VIFF venue manager extraordinaire, the lovely Brie Koniczek (on the right) with VIFF staff

Brie Koniczek has worked with the Vancouver International Film Festival for a number of years, and during her time with VIFF has taken on the herculean task of managing various of the VIFF venues (we first wrote about Brie in 2011), this year and for the past couple of years, the Cineplex International Village site. Last year VanRamblings wrote about Brie …

“In the centre of an early morning storm at the Cineplex site Brie, and Brie alone, working with volunteer staff, remained calm, always smiling, always genuine (utterly, utterly genuine and humane), always lovely and engaging beyond words, communicative, warming, welcoming and reassuring while assuming the onerous responsibility of taking virtually sole responsibility for overseeing the ingress of three long lines of patrons, distributing the “ticketing chits”, directing volunteer staff quietly, efficiently, and humanely, all the while interacting with and re-assuring patrons in all three lines, and down in the will call / rush line-up, that all was well, Brie’s commitment always to logistically pristine exhibition management, and a most salutary patron experience.”

Of course, Brie does not manage the VIFF Cineplex site all on her own.
In 2015, the good lookin’ and quintessentially organized Peter Quin-Conroy, the ever-wonderful and humane Sue Cormier, among others (and let’s not forget VIFF’s Audience Relations Manager, Mickey Brazeau, quite simply one of my favourite people on the planet), find themselves pulling “management duty” at the VIFF Cineplex International Village site, all to good effect, providing the best possible VIFF patron experience.
Then, along with Mickey, there’s the VIFF team of managers who pulled the whole logistically pristine venue management scheme together for 2015 (and wildly successful it is this year, too): in particular, Faye Parlow, VIFF’s Operations Manager, and Lori Strong, VIFF’s Office & Facility Manager, about whom there has been much positive buzz this year …

“It was Faye and Lori who, along with Mickey, pulled in new managers this year, and it’s the three of them who are in good measure responsible for the success we’ve had at the various venues, in 2015.”

In a future post, VanRamblings will introduce you to the new, 2015 VIFF venue managers, when we’ll write about the returning managers, as well. And, of course, it goes without saying (but should be said nonetheless), that all of us who love the Vancouver International Film Festival are grateful-beyond-words for the invaluable role VIFF volunteers play in helping to keep VIFF an accessible, welcoming & pleasurable experience for patrons.

Given all of the above, there is one reigning intelligence overseeing VIFF venue management this year, as he did for the first time last year as the newly-installed VIFF Exhibitions Manager, the one person about whom everyone VanRamblings has spoken with about venue management in 2015 year speaks about in reverential tones of near awe and amazement, and that transcendent personage of nonpareil accomplishment would be …

Sean Wilson, 2015 Vancouver International Film Festival Exhibitions Manager | VIFF2015

Yes, that would be Sean Wilson above who at VIFF2015 may be found alone, sequestered deep inside a darkened room, almost recumbent and near zen-like in front of the VIFF venue management computer at this year’s glorious, one-of-a-kind, long-to-be-fondly-remembered 34th annual Vancouver International Film Festival, you know, the computer that tracks the whereabouts of volunteers (and whether they’re going to make their shifts), tracks the gloriously structured and structural venue management team, the computer into which streams messages of importance (the emergent kind, the oh-so-don’t let them happen, but gawd it’s going to happen anyway emergency variety, and the not-quite-so-problematical non-emergency kind), and at the centre of this maelstrom of information?
The seer, the one, the only Sean Wilson — you likely won’t see a great deal of Sean this first week of the Festival, but when you do … thank him (and thank Brie, too). And, when you find yourself at The Vancity Theatre, acknowledge the very fine Donna Soares (a find by VIFF Audience Relations Manager Mickey Brazeau, who spotted Donna performing wonderful service at the Push Festival), and the peerless Kaen Seguin, Robyn Wilson and Jennifer Tennant at The Centre, and (once again) Peter, Brie, Mickey, Sue and Mike at VIFF’s Cineplex site, and all of the fine VIFF venue managers at The Playhouse, SFU Woodwards, The Cinematheque and The Rio.

Room | Dir. Lenny Abrahamson | Author: Emma Donoghue | Brie Larson, Jacob Tremblay

Every year, there’s a breakout film, usually an independently-produced film, that seemingly comes out of nowhere to take the critics, and appreciative audiences, by storm, emerging as Oscar bait, finally finding itself so ingrained in the Oscar conversation that it goes on to a slew of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences nominations. In 2015, Room is that film.
Garnering immense positive buzz at the Telluride Film Festival in early September, and going on to win the prestigious People’s Choice award at the Toronto Film Festival — where Room received an unprecedented and wildly enthusiastic 15-minute standing ovation — director Lenny Abrahamson’s adaptation of Canadian-Irish author Emma Donoghue’s acclaimed best-seller (Ms. Donoghue also wrote the screenplay for the film) opens tonight at VIFF2015, at the gorgeous and inviting Centre for the Performing Arts, in what is sure to be a sold-out screening of the probable recipient of Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor (5-year-old local actor Jacob Tremblay will likely become the youngest ever Oscar award nominee), Best Screenplay, and a raft of other accolades, and subsequent Independent Spirit/Gotham and, finally, well-deserved Oscar nominations.

Variety | Justin Chang
The cramped 11-by-11-foot interior of a sealed, sound-proof garden shed isn’t the only thing keeping a boy and his mother prisoner in Room, a suspenseful and heartrending drama that finds perhaps the most extreme possible metaphor for how time, regret and the end of childhood can make unknowing captives of us all.
Indiewire | Eric Kohn, Chief Film Critic | A-
Director Lenny Abrahamson seamlessly translates Emma Donoghue’s masterful work into cinematic terms with his gripping and involving adaptation, the drama owing just as much to its two stars, Brie Larson and newcomer Jacob Tremblay, whose textured, human-scale performances turn distressing circumstance into a credible and tense tale of survival.

Note: Author Emma Donoghue will be in attendance at tonight’s screening of Room to introduce the film, and take part in a Q&A after the screening.
Bring tissues. Get your tickets now. Line up early. See ya tonight, at Room.

Senior VIFF Programmer PoChu AuYeung, and the ever dour and oh-so-weary J.B. Shayne

Well, here we are into Day Four of the 34th annual Vancouver International Film Festival — the most logistically pristine Festival in all of its 34 voluptuously triumphant years — and the films just keep on comin’. And what a great Festival for world cinema VIFF 2015 has proven to be …
Non-Fiction (America) | In Transit

In Transit | Albert Maysles’ visionary new film | VIFF Canadian Premiere | a VIFF must-see
In Transit (Grade: A+): A non-fiction film that revels in the search for the authentic self, celebrated documentarian Albert Maysles’ final film is all at once: groundbreaking, masterful, chillingly powerful, thoughtful, intimate, engaging, philosophical, and an extraordinarily humane chronicle on the narrative power of our everyday lives. As Ronnie Scheib, in Variety, writes, “a fitting farewell to an American ethnographer.” Showtimes: October 5th, 10:30am, Cin8; Oct. 7th, 7pm, Cin10; Oct. 8th, 2pm, Cin10. A must-see.
Canadian / Quebeçois | Ville-Marie

Ville-Marie (Grade: A-): Guy Édoin’s lushly appointed film keenly observes four characters: Pierre (Patrick Hivon), an ambulance driver coping with PTSD, Marie (the luminous Pascale Bussières), an ER nurse at the understaffed Ville-Marie Hospital, Sophie Bernard (Monica Bellucci), a European actress who’s in Montréal to shoot a semi-autobiographical film, and Thomas (Aliocha Schneider), her gay son, who is increasingly insistent that she reveal the name of his father and the circumstances of his birth. Captivating from beginning to end as it comes to focus on the mercies of the protagonists’ past tragedies, Ville-Marie moves from strength to strength to strength, from movie’s outset to its relevatory denouement. Showtimes: October 1st, 9:15pm, Cin10; Oct. 4th, 10:30am, Cin8.
Non-Fiction (Iranian) | No Land’s Song

No Land’s Song (Grade: A): Three years ago, the Iranian singer and composer Sara Najafi came up with the idea of hosting a concert in Tehran, her hometown. It was a plan so audacious, it seemed slightly crazy. The concert would be “a festival of the female voice” featuring solo singers — not just Iranians, but artists from France and Tunisia, too. Nothing like it had been attempted in Iran for 35 years: after the Islamic Revolution of 1979, women were banned from singing solo in public.
No Land’s Song review: Tender, undeniable, deeply affecting (or, as one critic wrote, “incredibly emotional“), provocative, risky, occasionally hugely depressing and, in the end, thrillingly heartbreaking and heart-stoppingly redemptive, No Land’s Song is one of the must-see documentary films at this year’s Vancouver International Film Festival. Showtimes: September 29th, 10:30am, Cin8; October 3rd, 9pm & October 5th, 4pm, Playhouse.

Each year, 75 countries from across the globe submit one very special film from their country to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, as their entry in the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar sweepstakes.
More entries are making their way to the Academy every day, with final submissions due by mid-October. Below you’ll find the 12 films that have been submitted by their respective countries that are also screening at the 34th annual Vancouver International Film Festival. As we become aware of further entries that will screen at VIFF, we’ll update the “list” below, and alert you in future VanRamblings’ posts (and/or on Twitter, @raytomlin).
With more than 200 foreign language features set to screen at VIFF 2015 — an almost overwhelming number of films from which to choose the dozen or more films you’ll take in at VIFF this year — the rationale behind today’s VanRamblings post is to offer you some small degree of direction as you review the VIFF Guide as to films that may be worthy of your attention.

The Assassin | Taiwan | Hou Hsiao-hsien | Best Director, Cannes 2015 | Review, The Playlist

600 Miles | Mexico | Director, Gabriel Ripstein | Best First Feature, Panorama, Berlin 2015

Ixcanul | Guatemala | Director, Jayro Bustamante | Alfred Bauer Prize, Berlin 2015

100 Yen Love | Japan | Review, Peter Debruge, Variety | Best Japanese Feature, Tokyo

Mustang | France | Europa Cinema, Best European Film | Directors’ Fortnight, Cannes 2015

Son of Saul | Hungary | Review, Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian | Grand Prix, Cannes 2015

The Club | Chile | Director, Pablo Larraín | Silver Bear (Grand Jury Prize), Berlin 2015

Aferim! | Romania | Radu Jude | Silver Bear (Best Director), Berlin 2015 | Review, Screen

Rams | Iceland | Grímur Hákonarson | Grand Prix, Un Certain Regard, Cannes 2015

The Second Mother | Brazil | Audience Award, Berlin 2015 | Special Jury Award, Sundance

Embrace of the Serpent | Colombia | Art Cinema Award, Directors’ Fortnight, Cannes 2015

Thina Sobabili: The Two of Us | South Africa | Audience Award, 2015 Pan African Film Festival