DISCLAIMER: As most of you know, the Vancouver International Film Festival ended on Sunday, October 8th. That’s the day before Canadian thanksgiving. Also many of my more common readers know I usually delay my VIFF wrap-up until November. The reason why this year’s wrap-up comes so late is because, like Angela in my last VIFF review, I was overworked. Not completely because of jobs but also because of an online learning course that consisted of a lot of assignments. In fact I had only a brief wrap-up at the end of my last VIFF film review in mind at first. When I saw I wrote an awful lot of a review, it was then I felt it was worth its own separate blog.
VIFF 2023 ended well. Hundreds of films from around the world were shown. They came in a wide variety of genres and lengths and formats. They ranged from Canadian to French to Asian to African, from dramas to documentaries to comedies to horror, from three minutes to 3 1/2 hours, and from theatrical films to virtual films and virtual arts.
This year, I only saw twelve films at the Festival. Actually it’s a better number than I first thought I would do. In the past, I wouldn’t have problems taking time off from my job and seeing some films in that time. This year, time was harder to book off and I did a single weekday off. Despite that, I still had an enjoyable time. I made a lot of effort to see films as often as I could during whatever free time I could muster. When I was volunteering, I was lucky to see three films during my volunteer shifts. More on my volunteering later.
This year I was successful in fulfilling my three main VIFF goals. I saw a shorts segment consisting of eight Canadian films. The Best Foreign Language Film Oscar entries I saw were two films but they were my first VIFF film and my last VIFF film. I saw a Canadian feature, despite it being animated. I don’t have a problem with that. I support Canadian film of any genre. I went to a VR exhibit. This was my first in five years. A lot has changed with VR film and the exhibit even included interactive art. I also saw two Altered States films. Both were over the top and fit the format well of what VIFF picks for an Altered States film. To my surprise, I saw more documentaries than usual. I saw five this year. They were all a case of a film being available while I was free. If I didn’t enjoy them, I did find them all intriguing. The most bizarre film I saw ended up being a Christmas horror film. Since Christmas is coming up, should I watch it again?
As for volunteering, I was back at the International Village. This year, they asked volunteers to do a minimum of three shifts. I started out with three but the number eventually grew to five. I first did two shifts on the opening weekend. One thing they introduced this year was the Platinum Lounge: a section at the theatre where Platinum Pass holders can relax before their show. I did some supervision there. Other duties I did was line control and ticket scanning. I also did a Thursday morning show that was slated exclusively as a showing for high schools. It went well, but it was a bit of a headache with some students playing games and straying off. Teenagers never change! Sunday became a case I was willing to combine two volunteer shifts into one: seven straight hours of volunteering! I didn’t mind as long as I can end the last day of VIFF seeing a film. Funny how the last film I saw at the VIFF wasn’t the last VIFF film to start but the last VIFF film to end. Film is a funny art!
Some of you may wonder who the Award Winners are. For those that care, here’s a list of the Award Winners of the 2023 Vancouver International Film Festival. There were jury award categories and audience awards for the VIFF categories of movies:
JURIED AWARD WINNERS
Best Canadian Film:
–Fitting In (dir. Molly McGlynn)
Best Canadian Documentary:
–Someone Lives Here (dir. Zachary Russell)
Best Canadian Short:
–Katshinau (dirs. Julien G. Marcotte and Jani Bellefleur-Kaltush)
Emerging Canadian Director:
-Anna Fahr for Valley of Exile
Best BC Film:
–WaaPaKe (dir. Jules Arita Koostachin)
Vanguard Award:
–Animal (dir. Sofia Exarchou)
AUDIENCE AWARDS
Galas and Special Presentations:
-Monster (dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda)
Showcase:
–The Monk and The Gun (dir. Pawo Choyning Dorji)
Panorama:
–Irena’s Vow (dir. Louise Archambault)
Vanguard:
–Let Me Go (dir. Maxime Rappaz)
Northern Lights:
–Altamaako’tamisskapi Natosi: Before The Sun (dir. Banchi Hanuse)
Insights:
–Physician, Heal Thyself (dir. Asher Penn)
Spectrum:
–Asog (dir. Sean Devlin)
Portraits:
–Call Me Dancer (dirs. Leslie Shampaine and Pip Gilmour)
Altered States:
–Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (dir. Ariane Louis-Seize)
And there you have it. That does it for my look at VIFF 2023. For those wondering when VIFF 2024 will be, September 26th to October 6th. I plan to be back and volunteering then.