Vancouver International Film Festival
Encyclopedia
Film festival
A film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theaters or screening venues, usually in a single locality. More and more often film festivals show part of their films to the public by adding outdoor movie screenings...
held in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
for two weeks in late September and early October. The festival began in 1982 and is operated by the Greater Vancouver International Film Festival Society, a provincially registered non-profit and federally registered charitable organization.
The festival shows both Canadian and international films, and has established a reputation as a stepping stone for many young Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
n filmmakers, particularly in its Dragons and Tigers Award
Dragons and Tigers Award
VIFF Dragons and Tigers Award for Young Cinema is an award from the Vancouver International Film Festival for a film director from Asia-Pacific region. It awards a creative and innovative film, made early in the director's career, which has not yet won significant international recognition...
competition. In 2004, it was the largest exhibitor of Asian films outside of Asia. Documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
s are also a major component of the festival. The 2006 festival screened over 300 films from more than 50 countries, nearly a quarter of which were nonfiction.
Annual attendance has exceeded 150,000 since 2003. Both in terms of admissions and number of films screened, VIFF is among the five largest film festivals in North America.
The Festival also manages the Vancouver Film and Television Forum
Vancouver Film and Television Forum
The Vancouver Film and TV Forum is an annual event produced by the Vancouver International Film Festival in Vancouver, Canada. Held from September 27 - September 30, 2011 and New Filmmakers' Day on October 1, it is now in its 26th year.- Overview :...
, a four-day conference supporting the Canadian film and television production industry. The Forum takes place immediately prior to the start of the Festival.
Awards
Each year, the festival offers a number of juried and audience-voted awards. Select results from recent years:2002
- Most Popular International Film: Bowling for ColumbineBowling for ColumbineBowling for Columbine is a 2002 documentary film written, directed, produced, and narrated by Michael Moore. The film explores what Michael Moore suggests are the causes for the Columbine High School massacre and other acts of violence with guns...
by Michael MooreMichael MooreMichael Francis Moore is an American filmmaker, author, social critic and activist. He is the director and producer of Fahrenheit 9/11, which is the highest-grossing documentary of all time. His films Bowling for Columbine and Sicko also place in the top ten highest-grossing documentaries... - Most Popular Canadian Film: Expecting by Deborah DayDeborah DayDeborah Day is a Canadian film director and writer.She directed and co-wrote the film Expecting , starring Colin Mochrie and Debra McGrath which won Most Popular Canadian Film at the 2002 Vancouver International Film Festival and the 2004 Canadian Comedy Award for Best Director.With Mochrie and...
and Fix: The Story of an Addicted City by Nettie Wild - National Film BoardNational Film Board of CanadaThe National Film Board of Canada is Canada's twelve-time Academy Award-winning public film producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary, animation, alternative drama and digital media productions...
Award for Best Documentary: Gambling, Gods and LSD by Peter MettlerPeter MettlerPeter Mettler is a Canadian film director and cinematographer.-Biography:Peter Mettler was born in 1958 to Swiss parents and raised in Toronto, Ontario, Canada...
2003
- Most Popular International Film: KamchatkaKamchatka (film)Kamchatka is an Argentine and Spanish drama film directed by Marcelo Piñeyro and written by Piñeyro and Marcelo Figueras. The movie features Ricardo Darín, Cecilia Roth, Tomás Fonzi, Héctor Alterio, among others....
by Marcelo PiñeyroMarcelo PiñeyroMarcelo Piñeyro is an Argentine award-winning film director, screenwriter, and film producer.-Biography:Born in Buenos Aires, Piñeyro studied cinematography at the University of La Plata's School of Fine Arts... - Most Popular Canadian Film: The Corporation by Mark AchbarMark AchbarMark Achbar is a Canadian filmmaker, best known for directing The Corporation and Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media.- Biography :Achbar is a graduate of Syracuse University's Fine Arts Film Program...
and Jennifer AbbottJennifer AbbottJennifer Abbott is a Canadian director, cinematographer and editor, best known as a documentary maker. Her first feature documentary, A Cow at My Table , explores contemporary Western attitudes to livestock and meat production... - National Film Board Award for Best Documentary: Los Angeles Plays ItselfLos Angeles Plays ItselfLos Angeles Plays Itself is a video essay by Thom Andersen, finished in 2003, exploring the way Los Angeles has been presented in movies. Consisting entirely of clips from other films, it was never released due to rights issues, though can been seen at film festivals and in special presentations...
by Thom AndersenThom AndersenThom Andersen is a filmmaker, film critic, and teacher. He attended Berkeley in the early 1960s and then returned to his hometown of Los Angeles to attend USC School of Cinematic Arts, where he studied with Arthur Knight and eventually assisted on Knight's project THE HISTORY OF SEX IN CINEMA...
2004
- Most Popular International Film: MachucaMachucaMachuca is a 2004 Chilean film written and directed by Andrés Wood. Set in 1973 Santiago during Salvador Allende's socialist government and shortly before General Augusto Pinochet's military coup in 1973, the film tells the story of two friends, one of them the very poor Pedro Machuca who is...
by Andrés Wood - Most Popular Canadian Film: What Remains of UsWhat Remains of UsWhat Remains of Us is a 2004 Canadian documentary film exploring the survival of the nonviolent resistance movement in Tibet...
by François Prévost and Hugo Latulippe and Being CaribouBeing CaribouBeing Caribou is a 2004 documentary film that chronicles the travels of husband and wife Karsten Heuer and Leanne Allison following the migration of the Porcupine caribou Herd to explore the Arctic Refuge drilling controversy. The journey lasted 5 months, starting from the community of Old Crow,...
by Leanne Allison and Diana Wilson - National Film Board Award for Best Documentary: In the Realms of the UnrealIn the Realms of the UnrealIn the Realms of the Unreal is a 2004 documentary about outsider artist Henry Darger. Darger is known for his 15,143-page fantasy manuscript entitled The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave...
by Jessica YuJessica YuJessica Lingman Yu is an American film director, writer, producer, and editor. She has worked on documentaries, dramatic films, and television shows. Yu won an Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject for Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O'Brien .-Early life:Yu graduated from Gunn... - Best Young Canadian Director of a Short Film: Jennifer CalvertJennifer CalvertJennifer Calvert is a Canadian actress with many years experience on stage and primarily UK television. She trained at RADA and is most famous for her role in children's comedy drama Spatz in the 1990s. She has guest starred in other shows such as Mike and Angelo; Stargate SG-1; The Fast Show; Red...
for RiverburnRiverburnRiverburn is a 2004 short film directed by Jennifer Calvert, that won her Best Young Canadian Director of a Short Film at the 2004 Vancouver International Film Festival....
2005
- Most Popular International Film: Go, See, and BecomeGo, See, and BecomeLive and Become )' is a 2005 French film about an Ethiopian Christian boy who disguises himself as an Ethiopian Jew in order to escape famine and emigrates to Israel. It was directed by Romanian-born Radu Mihăileanu...
by Radu MihaileanuRadu MihaileanuRadu Mihăileanu is a Jewish Romanian-born French film director and screenwriter. He left Romania in 1980 and graduated the IDHEC cinematographic institute in Paris. In addition to his work in the cinema he published a book of poems in 1987 titled Une vague en mal de mer... - Most Popular Canadian Film: Eve and the Fire HorseEve and the Fire HorseEve and the Fire Horse is a 2005 Canadian film written and directed by Julia Kwan. It won the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and the Claude Jutra Award for the best feature film by a first-time film director in Canada.-Plot:...
by Julia KwanJulia KwanJulia Kwan is a Vancouver-based filmmaker who studied film and minored in psychology at Ryerson Polytechnic University in Toronto. She was also a director resident at Norman Jewison's prestigious Canadian Film Centre, where she made her award-winning short, Three Sisters on Moon Lake... - National Film Board Award for Best Documentary: A Particular Silence by Stefano Rulli
2006
- Most Popular International Film: The Lives of OthersThe Lives of OthersThe Lives of Others is a 2006 German drama film, marking the feature film debut of filmmaker Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. The film involves the monitoring of the cultural scene of East Berlin by agents of the Stasi, the GDR's secret police...
by Florian Henckel von DonnersmarckFlorian Henckel von DonnersmarckFlorian Maria Georg Christian, Graf Henckel von Donnersmarck is a German film director, best known for writing and directing the 2007 Oscar-winning film The Lives of Others and the 2010 film The Tourist.-Personal life and family:... - Most Popular Canadian Film: Mystic Ball by Greg Hamilton
- National Film Board Award for Best Documentary: Have You Heard From Johannesburg?Have You Heard From Johannesburg?Have You Heard From Johannesburg? is a series of seven films, with a total runtime of 8.5 hours, covering the 45-year struggle against South Africa's apartheid system....
by Connie Field - Special Jury Prize: Radiant CityRadiant CityRadiant City is a National Film Board of Canada filmreleased in 2006 at the Toronto Film Festival, about suburban sprawl and the fictional Moss family who live in the suburbs, written and directed by Gary Burns and Jim Brown....
by Gary Burns and Jim BrownJim Brown (radio host)Jim Brown has been the host of the Calgary Eyeopeneron CBR since 2003. Before moving to Calgary, he hosted The Morning Show at CBN in St. John's, Newfoundland, for eight seasons. His voice has also been heard across Canada as Friday host of The Current and guest host of Sounds Like Canada, As It...
2007
- Vancity People's Choice Award for Most Popular Canadian Film: She's a Boy I Knew directed by Gwen Haworth
- Rogers People's Choice Award for Most Popular International Film: PersepolisPersepolis (film)Persepolis is a 2007 French animated film based on Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical graphic novel of the same name. The film was written and directed by Satrapi with Vincent Paronnaud. The story follows a young girl as she comes of age against the backdrop of the Iranian Revolution. The story...
directed by Marjane SatrapiMarjane SatrapiMarjane Satrapi is an Iranian-born French contemporary graphic novelist, illustrator, animated film director, and children's book author...
and Vincent ParonnaudVincent ParonnaudPascal Stadler , a.k.a. Winshluss, is a French comics artist and filmmaker. He is best known for cowriting and codirecting with Marjane Satrapi the highly acclaimed animated film Persepolis , for which they received numerous awards including the Jury Prize at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival as well... - People's Choice Award for Most Popular International Nonfiction Film: Garbage WarriorGarbage Warrior (film)Garbage Warrior is a 2007 film about architect Mike Reynolds, inventor of the Earthship style of building, directed by Oliver Hodge. It follows Reynolds' struggle with the legislature of Taos, New Mexico, the location of his experimental Earthship community, in order to be allowed to build homes...
directed by Oliver Hodge - Kyoto Planet “Climate for Change” Award: The PlanetThe PlanetThe Planet is a Swedish documentary film on environmental issues, released in 2006. The film was made by Michael Stenberg, Johan Söderberg and Linus Torell for the big screen and was shot in the English language to reach an international audience. It includes interviews with 29 environmental...
directed by Johan SöderbergJohan SöderbergJohan Olof Anders Söderberg is a Swedish film director and editor. He was considered part of the now terminated Swedish multimedia collective Lucky People Center....
, Michael Stenberg, and Linus Torell - Dragons and Tigers Award for Young Cinema: shared by Fujian BlueFujian BlueFujian Blue is a 2007 Chinese film directed by Weng Shouming . The film is Weng's first and is composed of two separate but linked stories entitled "The Neon Knights" and "At Home at Sea." The film touches on a number of controversial topics including juvenile delinquency, human trafficking, and...
directed by Weng Shouming (Robin Weng) and Mid-Afternoon BarksMid-Afternoon BarksMid-Afternoon Barks is a 2007 Chinese film directed by Zhang Yuedong. The film was the first directorial effort for Zhang, who was previously an established theater director in Beijing....
directed by Zhang Yuedong - Citytv Western Canadian Feature Film Award: NormalNormal (2007 film)Normal is a 2007 Canadian drama film about a group of unrelated people who are brought together in the wake of a deadly car accident. The film was directed by Carl Bessai, and stars Carrie-Anne Moss, Kevin Zegers, Callum Keith Rennie and Andrew Airlie....
directed by Carl BessaiCarl BessaiCarl Bessai is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. Bessai studied at OCAD University and at York University in Toronto graduating with a Master of Fine Arts Degree. He got his start directing documentary films before moving to Vancouver and directing his debut feature film Johnny in 1999... - National Film Board of Canada Best Canadian Documentary Feature Award: Up the YangtzeUp the YangtzeUp the Yangtze is a 2007 documentary film directed by Chinese-Canadian director Yung Chang. The film focuses on people affected by the building of the Three Gorges Dam across the Yangtze river in Hubei, China. The theme of the film is the transition towards consumer capitalism from a farming,...
directed by Yung ChangYung Chang-Biography:Yung Chang is the director of Up the Yangtze. He is a Canadian filmmaker currently based in Montreal, where he earned a degree in film production in 1999 from Concordia University... - Women In Film and Television Vancouver Artistic Merit Award: She's a Boy I Knew directed by Gwen Haworth
- Most Promising Director of a Canadian Short Film: The Windfisherman directed by Anna McRoberts
2008
- Citytv Western Canada Feature Film Award: Fifty Dead Men WalkingFifty Dead Men WalkingFifty Dead Men Walking is a 2008 English-language crime thriller film written and directed by Kari Skogland. It is a loose adaptation of Martin McGartland's 1997 autobiography of the same name...
directed by Kari SkoglandKari SkoglandKari Skogland is a Canadian film director, screenwriter, and producer.-Career:Skogland started directing award-winning television commercials and music videos. She moved on to television shows with 1996's Traders... - VIFF Nonfiction Feature Award: Born Without directed by Eva NorvindEva NorvindEva Norvind was a writer, documentary producer, director, sex therapist/ dominatrix, and former actress of the cinema of Mexico...
- Most Promising Director of a Canadian Short Film: The Valet directed by Drew McCreadieDrew McCreadieDrew McCreadie, born 1967, is a Vancouver, British Columbia-based actor, playwright and improvisor. He was the winner of Best Male Improvisor in Canada at the 2007 Canadian Comedy Awards...
- Women in Film & Television Vancouver Artistic Merit Award: Mothers & Daughters awarded to Tantoo CardinalTantoo CardinalRose Marie "Tantoo" Cardinal, CM is a Canadian film and television actress.-Career:Cardinal was born in Anzac, Fort McMurray, Alberta. Her mother, Julia Cardinal, was a Métis of Cree descent...
- International Film Guide Inspiration Award: Control Alt DeleteControl Alt Delete (film)Control Alt Delete is a 2008 comedy film set in an information technology firm just before the year 2000. Lead programmer Lewis Henderson is in charge of solving various Y2K bugs, but finds himself increasingly distracted by his computer-mediated sexual yearnings...
directed by Cameron Labine - Rogers People's Choice Award: I've Loved You So LongI've Loved You So LongI've Loved You So Long is a 2008 French-language drama film written and directed by Philippe Claudel. It tells the story of a woman struggling to interact with her family and find her place in society after spending fifteen years in prison.-Plot:...
(Il y a longtemps que je t'aime) directed by Philippe ClaudelPhilippe ClaudelPhilippe Claudel , is a French writer and film director.Claudel was born in Dombasle-sur-Meurthe, Meurthe-et-Moselle. In addition to his writing, Claudel is a Professor of Literature at the University of Nancy.... - documentary Audience Award: Throw Down Your Heart directed by Sascha Paladino
- VIFF Most Popular Canadian Film Award: Mothers & Daughters directed by Carl BessaiCarl BessaiCarl Bessai is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. Bessai studied at OCAD University and at York University in Toronto graduating with a Master of Fine Arts Degree. He got his start directing documentary films before moving to Vancouver and directing his debut feature film Johnny in 1999...
- National Film Board's Most Popular Canadian Documentary Award: Fierce Light: When Spirit Meets ActionFierce Light (film)Fierce Light: When Spirit Meets Action is a 2008 documentary film written and directed by Velcrow Ripper that focuses on Spiritual Activism...
directed by Velcrow RipperVelcrow RipperVelcrow Ripper is a Canadian documentary filmmaker, writer, and public speaker, best known for his Genie Award-winning 2006 film Scared Sacred and his newest feature documentary, Fierce Light: When Spirit Meets Action... - VIFF Environmental Film Audience Award: Blue Gold: World Water WarsBlue Gold: World Water WarsBlue Gold: World Water Wars is an award-winning 2008 documentary by Sam Bozzo, based on the book Blue Gold: The Right to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World’s Water by Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke....
directed by Sam BozzoSam BozzoSam Bozzo is an American film director and author.Bozzo wrote, directed, and edited three short films. For Which It Stands was screened in the Sundance Film Festival. The Shadowed Cry was created as a Top 10 Director assignment for Project Greenlight, run by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck... - Dragons & Tigers Award for Young Cinema: Perfect LifePerfect Life (film)Perfect Life is a 2008 Chinese-Hong Kong film by Emily Tang and produced by director Jia Zhangke and his company, Xstream Pictures...
directed by Emily Tang
2009
- Canwest Award for Best Canadian Feature Film J'ai tué ma mèreJ'ai tué ma mèreJ'ai tué ma mère is a French Canadian film, released in 2009. Written and directed by Xavier Dolan, it is an exposé on the complexity of the mother and son bond. The film attracted international press' attention when it won three awards from the Director's Fortnight program at the 2009 Cannes Film...
(I Killed My Mother) directed by Xavier DolanXavier DolanXavier Dolan , sometimes credited as Xavier Dolan-Tadros, is a Québécois actor and filmmaker, the son of Geneviève Dolan, a teacher, and Manuel Tadros, a Quebecois actor and singer of Egyptian descent... - Most Promising Director of a Canadian Short Film: The Last Act directed by Jan Binsse and David Tougas
- Women in Film & Television Vancouver Artistic Merit Award: 65 Redroses directed and produced by Nimisha Mukerji and Gillian Lowry
- Rogers People's Choice Award: Soundtrack for a RevolutionSoundtrack for a RevolutionSoundtrack for a Revolution is a 2009 documentary film written and directed by Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman. This documentary traces the story of the civil rights movement and the struggles fought by young African-American activists with an emphasis on the power of music...
directed by Bill GuttentagBill GuttentagBill Guttentag is a two-time Oscar winning documentary and feature film writer-producer-director.-Career:In 1988, Guttentag won an Oscar for Best Documentary with his HBO film "You Don't Have to Die," telling the story of one boy's battle against cancer...
and Dan Sturman - documentary Audience Award for Most Popular Nonfiction Film: Facing AliFacing AliFacing Ali is a 2009 documentary directed by Pete McCormack about Muhammad Ali as told from the perspectives of some of the notable opponents he faced during his career: George Chuvalo, Sir Henry Cooper, George Foreman, "Smokin'" Joe Frazier, Larry Holmes , Ron Lyle, Ken Norton, Earnie...
directed by Pete McCormackPete McCormackPete McCormack is a Canadian author, filmmaker, screenwriter and musician. He is best known for directing the Academy Award short-listed documentary Facing Ali and the Leacock Award-nominated novel Understanding Ken.- Film :... - VIFF Most Popular Canadian Film Award: 65 Redroses by Nimisha Mukerji & Philip Lyall
- National Film Board's Most Popular Canadian Documentary Award: 65 Redroses by Nimisha Mukerji & Philip Lyall
- VIFF Environmental Film Audience Award: At the Edge of the WorldAt the Edge of the World (film)At the Edge of the World is a 2009 documentary which chronicles the efforts of animal rights activist Paul Watson and 45 other volunteers, who set out in two Sea Shepherd ships to hinder the Japanese whaling fleet in the waters around Antarctica...
directed by Dan Stone - Dragons & Tigers Award for Young Cinema: Eighteen directed by Jang Kun-jae