The VIFF's 23rd Annual Film and Television Forum gets down to the serious business of financing and distribution with a world-class line-up of heavy hitters from around the globe. From co-venturing with the US to international co-productions with Ireland, Germany and Mexico, this year's seminars, Tête-à-tête meetings and Speed Dating sessions explore the innovative new paradigms in the shifting worlds of financing, distribution and marketing. "With various major US distributors shutting down...
Festival Director Alan Franey and programmers Tony Rayns and Shelly Kraicer today announced that the 27th annual Vancouver International Film Festival will feature a total of 47 features, 5 mid-length films and 23 shorts in the Festival's cornerstone Dragons & Tigers: The Cinemas of East Asia program. Again presented this year thanks to the generous support of Brad Birarda, the Dragons & Tigers program is one of the pre-eminent showcases of East Asian films in the world. The series will feature ...
The 27th annual Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) will be held from September 25 to October 10, 2008. VIFF is delighted to be able to bring to Vancouver many of the top prize-winners from the major world film festivals. Acclaimed earlier this year at Cannes were THREE MONKEYS (Turkey), for which Nuri Bilge Ceylan won the Best Director award; IL DIVO, by Paolo Sorrentino, which won a Jury Prize; A CHRISTMAS TALE (France) by Arnaud Desplechin, which won a Special Prize; TULPAN (Russia/K...
The 26th annual Vancouver International Film Festival has broken the $1 million box office mark for the first time. The cost of putting on the festival exceeds $2.5 million, so that $1 million covers 40% of expenses with the balance being made up by sponsorship from the private sector (42%) and from government (18%). The popularity of the festival, as well as the media coverage and ballot results for individual films were more enthusiastic than ever. For the past decade, the number of films an...
VIFF 2007 award winners announcedThe 26th annual Vancouver International Film Festival concluded its highly successful 16-day run today with the closing gala screening of Pierre Salvadori’s film PRICELESS (HORS DE PRIX) in the Visa Screening Room at the Empire Granville 7 Cinemas. Prior to the screening, festival director Alan Franey announced the winners of five juried awards and three audience awards; a sixth juried award was announced previously. Mr. Franey also announced that ticket sales ...
The previous articles provided the context for the growing film festival tourism phenomenon. In this last installment, more specific information is provided about the participants in festival tourism, the services provided by the few agencies in this new niche market, and the characteristics of the film festivals that would most likely benefit from film festival tourism.As noted before, comprehensive Canadian research on US festival tourism enthusiasts, including those groups who reported 60...
The previous articles provided the context for the growing film festival tourism phenomenon. In this last installment, more specific information is provided about the participants in festival tourism, the services provided by the few agencies in this new niche market, and the characteristics of the film festivals that would most likely benefit from film festival tourism.As noted before, comprehensive Canadian research on US festival tourism enthusiasts, including those groups who reported 600,...
33rd Northwest Film & Video Festival Schedule of EventsShowing November 10-November 18The Northwest Film & Video Festival, officially kicks off Friday, November 10th with a program of short films at 7pm at Cinema 21 Theatre. After the show there will be an Opening Night Party with musical guests Eux Autres at the Laura Russo Gallery. Admission for Opening Night festivities are $10 for screening and party or $10 for party alone. The Festival, playing throughout the week at the Whitsell Auditoriu...
Organizing a major film festival in Vancouver may seem an impossible task. Two of the very best film festivals in North America take place in Toronto and Montreal, and if one thinks of major Canadian film festivals, Vancouver will not be the first one to spring to mind. North American film festivals, however, tend to cater for the most important ethnic minorities present in their location. Vancouver has the great advantage of being home to minorities that happen to come from those countries (Jap...
Festival Director Alan Franey and programmer Tony Rayns today announced that the 25th annual Vancouver International Film Festival will feature a total of 39 features, three mid-length films and 35 shorts in the Festival's cornerstone Dragons & Tigers: The Cinemas of East Asia program. Again presented this year thanks to the generous support of Brad Birarda of Research Capital, the Dragons & Tigers program is one of the preeminent showcases of East Asian films in the world. The series will featu...
The 25th Annual Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) will open on September 28 with a screening of Pedro Almodóvar’s VOLVER. Festival Director Alan Franey also announced a few of the special events and thematic highlights of this year’s festival, which will take place September 28 to October 13 at ten theatres in the Vancouver area, again centred at the Empire Granville 7 Cinemas.“In our 25th year, rather than reflecting on the past, the VIFF looks to the future with much curiosit...
14TH PORTLAND JEWISH FILM FESTIVALSAT JAN 14 7 PM WHITSELL AUDITORIUMSUN JAN 15 4 PM GUILD THEATRELIVE AND BECOMEFRANCE/ISRAEL 2005DIRECTOR: RADU MILHAILEANUWinner of (cheering) Audience Awards at the Berlin and Vancouver International Film Festival, LIVE AND BECOME is an epic, emotional story of one boy's chance survival amidst the Ethiopian famine of the mid-1980s. A mother conspires to place her nine-year-old, non-Jewish son with a group of Falashas (Ethiopian Jews) bound for Israel as par...
This year’s jury for the Dragons & Tigers Award at Vancouver International Film Festival was made up of David Bordwell (USA), Li Cheuk-To (Hong Kong) and Gerwin Tamsma (The Netherlands). They have selected Ox Hide by LIU Jiayin from China as winner of the 2005 Dragons & Tigers The film is a bold effort that shows astonishing confidence in both dramatic and stylistic choices made by the filmmaker. Ms Liu treats her own family life with insight, humour and clear-sightedness. Amongst other virt...
The 31st Annual Seattle International Film FestivalThe 31st Annual Seattle International Film Festival announces award winners and concludes its 25-day run on Sunday June 12 with the North American premiere of award winning director Gus Van Sant’s film Last Days. Van Sant will be in attendance for the screening, which will be followed by the Closing Night Gala. SIFF 2005 was a great year and brought many eminent Seattleites together—from Microsoft’s Bill Gates to Eddie Vedder of Pearl Ja...