The 1999 Vancouver International Film Festival, a 17-day extravaganza running from Sept. 24 to Oct. 10, kicks off with the first-ever Tibetan-language feature The Cup, with which eminent lama Khyentse Norbu makes his directorial debut. The comedy follows two soccer-obsessed monks on a quest to buy a satellite dish so they can watch the final game of the World Cup.

The festival’s Anniversary Gala showcases Canadian Jeremy Podeswa’s The Five Senses, an audience favorite at Cannes, and the Toronto International Film Festival’s Perspective Canada opener. The Awards Gala features Life is to Whistle, a lush and vibrant look at millennial Havana by Cuban director Fernando Perez. Together the three gala presentations reflect the festival’s theme: ‘Same Planet, Different Worlds.’

Scott Smith’s b.c. film rollercoaster jump starts the Canadian Images series, which this year highlights a total of nine western Canadian films including Mort Ransen’s Touched; Davor Marjanovic’s My Father’s Angel and Reg Harkema’s A Girl Is a Girl.

The series is comprised of 23 fiction features, many of which, including Ross Weber’s world premiere No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, were shot on digital video.

The remainder represent a cross-section of Canadian product, including Winnipeg-based director Terrance Odette’s Heater; Alberta filmmaker John Hazlett’s Bad Money; Stephen Reynolds’s Divine Ryans out of Halifax; Quebec-based director Pierre Falardeau’s Miracle in Memphis – Elvis Gratton ii; and Toronto director Atom Egoyan’s Felicia’s Journey.

A handful of docs have also been confirmed, including Oliver Hockenhull’s Building Heaven, Remembering Earth: Confessions of a Fallen Architect, a digital tale of architecture throughout time and across cultures; Grant Greschuk’s life-affirming biography Jeni Legon: Living in a Great Big Way; Richard Kerr’s thought-provoking Never Confuse Movement With Action as well as Human Tragedy on a Grand Scale; Jari Osborne’s Canada’s Unwanted Soldiers, a look at Chinese Canadian soldiers in wwii; and Clint Alberta’s Deep Inside Clint Star.

A total of 46 Canadian films have been confirmed for the festival.

The Vancouver chapter of the Canadian Independent Film Caucus, in partnership with Vision tv and the new Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, is sponsoring the Trade Forum panel ‘Up Against It,’ where discussion will focus on ‘subject matters too hot to handle.’ Controversial filmmakers – Dana Claxton (Yuxweluptun: Man of Masks), Arthur Dong (Licensed to Kill), Judy Jackson (The Toughest Job in the World) and Monika Treut (Gendernauts) – will disclose the pressures imposed on them by the present social, political and economic climate, as well as their modus operandi on creating their own markets.

Moving east, viff pays tribute to Youssef Chahine, the Arab world’s most distinguished filmmaker. Nine of his feature films will be screened, including his latest, L’autre (The Other), as well as his short Cairo As Seen By Youssef Chahine. Chahine, who has made 37 films to date, received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997.

On the subject of awards, Rogers Communications returns to viff this year with the Rogers Award for Best Western Canadian Screenplay. Also available are the Telefilm Canada Awards for Best Emerging Director of a Feature of Mid-length Film from Western Canada ($5,000) and Best Emerging Short from Western Canada ($4,000). Jury members include Joan Dupont, former film critic for the International Herald Tribune; Adrienne Mancia, moma’s curator of film programs; and Mina Shum, director of Genie Award winner Double Happiness.

Other awards include the Alcan Dragons and Tigers Award for Young Cinema ($5,000) and the National Film Board of Canada Awards for Best Documentary Feature and Best Canadian Animated Film.