The world premiere of Vancouver director Michael Rohl’s first feature, Zacharia Farted, and Justin MacGregor’s The Vigil are among the 93 Canadian films chosen to screen at the Vancouver International Film Festival, opening Sept. 25 and running until Oct. 10.

Five films from western Canadian filmmakers are represented in the program: from Alberta, Francis Damberger’s Heart of the Sun and, from b.c., Jonathan Tammuz’s Rupert’s Land, Bruce Sweeney’s Dirty as well as Zacharia Farted and The Vigil.

Submissions to the Canadian program are at 400-plus compared to 320 last year, and comedies are strongly represented on the slate.

Despite the fact that viff follows on the heels of the Montreal and Toronto festivals, Vancouver is boasting 120 Canadian, North American and international premieres, up from 100 last year.

World premieres from Canadian filmmakers include Gary Farmer’s The Gift, Michael Hoolboom’s Panic Bodies and the documentaries A Cow At My Table from Jennifer Abbot, Loretta Todd’s Today is a Good Day and Jeff Stephenson’s Bellini’s Drive, a hilarious documentary of a Shania Twain homecoming,

Also screening is Piers Haggard’s Conquest, Mary Jane Gomes’ Angel in a Cage, Alanis Obomsawin’s Spudwrench-Kahnawake Man, Alexandre Trudeau and Booker Sim’s Liberia, the Secret War, Louisa Carre’s My Heart is My Witness, Claude Laflamme’s The Republic of Fine Arts and Loretta Todd’s biography of Chief Dan George, Today is a Good Day.

Vancouver director Sturla Gunnarsson’s Such A Long Journey, a release from new Vancouver distribco Red Sky, will open the festival Sept. 25.

‘The more dynamic the local independent industry becomes, the more important the festival becomes,’ says festival director Alan Franey of the increased representation of b.c. filmmakers.

Canadian Images will also focus heavily on Quebec films this year, beginning with the opening night film, Chales Biname’s (Eldorado) Streetheart, Sponani, followed by 18 more films from English- and French-language directors based in Quebec.

A total of 60 Canadian short films will be screening, including Helena’s Hex by Vancouver director Anthony Grieco and producer Laura Bryans. The short – funded in part by the 1996 Kickstart program – is about a 12-year-old girl who delves into magic to get rid of her grandfather.

Nonfiction films and a strong East Asian lineup, as well as showcasing new Western Canada talent in the Canadian Images program, are the pillars on which the Vancouver festival is built.

Rather than trying to nab as many premieres as possible, Franey says he programs the festival thematically.

‘We choose films in much the same way as a museum curates art.’

Immigration, exile and music are the dominant threads running through films in the upcoming 17th annual festival, all under the thematic banner Same Planet, Different Worlds.

While the market opportunities are supported through the Trade Forum, Franey says his ongoing battle is to ensure the public screening component and artistic element remain strong.

Franey says he doesn’t want viff to become an imitation of Toronto, nor would it be wise to even try.

‘The Toronto festival is a huge, internationally relevent festival for the film business community. English Canada is a small market in business terms so it would be ludicrous for us to take that route.

‘Western Canadian companies and filmmakers expect us to be of service to them, not those from New York or London.’

Franey says the list of invited buyers and distributors is purposely small and select.

‘We only bring in companies with money to spend, the wherewithal to distribute, and [who are] interested in these types of films – not people here to play golf.’

The American mini-majors such as Miramax, Newline and October are represented, as are boutique distributors like Zeitgeist and Strand Releasing. Asian buyers annually flock to the Vancouver festival, says Franey, and most of the Canadian companies are in attendance.

With 45 films, the annual Dragons and Tigers program of East Asian cinema boasts its largest slate, including three new titles from Japanese director Miike Takashi and the works of eight first-time directors.

A lineup of 11 special presentations, many of which are epic in proportion, are a new addition to the festival.

The films include the North American premiere of Niikolaus Geyrhalter’s The Year After Dayton, a 180-minute voyage through the lives of ordinary people in Bosnia after the Dayton Accord. ‘It is worth more than a year’s worth of magazine coverage,’ says Franey.

Fragments Jerusalem is a 580-minute personal narrative from filmmaker Ron Havilio exploring the history of Jerusalem.

Other special presentations include South Africa in the Fifties and a tribute to Josephine Baker, a black American who was spotted singing in Harlem and went on the become one of the most famous entertainers in Europe in the 1930s.