Discover Vancouver

Vancouver International Film Festival

At the end of the traditional film festival season, near the first week of October, comes the annual Vancouver International Film Festival. More than 130,000 people register at the box office each year for this chance to see a host of Canadian and international films that often go unnoticed by a Hollywood-driven movie crowd.

With a record $775,000 in box office revenues at the 18th Vancouver International Film Festival, the annual event is becoming one of the city’s prime attractions.The VIFF is geared as a non-profit educational and cultural organization designed “to encourage an understanding of other nations through the art of cinema, to foster the art of cinema, to facilitate the meeting in British Columbia of cinema professionals from around the world, and to stimulate the motion picture industry in British Columbia and Canada.”

In addressing an audience prior to the 18th VIFF, Festival Director Alan Franey has said, “young people don’t tend to see as much international film as they once did.”

“We hope that cinema can bring people indoors in a way that is quite remarkable.It’s a way for people to travel and see the world which they might not do otherwise.”

Over the course of two weeks each fall, the festival features more than 300 films from nearly 50 different countries.It’s a chance for those in Vancouver to see films from such places as Tibet, Iran, Kenya, Norway, Mexico and Algeria.

However, not lost in this international extravaganza are the many films made closer to home.The Vancouver feature Rollercoaster, directed by Scott Smith, claimed the 18th VIFF’s Most Popular Canadian film award.As part of the Canadian Images series (that included nine Western Canadian feature films), Rollercoaster is a dark film that focuses on a group of disturbed kids who break into a closed amusement park.Said Smith, “I’ve attended so many Canadian screenings at the Vancouver festival and have always been so proud of my fellow filmmakers who have been able to present their movies in front of their family and friends.”

Other British Columbia films making the cut have included Ryan Bonder’s DayDrift and Ross Weber’s No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed.

Annual Film & Television Trade Forum

The business side of the VIFF is found in the annual Film & Television Trade Forum. 1999’s Trade Forum at Vancouver’s Robson Square Conference Centre featured a series of film industry representatives discussing topics ranging from “The Building and Sustaining of an Independent Production Company” and “Movie Music Magic” to “Making Feature Films Digitally.”

Organizers try to attract a well-known film director for each year’s “Interview with a Director.” 1999’s guest was no exception.Bruce Beresford, who directed the Academy Award winner Driving Miss Daisy, discussed his road to prominence as part of the so-called Australian new wave of the 1970’s.Since making his American debut with 1983’s Tender Mercies, Beresford has directed more than a dozen Hollywood features.The Sydney born director worked with Ashley Judd and Tommy Lee Jones in 1998’s Vancouver shot Double Jeopardy.

The Trade Forum is sponsored in part by British Columbia’s Ministry of Small Business, Tourism and Culture.