Goodbye summer, hello film festival season. This fall, Vancouver cinephiles will be spoiled for choice thanks to a trio of festivals bursting at the seams with local, national, and international film fare.
The fun begins this week with the Vancouver Latin American Film Festival (VLAFF), Canada’s largest annual festival of Latin American cinema featuring 62 films (including 33 features) from 14 countries. Since 2003, VLAFF has shone a spotlight on filmmakers and films from across Latin America and the diaspora – and this year, the spotlight is on Mexico. VLAFF opens with Güeros, which won top prizes at the Berlin and San Sebastián film festivals, and closes with the Mexico-Dominican Republic co-pro, Sand Dollars. Monica del Carmen, the lead star of Leap Year (Año Bisiesto) who won the Mexican Academy Award for Best Actress in 2011, will be in attendance for the VLAFF screening of her film. Watch for a three-film retrospective on director Juan Antonio de la Riva, and two films by Canadian-born cinematographer Alex Phillips and Spanish-born director Luis Buñuel. All films are subtitled in English; 98% of the films will never be commercially distributed in Canada. VLAFF runs Sept. 3-13 at The Cinematheque, Vancity Theatre and SFU Woodward’s. Tickets and screening info at VLAFF.org.
And less than two weeks after VLAFF is in the can, it’s time for the 2015 Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF). We’ve already had a slew of announcements from VIFF – including news regarding their Canadian and BC film series – and now they’ve revealed their galas and special presentation programs. John Crowley's Brooklyn starts the festival off in the Opening Night Gala spot. With scripting by Nick Hornby (Wild, An Education), VIFF’s press release describes the film as a “50s-era immigration film…[an] exhilarating tale of female empowerment.” Marc Abraham's I Saw the Light holds the Closing Night Gala position with a feature on the life of country star Hank Williams. Canadian productions remain front and centre when Philippe Falardeau's My Internship in Canada opens the Canadian Images program, while Patricia Rozema's Into the Forest takes the BC Spotlight Awards Gala spot.
VIFF runs Sept. 24 to Oct. 9 at various venues across the city. In 2015, Vancouver audiences will be exposed to 355 films from 70 countries. With 32 world premieres, 33 North American premieres, and 53 Canadian premieres, this year's festival (according, again, to the press release) “crosses more borders and pushes more boundaries with more awe-inspiring films than ever before.” The full line-up (and tickets!) will be available at VIFF.org on Sept 3rd. Watch this space for more information.
Once VIFF wraps, it’s time for a brief breather – and then it’s off to the snow-capped mountains for the 15th edition of the Whistler Film Festival (WFF). Organizers have announced 18 of the 80 films that will screen at WFF between Dec. 2 and 6. Highlights include the world premiere of Daniel Robinson’s Nestor, the first narrative feature ever made by one person (check out the IMDB listing; Robinson is the only person listed); Ingrid Veninger’s He Hated Pigeons, about a young man pushed to the border of sanity as he steps into manhood; and Jude Klassen’s debut feature film Love in the Sixth, an unromantic musical comedy of “enviromantic” angst. Films with local connections include Siobhan Devine’s The Birdwatcher, a family drama about a mother and daughter reconnecting featuring WFF14 Rising Star Camille Sullivan and Gabrielle Rose; and Patterson’s Wager, which stars BC's own Fred Ewanuick as a man who can see two minutes into the future. Find the full list of confirmed films and events at WhistlerFilmFestival.com.
