The Vancouver International Film

Festival

A top-ranked festival presented in one of the world’s most beautiful cities.

Festival Website: www.viff.org.

Timing: Two weeks at the end of September-beginning of October.

2009 Dates: October 1-16

Programming

An intelligent selection from Toronto and other earlier festivals. A particular strength of the Festival is its annual “Dragons and Tigers” program of new East Asian cinema programmed by the authoritative Tony Rayns and others.

Special Guests

This is not a festival that can boast of a high turnout of filmmakers, though they do tend to appear on opening and closing nights.

Audience

Large—over 150,000 in 2007. Mostly locals.

Screening Venues:

With its sparkling new screening facilities, the Vancouver International Film Centre and the Vancity Theatre, the Festival enjoys enviable conditions for seeing movies. The Granville Multiplex, where most of the program takes place, is less posh but quite comfortable.

Schedule

Screenings begin mid-morning and continue until late at night. The last films begin at 9:30-10pm. As many as six films may be shown concurrently.

Tickets

These can be easily purchased on-line for $10 [Canadian]. Passes and packages are also available. Films do sell out at times, so it’s best to buy early.

Program Notes

A large program book contains serviceable descriptions of the films, some reprinted from other sources.

Surroundings

Perched between the Rocky Mountains and the Strait of Georgia, Vancouver has been called one of the most spectacularly sited cities in the world. Prosperous and easy to navigate, this Canadian gem offers visitors magnificent views in all directions along with first class amenities. As an added bonus, its mild climate supports a rich array of parks and gardens. Sophisticated, yet with a laid-back west-coast attitude, Vancouver possesses a vibrant culture in which the strong Asian flavor provided by its sizable population of Hong Kong Chinese and other Pacific Rim groups is joined with Canadian friendliness.

Accommodations

I like the Century Plaza Hotel, a three-star modern high rise with terrific views just a stone’s throw away from the major festival theaters. All rooms come with full kitchens. 1015 Burrard St. Vancouver, BC Canada V6Z 1Y5 (800) 663-1818 www.century-plaza.com

In 2009 I stayed at the Sutton Place, a bit more posh than the Century Plaza, with a beautiful pool and sundeck. Our room boasted a large balcony with great views of the sunset and surroundings.  845 Burrard Street, Vancouver, Canada  V6Z 2K6  604.682.5511  www.vancouver.suttonplace.com

Getting There

The new Canada Line of the Vancouver skytrain system goes from the airport to downtown in less than 30 minutes.

Getting Around

If you stay on the southeast side of downtown, you’ll be able to walk to most of the major theaters. But take note: Granville Street at night is a bit of an obstacle course with youthful street people all over.

Excursions

Besides walking around in this lovely city, there are many possibilities to feed anyone’s taste for either cultural or natural sustenance. Among them are…

• On-off bus tours. Stops at the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, Stanley Park with its giant evergreens, Granville Island’s Art Colony, and a host of other treasures the city has to offer. http://www.bigbus.ca/

• Vancouver Art Gallery. Not one of the world’s première museums, but worth visiting and not far from the Granville multiplex. Vancouver Art Gallery, 750 Hornby Street, Vancouver. (604) 688-2233. www.vanartgallery.bc.ca

• Museum of Anthropology. The museum is located at the UBC campus on the next peninsula south of Vancouver’s downtown area. So you’ll need wheels to get you there, but it’s well worth a visit. The museum’s collection is focused on Northwest Indian culture. Try to time your visit to take advantage of the free guided tours; they’re superb. 6393 Marine Drive NW, Vancouver. (604) 822-5087 www.moa.ubc.ca

· Nitobe Memorial Japanese Garden. This place, too, is next to UBC and is not walk-able from downtown. However, a visit to this exquisite haven can be easily combined with a trip to the nearby Museum of Anthropology described above. 6804 SW Marine Drive, Vancouver.604) 822-9666 http://www.nitobe.org/ (

• Queen Elizabeth Park. Vancouver’s mild coastal climate is ideal for gardening and a large percentage of the city’s population can claim British or Hong Kong ancestors. These two factors combine to make Vancouver a gardening Mecca. Lunch at Seasons in the Park, the Park’s restaurant, offers stunning views of the city. Here again, you’ll need transportation. Queen Elizabeth Park, West 33rd Avenue and Main St., Vancouver. (604) 874-8008 (restaurant) http://vancouver.ca/parks/parks/queenelizabeth/

• Grouse Mountain. More fabulous views in a majestic setting just outside of the city. If you don’t have a car, tour buses will take you there for a day trip. Grouse Mountain, 6400 Nancy Greene Way, North Vancouver. (604) 980-9311 www.grousemountain.com

• Whistler. Another spectacular day trip. A new highway will cut travel time to this Japanese-owned ski resort to under two hours—or you could opt for a luxurious train trip. The mountain and lake surroundings, fresh air and views are idyllic any time of year. http://www.whistlerblackcomb.com/index.htm

THE FESTIVAL YEAR BY YEAR

2005

Best Film I Saw

Water . Deepa Mehta’s tragic tale of the plight of widows in modern India features limpid images shot in Sri Lanka (substituting for Indian holy city Benares).

2006

Best Films I Saw:

• Still Life (Jia Zhang-Ke, 2006) As China rockets towards a postmodern future under the sway of a corrupt capitalism, its people savor what small epiphanies they can salvage from the wreckage left in its wake. A deeply moving exercise in nostalgia for the present from one of the Sixth Generation’s première talents.

• Family Law (Daniel Burman) The most assured offering to date from Argentina’s answer to Woody Allen. Especially notable: the long moments of silence and the tentative voice-over commentary from a protagonist who is only partly aware of his motives.

• The Postmodern Life of My Aunt The tragic ending works better than the comic beginning in veteran Hong Kong helmer Ann Hui’s playful, self-referential tale of a Chinese woman attempting to escape from her past. But there is much here to enjoy. In a particularly delicious turn, Hong Kong heartthrob Chow Yun-Fat plays against type as a sleazy con artist.

Best Retrospective: Norman McLaren

Unexpected Pleasure

Chow Yun-Fat’s inspired comic turn as an aging con man in The Postmodern Life of My Aunt.

2008

Best Film I Saw: Ballast. A masterful tone poem of moody understatement from first-time director Lance Hammer.

2009

Best Films I Saw

• Lebanon. A quartet of green recruits are trapped in a tank during Israel’s 1982 war on Lebanon in Samuel Moaz’s debut feature. A companion piece to the recent Beaufort, but far more gripping. Intense and heartbreaking.

• Backyard. Mexican auteur Carlos Carrera (The Crime of Father Amero) brings a scorched-earth sensibility to this study of the femicide that has become routine in the border town of Juarez. Based on actual events, the film paints a ferocious portrait of an unregenerate patriarchy in which such horrors represent simply the hidden “backyard” of the social order.

• Shameless. La Dolce Vita, Czech style. Jan Hrebejk (Divided We Fall, Up and Down)  carries the Czech New Wave sensibility into the new century with a satiric, yet affectionate look at the narcissism and frivolity  that has arisen as a result of the nation’s  new prosperity.

Best Performance by a Two-Year Old: Asia Crippa (La Pivellina).

Unexpected Pleasures

• The sounds of a monster movie heard as we watched its rapt audience in Gigante.

• The festival trailers. This year they were genuinely witty rather than simply weird.

Most Insufferable Visiting Filmmaker: C. W. Winter (The Anchorage)

No comments