VIFF 2008: Surveying Coverage of the Vancouver Film Festival

VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

As we do each year, VanRamblings will survey coverage of our annual Vancouver International Film Festival, in various media, local and beyond.

The Vancouver Sun ran this story about the winner of the 15th annual Dragons & Tigers Award for Young Cinema, Perfect Life. Diminutive director Emily Tang, who we’d run into earlier in the day at a Starbucks on Seymour Street, gladly accepted the $10,000 prize, which was announced this past Thursday, prior to the 6:30pm, Granville 7 screening of Hansel and Gretel.

The following represents coverage by the Georgia Straight

  • VIFF08, Part 1, Still Walking, Craig Takeuchi’s screening of the Japanese feature Still Walking, a birthday present for his mother.

  • VIFF08, Part 2, about the long line-ups at VIFF screenings, and …

  • VIFF08, Part 3, coverage of the Festival opener, Blindness, as well as Witch of the West, and Maman. Parts 4 through 9 of Craig Takeuchi’s Georgia Straight blog coverage of VIFF08 may be found here.


Meanwhile, the Georgia Straight’s Janet Smith, Ken Eisner and Mark Harris take a sneak peak at the 27th Vancouver International Film Festival, with capsule reviews of more than 100 films, reviews available here and here.
Jason Whyte, of eFilmCritic.com, has been managing almost daily coverage of the 27th edition of the Vancouver International Film Festival.
Jason, VanRamblings, 24 Hours’ Volkmar Richter, CITR’s J. B. Shayne, and Christian News’ critic, Peter Chattaway, held an informal “scrum” (at least, that’s what Alan Franey called it when he came over to say ‘hi’) a couple days back, and compared notes. As it happens, our taste in movies seems to run to a similar vein, as we keep running into one another. This is Jason’s 6th year covering the Festival (he lives in Victoria), and although VanRamblings believe that we work hard covering the Festival, we are pikers when it comes to coverage, compared to what Jason is accomplishing.
The Tyee’s Dorothy Woodend writes that her “can’t miss” picks are: Let the Right One In, one of the big winners at the Tribeca Film Festival this year; Paruthiveeran, also one of Festival director Alan Franey’s favourite films in 2008; the quietly devastating Waltz with Bashir, also one of VanRamblings’ Festival favourites; The Lie of the Land; and, “to leaven things up with a bit of comedy,” Woodend writes, Welcome to the Sticks and The Grocer’s Son, both of which have a couple of screenings this coming week.
Sean Axmaker, who also freelances for the Seattle P-I (you can regularly read his reviews on Friday), writes in GreenCine Daily that …

I’ve always found Vancouver the most enjoyable film festival of my year, whether for a couple of days or a full week. It’s an easy fest to navigate, with seven screens of a downtown multiplex dedicated to the festival and all but one of the ten screens within a few blocks of one another.


iofilm sets about to cover Vancouver’s 27th annual Festival, as well.
Vancouver’s own, Only magazine (rising from the ashes of Terminal City), offers daily, relatively in-depth coverage of VIFF 08: here’s Day One, wwwaaayyyy bbbaaaccckkkk on September 25th, and for a more up-to-date look at the Fest schedule, here’s a look at Day Twelve (today).
David Bordwell, Roger Ebert’s fave film theoretician, makes it out to Vancouver each year for our annual Festival, and in 2008 – along with companion, Kristin Thompson – has posted, in an erudite fashion, and at some length, on their flick picks that are in the mix to catch at VIFF 08.
SuperUwatchers.ca recommends Flame and Citron (buzz has been very good; we’ll catch it later in the week), JCVD (gone, but almost certain to return for a regular run, somewhere, arising from strong positive response here and at Toronto’s fest), and Let The Right One In (on VanRamblings’ must-see list, and one we’ll catch either tonight, or on Wednesday).
Rich, at A Random Walk Through Film, offers in-depth coverage of VIFF 08, where his Fest pix to click are: Sita Sings the Blues, The Song of Sparrows, Cherry Blossoms – Hanami, Let the Right One In, and Still Walking.
The local blog, Civilized Spice, covers the Festival. Then there’s WordPress blog coverage (VanRamblings employs Movable Type, as our blog software). Jaunted.com weighs in, recommending The Cannery (VanRamblings’ favourite restaurant) as a place to grab a bite to eat during the run of the Festival. And, finally, Sarah Fobes writes about her schedule of films to take in at our august, and oh so pleasurable, 27th annual Vancouver Film Fest.