VIFF ANNOUNCES NFF COMPETITION, WORLD PREMIERE OF BANKING ON HEAVEN
Vancouver – This fall, the Vancouver International Film Festival celebrates it’s 24th year of showcasing the best in nonfiction film from Canada and around the world. The Nonfiction Features is a cornerstone of the VIFF program, allowing the VIFF to build a strong local and international reputation for programming excellence. The Festival today announced the nominees for the 13th annual National Film Board of Canada Documentary Award, including Paul Rosdy’s NEW WORLD, one of a number of documentaries already announced as part of the Eastern European focus at this year’s VIFF.
“At last year’s VIFF, documentary films drew close to 50,000 attendees, which is a truly remarkable and unprecedented number,” said Festival Director Alan Franey. “We expect that the success of ‘the year of the doc’—2004—will mean that there is huge interest in this year’s program. The films form a large group of more than 70 titles exploring an equally wide range of topics, locales, concerns and styles. We’re delighted that Vancouver audiences have so well discovered the riches of the nonfiction form.”
The films in this year’s competition cover a wide spectrum of documentary filmmaking, from personal essays to spiritual journeys to musical toe-tappers. One of the highlights of the past Cannes film festival, Avi Mograbi’s AVENGE BUT ONE OF MY TWO EYES (Israel), a Canadian Premiere, reflects upon the resolve that is needed in order to take one’s own life rather than fall into enemy hands, drawing the lines between the founding myths of the Israeli state and the current plight of the Palestinians. A vivid, beautiful and refreshing documentary on spirituality, Luc Schaedler’s ANGRY MONK: REFLECTIONS ON TIBET, a North American Premiere, examines the life of Gendun Choephel, who left an indelible mark on Tibetan culture and became an icon for young Tibetans today. Pepe Danquart’s HELL ON WHEELS (Germany) shows the Tour de France as you have never seen it before, going behind the scenes for a kinetic insider’s look at one of the world’s biggest sporting events. An English-Canadian Premiere, Marie-Clémence Paes and Raymond Rajaonarivelo’s MAHALEO (Madagascar/France) is a portrait of seven Malagasy musicians who give voice to the desires and wants of their country.
Three documentaries from the U.S. in the competition take a look at the nexus of the personal, the social, and the political. Nicole Conn’s LITTLE MAN, a Canadian Premiere, is a remarkable story documenting the struggle of the director’s son to survive after having been born weighing less than one pound. In THE REAL DIRT ON FARMER JOHN, an International Premiere, director Taggart Seigel charts the very rocky ground traversed by eccentric farmer/performance artist John Peterson over the last 20 years as he attempts to save his farm, and himself, from the changing social and economic climate of middle America. Director Micha Peled returns to the VIFF with his prequel to the Wal-Mart-busting Store Wars, CHINA BLUE, a fascinating investigation of the denim industry in China that puts a very human face on globalization. Peled introduces us to both the staff and the boss at the Lifeng Clothes Co. Ltd. where workers take the wage cuts so name brands can buy cheap.
Mental health is put under the microscope in three other nominees, all Canadian Premieres. Marcos Prado’s poetic, philosophical and eloquent ESTAMIRA (Brazil) follows 63-year-old Estamira, a woman with schizophrenia who, for the past 20 years, has been living at and scavenging the garbage dump known as Jardim Gramacho in Rio de Janeiro. Stefano Rulli’s A PARTICULAR SILENCE (Italy) is a searing portrait of one family coping, or not, with their grown autistic son. Part existential detective story and part meditation on identity, Rupert Murray’s UNKNOWN WHITE MALE (UK) focuses on the strange case of amnesiac Douglas Bruce, who had to start life all over again when he couldn’t remember anything about his past 35 years on the planet.
Rounding off the competition are two Canadian entries. On the heels of his critically acclaimed Dying at Grace (VIFF 04), Allan King’s latest “actuality drama” MEMORY FOR MAX, CLAIRE, IDA AND COMPANY is an inspiring, emotional investigation of memory and aging which follows eight residents of a geriatric care centre and asserts that “when you’re 80, you have the privilege to forget what you want.” In DIAMETER OF THE BOMB, Steven Silver and Andrew Quigley investigate a June, 2002, Hamas suicide bombing in Jerusalem. Interviews with survivors, of both the victims and the bomber, provide the basis for an expanding portrait of the bomb’s impact on families, friends and more broadly, society at large.
BANKING ON HEAVEN: A WORLD PREMIERE
The VIFF is also proud to announce the World Premiere of BANKING ON HEAVEN (US), an unflinching look at a cult of Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS). The film alleges the polygamist communities of Colorado City, Arizona and Hildale, Utah (and, by extension, Bountiful, B.C.) are home to a culture that routinely practices child rape, welfare fraud and systematic mind-control. Director Dot Reidelbach and writer/producer Laurie Allen (an escapee from the FLDS) have constructed a documentary out of secret camera footage (outsiders are looked upon as agents of Satan and systematically shunned), interviews with polygamist escapees, “lost boys” (young men and children cast out of the community for such infractions as not rolling their sleeves down), and government officials. An unholy trinity of sex, power and wealth are at the dark heart of this deeply troubling story.
The full line-up will be announced at the Media Conference on September 7 at the Vancouver International Film Centre.
It's all about the Ridge...
In another bit of VIFF news, the awesome repetory house known as
The Ridge, the original home of VIFF, have unleashed their
new program guide for next month. In it, they have a section for VIFF (where their programming would normally go) and 15 films are listed as potentials for VIFF. They would be none other than: (Note: *Asterik* marks titles confirmed from the last press release)
1.
Anu (India, 102 min.)
2.
The Bridesmaid (France, 100m.)
3.
Changing Times (France, 98m.)
4.
Dalecarlians (Sweden, 98m.)
5.
Dog Nail Clipper (Finland, 104m.)
6.
The District* (Hungary, 95m.)
7.
Hostage (Greece, 105m.)
8.
Kekexill: Mountain Patrol (China, 95m.)
9.
Midwinter's Night Dream* (Serbia/ Montenegro, 95m.)
(Note: The press release has this title listed as "Midwinter's Night Tale" but The Ridge's program has it listed as "Dream" instead of "Tale". The program is correct.)10.
The Middle of Candeal (Spain, 124m.)
11.
Skritek* (Czech Republic, 87m.)
12.
The City of the Sun* (Czech Republic, 95m.)
13.
Days & Hours* (Bosnia, 96m.)
14.
Memories in the Mist (India, 120m.)
15.
The Porcelain Doll (Hungary, 75m.)
Is it just me, but are there a lot of 95 minute movies listed or what? That said, every year we do get a 4-to-6 hour epic (VIFF '04 being
The Door to the Sun, '03 bringing us
The Best of Youth) and I'm going to try to actually sit down and watch it this year. Mention is also made in the program in regards to scheduling similar-themed product during their evening shows:
"The VIFF, taking into consideration that The Ridge is a fair distance from the downtown festival core, has decided to make it easier for filmgoers this year by "pairing" two evening films that might appeal to VIFF patrons. For example, the VIFF may play two Indian films in a night, or two Hungarian films, or they may pair two thematically linked works. The idea is to make it easier on people who want a certain kind of cinema - no more racing away from the Ridge at 9:15pm to catch that OTHER animated film screening at 9:30pm at the Granville 7. That is the theory, at least."For VIFF '04 and '03, I have only made one trip a year to the cinema which is a fair distance from the rest of the venues (to get there, the 16 Arbutus bus stops right infront of its door) but at least they are trying to make things a bit easier on folks.
In non-fest news, I just secured a ticket to the wicked-cool indie band
The New Pornographers performing at the Commodore on September 23rd, the very same day that I am touching down in Vancouver to start covering VIFF. Their awesome new disc "Twin Cinema" is out in stores this week, and I couldn't recommend it higher for the best hummable, head-bobbin' rock out right now (don't believe me? Check out Pitchfork Media's 9.0
review of the disc)...well, it's tied with the new
Broken Social Scene disc that just leaked online. :)
Jason
efilmcritic.com
It's about time we had a press release!
Pip pip! It's about time that the VIFF started to announce its lineup. While the full list won't be unveiled until September 7th, they do issue a few releases before the fest and this is the first one.
____
The VIFF Turns its Focus to New American Indies and Eastern Europe
August 25, 2005 – The Vancouver International Film Festival today announced two areas of regional focus within the Festival’s program for its 24th annual edition, which will take place September 29 to October 14th at ten venues, including the VIFF’s own brand new Vancity Theatre in downtown Vancouver. American Independence focuses on the best of the new indie scene, while The New World presents a selection of compelling narratives and incisive documentaries from countries previously part of the former Austro-Hungarian empire.
American Independence
As burgeoning social unrest develops in the United States, a good number of feature films reflect troubled times in surprising ways. Without being explicitly political in nature, they do express the spirit of disenfranchisement from both their own government, and popular culture as a whole. American independent cinema, jettisoning the brash cinema of Tarantino, has turned to a cautious, “cool” and modest perspective on life south of the border. “The VIFF normally doesn’t present so many American films, but we were encouraged and fascinated by the resurgence of this more sensitive, thoughtful and, sometimes, muted approach to storytelling, and the way it seems to express the attitudes of disaffected young people today,” said Festival Director Alan Franey. “The quality of these films shows that there are independent voices in America who are not afraid to tell their own stories, in styles that are apart from the Hollywood machine.”
The VIFF is pleased to welcome many of these filmmakers to Vancouver, with directors Lodge Kerrigan (KEANE), Ira Sachs (FORTY SHADES OF BLUE), Andrew Bujalski (MUTUAL APPRECIATION), Robinson Devor (POLICE BEAT), Ian Gamazon and Neill Dela Lana (CAVITE) and Jenni Olson (THE JOY OF LIFE) confirmed guests to date, with others to follow.
Many of the American Independent films, like Ira Sachs’ Sundance Award-winning FORTY SHADES OF BLUE appear to be influenced by Cassavetes’ romantic, sensitive and humanistic dramas. The same is true for Andrew Bujalski’s terrific follow-up to his cult hit Funny Ha Ha, MUTUAL APPRECIATION, which is another droll, stonefaced, perceptive Rohmerian comedy of manners concerning the lives and loves of articulate post-collegians. Lodge Kerrigan’s KEANE follows William Keane (a brilliant Damian Lewis), a homeless schizophrenic New Yorker, as he attempts to find his kidnapped daughter; Kerrigan forges an ultra-realistic and unforgettable look at life on the margins. On the other end of the spectrum, in the inventive CAVITE, a Canadian Premiere, Ian Gamazon and Neill Dela Llana transpose American action-thriller cinema to the Filipino slums, creating a spin on Cellular that is entertaining and gripping,
A number of films in the American Independence section skirt the border between documentary and fiction in highly inventive ways, and also manage to make strong political statements while telling personal stories. An International Premiere, Jenni Olson’s THE JOY OF LIFE uses bold, lyrical voiceover to tell two stories: the observations of a butch dyke looking for love and self-discovery, and the history of the Golden Gate Bridge as a suicide landmark. In I AM A SEX ADDICT, a Canadian Premiere, Caveh Zahedi’s latest unabashedly autobiographical comedy uses re-enactments and documentary footage to explore his life-long sex addiction—in particular, his obsession with prostitutes. Based on a column from the local weekly The Stranger, Robinson Devor’s POLICE BEAT is an entirely new type of police drama that blends the mean streets of Seattle with notions of globalization, and even a little romance, told from the perspective of an African immigrant Seattle policeman Travis Wilkerson’s bracing, radical debut feature WHO KILLED COCK ROBIN?, a Canadian Premiere, intersects the lives of three men living in the struggling mining community of Butte, Montana, and provides a political example to young American filmmakers to follow.
The New World
VIFF is also highlighting a series of titles from Central and Eastern Europe, including the Czech Republic, the Balkans, and Hungary, which indicate that this is one of the most vital filmmaking regions in the world today. Combining serious documentaries with cutting-edge dramas and crowd-pleasing comedies, The New World shows the countries of the former Austro-Hungarian empire to be a hotbed of up-and-coming cinematic talent, with films that cross borders and represent the new Europe, with all of its troubles, anxieties and newfound pleasures.
Many selections tackle contemporary social issues. Providing the title to the series is Austrian director Paul Rosdy’s NEW WORLD, a film essay which travels throughout the former Austro-Hungarian Empire in the present day, shuffling time lines like a deck of cards. “Modern” history started in central Europe and the calamities of the past century have taken a tremendous toll on this area. Also from Austria comes Michael Glawogger’s triumphant follow-up to his 1999 NFB Award-winning Megacities. WORKINGMAN’S DEATH provides a startling glimpse of the profound impact a rapidly changing global economy has on ordinary people, from the abandoned coal mines of the Ukraine to the slaughterhouses of Nigeria. Both Rosdy and Glawogger will be in attendance. Also screening will be two Austrian fiction features, SLEEPER and CRASH TEST DUMMIES, which highlight the ethnic tensions currently on view in Austria.
The four Hungarian films that will be presented at the VIFF form a wide-ranging representation of the country’s film industry. Adapted by Nobel laureate Imré Kertesz from his autobiographical novel and screening as a Special Presentation, FATELESS dares to aestheticize the concentration camp experience in a more provocative, and successful, manner than Schindler’s List. Áron Gauder’s THE DISTRICT is an outrageous and continually inventive animated comedy-adventure about the multicultural denizens who live, and occasionally clash, in District 8, the direst ghetto in Budapest. In Péter Gárdos THE PORCELAIN DOLL, three short stories of the surreal, the bizarre and the fantastical make up a Bermuda triangle of strangeness. And Roland Vranik’s BLACK BRUSH, winner at the Hungarian Film Week, is a stoner slacker comedy shot in black-and-white CinemaScope.
This focus also includes films from the former Yugoslavian countries of Bosnia (DAYS AND HOURS), Serbia (MIDWINTER NIGHT’S DREAM) and Croatia (SORRY FOR KUNG FU), and a trio of exciting and sure-to-be popular productions from the Czech Republic (THE CITY OF THE SUN, WRONG SIDE UP, SKRITEK).
A list of the other films announced today follows. The full line-up will be announced at the Media Conference on September 7 at the Vancouver International Film Centre. The Vancouver International Film Festival has a reputation for presenting the best in world cinema. More than 150,000 patrons are expected to attend 500 screenings of over 300 films from over 50 countries, making it one of the largest and most successful film festivals in North America. Beginning September 7, comprehensive information and schedules will be available at www.viff.org and the Starbucks Hotline at (604) 683-FILM (3456). Tickets go on sale September 10 through the VISA Charge-by-Phone line at 604-685-8297 and on the web at www.viff.org .
A list of films confirmed to date follows.
American Independence
BITTERSWEET PLACE (Alexandra Brodsky, US) International Premiere
CAVITE (Ian Gamazon and Neill Dela Llana, US) Canadian Premiere
FORTY SHADES OF BLUE (Ira Sachs, US) Canadian Premiere
KEANE (Lodge Kerrigan, US)
I AM A SEX ADDICT (Caveh Zahedi, US) Canadian Premiere
THE JOY OF LIFE (Jenni Olson, US) International Premiere
MUTUAL APPRECIATION (Andrew Bujalski, US) International Premiere
POLICE BEAT (Robinson Devor, US) International Premiere
SOUND BARRIER (Amir Naderi, US) International Premiere
THE SQUID AND THE WHALE (Noam Baumbach, US)
SWIMMERS (Doug Sadler, US) Canadian Premiere
WHO KILLED COCK ROBIN? (Travis Wilkerson, US) Canadian Premiere
The New World
BLACK BRUSH (Roland Vranik, Hungary) International Premiere
THE CITY OF THE SUN (Martin Sulík, Czech Republic) English-Canadian Premiere.
CRASH TEST DUMMIES (Jörg Kalt, Austria) Canadian Premiere
DAYS AND HOURS (Pjer Zalica, Bosnia)
THE DISTRICT! (Áron Gauder, Hungary)
FATELESS (Lajos Koltai, Hungary)
MY NIKIFOR (Krzysztof Krauze, Poland) English-Canadian Premiere.
MIDWINTER NIGHT’S TALE (Goran Paskaljevic, Serbia/Montenegro)
NEW WORLD (Paul Rosdy, Austria) North American Premiere
THE PORCELAIN DOLL (Péter Gárdos, Hungary)
SKRITEK (Thomas Vorel, Czech Republic) International Premiere
SLEEPER (Benjamin Heisenberg, Austria/Germany) North American Premiere
SORRY FOR KUNG FU (Ognjen Svilcic, Croatia) North American Premiere
WORKINGMAN’S DEATH (Michael Glawogger, Austria)
WRONG SIDE UP (Petr Zelenak, Czech Republic) North American Premiere.
Yeah a tunnel ... from my window to yours ... Arcade Fire, 10/7 in Vancouver!
Although this is not festival news, this entry is about an event that is happening during the festival. I guess I won't be seeing any movies on the evening of Friday, October 7th, since
The Arcade Fire, the musical geniuses who created
Funeral, the best album of 2004, are coming to Vancouver on the second friday of VIFF. I was sold out of the Victoria show last December due to the fact they played a really small venue.
The location is TBD but tickets should be going up within the next few weeks. I'm counting the days! The fansite Arcadefire.net will be listing venue and ticketing information when it does hit.
If you're reading this blogger and are doing VIFF, consider doing the concert as a break from your insane movie watching. Arcade Fire's music is original and their live shows are known to be off the charts awesome.
Jason
efilmcritic.com
