Vancouver International Film Festival director Alan Franey’s fervent wish for the festival is for it to one day disappear. He says he hopes one day festivals will be unnecessary because of expanded distribution systems.

‘We always have to question ourselves because too often a Canadian film gets its glory days at a festival. It’s a double-edged sword – we can be pleased that they get that but that’s not enough.

‘We’re here to serve the public, we’re trying to address a need. The fact that the festival is the only time these films get shown is the battle we’re fighting. When we’ve stopped fighting that battle, then we can go back to a peaceful existence.’

This year’s festival is more concentrated than in years past, Franey says. The number of festival days has been scaled down to 14 from 17, with the addition of extra screens, in recognition of the needs of international visitors ‘who would like the opportunity to do business and meet each other. We’re an audience-oriented festival as well, so we try to compromise between providing the best service to the public [and Canadian businesses] who have expressed that the Thanksgiving weekend is very important at the box office.’

Franey sees the entire matter of film distribution as being on the verge of an imminent revolution, to be spurred by improved technology.

‘I think a lot will change with the delivery system. Specialty channels have done a lot to change things. The coming thing is dvd and Internet. Film still has a lot of potential it hasn’t realized.

‘I was skeptical, more so than most, that [Internet distribution] would be upon us soon, but you can now see it on the horizon where the quality of the images can improve.

‘We’re looking at another five years before [the Net] is a realistic delivery system. I’m not impressed with looking at a postage stamp on a screen, but you can’t underestimate the technological revolution that will be upon us very soon.

‘The Internet will be an alternative to theatrical releasing. It’s tough for independent exhibitors and we see a trend to vertically integrated companies in the commercial sector and more studio approaches towards distribution and all it entails: controlling with marketing campaigns and audience polling [and so forth]. It all makes it hard to imagine how Canadian films – all but a few anyway – are going to enter that mainstream.

‘What I see is that the margins will widen, and as the population grows and the stream becomes wider, there is going to be an audience for things outside the mainstream.

‘I see a paradox [in the present situation] where we have blockbusters which everyone sees, but there’s also a growing interest in smaller Canadian films. It’s very tough being in distribution or exhibition. That part of the equation has to be remembered, so I think what’s likely to happen is the audience will [find] other exhibition channels not so confined to the [festival] period of the year.

‘We have lots of room for Canadian films, and they attract a very enthusiastic audience. They didn’t used to: ‘documentary’ and ‘Canadian’ used to be the kiss of death at festivals. At least now ‘Canadian’ and ‘documentaries’ are great draws [at festivals] and are moving to acceptance by the general public where these films will be able to get their rightful place on screen.’

Franey says the change in audience attitude began aout 10 years ago.

‘There were very few Canadian films that ever drew flies in the ’80s, in the[early] ’90s. We have seen a reversal of that; it’s the maturation of the community. In a place like Vancouver, so many are employed in the industry that we’re more sympathetic to the plight of Canadian filmmakers, and as that grows the audience grows along with it. And the filmmaking community had a lot to do with it in that the films have been good. You’ve got all the right elements there. The media have become a lot more enthusiastic about covering Canadian films because now readers have more interest in them.

‘We feel that we’re in an alliance with the filmmaking community and the media now in that we’re all working towards the same goals in that respect.’ *

– www.viff.org