Jon The Blogcentric

Yes, the three most predominant topics on my blog are either the World Cup, the Oscars, or the Vancouver International Film Festival. And VIFF is back! Yesterday began the 38th installment of the Film Festival. Exciting films and exciting events are expected.

Creator Talks and Master Classes are back again. Slated lecturers for this year include Oscar-nominated director Atom Egoyan, director Michael Apted, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia actor/creator/executive producer Rob McElhenny, costume designer Arianne Phillips and Oscar winning sound editor Walter Murch. For the Showrunners events, it will be focusing on women in production featuring five female producers or creators. The Decision Makers event will consist of a lecture from broadcasters, networkers and streamers. There’s even a lecture from Public Enemy rapper Chuck D on Fight The Power and its importance in film as well as fun events like a live score to This Is Spinal Tap and a live feminist read of Some Like It Hot. VR films will again have their exhibit at the VIFF Immersed showcase. It will take place at the Annex this year.

As for volunteering, this year there were 1200 volunteers signing up, just like last year. Also like last year, volunteers are required to do a minimum of four shifts. As for my volunteering, I am assigned to work at the Center For Performing Arts, which is the venue showing the galas and feature events. In fact I signed myself up to do the Opening Gala! Now that will be a night to look forward to! Also if there are any other volunteer shifts in other venues, I could accept as along as it works with my time.

This year’s roster of films promises a lot of attractions This year’s VIFF claims to show about 300 shorts and feature films from 72 countries or regions. As of press time, twelve films are official submissions for the Academy Award category of Best International Feature Film for this year; a re-titling of the Best Foreign Language Film. One thing is that while most films are shown twice or three times during the fest, there will be more films that will get only one showing during the fest. Canadian films will remain the focus as has been in past Festivals. As well, this festival will feature more Asian films than any other film festival.

This year’s top sponsors include Telus, Telefilm Canada, Christie screens, CinePlex, Delta Airlines, Subara and Creative BC. SuperChannel will take over the People’s Choice awards again.

As for highlights, here are some of the films headlining the VIFF this year:

• OPENING GALA: Guest of Honour – Canadian Oscar-nominated director Atom Egoyan returns with his latest film about a daughter trying to remember her complicated father. Review coming soon.
• CLOSING GALA: La Belle Epoque – A French comedy by director Nicolas Bedos of a man who goes time-travelling thanks to his son’s invention. Looks to be something very personal.
• SPECIAL PRESENTATION: Parasite – Winner of the Palme D’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. South Korean director Boon Jong Ho delivers a dramatic comedy of a poor family scheming their way to prosperity and things going all wrong.
• A Hidden Life – This film won the Ecumenical Jury prize at Cannes. Terrence Malick tells the true story of a Nazi evader who refuses to bow down to pressure.
• Jojo Rabbit – Winner of the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto Film Fest. Similar to A Hidden Life but contrary, this film by the Thor: Ragnarok director is an anti-hate comedy set in Nazi Germany.
• Just Mercy – A film starring Jamie Foxx and Michael B. Jordan about legendary lawyer Bryan Stevenson who successfully battled incidents of injustice and racism in Alabama.
• The Lighthouse – Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson play two lighthouse keepers in 19th Century Maine who struggle to keep their sanity.
• Motherless Brooklyn – Set in the 30’s or 40’s, Edward Norton directs and stars as a detective trying to solve the murder of his mentor and one friend.
• Mr. Jones – Agnieszka Holland’s latest is of a Welsh journalist who visits Ukraine in 1933 and discovers a famine forced by the Communist government and attempts to hide it from the Western World.
• No. 7 Cherry Lane – Hong Kong director Yonfan delivers his animation debut in a story of a student in 1967 Hong Kong living between love and revolutionary times.
• Pain And Glory – Pedro Almodovar’s latest, and he reunites with Antonio Banderas! But this is of a distraught director trying to regain his passion for film, and life as a whole.
• The Painted Bird – This Czech film starring Stellan Skarsgard and Harvey Keitel is of a Jewish boy escaping the Nazi Concentration Camps of World War II.
• Portrait Of A Lady On Fire – This film set in 18th Century France is a story of a female painter commissioned to paint the daughter of a noblewoman. Only to fall in love in the process.
• The Song Of Names – From Quebec director Francois Girard comes a film of a Holocaust orphan who becomes a big musician but is searching for the son of the British family who adopted him.
• Sorry We Missed You – This is a drama/comedy by director Ken Loach of a construction worker during the 2008 financial crisis who takes a freelance commercial driver, and regrets it!
• The Two Popes – City Of God director Fernando Meirelles directs a story of Pope Benedict and Pope Francis meeting and sometimes clashing as Benedict is to leave the Papacy. Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce star.
• Young Ahmed – This Belgian film is of a Belgian-Moroccan student who goes from your normal 13 year-old to suddenly showing off an evil side.

So this is what VIFF has to offer fans this year. Not just films to enjoy but events focusing on various aspects of the craft as well. It starts September 26th and ends October 11th. Definitely sixteen days of excitement!