Yes, it’s Day 3 of the 25th annual Vancouver International Festival, the rains and cloud-covered skies have returned (although the sun peeks through the clouds intermittently), the Festival is well underway and there’s still two salutary weeks to go before this year’s event draws to a close.
Just a few items in this brief third instalment of our Fest coverage, so here goes …
Should you be of a mind to do so, turn to page 195 of this year’s Festival programme, and take a gander under the final category, “Under 18 May Attend”. Then allow your eyes to traipse on down to the final title listed in this category, “The White Planet,” page 47. Then, turn to page 47, and this is what you’ll see … that’s VIFF for ya … progressive all the way.
Apparently, there are a good many mistakes in this year’s programme (those poor folks who put the guide together … oh well). When you run across similar “errors”, click here to drop us a line.
The Editor of the VIFF programme guide, longtime VIFF stalwart Jack Vermee, was present Friday evening in the G7’s Cinema 5 to introduce Swel Noury, the young co-director / screenwriter of Heaven’s Doors, surely the most audacious film that will screen at this year’s Fest. A propulsive, operatic, heartrending three-act passion play, the Noury brothers’ début feature has been compared to City of God, as well it should. Still due to screen Sunday at 3:30 p.m. at the Granville 7, and again next Saturday at 1:30 p.m., again at the G7, this is one film you’ll want to catch for sure.
Another stunningly wonderful film at this year’s Fest is Finnish auteur Aki Kaurismäki’s concluding film in his “loser trilogy” — following “Drifting Clouds” and “The Man Without a Past” — the latest entry, titled Lights in the Dusk, telling the story of a sad sack night watchman who wouldn’t have any luck at all if it wasn’t bad luck. Easily the equal of the two previous films in the series in tone and substance, if more minimalist and somewhat less emotional in presentation, this is utterly original filmmaking, and another must-see at this year’s Fest. The film screens on Monday at 2 p.m. at the G7 and again next Thursday at 11 a.m., again at the G7.
If you’re still in the throes of putting your film list together, you should absolutely consider Dan Ireland’s Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont, easily one of the best film’s of the year and a favourite of Roger Ebert, as well as Kirk Honeycutt at the Hollywood Reporter, the Boston Globe’s Ty Burr, and a whole host of other critics who are as enthused with the film as VanRamblings find itself to be.
Winner of the Audience Favourite award at the recent Palm Springs International Film Festival, Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont screens next Friday at 7 p.m. at the Granville 7 (in the 1000 seat Cinema 7, so we oughta see you there), and the following Sunday morning at 11 a.m. in G7’s Cinema 4.
More films with buzz (overheard in the passholders line-up, in conversations before films begin, in the theatre foyers, and on the streets): Colma: The Musical, described as “a great deal of fun”; and, Switzerland’s Vitus, described as both moving and involving, and another must-see.
See ya the Fest.
