Although VanRamblings’ love for VIFF venue manager Iulia Manolescu has not diminished one iota as the Vancouver International Film Festival has moved out into the community in 2013, and Iulia has assumed an overdue VIFF management role of prominence, at this year’s Festival — and, in a galaxy of film festival venue managers whose humanity and organizational élan knows no equal (we’re talking about you, Sean and Nancy), there has emerged this year a ‘new’ VIFF venue manager possessed of an uncommon humanity, transcendent organizational skills, an individual whose exemplary social skills and humane ability to connect with whomever she comes into contact — has emerged in 2013 as an inspiration and welcome gift to this year’s edition of our annual film festival by the sea.
Jelena Popovich, pictured above, is the shining star of this year’s film festival venue managers, a lovely, lovely woman who has gained the respect of the grateful volunteers with whom she has worked each day, not to mention the thousands upon thousands of VIFF patrons who throughout the Festival have sought her angelic intervention in respect of a passing quandary of momentary significance — Jelena, who day in, day out left joy in her wake in every engagement with VIFF staff, volunteers and patrons.
Today, VanRamblings pays tribute to Jelena Popovich, the young woman who may very well become her very own deity within VIFF venue management in the years to come. Jelena — thank you for employing your singular and transcendent organizational skills at this year’s Festival, and for your beneficent ability to transform all that is occurring around you.

At the 32nd annual Vancouver International Film Festival, the venue managers at each of the seven sites emerged as the beating heart of this year’s Festival, the individuals who transformed what might have been chaos into a tremendously welcoming experience for film festival patrons, who brought a strength of purpose and uncommon humanity to the task set for them by film festival administration — create the best possible experience for the tens of thousands of VIFF patrons standing in the line-ups outside the theatre awaiting entrance to the cinema for the next screening, while establishing a process for theatre ingress and egress from each VIFF screening that would be welcoming on the way in, and “sad to see you go, but we look forward to seeing you again soon” on the way out.
And, who are these venue managers of whom we write? There’s …

• Sean Wilson, the entirely magnificent, heartful showman of the 32nd annual Vancouver International Film Festival, who connected like mad with VIFF volunteers and patrons, creating the conditions in whichever venue he was assigned for one of the best possible theatrical exhibition experiences this city has ever experienced;
• Teresa Weir, VIFF’s most experienced (and dare we say, best organized) venue manager, who this year also took on the gargantuan task of Exhibitions Assistant (you know, the one who does all the work) to Exhibitions Manager George Mah, who created the conditions not only for a tremendous VIFF patron experience, but allowed George and Festival Director Alan Franey the opportunity to sleep at night, knowing that with Teresa at the helm, our festival was in good hands;
• Nancy Kurek, over at The Rio Theatre, who truth to tell (now, don’t tell anyone) is really, truly THE beating heart of the Festival, a woman of transcendent loveliness who simply by dint of her presence instills a confidence that all will be well, that this night will be the best night of all the myriad film festival evenings you’ve experienced over the years;
• Jenn Tennant and the exquisite Sylvija Dogan, over at VIFF’s SFU Woodwards Goldcorp Theatre venue, who daily created the conditions for a magical and transformative cinematic experience within SFU’s 350-seat lecture-hall-like cinema venue, all the while inspiring the volunteers on each floor of the centre, their presence a balm for harried film-goers, Jenn’s welcoming smile a salve for the soul;
• Stephanie Brogden, perhaps the most warmly mischievous venue manager presence at the 32nd annual Vancouver International Film Festival, and - along with Iulia - the most charming VIFF ‘host’ introducing films, who exhibited a vulnerability and little girl quality that almost broke your heart every time you saw her, an utterly angelic presence, innocent in her presentation of self, tempered by an innate strength, and subtle humility, in her means of connection;
• Rodney Stewart, the calming, zen presence at The Playhouse, The Cinematheque, or whichever of the VIFF venues to which he was assigned for the day, whose stage presence while introducing films was always warm and funny, welcoming and reassuring, whose presence on stage acted as the perfect prelude to the film which would in only moments unspool on screen before us.

We want to make special mention of the two venue managers whose palpable humanity when introducing a festival film transformed the theatre, brought you deeper and further inside the cinematic and human experience than was the case at this or any other film festival of recent years.
In 2013, Iulia Manolescu brought a new-found confidence and naturalness to the introduction of VIFF films, that was all of once serene and funny, welcoming and knowing, reassuring and oh, so humane. No one on VIFF venue management staff connected like Iulia this year when introducing a film, no audience was more attentive than was the case when Iulia skipped down the steps of the Cineplex cinemas to the proscenium in front of the screen to bring us inside her conspiracy of warmth for humanity.
And then there was Stephanie Brodgen, of course, the wholly lovely venue manager at The Centre in Vancouver For Performing Arts, whose quiet and comforting presence in front of the screen in the moments before the film was to begin commanded your attention, who radiated a vulnerability and uncommon humanity, and who was this year the single most charming daily presence at the 32nd annual Vancouver International Film Festival.

In the middle of last week, VanRamblings was having a conversation with VIFF programmer extraordinaire, PoChu AuYeung, when we suggested to PoChu that there were some very good films at VIFF 2013, but perhaps the this year the quality of films was not quite up to the standard of previous years. PoChu’s reply: “You’re less than a week into the Festival. There are a great many wonderful films that you’ll love that are still to come.”
And as PoChu had predicted, so has it come to pass.

I Belong (Grade: A+). The Patience Stone, The Great Passage and I Belong exist in a category all their own at the 32nd annual Vancouver International Film Festival, cinematic experiences of transcendent and remarkable beauty, narrative erudition and artful craft, films that are so well realized as to make one weep with joy at the transformative experience the filmmakers have allowed us to feel, ground-breaking, truth-telling cinema of the first order, each film ranking among the most important films of the new millennium.
I Belong (the Norwegian title translates as “As You See Me”) is a film possessed of uncommon insight into human existence, but for all that there is a welcoming, almost absurdist, comedic element within the film’s narrative that serves, thankfully throughout, to temper the onslaught of painful realizations that the casual unintended cruelty of others serves too often to rent the fabric of our soul, or as the VIFF programme suggests …

I Belong explores the complexity of communication and mutual understanding, the film illustrating time and again how an incidence of seeming relative insignificance to one person takes on an aspect of grande disaster for another. I Belong relates a series of stories about people who mean well, but without malice of intent cause grievous pain to another. The film also explores the notion that those possessed of humanity and integrity of action and intent are too often viewed as troublesome malefactors, in a society where the ideal is to behave rationally rather than humanely. Although I Belong alternates between the playful and pointedly poignant, director Dag Johan Haugerud’s début feature film reveals a remarkable understanding of our human frailties, and the daily dilemmas that can cause us irreparable damage and pain.

Altogether, a shattering, ruminative, and magical film of uncommon import, as remarkable and exceptional as any film you’ll see at VIFF 2013, or in any other forum this or any other year. I Belong is a wise and humane film of uncommon craft, and altogether a transformative cinematic experience. Let’s hope VIFF brings back I Belong for the post-Fest week of screenings, and that Tom Charity, VIFF’s erudite Vancity programmer, finds a place of prominence for I Belong in his calendar of transcendently lovely films.

VanRamblings intends to continue posting til the end of the Festival on Friday, and beyond, and will likely take in one or more of the post-Fest screenings of VIFF films that, this year, will screen evenings at the Vancity, SFU Woodwards and The Rio — such decision to employ multiple post-Fest venues resulting in the effect of seeming to extend our much beloved Festival, allowing us in the process to catch for a first time (or perhaps a second), films of consequence that we just couldn’t quite manage to squeeze into our VIFF programming schedule, due to one conflict, or another, but felt were deserving of our attention and attendance.
Oscars: Academy announces Best Foreign Language Film shortlist

At the request of readers, please find below the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences shortlist for the 2014 Foreign Language Film Oscar — totaling 76 submitted films.
The shortlist created some controversy — Japan nominating Ishii Yuya’s The Great Passage over Like Father, Like Son, created quite some consternation among film’s cognoscenti, but of course none of those who were kvetching have yet to see The Great Passage, a masterwork, and perhaps this year’s best foreign language film.
That Afghanistan’s The Patience Stone did not receive a nomination is, perhaps, this year’s biggest oversight. But, as a British, French, German, Afghani co-production, and given the film’s subject matter, The Patience Stone was an unlikely Best Foreign Language nomination for any of the countries associated with the production of this year’s most important film. Correction: Mathew Englander sends along the following information …

“A small correction: Afghanistan did, in fact, submit The Patience Stone to the Academy — last year, when it was eligible. It is a 2012 film.”

VanRamblings’ position: The Patience Stone should have won the Best Foreign Language pic last year. Thank you for the correction, Mathew.
The number, up from 71 films last year, sets a new record for the category and includes apparent frontrunners such as Asghar Farhadi’s The Past from Iran, Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt from Denmark, and Wong Kar-Wai’s The Grandmaster from Hong Kong. Abdellatif Kechiche’s festival favourite lesbian drama Blue is the Warmest Colour from France, however, failed to make the cut-off date for eligibility, while India controversially submitted Gyan Correa’s The Good Road over Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox.
Check out the full list of submissions below:
Afghanistan, “Wajma — An Afghan Love Story,” Barmak Akram, director
Albania, “Agon,” Robert Budina, director
Argentina, “The German Doctor,” Lucía Puenzo, director
Australia, The Rocket, Kim Mordaunt, director
Austria, “The Wall,” Julian Pölsler, director
Azerbaijan, “Steppe Man,” Shamil Aliyev, director
Bangladesh, “Television,” Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, director
Belgium, The Broken Circle Breakdown, Felix van Groeningen, director
Bosnia and Herzegovina, “An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker,” Danis Tanovic, director
Brazil, Neighbouring Sounds, Kleber Mendonça Filho, director
Bulgaria, “The Color of the Chameleon,” Emil Hristov, director
Cambodia, The Missing Picture, Rithy Panh, director
Canada, Gabrielle, Louise Archambault, director
Chad, “GriGris,” Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, director
Chile, “Gloria, Sebastián Lelio, director
China, “Back to 1942,” Feng Xiaogang, director
Colombia, “La Playa DC,” Juan Andrés Arango, director
Croatia, “Halima’s Path,” Arsen Anton Ostojic, director
Czech Republic, “The Don Juans,” Jiri Menzel, director
Denmark, “The Hunt,” Thomas Vinterberg, director
Dominican Republic, “Quien Manda?” Ronni Castillo, director
Ecuador, “The Porcelain Horse,” Javier Andrade, director
Egypt, “Winter of Discontent,” Ibrahim El Batout, director
Estonia, “Free Range,” Veiko Ounpuu, director
Finland, “Disciple,” Ulrika Bengts, director
France, “Renoir,” Gilles Bourdos, director
Georgia, In Bloom, Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Gross, directors
Germany, “Two Lives,” Georg Maas, director
Greece, “Boy Eating the Bird’s Food,” Ektoras Lygizos, director
Hong Kong, “The Grandmaster,” Wong Kar-wai, director
Hungary, “The Notebook,” Janos Szasz, director
Iceland, “Of Horses and Men,” Benedikt Erlingsson, director
India, “The Good Road,” Gyan Correa, director
Indonesia, “Sang Kiai,” Rako Prijanto, director
Iran, The Past, Asghar Farhadi, director
Israel, “Bethlehem,” Yuval Adler, director
Italy, The Great Beauty, Paolo Sorrentino, director
Japan, The Great Passage, Ishii Yuya, director
Kazakhstan, “Shal,” Yermek Tursunov, director
Latvia, “Mother, I Love You,” Janis Nords, director
Lebanon, “Blind Intersections,” Lara Saba, director
Lithuania, “Conversations on Serious Topics,” Giedre Beinoriute, director
Luxembourg, “Blind Spot,” Christophe Wagner, director
Mexico, Heli, Amat Escalante, director
Moldova, “All God’s Children,” Adrian Popovici, director
Montenegro, “Ace of Spades – Bad Destiny,” Drasko Djurovic, director
Morocco, “Horses of God,” Nabil Ayouch, director
Nepal, “Soongava: Dance of the Orchids,” Subarna Thapa, director
Netherlands, Borgman, Alex van Warmerdam, director
New Zealand, “White Lies,” Dana Rotberg, director
Norway, “I Am Yours,” Iram Haq, director
Pakistan, “Zinda Bhaag,” Meenu Gaur and Farjad Nabi, directors
Palestine, “Omar,” Hany Abu-Assad, director
Peru, “The Cleaner,” Adrian Saba, director
Philippines, “Transit,” Hannah Espia, director
Poland, “Walesa. Man of Hope,” Andrzej Wajda, director
Portugal, “Lines of Wellington,” Valeria Sarmiento, director
Romania, “Child’s Pose,” Calin Peter Netzer, director
Russia, “Stalingrad,” Fedor Bondarchuk, director
Saudi Arabia, Wadjda, Haifaa Al Mansour, director
Serbia, “Circles,” Srdan Golubovic, director
Singapore, Ilo Ilo, Anthony Chen, director
Slovak Republic, “My Dog Killer,” Mira Fornay, director
Slovenia, “Class Enemy,” Rok Bicek, director
South Africa, “Four Corners,” Ian Gabriel, director
South Korea, “Juvenile Offender,” Kang Yi-kwan, director
Spain, “15 Years Plus a Day,” Gracia Querejeta, director
Sweden, “Eat Sleep Die,” Gabriela Pichler, director
Switzerland, “More than Honey,” Markus Imhoof, director
Taiwan, Soul, Chung Mong-Hong, director
Thailand, “Countdown,” Nattawut Poonpiriya, director
Turkey, “The Butterfly’s Dream,” Yilmaz Erdogan, director
Ukraine, “Paradjanov,” Serge Avedikian and Olena Fetisova, directors
United Kingdom, “Metro Manila,” Sean Ellis, director
Uruguay, “Anina,” Alfredo Soderguit, director
Venezuela, Breach in the Silence, Luis Alejandro Rodríguez and Andrés Eduardo Rodríguez, directors
The nominees will be announced January 16th.

That’s it this year for the Vancouver International Film Festival site at Cineplex International Village — no more comfy and inviting Cinemas 8, 9 and 10, no more transcendently lovely Iulia Manolescu and Jelena Popowich (wondrous women of much wit, warmth and intelligence) at Tinseltown.
The film festival continues on through Friday. There are miles to go and films to see, tears to shed and friends to make before the 32nd annual Vancouver International Film Festival draws to a close on October 11th.
Felix Now An All-Ages Screening at VIFF 2013

The first week of the Festival, several parents of school-age children approached VanRamblings to express a concern that all three screenings of the feel-good film of the Festival, the G-rated and most transcendently wonderful family film on screen at this year’s Fest, had been booked into the age-restricted Rio Theatre for all three screenings. Continuing in our unofficial ombudsperson’s role with VIFF, on Friday we approached Festival Director Alan Franey, who told us …

VIFF understood when negotiating for The Rio to become a Festival site this year that the venue possessed an age-restricted license — due to the fact that their license allows them to serve alcohol – might prove problematical for screenings of family-oriented film fare like Felix, which, as you’re aware, is very much the feel good film at this year’s Festival.

With that thought in mind, early on in the process to bring The Rio into the VIFF fold, we sought to have the age restriction for entrance into The Rio lifted for the duration of the Festival, and I believe we achieved that goal. The Rio will not be an age-restricted venue for VIFF in 2013.

All of us within VIFF administration and on the Board are fully cognizant that an important part of our mission in presenting a film festival of world cinema is to continue to grow the audience for our Festival. Providing parents with the opportunity to attend VIFF screenings with their children fits very much within the realization of that mission goal.

At some point next week, we’ll publish our favourite VIFF features column, offering explicative insight into our very favourite feature film fare at the 32nd annual Vancouver International Film Festival.

Given the general consensus among Vancouver International Film Festival cognoscenti that audiences in attendance at this year’s Festival are noisier, more talkative, and almost as prone, as in years past, to use their phones while the narrative of a film is unfolding before our eyes, VanRamblings feels that it is necessary for all concerned that we “revive” our annual column on why it is that the cinephiles who each year attend 50+ VIFF films (and there are a whole bunch of us) feel so passionate about wanting to hear every sound, burrow into every picture, experience the every emotion of the characters on screen before us — and why it is that the Festival is a ‘no go zone’ for talking, whispering, and the rattling of candy wrappers for those in attendance at VIFF who would wish for nothing more than to experience Vancouver’s splendid and enchanting little film festival by the sea.
Worshipping at the Church of Cinema
Imagine yourself on a Sunday morning at the 32nd annual Vancouver International Film Festival. You’ve just walked into The Centre, where you’ve been greeted by one of the volunteers, and are then ushered into a dark room with seats all facing forward. You feel reverent.
You are about to worship at the ‘church of cinema‘.
One hundred years on, global cinema has arrived as a form of transcendence, for many replacing the once venerated position held by the institutional church. Think about the similarities: churches and the cinema are both large buildings built in the public space. Both have signage out front indicating what is about to occur inside.
As physical structures, the church and the cinema create a sense of sacred space with their high ceilings, long aisles running the length of the darkened rooms inside, the use of dim lighting, the sweeping curvature of the walls, and the use of curtains to enhance the sacredness of the experience.
In the church of cinema we take communion not with bread and wine, but with the ritualistic consumption of our favourite snack.
Consider if you will, the memorable moment when you enter the auditorium to find your perfect viewing angle, allowing you to sit back, relax and enjoy. Although you may not receive absolution at the cinema, there is the two-hour reprieve from the burden of your daily life.
As the lights are dimmed, the service begins: The seating, and the opening introduction constitute a liturgy for one and all, not dissimilar to the welcoming ritual that occurs in a church service prior to the sermon. If you are like most people, you obey an unwritten rule that requires you to be in place in time for either the singing (if you’re in church) or the introduction of a film by a Vancouver Film Festival theatre manager. And, you remain silent while in the theatre, focused on all that unfolds before you.
There is, too, the notion that as the film limns your unconscious mind you are being transported, elevated in some meaningful way, left in awe in the presence of a work of film art.
What we want from church is often, these days, more of what we receive from the cinema on offer at the Vancouver International Film Festival: the vague, unshakable notion that the eternal and invisible world is all around us, transporting us as we sit in rapt attention. We experience the progress and acceleration of time, as we see life begin, progress, and find redemption. All within two hours. The films at the Vancouver International Film Festival constitute much more than entertainment; each film is a thoughtful meditation on our place in society and our purpose in life.
As a film draws to a close, just as is the case following a sermon we might hear in church, our desire is to set about to discuss with friends that which we have just experienced. Phrases and moments, transcending current frustrations with a new resolve, all in response to a line of dialogue or an image on the screen that we have now incorporated into how we will lead our life going forward.
In the holy trinity of meaning, cinema reigns supreme, the personal altar of our home theatres placing a distant second place, the city providing the physical proof of the reality the other two point to, oriented towards the satisfaction of the devout cinemagoer’s theology.
Throughout the centuries we have sought to find meaning through manifest ritual and symbolism. If, as in the scene from American Beauty - a plastic bag sailing in the breeze as an intimation of immortality - then there is, perhaps, something for us to consider respecting the difference between art as diversion and art in our lives as a symbolic representation of an awakened mindfulness, allowing us to transcend the troubles of our lives.
For those who attend the Vancouver International Film Festival, cinema has emerged as that place where we might experience life in the form of parable, within a safe and welcoming environment, that place where we are able to become vulnerable and open, hungry to make sense of our lives. Cinema delivers for many of us access to the new spiritualism, the place where we experience not merely film, but language, memory, art, love, death and, perhaps even, spiritual transcendence.