VIFF 2003’s Canadian Images section boasts a record 32 features, and the reason for that is, simply, there were more strong films submitted, says Diane Burgess, Canadian Images programmer.

The difference in this year’s crop, she says, is that whereas in the past many first-time filmmakers have populated the sidebar, this year sees numerous returning directors. Leading the pack is B.C. director Scott Smith, who follows up his 1999 debut rollercoaster with Falling Angels, which has received strong reviews out of Toronto.

Canadian Images has traditionally been one of the fest’s most popular features because of local audiences’ support of homegrown product.

‘It’s so exciting during the festival to see sold-out houses and directors getting standing ovations,’ says Burgess, who is programming Canuck flicks for the fourth of her six years with VIFF. ‘It’s just such a contrast to what you regularly see during the year, when a [Canadian] film comes out quietly and you don’t notice because it’s not Bad Boys 2.’

Burgess points to a trend among this year’s films toward period pieces – stories set in eras such as the late 1960s (such as Falling Angels) or 1970s (Luck). And then there is Cowards Bend the Knee, set in director Guy Maddin’s favorite milieu of the 1930s, as is his acclaimed The Saddest Music in the World, which plays as a gala. Burgess describes Cowards, which makes its Canadian theatrical premiere, as a ‘kinetic faux-autobiography,’ based on an art installation the director mounted in Toronto.

Maddin is a character in the film who divides his time between the hockey rink and the beauty salon. Oh yeah – and the fuzzy image quality is explained by the fact that the film’s action is supposed to unfold inside a drop of sperm. ‘It’s Guy Maddin at his lurid best,’ says Burgess. The director will be in town for the screenings of both films.

Comedy figures prominently in many of the films, ‘in the particular dark way that Canadian comedy chooses topics that you wouldn’t think [would lend to it],’ Burgess notes. Examples of this are on display in Gary Burns’ A Problem with Fear, in which the main character is a paranoiac, and Trent Carlson’s mockumentary The Delicate Art of Parking, which treads in that minefield of yuks – parking enforcement.

Burgess ties together the fact that there is such a strong contingent of Canadian docs this year to the 20th anniversary of the Documentary Organization of Canada (formerly the Canadian Independent Film Caucus). One of the highlights for Burgess is Allan King’s Dying at Grace, a sober film about several people facing the end at a Toronto health care center. The film is shot in King’s trademark fly-on-the-wall style.

‘It’s really a reminder of what observational filmmaking or cinema verite was like and how far we’ve moved away from it,’ Burgess says. ‘Things like reality television have increased the amount of manipulation around what we assume is filmed reality.’

While many films enter the fest with a fair bit of hype, due either to previous screenings at other festivals or the director’s reputation, there are always sleepers, and Burgess picks On the Corner, from first-time feature director Nathaniel Geary, as hers. His dramatic film is set in Vancouver’s notoriously drug-infested Downtown Eastside.

‘Nathaniel really knows that neighborhood, having worked there at the Portland Hotel,’ Burgess says. ‘It’s a film that’s not voyeuristic in any way and doesn’t take advantage of the subject matter. It’s done in just the right way.’

With all this competition, it was Smith’s Falling Angels that won the program’s coveted opening slot.

‘It encapsulates a lot of the themes from this year… and it’s showcasing a lot of the rising local talent – people like Scott and [actress] Katharine Isabelle, who’s really taking off right now. She’s in On the Corner, too,’ Burgess notes.

Other Canuck filmmakers confirmed to present their films include Burns, King, Robert Lepage (The Far Side of the Moon), John Greyson (Proteus), Mike Holboom (Imitations of Life) and Ron Mann (Go Further).

-www.viff.org