The 41st Annual Vancouver International Film Festival
The Vancouver International Film Festival returns to theatres after two years of a predominantly virtual, COVID-influenced online film festival.
Opening on Thursday, September 29th, the Festival’s Gala Presentation features a celebrated Indigenous film, Bones of Crows — a hit at the Toronto International Film Festival this year — by Métis filmmaker Marie Clements, who tells an epic story of survival during a shameful period in Canadian history, a powerful indictment of the abuse of Indigenous peoples and a stirring story of extraordinary resilience and resistance.
Fearless in its denunciation of centuries of oppressive policies by Canadian governments and institutions, Bones of Crows is also a memorable paean to the resilience and determination of those who survived the residential schools — and those who sought to bring their oppressors’ crimes to light.
The Festival will close 11 days later, on October 9th, with a Gala Presentation of VIFF favourite, South Korea’s Hirokazu Kore-eda, Broker, a sprawling crime story about a baby kidnapping scheme starring Song Kang-ho (Parasite), winner of Best Actor at Cannes earlier this year.
Winner of the Palme d’Or in 2018 for Shoplifters and winner of the Jury Prize five years before that for Like Father Like Son, the writer-director once again displays great empathy for characters who are trying to put their lives in order, examining their predicaments from every possible angle and ultimately guiding them into a position where they can do the right thing.
Unfolding over a truncated 11 days (rather than its pre-pandemic customary length of 16 days), the Festival will again feature a virtual online presence, though not every one of the 135+ feature films and 102+ shorts will be available virtually.
In total, twenty-four films will screen online through VIFF Connect.
In person, meanwhile, as was the practice in the pre-pandemic times, VIFF’s theatres where all 135+ feature films and 102+ shorts will screen, include …
- The Cinematheque, the city’s oldest arts organization dedicated to the film experience, located at 1131 Howe Street;
- The always fun to attend, The Rio, on East Broadway, just a hop, skip and a jump away from the Broadway and Commercial Skytrain station;
- The Playhouse, the 688-seat civic theatre, located on the northwest corner of Hamilton and Dunsmuir streets, just east of the old Post office;
- Cineplex International Village; as well as SFU Woodwards, located at 149 West Hastings, at Abbott Street;
- And, the two cinemas at the VIFF Centre, The Studio and the Vancity Theatre, at 1181 Seymour, across from Emery Barnes Park.
The VIFF digital Festival Guide is now available; click on the preceding link.
The free, glossy printed Festival guide is available across Metro Vancouver, at libraries, coffee shops, and bookstores, and all your favourite local haunts.
Although the Festival is smaller than in past years, the film programme categories will look familiar: Panorama, the main Festival film feature programme curated by Alan Franey and PoChu AuYeung, showcasing 90 carefully curated narrative films arriving from across the globe.
Northern Lights features the next wave of Canadian and Indigenous storytellers; while Insights, the always illuminating documentary programme, this year will incorporate the Spectrum programme, a collection of innovative nonfiction filmmaking; and then there’s Portraits, a kaleidoscope of ground-breaking artists, great performances, and cultural icons; and, Altered States, 8 challenging and bizarre films the constitute VIFF’s 2022 late night series.
In last week’s, award winning VIFF films in 2022 featuring the work of Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes, who brings his latest film, Empire of Light to VIFF; Martin McDonagh’s masterful, surprisingly poignant, and dazzlingly designed and performed, The Banshees of Inisherin; Corsage, Austrian filmmaker Marie Kreutzer’s biopic about late 19th century Empress Elisabeth.
More Special Presentations? How about Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook’s Best Director Prize winner at Cannes this year, Decision to Leave, which offers a teasing, tantalizing neo-noir genre piece about a homicide detective who falls in love with the widow of an apparent suicide. There’s Mia Hansen-Løve’s quietly miraculous One Fine Morning, a balm of a film and another glorious showcase for the director’s light touch when dealing with complicated emotions.
VIFF’s Director of Programming Curtis Woloschuk told VanRamblings VIFF programmers curated a record number of films that emerged after the pandemic — half of VIFF’s films in 2022 feature first time filmmakers!
“There were over 4,000 films that our programming team watched and considered this year that leave us more educated and illuminated about the world we live in.”
In addition to the many screenings, VIFF Talks boasts visiting artists like Deborah Lynn Scott — responsible for clothing actors in films ranging from Titanic to the new, upcoming Avatar: The Way of Water — who will present a masterclass on costume design. Kate Byron, who just led production design on Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling, will give a masterclass on production design. And, Michael Abels, the composer for director Jordan Peele’s Get Out, Us, and Nope will make a special performance and speaking engagement with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra on October 6th.
The VIFF Amp Symposium on Music in Film is set to run October 6th to 9th.
In other new and expanded initiatives, VIFF Executive Director Kyle Fostner told VanRamblings that, for the first time, the Vancouver International Film Festival will offer free memberships for persons 19 to 25 years of age, free access to Indigenous peoples, and more free offerings to community groups.
Individual tickets prices remain what they’ve been for years: $15 for any screening, except Special Presentations, which costs $17 for the award-winning future Oscar contenders, with reduced prices for seniors & youth.
VIFF passes and packages are also available again this year. A full Festival pass costs $350, with a senior rate at $300, and a youth rate of $120. There’s a 6-ticket pack at $84, and a 10-ticket pack available at $135. As was the case in 2020 and 2021, the VIFF Connect virtual online Festival pass will cost $70.
The VIFF Infoline, staffed by volunteers, is available 7 days a week, from noon til 7pm. Simply call (604) 683-3456 to have any question you have answered.
