Weekends are always tough for cinephiles, at the annual Vancouver International Film Festival. On weekends, VIFF draws novitiates to the Festival, and almost inevitably they ‘talk’. The weekenders play with their iPhones or Blackberries or Samsung smartphones, the blue glow of the phone in the darkened theatre a disconcerting distraction from the more real-life drama on the screen. Better to attend matinée screenings on a weekday, as many of the filmgoers who love films are choosing to do, than risk having one’s experience of the Festival tainted by a texter, or a talker.
But enough of that. On this day, as we celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving …
We are, on this Sunday, in the waning days of the 28th annual Vancouver International Film Festival so, perhaps, the time has come to acknowledge the very fine work of the staff and volunteers who create this Festival-by-the sea for all of us grateful patrons, each and every year.
First off, note should be made of the following: with 640 screenings of 377 films, thus far in the days of our annual Festival everything has gone off with uncommon aplomb. There have been no technical glitches, no one has reported seeing a DVD version of a film because the 35mm print failed to arrive, films start (mostly) on time, Festival staff and volunteers are invariably helpful and pleasant (which goes a long way to making the Festival an overall better experience for filmgoers) and, once again this year, from programmers Alan Franey, PoChu Au Yeung, Mark Peranson, Terry McEvoy and so many, many others, to the hard-working theatre managers, staff have created a first-rate filmgoing experience for the appreciative throng who attend screenings throughout each and every day.
VIFF Programme Manager PoChu Au Yeung, and ‘A Prophet’ star Reda Kateb
We caught only one film on Saturday evening, the Cannes’ stunner … A Prophet (Grade: B+): With a ‘been there, done that’ quality about it, given the surfeit of prison dramas we see on TV and film on this side of the pond, this Cannes 2009 Grand Jury / Palme d’Or winner, offers a French prison set drama that is as hard-edged as you might expect it to be, as it tells the story of 19-year-old petty criminal Malik El Djebena (Tahar Rahim), who’s been sentenced to six years in prison, amidst competing ‘tribes‘. Director Jacques Audiard traces Malik’s development from cowering inmate to prison yard kingpin, and beyond, in a surprisingly humane manner, considering the amount of blood and gore onscreen. From beginning to end, it is Malik’s maturational process, and our awareness of his keen, innate intelligence, that makes A Prophet compellingly watchable film fare.
As is the case with most film critics, in the first week of any Festival, VanRamblings’ star burns luminous and bright. By the time the second week rolls around, though, we’re weary. Most films critics ‘pull out’ in the second week. VanRamblings, though, will probably just reduce the length of our daily postings, altho’ we’ll still be there for you through Festival’s end.
In the days leading up to the beginning of the Festival we ‘rest’ each day, sequestered inside a darkened theatre at various of the media screenings, and then when the Festival officially commences, from early morn to very late at night, Mr. Know-It-All and the inimitable ‘Showbiz’ Shayne may be found at one of the VIFF venues watching, bleary-eyed, one of the 4, 5, or 6 films on our schedule for the day. By the time the second week of the Film Festival rolls around, we are more than a little the worse for wear.
And, thus it was on Friday, after securing only two hours sleep (that darn Board of Variancething reared its head late on Thursday evening, with the arrival in VanRamblings’ e-mail Inbox of a correspondence from Joan Bunn, about which Mr. Know-It-All was thankful) — and not to mention the taking of five hours to write and post to the web, each day for you our constant reader, this after a lllooonnnggg day inside a darkened theatre, does take its toll — that Mr. Know-It-All found himself back in the lineup for tickets for his and ‘Showbiz’ Shayne’s planned Friday evening screenings.
While waiting in the lineup, we conversed with Jackie, a retired teacher and organizer of our annual, local Latin American Film Festival, and longtime VanRamblings reader, Julian (so, he’s the one) who told VanRamblings about all their favourites at this year’s Festival. Now, as constant reader might well expect, Mr. Know-It-All is rarely at a loss for words, but this particular late afternoon, given the 2 hours sleep and all, VanRamblings was pleased just to listen to Jackie (playing the role of journalist, asking the questions Mr. Know-It-All should have been asking), and Julian.
Julian asked Jackie what Latin American films were her favourites at this year’s Festival, and she enthusiastically responded with: the Peruvian film The Milk of Sorrow (her favourite and now, unfortunately, gone), Argentina’s Berlin Silver Bear winner, Gigante (also gone), and Chile’s The Maid (one more screening, Thursday, Oct. 15th @ 11 am, Gran7, Th7).
As for Julian, he recommended: Lebanon’s The One Man Village (now gone), France’s Villa Amalia (about which we’ve heard good things, and Jackie also liked, and which will screen for a final time this coming Tuesday, October 13th @ 9:15 pm, at the far-flung but still glorious Ridge Theatre).
Who should we see in line asking a question of the folks about to hand out the tickets for passholders but Aussie import, Jeff Sinclair (sorry, this is the only photo we have of the very talented and hard-working Jeff), a founding partner of XOMO Digital, the principal person behind this year’s invaluable Apple iPhone app, the VIFF Fan Guide. Jeff was voluble, wonderful and informative, and answered some questions we had about posting to the Fan Guide (most of which we think we caught, given that VanRamblings was half asleep). We’ll write more about XOMO Digital in the coming week.
Anyone attending most of their film festival screenings at the Empire Granville 7 will know that, this year, there is hardly a surfeit of decent places to grab a bite between films. One of the more reliable, tasty and healthy places to nosh is Halawie Alawie’s always reliable Falafel Maison, on Robson.
Hussein Alawie, proprietor of Falafel Maison
Not only did we enjoy our Shawarma sandwich, Hussein was kind enough to treat us to the single most delicious falafel we’d ever eaten (guess where Mr. Know-It-All, and ‘Showbiz’ Shayne, are going for dinner tonight?).
Back it was, then, for ‘Showbiz’ Shayne, and a still weary, but at least sated, VanRamblings, to stand in line for the 7 pm screening of … Amreeka (Grade: B+): One of the buzz films coming into the 28th annual Vancouver International Film Festival, writer/director Cherien Dabis’ Amreeka is at all times honest and heartfelt while relating its immigrant story of Palestinian divorcee Muna Farah (played by Haifa-trained actress Nisreen Faour, in a powerfully rendered performance), who wishes to get herself and her adolescent son, Fadi (Melkar Muallem), out of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Set post 911, as Bush II was preparing to invade Iraq, the xenophobia to which the principal characters are exposed by their American neighbours is, at all times, disillusioning and impactful. Somehow, though, Muna and Fada manage to prevail, despite the intolerance to which they are subjected, and by film’s end a sense of a fitful optimism emerges.
‘Showbiz’ Shayne and Mr. Know-It-All then repaired to the Starbucks, on the southeast corner of Smithe and Granville, where we engaged in conversation with two, young middle-eastern women who had also taken in the screening of Amreeka (and loved it as much as VanRamblings did), both of whom, like VanRamblings, are employed as mental health workers in the Downtown Eastside (while working on their Master’s degrees at UBC).
And, then, it was time for Shayne’s and VanRamblings’ final screening of the day, the Tribeca Festival winning film (directed by Conor McPherson) … The Eclipse (Grade: B+): Set in Cobh County, Ireland, McPherson’s supernatural tale tells the down-to-earth tale story of Michael Farr (a superb Ciaran Hinds), a recently widowed father left to care for his two teenage children. Michael has agreed to act as a driver for writers attending the annual Cobh Literary Festival, which causes him to meet (and, we suspect, fall in love with) Lena Morelle (Iben Hjejle), a London-based writer of ghost stories. Addressing the themes of grief, love and the possibility of the unknown, with its not entirely successful supernatural theme, The Eclipse is, overall, still winning and eminently watchable (the budding romance between Michael and Lena, for instance, is near breathtaking), and from movie’s beginning to end the performances are both authentic and heartrending, and always engaging. Due to screen twice more before Festival’s end, first tomorrow, Sunday, Oct. 11th @ 9:00 pm, Ridge Theatre, and the next Thursday, Oct. 15th @ 4:00 pm, Ridge Theatre.
As VanRamblings does every year as VIFF enters its second week, we’ll set about to bring you news from other scribes, present to you various of the Festival Media Releases, and cover what we will leading into the ‘winding down’ of the 28th annual Vancouver International Film Festival.
First up today, on Thursday evening VIFF announced South Korea’s Jang Kun-Jae’s Eighteen as the Dragons & Tigers Award winner for Young Cinema, with a welcome cash prize of $10,000. Eighteen will screen for a final time on Saturday, October 10th @ 4 pm at Pacific Cinémathèque.
In the week before the Festival got underway, Federal Minister of Canadian Heritage James Moore announced that VIFF would receive $467,000 in funding as part of the Marquee Tourism Events Programme, designed to promote travel to Canada, which has to be a relief to VIFF folks, given the economy and the deficit they ran last year.
This year’s VIFF theme is “An Open Mind is Advised”, and thus …
… which is one of the three spots running before each VIFF screening.
The folks at Eye Weekly in Toronto recommend Pedro Cósta’s Ne change rien, Maren Ade’s Everyone Else, Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Castaing-Taylor’s ‘astonishing‘ experiential doc Sweetgrass, and Lisandro Alonso’s S/T, all of which have VIFF screenings upcoming over the next seven days.
Over at E-Film Critic, Jason Whyte has published a number of interviews …
director Peter Esmonde on Trimpin: The Sound of Invention
Alejandra Aguirre & ‘Showbiz’ Shayne at the 28th annual Vancouver Film Festival
The Vancouver Observer’sVolkmar Richter also posts daily on the Festival.
Meanwhile, the Georgia Straight’s Janet Smith, Ken Eisner and Mark Harris take a sneak peek at the 28th Vancouver International Film Festival, with capsule reviews of more than 100 films, reviews available here and here.
Have you got an iPhone? If so, VIFF is seeking ‘social media contributors’ who will be taking photos (as VanRamblings has); VIFF will post the photos (and text) in real-time to the web. If you’re interested, contact Jeff, at Xomo Digital (the folks behind the VIFF Apple app), by e-mailing him at Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transgendered films
Hong Kong hits at the Festival, among other series
And, as we wrap up today’s post: Derrick O’Keefe, over at rabble.ca has done a darn fine job of covering the docs at this year’s Festival, while “Canada’s national newspaper”, that esteemed ‘old grey lady’, the Globe and Mail, has set about to publish daily reviews of VIFF 2009 films.
And, for what it’s worth, VanRamblings has taken some photos, mostly using our iPhone (thus the often grainy quality), over the course of the past few days, only 36 pictures published for now, but more coming later.
Well, it’s back to the Festival for VanRamblings. See you here tomorrow.
VanRamblings asks: Is there any more glorious and rewarding way to spend 16 days of your life than to be huddled in a Vancouver Film Festival theatre with hundreds of other movie-loving patrons just as dedicated as you are to participating in an event that brings to our shores the very best of world cinema, which provides an insightful window on our contemporary world, and seeks to remind us that we are — wherever we live across this planet of ours — participants in a common struggle for justice, equality and humanity, in our endeavours to make our Earth a better place for all of us?
Day 7 of the, always glorious, 28th annual Vancouver International Film Festival brought the conclusion of Week One of our Festival-by-the-sea, with another week (and a couple of days more) still left to go, with even more moving film fare yet to be screened in the Festival’s remaining days.
Before we commence with, as the case may be, eviscerating or praising the films we saw on Wednesday, note should be made that the fine folks at VIFF have added a special final screening, this Saturday, of Soundtrack for a Revolution. The film, about which we wrote on October 4th will screen … Soundtrack for a Revolution
Saturday, October 10, 2009
1:50 p.m.
Granville 7, Theatre 2 Soundtrack for a Revolution is our favourite film at this year’s Festival.
You’ll want to click on Buy on this page, or reserve your ticket TODAY, at 604.685.8297. Once you’ve secured your ticket (for your friends, as well), you’ll want to make sure to line up for the film at least an hour in advance.
Okay, here we go: Wednesday proved another salutary day on our Festival screening schedule, with four more much-anticipated films on tap … Salt (Grade: B+): Tracking award-winning, internationally-renowned photographer Murray Fredericks on his annual solo pilgrimage to Lake Eyre, in the northern region of South Australia, as he captures the desolate beauty of the remote hinterland to which he has travelled each year for the past decade, it is not just the breathtaking imagery and spectacularly beautiful photographs Fredericks has taken and we see on the screen, it is as well Fredericks’ own story, his love for his wife and how he has set about to come to terms with the death of his parents that proves moving and transformative for him, as well as for us. Fredericks’ award-winning 28-minute short, which will screen for a final time this Saturday, October 10th @ 11 am, at the VanCity Theatre, is paired with the tremendous … 12 Canoes (Grade: A): One of our very favourite films at the Film Festival this year, in 12 Canoes Rolf de Heer has filmed the stories of the Yolngu people of Ramingining, the founding Australian aboriginal culture, through 12 wonderful, movingly narrated visual poems, covering Creation through the arrival of the ‘First White Men’ to Kinship, Ceremony, Language, and contemporary days. De Heer’s 66-minute cinematic tour-de-force is one of the must-see films at the 28th edition of Vancouver’s annual Film Festival. As above, paired with Salt, Saturday, Oct. 10th @ 11 am, VanCity Theatre.
Next up, on our ‘climate change’ film schedule, Yann-Arthus Bertrand’s … Home (Grade: C): A brutally condescending piece of alarmist ‘feel good’ climate change crap, Home is at best second-rate Imax fodder, but in 2-D on the Granville 7 Visa screen, in order to protect one’s sanity it was best to leave the theatre to commisserate with fellow filmgoers who were equally put off by Glenn Close’s droning, patronizing narration, to discuss with them far better, far more worthwhile films they’d seen and recommend.
For instance, Jurgen recommended: Broke, which screens again at 1:30 pm, Saturday, Oct. 10th @ Pacific Cinémathèque, and a range of ‘music films’, including Ashes of the American Flag: Wilco Live (Tues., Oct. 13th, 4:20 pm, Gran7, Th2), Charlie Haden: Rambling Boy (Thurs., Oct. 15th @ 6:30 pm, Gran7, Th2 and Fri., Oct. 16th @ 1:15 pm, VanCity ), and Phil Grabsky’s In Search of Beethoven (Wed., Oct. 14th @ 11 am, Gran7, Th2).
Mr. Shayne and VanRamblings then tripped outside to Granville Street, as we waited for the next movie to begin, and ran into …
Videomatica’s Graham Peat, outside the Granville 7
For those of you who live elsewhere, and may not be aware of the handsome gentleman pictured above, Graham Peat is the ‘art house’ video God of Metro Vancouver, British Columbia and western Canada.
Way back in 1984, Graham and his partner, Brian, opened up Videomatica, in trendy, friendly Kitsilano, and as they say in the movies, the rest is history. With the largest collection of ‘nostalgia DVDs’ (1910 thru the swinging ’60s), and ‘art house films‘ available anywhere in western Canada, Videomatica is the place cinephiles go to, after the Festival is over, to catch the films they missed at the Fest. Although it is true that only 20% of the films that play the Vancouver International Film Festival ever arrive back on our shores to play on a big screen, somehow each year, Graham manages to find a goodly number of the more recommendable film festival titles to place on the shelves of his essential West 4th Avenue video emporium.
Afer bidding Graham adieu, it was time for the final screening of the day … Precious, from the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire (Grade: B+): A certain Oscar nominee — Oprah is one of the executive producers of this film, and let’s face it, her imprimatur carries a lot of weight, in Hollywood and elsewhere — and one of the two break-out films from this year’s Sundance Film Festival (the other, An Education, which will play twice next week), Precious, from the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire tells the bleak, gritty, harrowing story of Clareece “Precious” Jones, an overweight black teenager in 1980s Harlem. Bullied at school, tormented by her mother, and repeatedly raped by her stepfather (at movie’s outset, she is pregnant with her second child by her ‘father’), Precious’ life is a living nightmare. Precious, the film, does not offer your regular, subtle film festival fare. The only restrained aspect in the film is singer Mariah Carey’s subdued performance as Precious’ social worker. Screens again tomorrow, Friday, Oct. 9th @ 2:30 pm, Gran 7 Th 3.
