I wish all the fans of cinema as art could attend 2019 Vancouver International Film Festival. I call this festival amazing as it offers one of the best collections of international and Canadian films, but it is not only the very strong line up of the festival that makes it so attractive to attend, but also all its side events, such as industry seminars, Q&A sessions, live screenplay reading and music performances.
Vancouver International Film Festival runs for sixteen days from Thursday , Sep 26 to Friday Oct 11th.
To learn more about 2019 Vancouver International Film Festival we interviewed Curtis Woloschuk, Associate Director of Programming of the festival on camera:
Curtis Woloschuk, Associate Director of Programming of the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF), manages VIFF’s programming team and its activities. Leading VIFF’s Canadian film programming, he also coordinates the adjudication of nine awards. In addition to managing the festivals’ scheduling, he supervises the creation of all programming-related content for VIFF’s website and guide.
International Cinema at 2019 Vancouver International Film Festival
International feature films in the Contemporary World Cinema series at this year’s Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) are some of the most anticipated of 2019, made by the world’s boldest creators. Part of the Panorama programming stream, this sprawling film series includes award winners, new discoveries, and several North American premieres. Contemporary World Cinema is made up of 47 films from 28 countries, representing a broad range of cultures, stories, topics, and themes.
Some of the programming team’s not-to-be-missed highlights include Carl Hunter’s Sometimes Always Never, a delightfully offbeat, wry British dramedy about love, loss and Scrabble starring Bill Nighy and Jenny Agutter; the North American premiere of Frederikke Aspöck’s Out of Tune, a touching and humane drama set in a Danish prison which tells the story of a men’s choir programming going smoothly… until a new member arrives; Ira Sachs’ Frankie starring Isabelle Huppert, Brendan Gleeson, Greg Kinnear and Marisa Tomei, an exquisite drama about family, friends and loss, set amidst the natural and architectural glories of Sintra, Portugal; and the North American premiere of Levan Akin’s And Then We Danced, which tells the story of troubled queer romance within the spheres of the balletic, yet militaristic world of Georgian Dance, all set against beautiful, sun-dappled Georgian scenes.
Award winners in Contemporary World Cinema series include the aforementioned Bacurau, which won the Jury Prize at Cannes ’19; Karim Aïnouz’s The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão and Kantemir Balagov’s Beanpole, both of which were awarded major prizes in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section; and Cenk Ertürk’s Noah Land, which claimed Best Screenplay and Best Actor in the International Narrative Competition at Tribeca ’19.
Having produced past Altered States selections Housebound and Deathgasm, Ant Timpson now helms his first feature with Come to Daddy, which was shot in Tofino, features Vancouver talent, and explores the dark consequences of a father-son reunion. Masculinity is also put under the microscope – or is that in front of a fun house mirror? – in the Canadian Premiere of Daniel Scheinert’s The Death of Dick Long.
For more information on the Contemporary World Cinema series presented by Delta Air Lines and VIFF’s Panorama stream, visit: www.viff.org/Online/VIFF-2019
- Featured Films
Adam (dir. Maryam Touzani, Morocco/France)
And Then We Danced (dir. Levan Akin, Georgia/Sweden) – North American Premiere
Babysplitters (dir. Sam Friedlander, USA) – Canadian Premiere
Bacurau (dir. Kleber Mendonça Filho, Juliano Dornelles, Brazil/France)
Beanpole (dir. Kantemir Balagov, Russia)
Burning Cane (dir. Phillip Youmans, USA) – Canadian Premiere
Castle of Dreams (dir. Reza Mirkarimi, Iran) – North American Premiere
Chained (dir. Yaron Shani, Israel/Germany) – North American Premiere
Checkered Ninja (dir. Anders Matthesen, Thorbjørn Christoffersen, Denmark)
Cherry Blossoms & Demons (dir. Doris Dörrie, Germany/Japan) – North American Premiere
The Day After I’m Gone (dir. Nimrod Eldar, Israel) – North American Premiere
Divine Love (dir. Gabriel Mascaro, Brazil/Uruguay/Norway/Denmark)
A Dog and His Man (dir. Siddharth Tripathy, India) – World Premiere
Dogs Don’t Wear Pants (dir. J-P Valkeapää, Finland/Latvia)
Fourteen (dir. Dan Sallitt, USA) – North American Premiere
Frankie (dir. Ira Sachs, France/Portugal)
I Was at Home, but… (dir. Angela Schanelec, Germany/Serbia)
The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão (dir. Karim Aïnouz, Brazil/Germany)
It Must Be Heaven (dir. Elia Suleiman, France/Qatar/Germany/Canada/Turkey/Palestine)
Joel (dir. Carlos Sorín, Argentina) – Canadian Premiere
Koko-di Koko-da (dir. Johannes Nyholm, Sweden/Denmark)
Lara (dir. Jan-Ole Gerster, Germany) – North American Premiere
The Last to See Them (dir. Sara Summa, Germany) – Canadian Premiere
Little Joe (dir. Jessica Hausner, Austria/UK/Germany)
Noah Land (dir. Cenk Ertürk, Turkey/Germany) – Canadian Premiere
Once in Trubchevsk (dir. Larisa Sadilova, Russia) – North American Premiere
Out of Tune (dir. Frederikke Aspöck, Denmark) – North American Premiere
Port Authority (dir. Danielle Lessovitz, USA/France)
Queen of Hearts (dir. May el-Toukhy, Denmark/Sweden)
Retrospekt (dir. Esther Rots, Netherlands/Belgium)
Scarborough (dir. Barnaby Southcombe, UK) – Canadian Premiere
Sometimes Always Never (dir. Carl Hunter, UK)
Song Without a Name (dir. Melina León, Peru/Spain/USA)
Spider (dir. Andrés Wood, Chile)
Staff Only (dir. Neus Ballús, Spain/France)
Stitches (dir. Miroslav Terzić, Serbia/Slovenia/Croatia/Bosnia and Herzegovina) – North American Premiere
Synonyms (dir. Nadav Lapid, France/Israel/Germany)
Tehran: City of Love (dir. Ali Jaberansari, Iran/UK/Netherlands)
Temblores (dir. Jayro Bustamante, Guatemala/France/Luxembourg)
The Realm (dir. Rodrigo Sorogoyen, Spain/France)
Those Who Remained (dir. Barnabás Tóth, Hungary) – Canadian Premiere
Vai (dir. Nicole Whippy, ‘Ofa-Ki-Levuka Guttenbeil-Likiliki, Matasila Freshwater, Amberley Jo Aumua, Mīria George, Marina Alofagia McCartney, Dianna Fuemana, Becs Arahanga, New Zealand)
A Voluntary Year (dir. Ulrich Köhler, Henner Winckler, Germany) – North American Premiere
The Whistlers (dir. Corneliu Porumboiu, Romania/France/Germany)
The White, White Day (dir. Hlynur Pálmason, Iceland/Denmark/Sweden)
Young Ahmed (dir. Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne, Belgium)
Yuli (dir. Icíar Bollaín, Spain/UK/Germany) – Canadian Premiere