The 30th Annual Vancouver International Film Festival wrapped up last night at the closing gala following a screening of The Kid With a Bike by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. With the end of the festival comes the awards, both juried and as-voted by the fans.

Canadian Images

Shaw Media Award for Best Canadian Feature Film ($20,000 prize)
Anne Émond for Nuit #1
Honourable Mention for Canadian Feature Film
Wetlands by Guy Édoin
Most Promising Director of a Canadian Short Film Award ($2,000)
Andrew Cividino for We Ate the Children Last

Audience Awards

Audiences had the opportunity to rate the films they watched throughout the festival.
Rogers People’s Choice Award
A Separation by Asghar Farhadi
VIFF Most Popular Nonfiction Film Award
Sing Your Song by Susanne Rostock
VIFF Most Popular Canadian Film Award
Starbuck by Ken Scott
NFB Most Popular Canadian Documentary Award
Peace Out by Charles Wilkinson
VIFF Environmental Film Audience Award
People of a Feather by Joel Heath

Last week the Dragons & Tigers Award for Young Cinema was also handed out. The winner of the $10,000 prize was Sonthar Gyal for The Sun-Beaten Path.

Other films that I heard quite a bit of chatter about were Passionflower and Nash, The Documentary. VIFF-goer Rachel Thexton called Miss Representation “One of the best docs I’ve seen,” and Marina Antunes from the Row Three Podcast called Sunflower Hour, “A bit crude and not for everyone but very amusing.”

Throughout the year you can follow @VIFFest on Twitter for local, Canadian, and international film news, screenings, and information. Miss604.com was proud to once again sponsor VIFF in 2011.

The Vancouver International Film Festival starts tomorrow with the opening gala screening and will run until October 14th. As a sponsor of the festival, I have the pleasure of co-presenting the world premiere of the film Everything & Everyone on October 12th.

This charming and emotional drama from talented local director Tracy D. Smith was shot in Maple Ridge, B.C. Smith brings us an engaging ensemble film starring Gabrielle Rose as a mother quietly coping with dementia and Ryan Robbins as her grown son Noah who still lives at home.

Directed By: Tracy D. Smith
Executive Producer: Victoria Bennett
Producer/Screenwriter: Ian Tang
Website, Facebook

A part of the Canadian Images series at VIFF, the film feature a star-studded cast of local talent including Ryan Robbins (“Sanctuary”), Gabrielle Rose (“The Sweet Hereafter”), Chad Willett (“Cole”), Lane Edwards (“Smallville”), Chelah Horsdal (“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”), and Sean Michael Kyer (“Fringe”).

The world premiere of Everything & Everyone will take place at 6:45pm October 12, 2011 at the Granville 7 theatres and I’m pleased to team up with the First Weekend Club to sponsor this event. There are still tickets available for the screening the following afternoon, October 13th.

If you would like to attend the world premiere with us (and the folks who made this film happen), I’m giving away two pairs of my sponsor tickets. Here’s how you can enter to win:

• Leave a comment on this post (1 entry)
• Leave a comment on the Miss604 Facebook Contest Page (1 entry)
• Post the following on Twitter (1 entry)

I will draw two winners at 2:00pm on Saturday, October 8, 2011.

Update The winners are Bernadette & @mc_marketing – congratulations!

The Vancouver International Film Festival (“VIFF”) is coming up September 29th to October 14th, 2011 and Miss604.com is once again a proud sponsor.

Festival series include Arts & Letters, Canadian Images, Cinema of Our Time, Dragons & Tigers, Heaven & Earth, Nonfiction Features, and a Spotlight on France along with Films for Youth and a High School Program.

This year, VIFF is presenting more than 360 films and as always, has a spotlight on homegrown content. The Canadian Images line-up alone has over 80 films, 24 of which are BC productions. I also have the pleasure of sponsoring the world premiere of Everything and Everyone directed by Tracy D. Smith.

While I have yet to sit down with Marina Antunes from the Row Three to do a film preview (as we have done for the last few years) I’m going to jump right ahead to the gala information. The glitz and glamour of the silver screen will gather on red carpets across Vancouver as VIFF celebrates international cinema with five galas this year.

Opening Gala

Film: The Skin I Live In (La piel que habito)
Country: Spain
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
When: Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 6:30pm
Where: Vogue Theatre on Granville St
Buy Tickets / View Trailer

Canadian Images Gala

Film: Take This Waltz
Director: Sarah Polley
When: Friday, September 30, 2011 at 6:30pm
Where: Vogue Theatre on Granville St
Buy Tickets / View Trailer

Dragons & Tigers Awards Gala

Film: Mitsuko Delivers (Hara-ga Kore Nande)
Country: Japan
Director: Ishii Yuya
When: Thursday, October 6, 2011 at 6:45pm
Where: Vogue Theatre on Granville St
Buy Tickets

Anniversary Gala

Film: Starbuck
Country: Canada
Director: Ken Scott
When: Friday, October 7, 2011 at 6:30pm
Where: Vancity Theatre on Seymour
Buy Tickets / View Trailer

Closing Gala

Film: The Kid with a Bike (Le gamin au velo)
Country: Belgium/Italy/France
Director: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
When: Friday, October 14, 2011 at 7:00pm
Where: Vogue Theatre on Granville St
Buy Tickets / View Trailer

When you purchase your gala ticket you will receive information about any parties that follow. These are fantastic opportunities to get dressed up for a night of international and local film celebration in Vancouver.

Since I won’t be in town, I’d like to give up my two sponsor tickets to the opening gala film and party to a lucky reader and their guest.

Last year’s VIFF opening night gala at the Rocky Mountaineer station. Photos by John Bollwitt for Miss604.

The winner will receive two tickets to the screening of The Skin I Live In (La piel que habito) at The Vogue Theatre and two tickets to the red carpet opening gala party that will follow at a fabulous location. The value is $175 each (total $350). Here’s how you can enter to win:

• Leave a comment on this post naming your favourite Canadian film (of all time or that will be screening at VIFF this year) (1 entry)
• Post the following on Twitter (1 entry)

I will draw one winner at 10:00am next Monday, September 26, 2011. Must be 19 years of age to enter and win. Please enjoy all VIFF events and galas responsibly and plan a safe ride home.

Follow the Vancouver International Film Festival on Twitter and Facebook.

Update The winner is Laura (@ywozb)!

While the Vancouver International Film Festival‘s 2010 season kicked off in style with parties from Martini Madness, Brightlight Pictures, and the official opening gala, the red carpets are slowly being tucked away for another year. However, it’s never too late to look back on the good times had throughout the festival and the deliciousness that was set out before us at the opening gala a few weeks ago.

(Left) Catherine Barr, Gabrielle Miller (Corner Gas, Robson Arms), Me

All photos by John Bollwitt for Miss604.com

With VIFF ending this week there are still some fantastic films to catch and some dazzling parties to attend.

You can view a full list of repeat films that will have another screening before VIFF closes. Stay on top of local film news and events by following @VIFFest on Twitter throughout the year.

As a sponsor of the Vancouver International Film Festival this year I was able to choose a specific screening to be presented by Miss604.com. After looking at the Canadian Images series I selected Leave Them Laughing.

Leave Them Laughing
Director: John Zaritsky
Producer: Montana Berg
Featuring: Carla Zilbersmith
View film blog
View Carla’s blog

“Once a nationally-known performer of ballads, skits and self-parody, now fated by Lou Gehrig’s Disease to perish within months, the remarkable Carla Zilbersmith was diagnosed in 2007 and given less than four years to live. She will leave a teen-aged son, a few fans and students who adore her, and this 90-minute pre-mortem retrospective of a life lived fully, but far too fast.

On stage in actual and dramatized flashbacks to her giddy days as a comedienne and chanteuse, and on camera in the unashamed current reality of her condition, “Leave ‘Em Laughing” tells Carla’s own glad, sad story in her own voice through diary entries, travelogues, interviews and skits. Films of her last brave travels to Australia, Britain and Mexico demonstrate the ferocity of her intention to suck the last molecules of pleasure from her life. She is confident that a musical comedy about the nearness of death will be a unique and compelling vehicle to engage an audience with a subject that might otherwise be shunned for its graphic toll of suffering and pain.”

I made my decision based on the subject matter and the fact that the Carla was a blogger. In fact, this screening has been dedicated to the memory of Eva Markvoort of 65_RedRoses. These women both blogged about their illnesses and shared their struggles and inspirational attitudes with the world through the online realm, and through documentary films both screened at VIFF.

I have a two pairs of tickets for a Miss604 reader and their guest to join me at the first screening of Leave Them Laughing this Saturday October 2nd at 7:00pm. If you would like to attend (VIFF membership included for this film) please leave a comment on this post. I will draw two winners at 9:00am Friday October 1st.

Update My winners are James & Candice — see you at the film!
Update James is unable to attend so the next winner is Laura Ransom.

The Vancouver International Film Festival runs September 30th until October 15th, 2010.

The Vancouver International Film Festival starts at the end of September and tickets went on sale this past Sunday.

I’ve been covering the VIFF for about three years now and each time I do, I start by mining Marina Antunes for information. She helps run the RowThree podcast and blog, which is in my opinion, the best movie site around. She has posted her top picks for this year’s festival and I sat down with her to find out how and why she made these selections.

“My list is really Canadian-heavy, this year is a really good year for Canadian film. I was really impressed,” says Marina.

City of Life
Director: Ali F. Mostafa
Notes: “This one isn’t Canadian but it’s the first feature film written, directed and produced in the United Arab Emirates. From what I can tell it looks like your basic city/life drama but it’s a great first look at the city of Dubai.”
Program Link

Fathers & Sons
Director: Carl Bessai
Notes: “This is sort of a sequel to Mothers & Daughters from 2008,” says Marina, which starred the late Babz Chula. “Mothers and Daughters won the Canadian Images Audience Award and we knew [Bessai] was going to use the prize money to make this film.” She adds that Fathers & Sons looks very funny and should be just as touching, but from a male perspective.
Program Link

Repeaters
Director: Carl Bessai
Marina’s notes: “It’s been on my radar for about a year and I didn’t know it would play here. I really want to see this because I’ve never seen Carl Bessai do a genre film, and here he’s doing a type of Groundhog Day time travel drama. The reception was sort of mixed at TIFF but his films do really well here – for good reason – so it must be a East versus West Coast thing.” As a side note, Marina is a huge Carl Bessai fan and through her recommendations over the years, I need to thank her introducing me to his work.
Program Link

End of Animal
Director: Jo Sung-He
Notes: “This is a Koren film from a new director who has done one short film before. It’s a post-apocalyptic film that the British Film Institute has called a “pocket-sized” apocalyptic film. I think this will be the international premiere for the film and it was selected by the director of the Dragons & Tigers program at the VIFF.” Marina says that it might have been called “pocket-sized” simply based on the budget and anything “post-apocalyptic” is worth seeing for her.
Program Link

MODRA
Director: Ingrid Veninger
Notes: “This is part of the Canadian Images line up and it’s a coming of age tale of two teenagers who sort of like each other. The girl is going on a trip to Slovakia and she invites the boy along with her family. The trailer looks beautiful.”
Program Link

When talking about various genres Marina lights up, post-apocalyptic, coming of age, and even period pieces. However she started to beam when introducing the next film, which she simply describes as “EPIC!”

Mysteries of Lisbon
Director: Raul Ruiz
Notes: This is based on Castelo Branco’s novel which has never been translated to English (from Portugese). “It’s a story that Portuguese people are familiar with because it’s been everywhere, forever,” says Marina who is of Portuguese heritage herself. The film runs about 4.5 hours long. “It’s sort of a mystery, romance, period setting, it’s the biggest production ever out of Portugal and it’s both a mini-series and a film.”
Program Link

You can read more from Marina on Row Three, which is currently providing team coverage of the Toronto International Film Festival.

Photo credit: 7-how-7 on Flickr

The Vancouver International Film Festival runs September 30th until October 15th presenting films in the following series: Africa Today, Ecologies of Mind, Arts & Letters, Audience Award Winners, Canadian Images, Cinema of Our Time, Dragons & Tigers, Films for youth under 18, High School Program, Nonfiction Features (Docs), Galas, Spotlight on France, and Special Presentations.

Tickets for individual films and full festival passes are now on sale online, by phone, and in person at the Vancouver International Film Centre on Seymour at Davie.

Special Note Miss604.com is very proud to be an Official Media Sponsor for this year’s Vancouver International Film Festival. I will be providing coverage of the gala parties along with film reviews and maybe even a few giveaways. I am very excited about this sponsorship and am excited to spread the word about this year’s fantastic line up of films.

Today is the Closing Gala of the 2009 Vancouver International Film Festival however due to popular demand, VIFF films will continue to be screened next week.

All screenings listed above will take place at the licensed Vancity Theatre (on Seymour near Davie). If you didn’t get the chance to check out the 377 films offered this year, or those you’ve heard a lot of buzz about, next week is your chance.

Tickets for tonight’s gala screening of Queen to Play along with the VIFF09 awards and party are still available. I’ll edit this post later tonight with an update from the awards ceremonies.

Update » 2009 VIFF Awards Announced:

JURIED AWARDS

Canwest Award for Best Canadian Feature Film
I Killed My Mother (J’ai tué ma mere) – Xavier Dolan

Most Promising Director of a Canadian Short Film
The Last Act (Le dernier acte) – Jan Binsse and David Tougas

Women in Film & Television Vancouver Artistic Merit Award
65_Redroses – Nimisha Mukerji, co-director, producer and editor, and Gillian Lowry, co-producer

AUDIENCE AWARDS

Rogers People’s Choice Award
Soundtrack for a Revolution (USA), Directed by Bill Guttentag

Documentary Audience Award
Facing Ali (Canada/BC), Directed by Pete McCormack

National Film Board of Canada’s Most Popular Canadian Documentary Award
65_Redroses (Canada/BC), Directed by Nimisha Mukerjee and Philip Lyall

VIFF Most Popular Canadian Film Award
65_Redroses (Canada/BC), Directed by Nimisha Mukerjee and Philip Lyall

VIFF Environmental Film Audience Award
At the Edge of the World (USA), Directed by Dan Stone

The Vancouver International Film Festival released an iPhone app last week that was produced by Xomo Digital. It’s available in the App Store for free and contains every slice of information about a VIFF film this year that you could possibly want to know. Here are some screenshots from my iPhone:

Share your VIFF 2009 experiences with other users of the application

Complete list of all VIFF 2009 films and host theatres

Choose your date, time, film and theatre

The “story” section is where people who have the app can add notes, feedback, reviews, and talk about everything VIFF. You can post updates that include photos as well. I asked the developer if they would be pulling in the #VIFF09 tag from Twitter but the content is staying pretty much exclusive to iPhone users.

In the future, a social media integration would be great but given the amount of data already available and the fact that they did take the time to add in a networking element, it’s pretty impressive. Also for the price, it simply can’t be beat. VIFF wraps up on October 16th so if you’re still looking to get out and view some of the hundreds of films screening around town, this app can certainly help you out.

Disclosure: I have been writing disclosure statements on my blog post reviews for the last 5 years. I have never been paid to write reviews although sometimes I get free product (in which case I mention that at the bottom of each post). Sometimes, I just really like something and want to write about it, which shouldn’t be a far-fetched notion. As for this free application, I was not paid in any way by VIFF to write about or endorse it.

The Vancouver International Film Festival is known for showcasing homegrown talent and this year the festival is presenting the largest collection of Canadian films in the country. Last night John and I attended the Canadian Images Gala and literally rubbed elbows with some great local film talents.

Canadian Images Programmer, Terry McEvoy,
Marv Newland, Eva Markvoort (65_redroses) – Photo: John Bollwitt

The gala was at Joey’s on Burrard where they served up delicious cocktails, canapes, and featured an oyster bar. The party was packed although we were still able to spot local celebs, film fest notables, and our pal Heather Watson.

Heather Watson & Me – Photo credit: John Bollwitt on Flickr

VIFF has programmed 89 Canadian films for 2009: 33 features (20 dramatic features, 13 nonfiction features), five mid-lengths, 50 shorts; selected from 641 submissions. Included in the line-up is the Opening Gala film A Shine of Rainbows, directed by BC’s Vic Sarin, and the Special Presentation film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, a Vancouver-based production directed by Terry Gilliam. The Canadian Images programming strand is home to 83 of the domestic films. The remaining six are shown in other programming strands including Galas, Special Presentations, Follow the Money and The Way of Nature.

I already profiled some picks in another post but here are a few more films to check out at VIFF this year.

Also, try to check out the shorts program. Ever since Centigrade I have a fondness for short films. The shorts program is called Slippery Road and will play October 13th and 14th at Pacific Cinémathèque. It includes 9 short films including Short on Love directed by Josh Close.

You can read the rest online and be sure to scoop up your VIFF tickets before these screenings surely sell out.

This year I will be covering the Vancouver International Film Festival rather extensively. From films to parties, I’ll have tweets, photos, and write ups about the best of the fest.

While the city is warming up for the hundreds of films that will grace our screens starting this week, I had been flipping through my program trying to formulate a viewing game plan. I then realized that there’s someone in town that could give me the ultimate VIFF overview, and that’s Marina from Row Three.

Marina and Row Three have been an excellent online film resource for years and in 2008 I profiled her for my weekly E!Online article. Marina also introduced me to many things including the works of Carl Bessai — an amazing local filmmaker and consistent audience-favourite. Row Three‘s coverage this year will focus heavily on Canadian film and with almost 100 movies in the Canadian Images series at the festival, it’s a hefty task that I know they’re up to.

I sat down with Marina the other night to see what she’s looking forward to this year and to see if she’ll make it to all 40+ films she has on her own “must see” list. I asked her to name a few of her picks (and I’ve added in one of my own as well):

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Canada/UK – Director: Terry Gilliam
This was Heath Ledger’s last film and as Marina explained to me, Gilliam thought, “It was either scrap the movie or come up with some other way to finish it.” So some of Ledger’s friends were called upon to finish this in his honor. The film sees big names such as Christopher Plummer, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Colin Farrell and even Tom Waits make appearances although Marina says it’s truly Plummer’s film.

Excited
Canada – Director: Bruce Sweeney
“I’m mostly excited about this because it’s Bruce Sweeney,” said Marina. “I’m more excited about the cast – especially Gabrielle Rose.”

Prom Night in Mississippi
Canada – Paul Saltzman
“A really interesting and bizarre story about a high school in small town Mississippi that still has segregated proms.” Marina says, “The film is much more poignant because you get the view of segregation from the kids’ point of view and they’re really blunt. They don’t hide anything and what’s on their mind is what they say. It just really makes you wonder — like we’re in 2009 and people still think like that.” Marina said that it would be great if you have teenage kids and the film is “really well shot”.

I just have to also quickly mention Facing Ali by Pete McCormmack as one I’m really looking forward to seeing as well. Marina also recommended Bessai’s Cole …but I have to keep this as close to a Top 5 as possible.

Now that you know at least five six of the films that will be playing, I’d like to give you the chance to get out and see some movies. I have two double passes to give away to any^* VIFF 2009 film so if you would like to enter to win, please leave a comment and I’ll draw the winners tomorrow afternoon. Your comment can include which of the Top 5 you’re looking forward to, your own picks, or even your favourite Canadian film of all time.

You can pick up your own copy of the festival program or browse titles online to view other titles of interest. You can also check out the Row Three podcast for reviews and info about the film scene in Vancouver.

^*Winners will be able to select form any of the films on the schedule (except galas) and this will not include films that are already sold out or that only have rush/door tickets.

Update: I just drew Hedwig and Rich as the winners of the tickets – thanks for entering the contest, everyone!