As of this afternoon, VanRamblings has added a further six reviews to our thrived and became an institution over the years; more than 155 reviews are now available. Included in today’s update, you’ll find new reviews for Qu�bec’s Alter Egos + shorts, Germany’s Berlin Blues, Holland’s well-reviewed Dutch Light, Abbas Kiarostami’s highly rated Five, and two ‘slag’ reviews for Sri Lanka’s Scent of the Lotus Pond, and Cuba’s Seven Days, Seven Nights.
VIFF Housekeeping Information: New Films, Additional Screenings
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Hits are emerging at the 23rd annual Vancouver International Film Festival. Even though The World According to Bush will air on the CBC’s Passionate Eye on Sunday, October 17th at 10 p.m. and again on Friday, October 22nd at 10 p.m, Vancouver Film Festival attendees obviously want to experience the documentary on the big screen with fellow Festival aficionadas.
Machuca is another break out hit, as are the remaining films listed directly below. As of today, additional screenings are available for …
- 20 FINGERS: Granville 6, October 3 (2:20 p.m.)
- BERLIN BLUES: Granville 6, October 3 (5:00 p.m.)
- FOUR SHADES OF BROWN: Granville 6, October 3 (8:00 p.m.)
- HARI OM: Vogue, October 3 (1 p.m.)
- MACHUCA: Vogue, October 6 (9:30 p.m.)
- UP AND DOWN: Granville 6, October 6 (7:30 p.m.)
- THE WORLD ACCORDING TO BUSH: Granville 7, October 7 (4 p.m. and 7 p.m.)
For more VIFF programme updates, click here.
Who’da Thunk? A Pro Bush Film Added to Film Festival Lineup
Where are all the pro-Bush films? Thought you’d never ask. The fine programming folks at the Vancouver International Film Festival actually found one! Billed as “an alternative programme to Fahrenheit 9/11, George W. Bush: Faith in the White House is a timely new ‘70-Minute Documentary on the Most Resolutely Faith-Based Presidency in Modern Times’.”
Director David W. Balsinger describes his film in this way …
“He is the commander-in-chief of the world’s greatest superpower. The leader of the free world. The head of the executive branch of the U.S. government. The weight of responsibility is enormous, and it drives George W. Bush to his knees … in prayer and supplication. Like no other president in the history of the United States, George W. Bush boldly, publicly, and genuinely lives out his faith on the job.”
According to BBC correspondent Justin Webb …
“Nobody spends more time on his knees than George W. Bush. The Bush administration hums to the sound of prayer. Prayer meetings take place day and night. It’s not uncommon to see White House functionaries hurrying down corridors carrying Bibles. Decide for yourself whether President Bush’s faith has been good for America! But whatever you decide, his faith will change and inspire you!”
Says Frank Rich in The New York Times …
Of the many cultural grenades being tossed, the one must-see is George W. Bush: Faith in the White House, specifically marketed in ‘head to head’ partisan opposition to Fahrenheit 9/11. This documentary first surfaced at the Republican convention in New York, where it was previewed in tandem with an invitation-only, no-press-allowed ‘Family, Faith and Freedom Rally’, a Ralph Reed-Sam Brownback jamboree thrown by the Bush campaign for Christian conservatives. Faith in the White House gives the imagination room to run riot about what a 21st-century crusade might look like in the flesh. A documentary conceived as a rebuke to Fahrenheit 9/11 is nothing if not its unintentional and considerably more nightmarish sequel.”
No one can say that VanRamblings, or the Vancouver Film Festival, fails to provide equal time for the opposition. Frank Rich is probably right, though, when he opines that George W. Bush: Faith in the White House “is nothing if not [Fahrenheit 9/11’s] unintentional and considerably more nightmarish sequel.” George W. Bush: Faith in the White House screens at the Granville 5, this coming Thursday, October 7th at 4 p.m.
Euro Hipsters Attend the Vancouver Film Festival
German actor and co-screenwriter Jan Stahlberg will be a Festival guest for the Berlin Film Festival award winner Quiet as a Mouse, from October 6th through 8th. His award-winning film screens first on October 6th at 9:30 p.m. at the Ridge; and again on October 8th, at 2 p.m., at the Granville 4.
Dutch director Martin Koolhoven will be in town for his gripping character study, South, from October 3rd through 8th. Koolhoven’s film screens at the Granville 3 this coming Monday, October 4th at 6:40 p.m., and again on Wednesday, October 6th, at 2 p.m., at the Granville 4.
