Wading through 300+ films can be a daunting task but we’re here to help. Colleen and I will be providing fairly extensive coverage of the Vancouver International Film Festival and to help you start off on the selection process, we have compiled a list of films, for the most part complete with trailers, which are either high profile or which we feel are worth a second look. Happy scheduling!
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| Title: |
65_RedRoses |
| Director: |
Nimisha Mukerji, Philip Lyall |
| Section: |
Canadian Images |
| Reason to See: |
A documentary which follows a young woman in the advanced stages of Cystic Fribrosis as she waits for a transplant and how she stays strong with the help of an online community. One of the first films to receive an additional screening, this documentary is a hot seller with 3 of the 4 screenings already limited to Rush Tickets. One which will likely be a festival favorite. |
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| Title: |
A Prophet |
| Director: |
Jacques Audiardy |
| Section: |
Spotlight on France |
| Reason to See: |
One of the most praised films of the year, Audiardy has a lot of expectation to live up to but the trailer suggests that the critics aren’t exaggerating. |
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| Title: |
An Education |
| Director: |
Lone Scherfig |
| Section: |
Audience Award Winners |
| Reason to See: |
A fantastic cast including Peter Sarsgaard and Carey Mulligan in a coming of age period piece? What more could a girl ask for? |
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More recommendations tucked under the seat!
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| Title: |
Antichrist |
| Director: |
Lars von Trier |
| Section: |
Special Presentations |
| Reason to See: |
Cinema’s badboy returns with a film that has scandalized every festival it has played. Perverse, difficult to watch and utterly horrifying, it’s a must see. |
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| Title: |
Bluebeard |
| Director: |
Catherine Breillat |
| Section: |
Spotlight on France |
| Reason to See: |
I may not love all of Breillat’s films but I love the fact that the director isn’t afraid of putting female sexuality front and centre. This, her take on the traditional story, certainly looks beautiful and I expect that with Breillat at the helm, it will also be controversial. |
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| Title: |
Breathless |
| Director: |
Yang Ik-June |
| Section: |
Dragons and Tigers |
| Reason to See: |
Debt collection, dysfunctional families and a character who is said to be one of the biggest bad asses in film history. |
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| Title: |
Burma VJ–Reporting from a Closed Country |
| Director: |
Anders Hogsbro Østergaard |
| Section: |
Nonfiction Features |
| Reason to See: |
The discussion of citizen journalism may have been a hot issue at the Summer Olympics in China but what about Burma, a country where everything is controlled – including the news feeds? The trailer for Østergaard’s documentary suggests a powerful film. |
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VIFF Program |
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| Title: |
Cole |
| Director: |
Carl Bessai |
| Section: |
Canadian Images |
| Reason to See: |
A personal favourite of mine and last year’s Canwest Prize Winner, Bessai’s style of small, indie filmmaking is both beautiful and emotionally resilient. This looks no different. |
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| Title: |
Eccentricities of a Blond Hair Girl |
| Director: |
Manoel de Oliveira |
| Section: |
Cinema of Our Time |
| Reason to See: |
If you’re curious about the work of the world’s oldest working director, this may be your way in. At just over an hour in length, it’s easily his shortest film and a good introduction to the director’s famed languid and theatrical films. |
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| Title: |
I Killed My Mother |
| Director: |
Xavier Dolan |
| Section: |
Canadian Images |
| Reason to See: |
Not only does Dolan’s debut look fantastic but the film was recently selected as Canada’s entry into the 2010 Foreign Oscar Race. If the Cannes buzz is any indication, it has a great shot at taking home the gold statue. |
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| Title: |
Leslie, My Name Is Evil |
| Director: |
Reginald Harkema |
| Section: |
Canadian Images |
| Reason to See: |
The 60s, LSD, death cults and murder. Add in the tagline “Cheerleader. Prom Queen. Manson Girl.” and how can you resist? |
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| Title: |
Mother |
| Director: |
Bong Joon-Ho |
| Section: |
Dragons and Tigers |
| Reason to See: |
From the director of The Host and Memories of Murder. |
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| Title: |
Police, Adjective |
| Director: |
Corneliu Porumboiu |
| Section: |
Cinema of Our Time |
| Reason to See: |
The biggest single surprise I’ve had in the 12 years of attending VIFF was walking into Porumboiu’s 12:08 East of Bucharest and falling in love. A filmmaker to watch. |
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| Title: |
Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire |
| Director: |
Lee Daniels |
| Section: |
Audience Award Winner |
| Reason to See: |
Daniels’ film isn’t perfect but this audience award winner at both Sundance and TIFF has a whole lot going for it including Oscar worthy performances. |
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| Title: |
Prom Night in Mississippi |
| Director: |
Paul Saltzman |
| Section: |
Canadian Images |
| Reason to See: |
The story of a high school in Mississippi which still holds segregated proms. What happens when the school agrees to support the first interracial prom? Saltzman’s film is a mush watch for his ability to capture, so candidly, the children in the middle of this race war, a war which is sadly instigated mostly by parents. |
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| Title: |
Rembrandt’s J’accuse |
| Director: |
Peter Greenaway |
| Section: |
Nonfiction Features: Arts and Letters |
| Reason to See: |
Where as Nightwatching (our review) was Greenaways’ fictional account of the story behind Rembrandt’s famous painting, this is the companion piece to that film, essentially a documentary on the history and research that went into the making of that film. A must see companion piece. |
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VIFF Program |
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| Title: |
Tales from the Golden Age |
| Director: |
Cristian Mungiu, Ioana Uricaru, Hanno Höffer, Razvan Marculescu, Constantin Popescu |
| Section: |
Cinema of Our Time |
| Reason to See: |
With his previous film 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days director Cristian Mungiu looked at the difficulties for a young woman living in Romania during the dictatorship but this time around, with the help of a few friends, he looks at life under the oppression from, what the trailer suggests, the lighter side. |
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| Title: |
We Live In Public |
| Director: |
Ondi Timoner |
| Section: |
Nonfiction Features |
| Reason to See: |
In a time when reality TV and “web 2.0″ are king, it’s amazing that Ondi Timoner manages to bring us a documentary that combines the two, except it’s not a new story but one that too place in the mid 90s. |
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| Title: |
The White Ribbon |
| Director: |
Michael Haneke |
| Section: |
Special Presentations |
| Reason to See: |
Two words: Mciahael Haneke. If those aren’t enough, these should be: Palme d’Or Winner. |
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If you want to watch it onl1ne for free,...
DO NOT see Police Adjective. I mean it, don’t.
Definitely catch:
Haneke’s White Ribbon, We Live in Public
Had I TIFF to do over I would have caught AntiChrist and I Killed My Mother.
I did catch A Prophet and was not much of a fan of it, I can see why people like it but it didn’t do much for me.
Comment by Mike Rot — September 26, 2009
Comment by Kurt Halfyard — September 26, 2009
Comment by leeny — September 28, 2009
Comment by Kurt — September 28, 2009
Also, Crude, The Imaginarium of Dr.Parnassus, Kamui, For the Love of Movies, The Damned United and Broken Embraces.
Comment by Count3D — September 28, 2009
And Count, don’t bother with Kamui. See something else instead. See our TIFF overview:
http://www.rowthree.com/2009/09/27/row-three-summarizes-tiff-09/
Comment by Andrew James — September 28, 2009