Finkleman checks into Hotel

* Vancouver’s Haddock Entertainment is currently in post at Technicolor and Western Post on its new MOW thriller Intelligence. It is scheduled to air on CBC on Nov. 28.

Pitt shooting in Edmonton

It is an annual challenge for the Vancouver International Film Festival, set to unspool its 24th edition Sept. 29 to Oct. 14, to map an entirely unique course for itself. While it offers distinctive film programs, the fest sometimes can’t help but follow in the footsteps of the Toronto festival, which this year wrapped less than two weeks prior to the commencement of VIFF.

Described by Trade Forum producer Melanie Friesen as VIFF’s ‘pride and joy,’ the new Vancouver International Film Centre aims to be the top destination for the B.C. film industry, hosting a variety of screenings and Trade Forum-like events year-round.

It is an annual challenge for the Vancouver International Film Festival, set to unspool its 24th edition Sept. 29 to Oct. 14, to map an entirely unique course for itself. While it offers distinctive film programs, the fest sometimes can’t help but follow in the footsteps of the Toronto festival, which this year wrapped less than two weeks prior to the commencement of VIFF.

The Vancouver International Film Festival’s annual Trade Forum promises to bring top industry pros together with up-and-coming filmmaking stars to help celebrate its 20th anniversary, Sept. 28-30 in the new Vancouver International Film Centre.

VIFF’s Canadian Images is renowned as one of the most comprehensive showcases of Canadian films, and the program’s 2005 lineup lives up to that reputation. Canadian Images programmer Diane Burgess has this year culled a total of 96 titles from more than 700 submissions: 28 features (including six docs), eight mid-length docs and 60 shorts.

Quebec’s film industry had another hot summer, and several titles hope to keep the fire going when they screen to an English audience at VIFF. Appearing at the fest are: Jean-Marc Vallée’s summer box-office hit C.R.A.Z.Y., which won best Canadian film at TIFF; Louise Archambault’s family drama Familia, co-winner of best Canadian first feature at Toronto; Sébastien Rose’s award-winning tragicomedy Life with My Father; Bernard Émond’s poignant and haunting award winner La Neuvaine; and Ricardo Trogi’s heartwarming comedy about fatherhood, L’Horloge biologique.

B.C. writer/director Aubrey Nealon thought that Canadian Images programmer Diane Burgess was playing a joke on him when she called to tell him his feature A Simple Curve was opening this year’s program.

This year’s Dragons & Tigers: The Cinemas of East Asia showcase promises a host of must-see films from Asia, with a particular spotlight on regions not typically represented, including Inner Mongolia and Tibet.

VIFF 2005 received so many strong films from central and eastern European and U.S. indie filmmakers that it built new programming streams around them for this year’s event. This represents a new direction for the fest, which, outside of the Dragons & Tigers: The Cinemas of East Asia sidebar, tends not to cover specific regions.