VANCOUVER — The 27th annual Vancouver International Film Festival will open on Sept. 25 with Blindness, organizers have announced. The Canada/Japan/Brazil copro from Toronto’s Rhombus Media and director Fernando Meirelles (City of God) premiered at Cannes.

Closing the festival on Oct. 10 is the Canadian premiere of French filmmaker Laurent Cantet’s (Human Resources) drama The Class, about a young teacher’s struggles in a Parisian inner-city school, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes.

VIFF will screen more than 350 films from over 60 countries. In the Canadian Images program, unveiled this week, 90 films including shorts from across the country will be showcased. The opening gala is Charles Martin Smith’s Stone of Destiny and special presentations in the program include Kari Skogland’s Fifty Dead Men Walking, Neil Burns’ first feature Edison and Leo, Atom Egoyan’s Adoration and Deepa Mehta’s Heaven on Earth.

Canadian features making their world premiere at VIFF include Vancouver actor Tom Sholte’s directorial debut Crime, a relationship drama starring Frida Betrani (Last Wedding), Evan Lendrum (When Jesse Was Born), Andrea Whitburn (Tell Me No Lies) and Sholte (Dirty, Last Wedding).

The remaining Canadian debuts (seven in total) are all documentaries, including Toronto filmmaker Ian Connacher’s Addicted to Plastic! The Rise and Demise of a Modern Miracle and Velcro Ripper’s Fierce Light: When Spirit Meets Action, as well as Belonging from Gerard Ungerman and Audrey Brophy.

The acclaimed Dragons & Tigers program will screen more than 75 films hailing from East Asia, including the North American premieres of Ying Liang’s Good Cats, a satire mocking corruption and greed in contemporary China.

Cinema of our Time, a series of international films, has a strong showing of films from the U.S., Germany, Mexico and Italy, including the North American premiere of Paolo Sorrentino’s Il Divo, a portrait of seven-time Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti that won the Jury prize at Cannes, and the Canadian premiere of American Lance Hammer’s Ballast, which picked up the best director award at Sundance.

Special presentations at VIFF include Doris Dorrie’s (Men, Enlightment Guaranteed) Cherry Blossom — Hanami, a tale about a married couple whose love is able to extend beyond death; Mabrouk el Mechri’s JCVD, a French-language parody in which Jean-Claude Van Damme plays himself as a washed-up action star; and Religulous from Bill Maher and Larry Charles (Borat) — a scathing take on organized religion.

Guests participating in seminars and master classes at VIFF’s Film and Television Forum (Sept. 24-27), include some of the biggest names in American cable TV, including Weeds creator Jenji Kohan; James Manos Jr., writer on Dexter, The Sopranos and The Shield; as well as director Rodrigo Garcia (In Treatment, Big Love, Six Feet Under).

Also lined up for the Forum are Maggi Renzi, longtime collaborator and producer of John Sayles (Honeydrippers); David Collins of Ireland’s Samson Films (Once, Eden); and sales agent Nicolas Chartier (Voltage Pictures), who launched My Big Fat Greek Wedding.