The Vancouver International Film Festival and Trade Forum, like their counterparts around the globe, attract a proverbial galaxy of stars and deal makers. Here’s a roundup of some of the people with whom you might like to do lunch:

*A guy with money

Daniel Weinzweig says if he returns home to London from this year’s viff without a deal he’ll be sorely disappointed. Momentum for local filmmakers on the international scene is on a definite up tick and he’d like a piece of it.

‘b.c. provides the greatest commercial potential for Canadian movies,’ says Weinzweig, a Canadian who moved to London two years ago to become chief executive of film and television sales company Mayfair Entertainment International. ‘The creative interests have been more north-south than east-west. [b.c. filmmakers] have a greater understanding of what sells. They are less concerned about the needs of the funding agencies and more concerned about what audiences will pay to see.’

Recent gains by local films like Lynne Stopkewich’s Kissed (which Mayfair bid on when the film debuted in Toronto last year) tell the 25-year veteran of distribution, production and exhibition that the climate might be right for deal making.

To date, alas: ‘We’ve not been able to find projects in Vancouver that make international sense to us, projects that have commercial viability that will cross borders.’

Weinzweig is interested in film projects with strong stories and budgets in the $2-million to $8-million range. Mayfair negotiates for available rights depending on its level of investment. Usually, that means world rights outside of North America and partnerships with u.s. distributors such as New Line, Disney, mgm and Sony Classics.

Hot markets, he adds, are in Europe and Asia where theatrical growth is supported by the development of multiplex cinemas and the onset of new television signals.

*An all-in-one Asian filmmaker

One of the most influential industry people in Hong Kong, Shu Kei is a novelist, producer, distributor, editor, film critic and contributor to the Hong Kong International Film Festival. His directorial debut was in 1981 with Sealed With a Kiss and he has been integral to the careers of filmmakers Ann Hui, Alan Fong and John Woo.

At viff – with its prominent Asian program – Kei unveils his latest directorial effort, A Queer Story, which is a drama about a closeted gay man and the enormous pressure he bears to lead a straight life.

*An unflinching documentarian

‘Vancouver really is the documentary place,’ says l.a.-based documentary filmmaker Amy Sommer Gifford, whose probing film Waco: The Rules of Engagement has been a highlight on the u.s. film festival circuit this year. ‘We’re thrilled to be included,’ she adds.

Waco, a film about the tragedy at the Branch Davidian compound in Texas in 1993, makes its debut outside u.s. borders at viff. The landmark, $1-million documentary alleges that the 51-day siege at Waco ended in a fiery storm that was started by the fbi.

The reason for the atf officials’ visit to the compound in the first place, says Sommer Gifford, was to investigate reports of illegal arms, a move bolstered by the department’s need to look busy with budget hearings approaching.

Sommer Gifford, who coproduced the film with her journalist husband Dan Gifford, started her career as Maury Povich’s assistant on A Current Affair. After leaving tabloid tv, she worked as an agent with icm and then cofounded with her husband SomFord Entertainment.

*A Vogue critic

This will be John Powers’ second trip to viff in as many years. The critic for Vogue magazine and National Public Radio in the u.s. says the Vancouver festival deserves recognition for its composition. ‘Although people think it’s a little small, it is, in fact, one of the best programmed festivals anywhere,’ says Powers, who started reviewing for L.A. Weekly in the early ’80s. ‘I’ve been struck that they don’t have the clunkers that other festivals have.’

*A Canadian success story

As chair and ceo of Salter Street Films, Michael Donovan has mined award after award from his headquarters in Halifax. In 1992, his political thriller Diplomatic Immunity won Le Grand Prix and Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Winter Festival and honors at the Havana festival. But he is probably best known for his comedy television work including codco, for which he produced 62 episodes beginning in 1986 and was handed Geminis. He began producing the cbc series This Hour Has 22 Minutes in 1993, which has won him more Geminis and television kudos from other festivals.

At the Trade Forum, Donovan will be on the To Laugh or Not to Laugh panel that discusses the boundaries of satire.