The Vancouver International Film Festival has built its reputation on an extensive program of international documentaries, East Asian cinema and Canadian films. And as the old adage goes, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’, so those specialties will remain the cornerstone of the 27th annual festival, running Sept. 25 to Oct. 10.

‘It is important to play to your strengths,’ says festival director Alan Franey. ‘What we want to do at this point is have continuity of success and make only subtle adjustments.’

VIFF’s claim to fame is also its overall audience numbers. With around 150,000 people attending the festival annually – and having hit a record $1-million box office in 2007 – VIFF has carved out a niche for itself as a filmgoers festival.

‘We are an audience festival first and foremost,’ says Franey. ‘We are proud that our audience is so interested in cinema and exploring other cultures and hearing different stories.’

In terms of volume, VIFF is now one of the top five festivals in North America, based on attendance and the overall number of films screened – around 345 from 60 countries this year. The only way to increase attendance at this point would be to add theaters – something Franey has no plans to do.

‘The usual mantra is to grow always,’ Franey explains. ‘You should be the biggest; you should market yourself more. But if you equate bigger with better, you may lose the things you value most. Some wise people with experience in this business have cautioned me that there are more important things: knowing what you are and sticking true to your values, and remembering the audience and filmmakers come first. Those things can get lost in the shuffle if a programmer’s ego gets in the way and they play these competitive games.’

There is also a practical reason for keeping VIFF at its current size. The reality is that corporate sponsorships pay for a sizable amount of the festival’s costs, and additional financial support would be required before expansion could even be considered.

‘We don’t have more resources, in fact we have fewer resources [than last year],’ says Franey. ‘We lost Kyoto Planet and we have lost some airline sponsorships. We have a small staff and amount of money to work with, so it is a killer to put on a festival this size. We rely on over 700 volunteers. I can’t ask them to work even more.’

Eco-conscious financial services provider Kyoto Planet, which sponsored the environmental series Climate for Change last year, has faced some setbacks and can no longer support the showcase. As well, major contributor Vancity has reduced its level of support. On the positive side, Rogers Communications has doubled its sponsorship this year through its Citytv brand, and new sponsors such as Desjardins Financial Security and Canwest have come on board.

On the programming front, VIFF is keeping on a familiar course. About one-third of the films at the festival will be documentaries from around the world. In fact, VIFF has become internationally recognized for programming one of the world’s largest showcases of nonfiction cinema at a general film festival (see story, p. 22).

‘We have a phenomenal documentary series based on number of films and audience attendance,’ says Franey. ‘The festival is better known in the documentary community worldwide than it is in the narrative filmmaking world.’

VIFF also boasts the largest selection of East Asian films outside of that continent, and this year’s program is the most substantial yet, with 47 features, five mid-length films and 23 shorts screening (see story, p. 21).

Canadian Images is also one of the most extensive showcases of Canadian movies at any festival, with a total of 90 films screening this year (see story, p. 20).

‘No festival in the world draws more people to Canadian films than we do,’ says Franey. ‘And whereas Canadian filmmakers may get lost in the shuffle in Toronto, here they are front and center.’

In other screening highlights, a large number of prize-winning films from major world festivals figure prominently. The lineup boasts numerous Cannes Film Festival favorites, including U.K. filmmaker Steve McQueen’s Hunger, which won the Camera d’Or, and Un Certain Regard best film winner Tulpan, a Russia/Kazakhstan/Germany/Switzerland/Poland copro from Sergey Dvortsevoy.

Despite the loss of its corporate sponsor, Climate for Change returns for a second year, but with a new name – The Ark: Elements and Animals – to reflect the themes explored in the documentary and fiction films programmed.

The international series Cinema of our Time includes 70 films, with a particularly strong showing from the U.S., Germany, Mexico and Italy this year.

VIFF’s opening gala is Fernando Meirelles’ (City of God) Blindness, a Canada/Japan/Brazil coproduction which debuted at Cannes. The closing film is the Cannes Palme d’Or winner The Class from France’s Laurent Cantet.