programming announcement for 2016 at its annual summer celebration on Aug. 31. The 2016 Whistler Film Festival runs Nov. 30-Dec. 4, and the following films will be on the schedule: Mr. Zaritsky on TV (directed by Jennifer Di Cresce and Michael Savoie); Melody Makers: Should’ve Been There (by Leslie Ann Coles); Hockey Night (by Paul Shapiro); An American Dream: The Education of William Bowman (by Ken Finkleman); Victor Walk (by Michael David Lynch); Mostly Sunny (by Dilip Mehta); Lost Solace (by Chris Scheuerman); Hunting Pignut (by Martine Blue); Kiss and Cry (by Sean Cisterna); The Space Between (by Amy Jo Johnson); The Sun at Midnight (by Kirsten Carthew); Grand Unified Theory (by David Ray); and Raw (by David I. Strasser). WFF will also present Deepa Mehta's latest work, Anatomy of Violence, a fictional drama based on the six men who sexually assaulted a young woman on a bus in New Delhi in a case that horrified the world. Mehta will serve as the head of the jury for WFF's coveted Borsos Competition for Best Canadian Feature, which honors independent vision, original directorial style and the diversity of talent found in Canadian independent film. An international jury of three will decide on four awards, including a $15,000 cash prize sponsored by the Director's Guild of Canada, British Columbia and a $15,000 production prize sponsored by Encore Vancouver: the largest festival prize for a Canadian film in the country. Details at www.whistlerfilmfestival.com.
Finalists announced in Refugee Crisis short film competition: Frank Giustra, founder of the Radcliffe Foundation, took to the podium at VIFF's Sept. 7 press conference to announce the finalists in the Refugee Crisis short film competition, launched by the Radcliffe Foundation and VIFF in June. The top three films were selected from a pool of 120 submissions; the competition jury included Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, Atom Egoyan, and Sarah McLachlan, among others. The final three films are: Show the World by Michelé Hozer & Roxana Spicer; Humanity by Zeeshan Parwez; and Helpful Hand by Alexandru Nagy. The films will now be put to public vote starting September 14. Audiences can vote at refugeestories.viff.org. The winner will be announced at VIFF's opening night gala on Sept. 29, and will receive a $20,000 prize awarded by the Radcliffe Foundation.
