As the Vancouver International Film Festival hits the quarter-century mark, festival director Alan Franey can’t help but look back to the beginning just as he readies to unspool more than 300 films from over 50 countries, Sept. 28 to Oct. 13.

In its inaugural 1982 edition, VIFF screened 40 films at one venue – the Ridge Theatre, Vancouver’s first repertory art house, which Franey was then managing. He says that one film – the Dutch drama Max Havelaar, about the evils of colonialization – still stands out in his memory.

‘It was a perfect film that didn’t get the attention it deserved,’ he insists.

He’s still seeking out those films that he feels should be seen but oftentimes are not, as they get lost amid Hollywood blockbusters.

‘We try to fill the gaps in the real world. Festivals are a necessary way to give access to films with thoughtful and thought-provoking stories, as opposed to the dumbed-down discourse we’re subjected to at major venues,’ Franey says. ‘The film business is like publishing. If we had access to only bestsellers, it would be an impoverished world.’

And yet he sees the growing number of film festivals as a mixed blessing.

‘It’s great to see people who are passionate about film, but on the other hand, you have to wonder how healthy this binge-mentality is,’ he says. ‘Although there’s a part of festivals that can’t be replaced – the conviviality, the experience – it’s better to see [festival-type films] year-round.’

Franey believes VIFF may have reached its attendance ceiling at 150,000. He had high hopes that the year-old Vancouver International Film Centre and Vancity Theatre venue, run by VIFF’s nonprofit society, would bring audiences to non-mainstream movies year-round.

When the film center opened last year, Franey called it a ‘watershed in our industry. It gives us a home we can depend on, allows us to have equity, working capital. We can escape the cycle of poverty.’

The $5-million, 14,000-square-foot complex in downtown Vancouver began its all-year programming in January with a ‘build it and they will come’ philosophy – but Vancouver cinephiles haven’t.

‘I’d be lying if I [said] we weren’t troubled,’ Franey acknowledges. ‘The film and theater businesses are being decimated by other forms of technology such as gaming and computers, and films are more likely to be downloaded. What happened to music is happening to film. The penny’s dropped. We need to have cultural subsidies to present these films. It’s a fact of life – we have to rustle up more sponsorship and we don’t have that yet.’

There’s no denying that moviegoers show up for VIFF, one of the largest film festivals in North America. But instead of rolling out cake and fireworks for its 25th anniversary, Franey says that organizers felt that there had been sufficient hoopla and back-patting for the 20th anniversary.

He adds that many of the films on VIFF2006’s sked set a different tone anyway: ‘As we viewed the films in programming, it became clear that they were very forward-looking,’ he notes.

One silver anniversary initiative, however, announced by Leonard Schein, the VIFF creator who now runs the Ridge, sees the theater unveiling significant renovations to its seating. Including the Ridge, the festival takes place at 10 venues in downtown Vancouver.

The headliners

Three Special Presentations headline the festival. The opening-night gala screening features Cannes crowd-pleaser Volver, a family ghost story by Oscar-winning Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar and starring Penelope Cruz.

Next is Jacques Rivette’s 12-hour 1971 French cult film Out 1 – never before screened outside of Europe – which includes an on-stage introduction by film critic and noted Rivette expert Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader.

The closing-night gala film is Stephen Frears’ The Queen, with Elizabeth II played by Helen Mirren, who recently won the best actress prize at the Venice Film Festival, along with an award for best screenplay for Peter Morgan.

Closer to home is the world premiere of the B.C.-made Klatsassin, by renowned Vancouver artist Stan Douglas, who shot an ‘evolving filmscape’ around the killing of an aboriginal chief. The film runs as a six-hour installation followed by a condensed 75-minute version.

Canadian Images

One of the biggest showcases for Canuck films, this year’s Canadian Images lineup of 110 films (features, mid-lengths and shorts), culled from some 600 submissions, offers 53 made-in-B.C. films.

As CI programmer Terry McEvoy explains, ‘There’s an unusual number of films from B.C. this year, but that’s because there’s so many unusual indie B.C. filmmakers.’

The Canadian Opening Gala is Everything’s Gone Green, directed by Paul Fox from a script by Vancouver favorite son Douglas Coupland (Generation X). It may have preemed in Toronto, but Vancouver is clearly the film’s home. ‘This is a very Vancouver-centric story that locals will appreciate,’ McEvoy says.

Sarah Polley’s Away from Her, Philippe Falardeu’s Congorama and Andrew Currie’s Fido will all screen in Special Presentations.

McEvoy also touts the Norman McLaren Retrospective, which covers the 40-year National Film Board career of the Oscar-winning animator and filmmaker as ‘one of the hardest tickets to get.’

(For more on Canadian Images, see story, p. 20.)

Docs rock

VIFF-goers eat up docs. Representing nearly one-quarter of the films screened, they’ve been a festival mainstay from the get-go.

Franey says that this year, the films in the Nonfiction Features showcase ‘are more relevant and useful than I’ve seen before. I’ve seen a lot of hand-wringing in films and looking at the past, but what I prefer is those that give a call to action, show choices, what can be done… It’s an exciting and inspirational year for nonfiction cinema.’

His personal nod goes to Marwan Hamed’s The Yacoubian Building, a controversial Egyptian film that presents a microcosm of contemporary Cairo society. He also cites Toronto filmmaker Larry Weinstein’s Mozartballs, about quirky Mozart fans from around the world, in this, the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth; Lauren Greenfield’s Thin, set in a U.S. treatment facility for eating disorders; and Fernand Melgar’s Exit: The Right to Die, about a group of Swiss volunteers who help the terminally ill end their lives.

(For more on Nonfiction Features, see p. 22)

Dragons & Tigers

Dragons & Tigers: The Cinemas of East Asia has been a cornerstone of VIFF since 1992, and has developed a reputation as a significant steppingstone for young Asian filmmakers. According to program associate Mark Peranson, D&T is the largest exhibitor of East Asian films outside of Asia.

This year is special in that it will be the last for head programmer Tony Rayns, who is bowing out after 17 years of globetrotting in search of the latest great Asian films.

To Franey, D&T ranks as ‘the most gratifying experience in 25 years at the fest. There’s a very educated and knowledgeable crowd who consistently come every year to see what Tony is bringing in, and he’s brought in filmmakers who world-premiered here and went on to win awards at Cannes and around the world.’

Franey says the fest will have to reinvent the program in Rayns’ absence. ‘It’s been a signature program and Tony’s held a sovereign curatorial role. We’ll likely move to a more general approach with several programmers,’ he says.

This year’s hot tickets are two South Korean films: Bong Joon-Ho’s horror movie The Host, the country’s all-time box-office champ, taking in a reported US$60 million, and Lee Jun-ik’s historical The King and Clown, the previous record-holder.

Mobile VIFF

The festival has also introduced Mobile VIFF, an experiment that responds to today’s tech reality. Viewers can access schedules, enter and review feedback on films in realtime, and vote for their faves from cell phones and other mobile devices.

‘As much as [technology threatens festivals], we do acknowledge it is a fact and we have to keep ahead of the arc,’ says Franey.

Holding up his cell phone he shakes his head. ‘I can’t believe that there’s that much interest in looking at a film on the size of this screen.’

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